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This is a story about a little girl who likes to be unique. She wears a pony tail in her hair even though the rest of the girls at school wear their hair different. The girls in her class make fun of her, but she does not care. The next day they will come into school wearing their hair the exact same way that Stephanie does. She feels very angry that the girls are copying her, so she changes her hair style. No matter what silly way she does it , they always copy. In the end it doesn't end up so good for the "copy cats".

Katherine Imler 1399 Lafayette Road New Enterprise, PA 16664 March 7, 2008 Robert Munsch 15 Sharon Place Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1H 7V2 Dear Mr. Munsch, I am pleased to announce that you have won the Susan B. Anthony Award for Celebrating Strong Female Characters for your book Stephanie's Ponytail. The award was created for a class project in my children's literature class. I am a junior at Penn State Altoona who is majoring in elementary and kindergarten education. I am in my language and literacy education block. Every student in my class created an award that dealt with an aspect of children's literature. Each student nominated books for the other students' awards. Each award had specific criteria that the nominated book had to meet. My award was to be given to a picture book that featured strong and empowered female characters. Many children's books show girls who are passive and dependent. Also, children's books usually show males as the problem solvers. This is disturbing considering the day and age we live in. Shirley B. Ernst author of the article "Gender Issues in Books for Children and Young Adults" said, "I would like to see more books with strong female characters who are active, inventive, and in charge of their own destinies." Nominations for this award had to show independent and non-stereotypical female characters. The book also had to be a picture book for children in kindergarten through second grade. I chose Stephanie's Ponytail for my award because the book features a strong female character that stands up to group conformity. She does not want to look like everyone else, but instead be her own individual person. Your book teaches children the importance of liking who they are. Another reason I picked your book is that its message is universal. The theme could be the same regardless of what time period or location the book was written about. Many children can relate to this book. Chi

This book is a wonderful book to address a major issue in growing up, self-esteem. Curtis shows kids that feeling good means liking yourself the way you are. I'm Gonna Like Me celebrates kids differences such as, body type, missing teeth and personal style choices. This book teaches children to love themselves even if they make a mistake, don't know the right answer or get picked last in gym class. It encourages a healthy view of ones self, establishes a sense self worth and a positive outlook on life.  This book is an all around perfect book to teach self esteem, and the pictures make it even better.

Dear Jamie Lee Curtis,      Congratulations! My name is Brittney Ward, and I am pleased to inform you that your book, I'm Gonna Like Me, has been chosen as the recipient of the Kira Elizabeth Award for excellence in children's literature about growing up.      This award was created as part of an assignment in the Elementary Education block courses at Penn State University - Altoona Campus. Each student's task was to create an award for some unique aspect of children's literature and then create the criteria for the award. Our fellow students then nominated books for our award following the specific criteria. After looking closely at several nominations, we were to pick a winner and notify the author of our winning book.      The Kira Elizabeth Award was to be presented to a book that provided guidance to a child going through the trials and tribulations of growing up. In today's society, children are "growing up" much faster than in the past. Because growing up is a part of life, I wanted the book to be one a child could turn to when they wanted to learn about or take shelter in knowing the social and emotional obstacles that come along with growing up. Nominations had to include appropriate facts, reassurances, or guidance on how to deal with the social, emotional, and/or personal changes children age's 5-9 experience growing up, such as how to make friends, getting along with classmates, understanding their feelings, etc.      This award is in honor of a little girl named Kira Elizabeth Angello. She is three years old and, in my opinion, is growing up entirely too fast. I watch her from time to time and she loves books. Her mother always wants to make sure that she has high self-esteem and that she loves who she is. Therefore, I thought this was the perfect opportunity to 'shop around' for books that deal with that issue. In the wo

"Least of All" is a heart touching story about a girl who is the youngest in her family. She is too young to help out with the rest of the chores on the farm, but she is able to help by churning the butter. During this time when she is all alone churning butter, she sits with the family Bible on her lap, and tries to teach herself how to read. This book is very strong in the importance of reading. It shows that reading is more of a luxarie in some households than it is a neccesity. The book also portrays a strong sense of family and tradition. "Least of All" is an excellent story for children to read. Through the determination of the little girl to learn to read, author Carol Purdy shows the importance of reading, and how lucky most children today have the opportunity of learning to read and having proper instruction. This is the kind of book that definitely would inspire kids to learn to read.

I could not find a good website for this book. This book is very interesting. The pictures are paintings and they are great. Some pages do not have words. Some pages have two sets of words, one set telling the story, and the other set rhyming, it is interesting. It details her work as a miner. I notice a father in the pictures but he is never mentioned. It is a great example of a strong female.

"The Red Blanket" is a book about a single woman who wished she had a child to share her life with. She wrote to adoption agencies and adopted a baby girl from an orphanage in China. The book goes through the ups and downs of the relationship between the young woman and her new child. This book has several strong themes. First, that love will take you far. Second, A family can be made up of different componants, not everyone has to have the same "normal" family to be considered a family. Finally, that dreams can come true with a little work, faith, and determination. "The Red Blanket" is a great book to read to children to enforce the idea of diverse families. It is important that children understand that families come in different colors, shapes, and sizes so that they can better live in today's society.

Myers' fun picture book about a junkyard dog turned celebrated blues musician works wonderfully as a book/cassette kit thanks to Charles Turner's spirited narration and Mark Dog" Deffenbaugh's bluesy guitar strumming. Turner's energetic narration keeps the story humming along. Deffenbaugh's guitar work pleases the ear, and his performance of 'The New York City Blues' is the program's highlight. This story about the joys of blues music has found a format that serves it very well. This story is very strong in showing how the arts can be very fun and that there is a wide range of different arts activities you can be involved in. From a teachers point of view, I think it might open children's eyes to want to give singing, dancing, or even acting a go. This book can found at Barnes&Nobles. Enjoy (;

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 beautiful picture book from Pamela Munoz Ryan describes the life of Marian Anderson, one of this century's most celebrated singers. This book could be inspirational for a child who may have obstacles to success, whether the obstacles be racism, sexism, or classism. Because Marian is recognized for her talent and because she is willing to work hard and take risks, she finds many opportunities to share her talents with others. Because she is strong enough to stand firm against racism, she finds a larger audience than she could have ever imagined.

March 5, 2008 Carrie Frederick 376 Harrieta Lane Bedford, Pa 15522 Dear Mrs. Charlotte Zolotow, I am sending you this letter to inform you that you are the winner of The Coco award. I am a student attending Pennsylvania State University, Altoona. I am majoring in elementary education and preparing to become a school teacher. This semester I am learning about and discussing children's literature the other future teachers in the Language and Literacy Education block of our major. We were assigned a project that involved inventing our own award for outstanding children's literature. We made a name for our award, described the criteria needed for nominations, and we all had to nominate a book for each person's award. My award is called The Coco award, and it is given for excellence in children's literature featuring non-stereotypical gender roles. Criteria for Coco award nominations were books with characters playing roles not associated with their gender or books confronting gender stereotypes that exist in our culture. There were ten nominations for the Coco award and William's Doll was chosen by me as the winner. I had ten books nominated for my award and I was only allowed to choose one winner. Of the ten books I had to choose from, I have decided that the most deserving of my award is William's Doll. This book has everything that my Coco award stands for. William and his father are equally important in the story. Even though William expresses that he wants a doll, his father, who cares more about gender stereotypes, gets him a train set and a basketball set. At the end, William's father eventually reveals that he did want William to have a doll because dolls are for girls. Sadly, this is how many parents, not just fathers, would react if their son wanted a doll. Adults who react like this way are the reason there are "boy toys" and "girl toys." If a doll was not labeled a girls toy, boys would not feel wrong for wanting to play with o

I'm currently reading this book, The Spring Tone, which is a very surreal book about two children whose parents are going through a divorce. The book was originally written in Japanese. The older child has just completed elementary school; the younger child is in fourth grade. This book is special for a variety of reasons. First of all, the children move in and out of their dreams throughout the book, often taking the reader by surprise. Also, many children will identify with Tetsu and Tomoki, who are both suffering a great deal because of the turmoil in their family. The close relationship of the siblings, who are typical in the way that they argue and yet love each other, is a good example of a strong yet dynamic sibling relationship. Children will also relate to Tomoki, who has many fears about her changing body, and who is ambivalent and nervous about growing into adulthood.

Amazing Grace is a wonderful picture book about an African American girl who wants to perform in the school play. The problem is that her classmates do not believe that Grace should play the part of Peter Pan because she is neither a boy, like Peter Pan, nor white, as they imagine Peter Pan to be. Well, with strength and determination, Grace not only gets the part, but shines. This book is particularly good for children because of its strong female character. Most children, no matter their ethnicity and gender, can relate to Grace's disappointment. All children can learn from Grace how to use disappointment to fuel their determination to succeed. The book might also bring confidence to children who are shy or lack confidence. This would be an excellent book to share with children who are about to begin a performance project.