SOURCE: Aronson, Marc. “Slippery Slopes and Proliferating Prizes.” The Horn Book Magazine 77, no. 3 (May 2001): 271.

In the following essay, Aronson comments on the many prizes for children's literature now available, notes several problems with their criteria and administration, and suggests some ways to improve them.

I'm sure that nearly every reader of this magazine is in favor of supporting a more diverse children's literature that is in tune with the increasingly multi-ethnic environment in which we and our children live. I am equally convinced, though, that [American Library Association, hereafter ALA] ALA's sponsorship of three awards in which a book's eligibility is determined by the race or ethnicity of its creators is a mistake. For the Coretta Scott King, the Pura Belpré, and the (announced but as yet unnamed) Asian American awards, the creator's biography—ethnic credentials, if you will—predetermines the book's validity. I am convinced that this...