According to R. R. Bowker, a publishing authority, an unbelievable 300,000 new book titles, give or take a few, actually do make it into print in the United States each year. See "U. S. Book Production Rebounds in 2006," www.publishingcentral.com/news.php?story=100, for more precise statistics.

Of that number, nearly 30,000 are new juvenile titles. Thankfully, book review magazines, such as Book List and The School Library Journal, sort through them and provide recommendations that help librarians select the cream of the crop for their collections each year.

Even more amazing is that a few books can be chosen from all the rest to receive one of several important national awards. Most prestigious are the Caldecott Award, given to the illustrator of the "most distinguished American picture book for children" and the Newbery Award, given to the author of the "most distinguished contribution to American literature for children."

The children's department of the Edith Abbott Memorial Library has several copies of each which can be found on the book award shelves. As you look through them be sure to notice how children's literature has changed through the years.

Compare the first Newbery Award Winner of 1922, "The Story of Mankind," by Henry Van Loon, an overwhelming expectation for any child if there ever was one, with some of the more child-friendly examples such as "Hitty, Her First One Hundred Years," a sweet story about a doll, written by Rachael Field, in 1930.

Then contrast the very different illustrative styles of the Caldecott winners such as the Renaissance tapestries drawn by Paul Zelinsky in "Rapunzel," in 1998, to the abstract watercolors of David Weisner who has won the award no less than three times, for "Tuesday" in 1992, "The Three Pigs" in 2002, and Flotsom" in 2007. Encourage your children to read the 2008 winners too, including the Caldecott winner, "The Invention of Hugo Cabret," by Brian Selznick; and the Newbery winner, "Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village," by Laura Amy Schlitz.

A complete list of the latest national book awards, including the Coretta Scott King Award, the Geisel Award, and others, can be found at "2008 Notable Children's Books," www.ala.org/ala/alsc/awardsscholarships/childrensnotable/notablecbooklist/currentnotable.cfm.

Many states give an annual children's literature award of their own. Nebraska school children read and vote on books selected by Nebraska teachers and other reading specialists each year. Ten titles are nominated in three categories: Kindergarten through third grade, fourth through sixth grade and young adult. By spring, the reading is done and the children are ready to vote. The winning author in each category receives Nebraska's prestigious Golden Sower Award and is honored at an award ceremony during the Nebraska State Library Convention the following fall. See "Golden Sower Award," www.goldensower.org/.

Parents often ask librarians what they can do to encourage their children to read. It seems that boys and girls are just like the rest of us and want to read about things that interest them. To help them find those special books, the children's department keeps a variety of intriguing books on display. Our young patrons are also encouraged to spend time browsing the book shelves hoping they will discover something by themselves that simply "grabs" them. And they generally do.