Washington, DC - This holiday season give the kids in your life a meaningful gift—like a memorable read, according to education advocate David Bruce Smith.
“Books are ammunition for imagination—and a contributor to one’s success, especially when they propel us to learn the hows and whys of the past. Books teach young people how to think; they spur ideas, and develop the art of decision making,” says Smith.
The author and publisher has devoted part of his life to helping children learn about who they are, where they come from, and how to learn about all the possibilities that await them. That is why he, and the late Dr. Bruce Cole, former chairman of the National Endowment of the Humanities, co-founded the Grateful American Book Prize.
Their purpose was to initiate an early love of historical fiction and/or non-fiction, so that students would have an early understanding and appreciation about their past.
“The Prize has certainly had an impact in encouraging authors and their publishers to produce works like this since we inaugurated the award in 2015,” notes Smith. He offers a few old/new book recommendations that might prompt a “gee whiz” moment in young people, which also include all of the winners and runners-up of the Grateful American Book Prize:
Suspect Red [2018 Prize winner] and Hamilton and Peggy [2018 Honorable Mention] by L.M. Elliott. This was the first time an author received both awards. “I’ve learned that the past gives us the perfect prism through which to view the issues of today,” says Elliott.
Andrew Jackson, [2018 Honorable Mention], by Teri Kanefield. “Biography humanizes the past,” according to Kanefield.
Hidden Figures, [2017 Prize winner], by Margot Lee Shetterly
Dreamland Burning [2017 Honorable Mention], by Jennifer Latham
The Story of John Quincy Adams 250 Years After His Birth, by Edward Cody Huddleston
The Drum of Destiny, [2016 Prize winner] by Chris Stevenson
Freedom’s Price, [2016 Honorable Mention], by Michaela MacColl and Rosemary Nichols
The Hired Girl, [2016 Honorable Mention], by Laura Amy Schlitz
Like a River: A Civil War Novel, [2015 Prize winner], by Kathy Cannon Wiechman
Wheels of Change, [2015 Honorable Mention], by Darlene Beck Jacobson
The Revelation of Louisa May, [2015 Honorable Mention], by Michaela MacColl
In addition, Smith also suggests:
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
- Ordinary People by Judith Guest
- My Antonia by Willa Cather
- Follow My Leader by James B. Garfield
