Press Releases
| For Immediate Release July 23, 2008 |
Contact: Cristina Allegretti (202) 277-2034 |
2008 JAMES MADISON BOOK AWARD WINNER
AND LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Authors James Cross Giblin and Albert Marrin Honored for Making American History Come Alive for Children
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Lynne Cheney announced today that The Many Rides of Paul Revere by James Cross Giblin would receive the sixth annual James Madison Book Award. Mrs. Cheney revealed the winning book and recipient of the $10,000 prize at an event in Washington, D.C. This being the final year of the award, Mrs. Cheney also announced a $5,000 Lifetime Achievement Award for author Albert Marrin, whose newest book is The Great Adventure: Theodore Roosevelt and the Rise of Modern America. Local students enrolled in theater and writing summer camps attended the program and participated in eighteenth century-themed activities run by volunteers from Gunston Hall Plantation.
“James Cross Giblin and Albert Marrin have a talent for making American history interesting and accessible to the next generation,” said Mrs. Cheney. “I am delighted that in the final year of the James Madison Book Award, we can recognize two authors who have significantly enriched the selection of historical works available to elementary and middle school students.”
Published in 2007 by Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic Inc., The Many Rides of Paul Revere transports young readers back in time to the world of this legendary American patriot who is perhaps best known for his famed midnight ride in 1775 before the Battles of Lexington and Concord. In this engaging biography, James Cross Giblin shapes a more complete image of Paul Revere, following him from his early days training to be a craftsman in his French immigrant father’s workshop to his fervent and daring involvement in the colonists’ fight for independence from Britain. Children ages nine through twelve will be surprised to learn that in addition to being an expert silversmith and serving as “Messenger of the Revolution,” Revere did everything from making false teeth to engraving cartoons and paper money to casting church bells. Rich with archival prints and paintings and enhanced by an abundance of useful backmatter, this handsome book is an exciting ride through the American Revolution with one of the era’s great heroes.
Mr. Giblin has devoted his career to children’s books, first as an editor, and then as an author. A graduate of Case Western Reserve University, he moved to New York City in 1954 to earn an M.F.A. from Columbia University and has lived there ever since. He spent twenty years in the publishing world and rose to the position of publisher and editor-in-chief at Clarion Books before he decided to try his hand at writing. For the next ten years, he continued in his role at Clarion while completing a new book each year. Then, wanting to give more time to his writing, he took an early retirement from his day job, though he continues to work as a contributing editor with a number of his long-time authors.
Winner of the 2005 James Madison Book Award for Old Hickory: Andrew Jackson and the American People and author of the 2007 James Madison Honor Book Saving the Buffalo, Albert Marrin has made a career of bringing knowledge and understanding of American history to children. A former junior high school social studies teacher, and now a professor emeritus of history at Yeshiva University, he has written more than two dozen nonfiction books for young people. His latest achievement is The Great Adventure: Theodore Roosevelt and the Rise of Modern America (Dutton Children’s Books/Penguin Young Readers Group), a dual portrait of a pivotal American leader and the rapidly changing times in which he lived. Middle school students will be absorbed by the vivacity of our nation’s 26th president, who once proclaimed, “The greatest doer must also be a great dreamer.” This sparkling text is punctuated by well-selected contemporary black and white photographs and cartoons.
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 5 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.
The James Madison Book Award Selection Committee chose The Many Rides of Paul Revere and The Great Adventure: Theodore Roosevelt and the Rise of Modern America from submissions received from publishers for nonfiction books copyrighted in 2007. The Selection Committee also named four outstanding children’s books as “Honor Books”: Black and White Airmen: Their True History by John Fleischman (Houghton Mifflin Company); Down the Colorado: John Wesley Powell, the One-Armed Explorer by Deborah Kogan Ray (Frances Foster Books/Farrar, Straus and Giroux); The Snow Baby: The Arctic Childhood of Admiral Robert E. Peary’s Daring Daughter by Katherine Kirkpatrick (Holiday House); and Whale Port: A History of Tuckanucket by Mark Foster and illustrated by Gerald Foster (Walter Lorraine Books/Houghton Mifflin Company).
The James Madison Book Award Selection Committee is comprised of members of the sitting Advisory Council, a 36-member group made up of scholars, teachers, authors, parents, and grandparents. The 2008 Selection Committee members were Lynne Cheney; Celeste Colgan of Denver, CO; Peggy Duckett of Philadelphia, PA; Peter Gibbon of Boston, MA; and Christine Parker of Bethesda, MD. Dr. Colgan chaired the committee.
“This year’s James Madison Book Award and the Lifetime Achievement Award are going to authors of unquestionable merit,” said Dr. Colgan. “The Selection Committee applauds Mr. Giblin and Dr. Marrin for introducing young readers to two dynamic and inspiring American figures. Paul Revere and Theodore Roosevelt are vividly brought to life in these appealing narratives.”
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 the author or co-author of eleven books, including Our 50 States: A Family Adventure Across America; A Time for Freedom: What Happened When in America; 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. She is married to Vice President Dick Cheney.
Learn more about the 2008 Award Winner.