Schneider Book Award

There is not an official website for the Schneider Family Book Award, but there are other resources that provide information about the award; such as www.ala.org/ala/awardsbuket/schneideraward/schneidercriteria.htm and www.ala.org/ala/awardsbuket/schneideraward/schneiderawardmanual.doc . The second link is a manual. It answers questions about the history of the award, discusses the responsibilities of the members of the committee, and provides insight to their ideas about what to look for in a good book. This is a newer award and has only been given out since 2004. It was started by Dr. Catherine Schneider, who has been blind since birth. She wanted to sponsor an award that would show that the disability is a part of the character’s life, not the focus of their life. The Schneider Family Book Award honors an author or illustrator for a book that embodies an artistic expression of the disability experience for child or adolescent audiences. Three annual awards are given in birth through grade school (age 0-8), middle school (age 9-13), and teens (age 14-18). The disabilities can be physical, mental, or emotional. The most important piece of criteria of the award is that it is not aimed to have the audience sympathize with the characters. Instead, it is aimed to portray their perspectives and everyday life experiences. Some books that have received this award are: Dad, Jackie, and Me, written by Myron Uhlberg and illustrated by Colin Bootman and Looking Out for Sarah, by Glenna Lang. You can look up past award winners at www.ala.org/ala/awardsbuket/schneideraward/schneiderawardrecipients.htm

Response to "Muslims protest reprised role as terrorists in '24'"

After reading "Muslims protest reprised role as terrorists in '24'" by Wayne Parry in the Lansing State Journal I found myself having mixed feelings about the issue. I can understand the Muslims concern about the outlook it may have on them being represented as terrorists in the series 24, and how they may feel uncomfortable going out in public based on all that has occured here in the United States dealing with terrorist attacks. But my main issue with that is that it's pretty clear to the audience that this television show is fictional. Some people I feel do take some shows literally and to heart, but for the most part society knows reality from fiction. If these Muslims are afraid to go out in public I don't feel that it is because of the story line of 24 but in fact the incidents that has occurred in the United States. For example, Sireen Sawaf from the Los Angeles-based Muslim Public Affairs Council says that she is a big fan of 24 and she replies"It's a great show, and I do realize it's a multiimensional show that portrays extreme situations." She continues to support the fact that 24 has used other ethnicities besides Muslim when she states "They have gone out of their way to have non-Muslim terror cells." So in no way do I feel that 24 was trying to represent Muslims as evil and being very dangerous. Also, 24 has incorporated many different ethnicities and religions throughout their series such as Baltic Europeans, Germans, Russians, Islamic fundamentalists, and Anglo-American citizens. If their purpose was to portray this hidden messages to Americans about all these different kinds of ethnicities and religious groups as being dangerous then why has there not been more controversy about this television show. There are many movies and television shows that portray certain cultures in a negative way just for entertainment, most people don't take it seriously. If that were true then we wouldn't be able to have most of our movies or television shows out there because we would be generalizing every group out there. Some movies have black african american boys murdering people, and caucasian boys robbing banks. This isn't to say that all the boys from both ethnicities are going to follow in those footsteps and be criminals but it is a fact that crimes like that have occurred. Bad things happen in all areas of the world, no matter what the culture or ethnicity is and it's in the hands of the audience to be able to say that the way the people in particular movies or television shows are shown is not a clear depiction of all the people within that group. Overall, I believe that people are taking things shown on television way to seriously and aren't seeing it as entertainment anymore.

Information from "Muslims protest reprised role as terrorists in '24'" by Wayne Parry.