Peter H. Reynolds Honored with Prestigious 2018 Children’s Literature Award
FableVision & Reynolds Center founder and New York Times bestselling author/illustrator Peter H. Reynolds was honored on Monday, April 9, with the 2018 Children’s Literature Award from the Massachusetts Reading Association (MRA).
The association remarked that Reynolds' "complete works have made a substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children” and recognizing his "reputation for writing books about protecting and nurturing the creative spirit.”
Reynolds joins the ranks of previous children’s literature luminaries, which include Marc Brown, Rosemary Wells, Patricia MacLachlan, Jane Yolen, Tomie DePaola, Laura Vaccaro Seeger, Lois Lowry, Katherine Paterson, and the Pinkney family.
After Reynolds received the award from the MRA leadership team, he presented a keynote called "The Courage to Create and Make One’s Mark” to hundreds of educators, who gave him a standing ovation. Reynolds shared how lucky he feels that teachers, librarians and students around the work have embraced his stories about creativity, courage, and compassion - and have put the ideas into action.
Reynolds shares, “When I read my books about creativity to kids in school I will always follow up with discussions about creativity and I often refer to it as a “superpower” they all possess - which, if not used on a regular basis, will disappear from their grasp. It elicits some great gasps from the audience and of course, I am there encourage them NOT to let go of it."
The Massachusetts Reading Association is a professional non-profit organization whose primary purpose is to improve the quality and level of literacy in the state of Massachusetts. The MRA is affiliated with the International Literacy Association (ILA), a worldwide literacy organization with a network of 300,000 educators in 99 countries. The MRA promotes literacy for all learners through professional development, research, publications, and advocacy for the literacy community.
Reynolds books have been translated into more than 25 languages around the globe and are celebrated worldwide. They include the best-selling “Judy Moody” and “Stink” series, “The North Star”, “The Dot”, “Ish”, “Sky Color”, “I Am Peace”, “Someday”, and most recently “The Word Collector”, which hit the New York Times Best Seller List at position #4.
