"I'd like to say miigwetch (thank you) to the Blueberry Award Committee for helping me to raise up and draw attention to this work,” Luby said. “It is my hope that this book reminds readers of their connection to the environment. When we plant a seed, we can provide food and habitat to a diversity of species, plant and animal relatives who in turn nurture us. I hope you also find a sense of intergenerational love and interspecies care through the pages because that is the gift that the elders gave me when they first invited me into the fields, when they introduced me to mnoomin. To them, to my elders, I also say miigwetch."
The 2023 Blueberry Awards were announced Thursday, March 14, at a live event at the Robert Crown Community Center, attended by Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss, Library Director Yolande Wilburn, directors of several local libraries, and staff from the Chicago Botanic Garden and the Morton Arboretum along with a crowd of children’s nature book lovers. Special guest Claudia Martinez, Chicago-based author also made an appearance.
Her picture book, Not a Monster, about the axolotl in Mexico City, was named among this year’s 29 Blueberry Honor Award winners. Four Blueberry Changemaker Awards were also named, celebrating books that support and encourage kids’ actions for the planet.
The eagerly awaited full 2023 Blueberry Awards list can be found at epl.org/2023blueberries. More information about the Blueberry, including past winners, submission criteria, and resources for incorporating Blueberry books into classrooms, is included at epl.org/blueberry.
The honorees of this year’s Blueberry Awards are a diverse crop of new authors and illustrators from around the world as well as some well-known names in children’s literature.
Sy Montgomery, an award winning nature writer, accepted a Blueberry Honor for The Book of Turtles. "(Illustrator) Matt Patterson and I are elated to learn that our book has been honored with a blueberry award!” he said. “I know Evanston, Illinois, well and it is a fabulous place full of smart people!"
This year’s Blueberry winners included authors and illustrators from Israel, Canada, Czech Republic, United Kingdom, Brazil, and Ecuador, as well as the United States. Books by indigenous authors, including Patricia Gualinga, indigenous leader in the Ecuadorian Amazon and co-author of Stand as Tall as the Trees: How an Amazonian Community Protected the Rain Forest, won several awards this year.
"When you read our book or when you connect with the Amazon, you are also linked to our struggle,” Gualinga said. “You are closely connected—we share the same home, we are on the same Earth. I invite you to join in the protection of the Amazonian ecosystems and Amazonian biome, to join in its protection from different parts of the world, to join in our struggle."
The Blueberries expand their impact with presentations for educators
Since its inauguration, the Blueberry Awards have quickly expanded their reach to parents, kids, and educators, spreading this love of and responsibility for the environment in schools, libraries, and nature centers across the United States. Blueberry Committee members will share this year’s favorites with the Natural Start Alliance today, with Early Childhood Investigations Webinars on Tuesday, March 19, and with the Environmental Education Association of Illinois (EEAI) on March 23. And in October, Blueberry Committee members will attend the Northern Illinois Nature Preschool Conference. The awards were also announced on the nationally renowned A Fuse #8 Production blog at School Library Journal, by EPL’s Collection Development and Materials Manager Betsy Bird. More details about upcoming Blueberry events for educators is available ay epl.org/blueberry.
“I am so proud of our EPL staff for their initiative in creating this award and in celebrating authors that so beautifully and eloquently illustrate the importance of this critical topic,” EPL Assistant Director Heather Norborg said. “The Evanston Public Library is proud to support innovative programs and services that connect people of all ages to their environment and inspire them to create change, and my hope is that the reach and impact of the Blueberry Awards will continue to expand.”
This year, the Blueberry Committee also provided three extra lists to assist parents and teachers: Best Nature Board Books of 2023, The 2023 Blueberry Educators Resources Booklist and Great Adult Books selected by the 2023 Blueberry Committee.
The Blueberry Committee especially wants to thank Kim Vigue, Executive Director of the Mitchell Museum of the American Indian, for her consultation during the selection process.
Educators who are interested in learning more about the Blueberry Awards and how to incorporate Blueberry books into their programming and resources are encouraged to contact Martha Meyer at msmeyer@cityofevanston.org.
Check out all the Blueberry Winners, Honors and Changemakers on our 2023 Blueberry List on our website, epl.org, where you can also find past winners.
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