Houston Academy Student Participates in Texas Bluebonnet Award Ceremony

Amir Esparza and Elizabeth Gilbert

[icons icon_name=”icon-external-link” icon_size=”14px”]Houston Academy had two representatives in Austin. The campus was one of the schools across the state the Texas Bluebonnet Award Committee. They attended the [icons icon_name=”icon-external-link” icon_size=”14px”]Texas Library Association’s Texas Bluebonnet Award Ceremony. The event took place April 16 in Austin.

Each year 10 students from around the state represent the ​130,997 who voted for their favorite Bluebonnet book. The students get an opportunity to take center stage to introduce themselves. The committee chooses a couple of students to talk about the book as well as present the actual award to the winning author.

Houston Academy student Amir Esparza qualified for this honor by reading the most Bluebonnet Award Nominees. She and Elizabeth Gilbert attended the event. Gilbert serves as the information literacy specialist at the campus.

The luncheon is attended by about 1,000 librarians from around the state.

The Texas Bluebonnet Award program has a long-standing history in the state. It provides children in Grades 3 – 6 with an exciting opportunity to take part in a unique reading program. They read from the preselected list of titles and then vote to select the winning book.

Dr. Jan Paris, a professor of Library Science for Sam Houston State University, created this program in 1983. Eventually, the Texas Library Association (TLA) took over the program as participation grew. As the popularity increased over the years, the number of voting children soared as well. The 2015 winner is The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt and illustrator Oliver Jeffers.

The association releases a new list of 20 books each year in October. Eligible readers cast votes for their favorite TBA book in January.

Students talk with Drew Daywalt (wearing glasses) and Oliver Jeffers (wearing the hat).