The Paul W. Hankins Crane Award for 2015 Goes To. . .

Last year, I thought about the “tension of opposites” (Tuesdays with Morrie) that comes of trusting the process of award committees and quietly celebrating–as a reader myself not on a committee–those titles that I knew–without a doubt that I could and would carry, in hand, to a classroom teacher from elementary to young adult for its ability to provide a inspirational story with an overall “lift” to it. I think this came of loving R. J. Palacio’s Wonder and feeling a certain disappointment during award season that reminded me of the time I was angered as a pre-teen that E.T. had lost an Oscar nod to Ghandi.

When I read Tracy Holczer’s The Secret Hum of a Daisy, I just knew that I wanted to celebrate the book. I could be part of a process within a given reading year even if I weren’t on a panel. Tracy’s book became the first recipient of the Paul W. Hankins Crane Award. And here is where celebration meets serendipity.

I have a friend whose father makes tiny sculptures from metal elements. His creations range from the very large to the very small. I knew the award would be nothing without some token the author could hold. Something that I–the reader–could give back. So, I had John Haywood think about what a crane–the bird featured in Tracy’s book–could look like.

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Here is what John created. You have to understand something. We never hinted to the artist that the book featured spoons. A couple of weeks later, we had the Crane Award. And it was rendered from spoons.

We knew we had something special now.

The Paul W. Hankins Crane Award would come with little fanfare. No big announcement. No monetary prize. I don’t even have a sticker to offer. All I have is a deep appreciation for when a writer creates something that can move me to a place where I want to move the book from my hands to the hands of another reader.

It was a delight to hand the first Crane to Tracy Holczer at nErDCamp in Michigan this summer. I hope to be able to hand this years Crane Award to the author later this fall.

This year’s Paul W. Hankins Crane Award recipient is a book that began quietly appearing in social media when it released in Advanced Reader Copy super early (or at least earlier than many ARCs I recieve). I already had a deep admiration for the author for her earlier work and for the interactions we have shared at National Conferences. I like how she made it appear that every interaction she had with classroom teachers were as important to her as meeting the biggest editor of the biggest publishing house. It didn’t hurt that Nancy Paulsen had put her stamp upon this little book with the colorful cover. It didn’t hurt that I immediately recognized the allusion within the title to a quote that our own daughter, Maddie, had picked up upon on her way to an early understanging of differentiation and learning styles.

As I read the book, I thought back to the time that the author and I had a quiet conversation about expectations in school and how it lead minds like ours to bring in project samples that would be cobbled together in wood scraps and found objects. Our ideas are sometimes bigger than our ability to render them in earthly elements. But we try. As I held this book in my hands, I could feel the heft of the wooden board game I once carried to a fifth grade teacher and plopped it onto the big table with the other products (which included word searches and crossword puzzles–I had no idea. . .the teacher said “Make a game based upon your book.” I made cards, dice, and player pieces).

This year’s book celebrates diversity within a classroom setting. It presents kids as they are. . .and kids as they can be. It features a teacher you’d want your child to have. It features a protagonist with enough accidental pluck to carry her through a difficult time and enough appitude and additude to help her to shine when all of her gifts are actuated.

It is an absolute pleasure to present. . .as the recipient of the Paul W. Hankins Crane Award for 2015 and all of the benefits of such a distinction to:

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Congratulations, Lynda Mullaly Hunt!

 

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Here is your Crane! Thank you for writing a book that lifts the station of a character and subsequently lifts the spirit of the reader. Thank you for celebrating classroom teacher in the pages of your book and by your presence with them in the room.

And on a more personal note:

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I have the book right here. Perhaps we could make a game for it together.

One thought on “The Paul W. Hankins Crane Award for 2015 Goes To. . .

  1. PAUL! Wow. I’m so honored considering how many enormously wonderful books have been released. You have mentioned elsewhere that this is “small” honor but it is not a small to me, as I know your teacher/reader heart even though we have spoken for not nearly as long as I would have liked. (We DO have a history of carrying enormous projects into school though, don’t we?:-). Thank you, Paul. From the bottom of my heart. I’m so grateful. The kid in me. The teacher in me. And the author. You’re the best!!

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