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C H A P T E R 2 :
Elements of Quality Children’s Literature

31
Children’s Choices and Teachers’ Choices 
Children’s Choices and Teachers’ Choices 
Some lists of outstanding books are selected by children. In 1975 the Children’s Choices 
list became the first such recognition. The International Reading Association (IRA) and 
the Children’s Book Council (CBC) cosponsor this project. Each year, publishers select 
the books to be evaluated from their titles published in the previous year. The number 
of books selected can be as many as 700. The books are grouped into five reading lev-
els, and then all are sent to five review teams of educators located in different regions 
of the United States. Each team is responsible for getting the books to 2,000 children 
in elementary school classrooms; therefore, throughout the school year, the books are 
read to or by approximately 10,000 children. These children vote for their favorites, 
and the top 100 titles are announced at the IRA’s annual conference. The list is also 
published each year in the October issue of The Reading Teacher . 
Since 1989 the IRA’s Teachers’ Choices list has spotlighted outstanding books 
that teachers find to be exceptionally useful in the curriculum. Approximately 30 
titles are selected from more than 300 recently published books. Books are field-
tested throughout the United States, with each book read by at least six teachers or 
librarians in each of seven regions. The educators then vote for the books they believe 
have the highest literary quality plus potential for use across the curriculum. The list 
of top books is published each year in the November issue of The Reading Teacher . 
In addition to general awards given to authors and illustrators, there are several 
awards that are genre specific, such as the Orbis Pictus Award for nonfiction. Genre-
specific awards are described in the appropriate genre chapters of this text.
Issues in Book Awards 
Adults select all the award-winning children’s books and lifetime awards given to authors and 
illustrators. Even the Children’s Choices Awards are given to books that adults have preselected. 
(Children simply narrow down the search.)