Press Releases
| For Immediate Release July 21, 2005 |
Contact: Elisabeth Irwin (202) 277-2034 |
2005 JAMES MADISON BOOK AWARD WINNER
$10,000 Award Goes to Book on President Andrew Jackson
NASHVILLE – Lynne Cheney announced today that Old Hickory: Andrew Jackson and the American People would receive the third annual James Madison Book Award. Mrs. Cheney presented author Albert Marrin the $10,000 prize at Andrew Jackson’s home, The Hermitage, located in Nashville, Tenn. Local students attended the award presentation.
“Albert Marrin tells America’s stories in a captivating way,” said Mrs. Cheney. “Old Hickory will make American history come alive for young readers.”
Published in 2004 by Dutton Children's Books, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group, Old Hickory is the compelling story of a man whose character and determination changed the course of American history. Born in a log cabin, Jackson became a spirited frontiersman, a judge, and a triumphant general, leading the United States to victory in the Battle of New Orleans. He is a controversial figure, primarily because of his decision to remove the Creek and other Native American tribes to west of the Mississippi River. Removing Native Americans from their homes in the South, Marrin writes, “created untold suffering for Indian tribes.” Jackson also used the power of the presidency to defend the rights of the common man, and he fought to preserve the Union. According to Marrin, “His actions chained the monster of ‘secession’ for nearly three decades.” This book for young readers paints a vivid, thought-provoking portrait of one of America’s most complex figures and the era he came to embody.
Mrs. Cheney established the James Madison Book Award in 2003 to present an annual prize of $10,000 to the book that best represents excellence in bringing knowledge and understanding of American history to children ages five to 14. To underwrite the award, Mrs. Cheney donated $100,000 from the profits of her children’s books, America: A Patriotic Primer and A is for Abigail: An Almanac of Amazing American Women. All of her net proceeds from these books go to charity.
The James Madison Book Award Selection Committee chose Old Hickory from submissions received from publishers for nonfiction books copyrighted in 2004. The Selection Committee also named two outstanding children’s books as “Honor Books”: George Washington, Spymaster: How the Americans Outspied the British and Won the Revolutionary War (author: Thomas B. Allen; publisher: National Geographic) and The Voice that Challenged a Nation: Marian Anderson and the Struggle for Equal Rights (author: Russell Freedman; publisher: Clarion Books).
Old Hickory author Dr. Albert Marrin is a noted historian who has written more than two dozen nonfiction books for youth. He is the recipient of the Washington Post-Children's Book Guild Award for Nonfiction, given to “an author...whose total work has contributed significantly to the quality of nonfiction for children.” Marrin resides in Riverdale, N.Y.
The Hermitage was Jackson’s beloved home for more than 40 years, from 1804 until his death in 1845. The 1,120-acre plantation is also the final resting place of America’s seventh president and his wife.
The James Madison Book Award Selection Committee is comprised of members of the sitting Advisory Council, a 38-member group made up of scholars, teachers, authors, parents and grandparents. The 2005 selection committee members were Lynne Cheney; Celeste Colgan of Denver, CO; Peter Gibbon of Boston, MA; Wilfred McClay of Chattanooga, TN; and Christine Parker of Bethesda, MD. Mrs. Colgan chaired the committee.
“The committee members were struck by the author’s informative account of a man who had an extraordinary impact on a young America,” said Mrs. Colgan. “Middle schoolers will be fascinated by the story of this man from humble beginnings who went on to achieve great military and political feats.”
The James Madison Book Award Fund is a separate fund of the Community Foundation of Jackson Hole, a Wyoming 501(c)(3) public foundation. For more information about the James Madison Book Award Fund, please visit www.jamesmadisonbookaward.org.
Lynne Cheney is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C., whose work has long emphasized the importance of knowing American history and teaching it well. She is author or co-author of seven books, including When Washington Crossed the Delaware: A Wintertime Story for Young Patriots, A is for Abigail: An Almanac of Amazing American Women, and America: A Patriotic Primer, an alphabet book of the principles on which our nation was founded. She is married to Vice President Dick Cheney.
Learn more about the 2005 Award Winner.