CULVER CITY, CA -Antioch University Los Angeles today announced that it has chosen Mrs. Marlowe’s Mice by Frank Asch and Devin Asch as the 2008 Horace Mann Upstander Award winner for Children’s Literature. The award was announced on Saturday as part of the 1st Annual Children’s Literature Conference, held on campus in Culver City.
The Horace Mann Upstanders award honors new children’s literature that best exemplifies the ideals of social action and encourages young readers to become agents of change themselves.
“Being an Upstander is when an individual or a group chooses to take a positive stand and act on behalf of themselves and others” added Dr. J. Cynthia McDermott, Chair of the Education program at Antioch University Los Angeles. “This award honors literature that encourages readers to take that risk and stand up for something they believe in. We are so pleased to honor Mrs. Marlowe’s Mice, a fabulous book with a powerful message for children.”
The 2008 award winner, Mrs. Marlowe’s Mice, is published by Kids Can Press. It is the story of Mrs. Eleanor Marlowe, who by day works at the Purrington Street Library with her fellow cats, but at night returns home to her house where she is hiding a family of mice. When a nosy neighbor calls the Department of Catland Security, Mrs. Marlowe is accused of being a mouse sympathizer and it is up to her to try and save her family of mice – and herself – from certain doom.
“It’s an honor and a joy to have our book receive the Horace Mann Upstanders Award” stated Frank Asch, author of Mrs. Marlowe’s Mice. “Horace Mann once said, ‘Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.’ Devin and I love that we have made a children’s book of social value and appreciate the recognition that we have received.”
The awards were sponsored by the Antioch University Los Angeles graduate education program, in partnership with the Better World JL Institute and the South Bay Literacy Foundation. The award committee was comprised of Antioch University Los Angeles credential candidates, faculty members, K-12 students and local educational leaders from the greater Los Angeles community.
In addition to the Horace Mann Upstanders winner Mrs Marlowe’s Mice, the 2008 Honor books included Ain’t Nobody a Stranger to Me by Ann Grifalconi with illustrations by Jerry Pinkney (Hyperion), One Thousand Tracings: Healing the Wounds of World War II by Leta Judge (Hyperion), The Giant of Seville: A Tall Tale Based on a True Story by Dan Andreasen (Abrams), When I Crossed No-Bob by Margaret McMullan (Houghton Mifflin), Sacred Leaf by Deborah Ellis (Groundwood Books) Brendan Buckley’s Universe and Everything in It by Sundee T. Frazier (Delacorte), and The Klipfish Code by Mary Casanova (Houghton Mifflin).
For more information, please contact Joanna Gerber, Director of Public Relations for Antioch University Los Angeles at Joanna_Gerber(at)antiochla.edu or at (310) 578-1080 x119.
For more information on Antioch University Los Angeles, please visit www.AntiochLA.edu.
For more information on AULA’s Teacher Education Program, please visit www.antiochla.edu/TeacherEd
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