William
Allen White
Can you explain more
about the William Allen White
Children’s Book Award?
(Click
here for 2008-2009 WAW Master List)
The William Allen White
Awards are presented to authors chosen by Kansas’s students in grades 3
through 8. State educators and librarians determine a master list then
students vote for their favorite book after reading several books from the
master list. From 1952 - 1999, students read from a single
master list and selected one favorite book. However, beginning in
2002, two master lists began being offered, one for students in grades 3 -
5 and one for students in grades 6 – 8. Therefore, two authors are
now selected to receive the award. More than 51,500 Kansas students voted
this past year, including students from Spring Hill. Past and current
master lists along with book summaries can be found at: http://www.emporia.edu/libsv/wawbookaward/
So, who was William Allen White anyway?
William Allen White was born in Emporia, KS on Feb. 10th,
1868. He attended college at Emporia and the
University of Kansas. He worked for several newspapers in Kansas before purchasing his hometown
paper, “The Emporia Gazette”, in 1895. He was owner and
editor of “The Gazette” for the next forty-nine years of his
life.
Although he was the editor of what was considered a small-town
newspaper, during his career White managed to influence people and
politicians far beyond Emporia and Kansas. His editorial writing
influenced most of the nation. Throughout his life he become a nationally
acclaimed journalist and author of biographies, novels, and short stories.
But he was perhaps most famous for his keen and insightful commentaries on
contemporary events in the national news. He was very active and
influential in the Republican Party but also helped found the Progressive
party. White was a longtime advocate of social reform and individual
rights. Yet, in spite of his national fame he remained first and foremost
a small-town newspaperman from Kansas.
Being active in politics he knew and supported
various presidents including: William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt,
and William Taft. During the World War I he backed Woodrow Wilson and his
policy of internationalism. In 1919 President Wilson honored him
when he was selected as a special envoy to meet and confer with
representatives of various Russian political factions. White, who
opposed racial prejudice and intolerance, played an important part in
limiting the influence and spread of the Ku Klux Klan in Kansas.
William Allen White acquired a national fame with his
popular editorial entitled "What's the Matter with Kansas".
Other famous articles he wrote include: "The Real Issue, and
Other Stories," "In Our Town," "A Certain Rich
Man," "The Old Order Changeth," "God's Puppets,"
and "In the Heart of a Fool." But it wasn’t until after
his death that he received his most impressive award. He was
posthumously awarded the 1947 Pulitzer Prize for his autobiography simply
titled: The Autobiography of William Allen White.
At the time of his death, January 31st, 1944, William Allen
White was a national celebrity, proclaimed one of the truly great
Americans of his age. Life magazine called him "a living
symbol of small-town simplicity and kindliness and common sense."
But why is a children’s book award
named after a journalist?
In May of 1921 a great personal tragedy touched
William Allen White’s life. His beloved 17-year old daughter,
Mary, was killed. She was riding a horse in downtown Emporia when
she noticed a friend from school and turned back to wave at him. As
she did this she accidentally pulled the reigns a bit causing the horse to
veer to the side of the road where there was a low hanging branch and she
was struck in the back of the head. The blow to her head fractured
her skull and she, after lapsing into a coma, died. Mary was young,
energetic, intelligent and well-liked. She loved to read. Her
death shocked the nation as many readers of Mr. White’s editorials had
come to know and love Mary through his writing. After Mary’s
death, William Allen White wrote a touching editorial telling about her
and her death. In the editorial he wrote of her favorite authors and
stated that “she loved books”.
The late Ruth Garver Gagliardo who was a specialist
in children’s literature, a former Gazette writer and secretary to
William Allen White founded the William Allen White Children’s Book
Award in 1952. Her purpose was not only to honor the memory of one
of the state's most distinguished citizens but also to encourage the boys
and girls of Kansas to read and enjoy good books just as his daughter Mary
White had. The White Awards Program was established by Emporia State
University and is supported in part by the Trusler Foundation.
Can you tell us anything more about
William Allen White and his
daughter?
William Allen White’s editorial of Mary’s death
ended with this paragraph: “A rift in the clouds in a gray day threw a
shaft of sunlight upon her coffin as her nervous, energetic little body
sank to its last sleep. But the soul of her, the glowing, gorgeous,
fervent soul of her, surely was flaming in eager joy upon some other
dawn.” A photo of Mary and the complete editorial can be found at:
http://www.emporia.com/waw/mary.html
To this day a bust of William Allen White, donated by
president Herbert Hoover, and his editorial about Mary, which is written
on a bronze plaque, can be seen at Peter Pan Park in Emporia: http://www.emporia.com/waw/peterpanpark.html
Since the main character in the book, Peter Pan,
never grew up, the name of the park is a fitting memorial for Mary whose
premature death caused her to remain forever a child as well.
Vote for Your Favorite Author
Students in middle schools and junior highs all
across Kansas will be voting for their favorite William Allen White Master
List book. More school students participate in The William Allen
White Children’s Book Award Program than in any other state children’s
book award program. Plus, it is also the oldest state children’s
book award. Hopefully, SHMS students will help keep this rich Kansas
tradition alive and successful!
All students at SHMS are encouraged to read as many
books as possible from the following Master List and then vote from their
favorite book in April. When a student has read two books
from Master List, he or she is eligible to vote for the annual
William Allen White Award winner.
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