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My Mom's The Best Mom is the book I'm nominating for your award. This book is for children K-3 you can find it at your Altoona or Tyrone Library. The text of the book speaks about daughters and mothers having close ties. The children are in single parent families and write what they enjoy most about their mothers. The book lacks in illustrations, but they are very short little writings that would be good for the little children to read because they are quick and to the point.

This story is about two best friends, Marilyn and Traci, and their fifth grade teacher, Miss Wichelman. The girls loved spending time with their teacher, in and out of school. The teacher always encouraged them to never give up. Her famous line is "If life hands you a lemons, make lemonade". Marilyn, Traci, and Miss Wichelman create a club called "The Lemonade Club", they become very close. In the story, one of the best friends becomes very ill. Patricia Polacco shows the reader the ups and downs of the process of healing and dealing with this illness. The Lemonade Club works through this hard time together. This book will teach the reader how to deal with life-threatening illness.

This is a wonderful book to help children cope with their parents divorce. It is written as a child's resource. It explains how a child will feel if their parents get a divorce, and it lets the child know that it is okay to feel this way. It lets the child know that they are not the only one. It is a wonderful resource for a child to use when they do not know what to do or how to feel after their parents divorce.

Dear Emily Menendez-Aponte, On behalf of the Elementary Education Department at the Penn State Altoona Campus, I would like to present you with The Baker Award for Excellence in Children's Literature on Helping Children Deal with Their Parents Divorce! "The Baker Award for Excellence in Children's Literature on Helping Children Deal with Their Parents Divorce will be awarded to the author who has the best guidance on helping children deal with divorce. It seems like every fairy tale we read today has "They lived happily ever after", however, we all know that in today's society this is not true. In the book "Battling Dragons" edited by Susan Lehr there is an article by Deborah Thompson. In Thompson's article it says "Thomas (1972) found that most family relationships in children's books were unrealistic. She argued that the typical children's book, Mother always took Father, who carried a briefcase and wore a suit, to the train station in a station wagon. She also argued that authors treated single-parenthood like "the plague," and therefore, single-parent families were virtually nonexistent in books for children" (pg. 88). It is almost impossible to go into a classroom anymore and find students that all still have their parents together. Therefore, this award will be given to a book that helps portray divorce as something that can work and that children can deal with. The book should be geared toward ages 6-12 and have an accurate portrayal of strength and encouragement clearly stating that the child is not the only one going through something like this." My name is Chelsea Baker. I am a junior at Penn State Altoona and I created The Baker Award. Within my class, we had an assignment in which each student in the class, including myself, made up awards for a book nomination. Then each person in the class had to nominate one book for all the other students' awards. Don't worry there is only ten students in the class. Any

The One in the Middle is the Green Kangaroo by Judy Blume is a good book. This book is about a kid, Freddy Dissel, who is the middle child in the family. He never gets to be the center of attention. However, one day he heard about a play being held in this school. They were looking for fifth and sixth graders, but Freddy tried out and got the part of the green kangaroo. The day of the performance came and his family went to watch him. He performed his heart out and played the best green kangaroo ever, He never worried about being in the middle anymore. This book is for great for children ages K-4. This book can be found in Penn State Libraries.

Is a Worry Worrying You? is about worrying. This book gives examples as to what worries are and how you can get rid of them. It tells the readers exactly what a worry is. The book talks about worries as being invisible and unable to find. This book deals with a very serious issue; however, the book is actually presented in a humorous way. Is a Worry Worrying You? would be a great book to read in a classroom because a lot of kids are constantly worried about something or another (especially the things mentioned in the book). Remember, as the book says, just don't worry! This book is available through the Penn State Libraries.

I am pleased to present the Jason Baker Award for children's books portraying children effectively dealing with emotions and feelings to Ferida Wolff and Harriet May Savitz for Is A Worry Worrying You? My Name is Carli Van Scyoc and I am currently a student a Penn State University. As part of the language and literacy curriculum for the elementary education program, we had an assignment to create an award for a category that was important.  Then we were to choose a book from various student nominations that best fits our award description.  I am very happy to say that this book was perfect.  I am interested in  pursuing a career in counceling  so I used this oppurtunity to read many books that taught children how to deal with their unfamiliar emotions and understand that it is completely normal.  I absolutely love this book and would offer it to any child who finds themselves in a similar situation.  Thank you for writting just a great book.

Grandfather's Journey is a book about the life of Allen Say's grandfather. Say writes about his grandfather's life and experiences in Japan and the United States. The illustrations in Grandfather's Journey are absolutely remarkable. The colors Say uses are perfect. The pictures in this book really help to tell the story; they are the main feature on the pages. Allen Say not only wrote the book, he illustrated it as well. This would be a great book to use when teaching a multicultural lesson. This book definitely lives up to its name as a picture book.

This is a story about a little girl who takes pride in how she became a part of a family. She was adopted by a single mother and loves to hear the story of how she was adopted. She wishes she had a father but she has a grandfather and a friend's father to fill in the gap. Her life is very fulfilling and the story shows that she gets plenty of love and support even though there isn't a father in the picture.

"The Growing Story" is a touching story about a little boy who sees everything around him growing larger and wonders if he is going to grow at all as well. This book has beautiful illustrations that support the text on every page. It's use of the boy's questioning throughout the story promotes the idea of curiosity and the want to learn being a good thing. The book also shows that being patient, and not rushing and getting upset over things that you do not see or do not understand, is the best way to go. "The Growing Story" is the type of book you would choose to read to a group of children who are just beginning to realize or understand that they are going to get bigger and that they are going to change...only it is going to take a little bit of time. A story like this could promote patience and understanding within the classroom setting very easily.

This book is about a hippo named Hilda who loves to dance. However, Hilda's dancing is very destructive. All of her friends wish she would take up a less destructive hobby. They recommend knitting and singing, but Hilda didn't like either one, so she sticks to dancing. Finally, the water buffalo recommend swimming to Hilda. It is then that she discovers her passion for water ballet dancing. Hilda was good at water ballet and she didn't destroy anything in the process. Best of all, her friends loved it and told her to keep dancing. This book will communicate a passion for the arts, specifically dancing, to the students who read it. The illustrations are bright and colorful. The one weakness of this book is that it shows Hilda's friends not supporting her dancing on land. As a teacher, this book would be good to recommend to students who like dance, or just enjoy the arts in general.

This book is filled with contrasts of a new and old fairy tale. The book shows two girls who live next door to each other. One is Cinderella and the other is Cinder Edna. They both have a mean stepmother and stepsisters. But, Edna deals with her problems in stride. When the king has a ball, Cinderella wishes for a fairy godmother to help her get ready for the ball. But, Cinder Ella puts a dress on layaway. Cinderella takes a carriage to the ball, but Cinder Edna takes the bus. Randolph, the king's son, dances with Cinderella. Cinder Edna dances with Randolph's brother Rupert. Rupert runs a recycling plant and a home for orphaned kittens. When the clock strikes midnight, both Cinderella and Cinder Edna have to go home. Randolph did not even know Cinderella's name, but Rupert did know Cinder Edna's name. Cinderella left a glass slipper, but Cinder Edna left a loafer. The brothers find Cinderella and Cinder Edna. When they get married in a double ceremony, they change their names to Ella and Edna. Ella seems to have the perfect life, but she is bored by the ceremonies, speeches, and her perfect husband. Rupert and Edna are the ones who live happily ever after. They live in a cottage and enjoy each other's company. This book shows the superficiality of some fairy tales. The book also shows the importance of making the best of your circumstances in life. The book shows children that a happy couple does not need to be perfect. This would be an excellent book to start a discussion about concentrating on your personality and inner qualities and less on your superficial traits.

In Tuesday, Wiesner takes you on a frogs nighttime journey. Starting Tuesday evening the frogs take off from on their lilly pads from the pond where they live. By 11:21 they are soaring past peoples windows and right through a sleeping womans living room. At 4:38 they harras a neighborhood dog playing in the yard. The story then ends with curious detectives trying to solve last night mystery and the readers trying to decide what will happen next Tuesday night. Those who do not have an imagination may not enjoy this book but those who do will surely fall in love with it. The reader gets to tell the story the way they want to which encourages imagination and helps to develope literature interprtation skills. The author's illustrations really make this book, literally.

Susan Laughs is a very cute book about a little girl and the things she does. The best part of this book is the surprise ending! Despite having little variation in the text, the book has a very strong and special message. It gives the idea that everyone is basically the same and can do the same things. The illustrations in the book do a fantastic job at conveying the message. Susan Laughs would be a great book for younger children to read because it has a lot of repetition.

This is a great story of team work. When the little girl is feeling down, her animal friends help her build a great snowman. It makes her feel good about herself because she is told she is too small. It shows team work as they build the snowman. The snowman impresses everyone at the end.