PETE SEEGER AWARDED CHILDRENS BOOK PRIZE BY THE AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION
The American Library Association awarded their annual children’s book prizes on Monday, and among the winners was Pete Seeger and co-author Paul Dubois Jacobs. Seeger and Jacobs received the Schneider Family Book Award for “books that embody the artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences.”
Their book “The Deaf Musicians” (published by G.P. Putnam’s Sons, a division of Penguin Books) is about a musician who becomes deaf and is asked to leave his jazz group. He goes to a a school to learn sign language and meets other deaf musicians. Soon they begin performing their music through sign language and they become a hit when they start performing on a subway.
Seeger first thought of the story about 30 years ago when he began thinking about deaf musicians expressing their joy of music through sign language. The 87 year old Seeger turned to Paul Dubois Jacobs to turn the idea into a childrens story. Pete’s father, Charles Louis Seeger, Jr. , was also deaf.
Seeger and Jacobs have worked together on a number of projects. I had the honor of interviewing them for WFDU-FM’s TRADITIONS in 2000 after they completed “Pete Seeger’s Storytelling
Book“. Following the success of their book, Pete & Paul created “Abiyoyo Returns“, a “sequel” to Seeger’s classic childrens story. They would also write another children’s book “Some Friends to Feed: The Story of Stone Soup” which also included a CD of Seeger narratign the story.The American Library Awards are judged by panels of librarians and childrens literature 
experets. The awards are recognized worldwide and help guide parents, teachers and librarians in selecting the best literature for children.
experets. The awards are recognized worldwide and help guide parents, teachers and librarians in selecting the best literature for children.