Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award
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The Vermont Golden Dome Book Award (formerly the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award) annually recognizes one new American
children's book Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...
selected by the vote of
Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...
schoolchildren. It was inaugurated in 1957. The award is co-sponsored by the Vermont State PTA and the Vermont Department of Libraries and was originally named after the Vermont writer
Dorothy Canfield Fisher Dorothy Canfield Fisher (February 17, 1879 – November 9, 1958) was an educational reformer, social activist, and best-selling American author in the early 20th century. She strongly supported women's rights, racial equality, and lifelong educat ...
. In 2020, it was temporarily renamed the "VT Middle-Grade Book Award" before schoolchildren voted to officially call it the "Vermont Golden Dome Book Award".


Selection process and award

Each spring a committee of eight adults selects a "Master List" of thirty books first published during the previous calendar year. The list is announced at the annual Dorothy Canfield Fisher Conference, usually in May, and is available at Vermont school and public libraries for children who wish to participate over the next eleven months. The following spring, those children who have read at least five of the thirty books are eligible to vote for the award, with a deadline in mid-April. The award ceremony is scheduled after the end of the school year, usually late June. Thus the award is always for books published two years previously. The winning writer is invited to visit Vermont to speak with children about the experience of writing for children.


Awards in other categories

Vermont sponsors two other statewide book awards determined by the votes of younger and older students. The Red Clover Book Award recognizes a picture book published two years earlier. Voters are children in grades K–4 who have read, or heard read aloud, all 10 books on the list. The Red Clover BA was established by 1997–98, if not earlier, and its 2014 winner was announced by May. It is the centerpiece of a one-day conference in October. The Green Mountain Book Award is voted by high school students (grades 9–12, routinely ages 14–18) either through a school library or individually online, deadline May 31. Students are asked to vote only once and to read at least 3 from a list of 15 books (for 2014, published 2008–2012; for 2015, published 2011–2013). The Green Mountain BA was inaugurated in 2006.


Winners

One book by a single writer has won the Vermont Golden Dome Book Award every year since 1957. * 2020 ''Small Spaces'' by
Katherine Arden Katherine Arden Burdine (born 1987), best known by her pen name Katherine Arden, is an American novelist. Known primarily for her ''Winternight'' trilogy of fantasy novels, which are set in medieval Russia and have garnered nominations for Hug ...
* 2019 ''Refugee'' by
Alan Gratz Alan Michael Gratz (born January 27, 1972) is the author of 17 novels for young adults including ''Prisoner B-3087'', ''Code of Honor'', ''Grenade'', ''Something Rotten'', and ''Refugee''. Alan Gratz was born in Knoxville, Tennessee. He holds a ...
* 2018 ''Projekt 1065'' by Alan Gratz * 2017 ''The Terrible Two'' by Jory John &
Mac Barnett Mac Barnett is an American writer of children's books living in Oakland, California. Barnett graduated from Pomona College, where he studied under the writer David Foster Wallace.El Deafo ''El Deafo'' is a graphic novel written and illustrated by Cece Bell. The book is a loose autobiographical account of Bell's childhood and life with her deafness. The characters in the book are all anthropomorphic bunnies. Cece Bell, in an int ...
'' by
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* 2015 '' Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library' by
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* 2014 ''
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* 2013 ''The Running Dream'' by
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* 2012 ''
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* 2011 '' 11 Birthdays'' by Wendy Mass * 2010 ''
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* 2009 ''
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* 2008 ''
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* 2007 ''
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* 2006 ''
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'' by
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* 2005 ''
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* 2004 '' Loser'' by
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* 2003 ''
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* 2002 ''
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* 2001 ''
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'' by
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* 2000 ''
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* 1999 ''
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* 1998 '' Small Steps: The Year I Got Polio'' by
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* 1997 ''Mick Harte Was Here'' by
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* 1996 ''Time for Andrew'' by
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* 1995 '' The Boggart'' by
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* 1994 ''Jennifer Murdley's Toad'' by
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* 1993 '' Shiloh'' by
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* 1992 ''
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'' by
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* 1991 ''
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* 1990 ''Where It Stops, Nobody Knows'' by
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* 1989 ''
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* 1988 ''
Wait Till Helen Comes ''Wait Till Helen Comes'' is a 1986 novel by American author Mary Downing Hahn. It was first published on January 1, 1986, through HarperCollins and has since gone through several reprints. The book won a 1989 Young Reader's Choice Award and fol ...
'' by
Mary Downing Hahn Mary Downing Hahn (born December 9, 1937) is an American writer of young adult novels and a former school librarian. She is known for books such as ''Stepping On The Cracks'' and ''Wait Till Helen Comes''. She published her first book in 1979 and ...
* 1987 ''
The Castle in the Attic ''The Castle in the Attic'' is a children's fantasy novel by Elizabeth Winthrop and illustrator Trina Schart Hyman, first published in 1985. The novel has won the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award and the California Young Reader Meda ...
'' by
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* 1986 ''The War With Grandpa'' by
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* 1985 '' Dear Mr. Henshaw'' by
Beverly Cleary Beverly Atlee Cleary (née Bunn; April 12, 1916March 25, 2021) was an American writer of children's and young adult fiction. One of America's most successful authors, 91 million copies of her books have been sold worldwide since her first b ...
* 1984 ''A Bundle of Sticks'' by Pat Rhoades Mauser * 1983 ''
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* 1982 ''The Hand-Me-Down Kid'' by
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* 1981 ''
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'' by
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* 1980 ''Bones on Black Spruce Mountain'' by David Budbill * 1979 ''Kid Power'' by
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* 1978 ''Summer of Fear'' by
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* 1977 ''A Smart Kid Like You'' by
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* 1976 ''The Toothpaste Millionaire'' by
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* 1975 ''The Eighteenth Emergency'' by
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* 1974 ''Catch a Killer'' by George Woods * 1973 ''Never Steal a Magic Cat'' by Donald E. Caufield * 1972 ''Flight of the White Wolf'' by Melvin Ellis * 1971 ''Go to the Room of the Eyes'' by B. K. Erwin * 1970 '' Kavik the Wolf Dog'' by
Walt Morey Walter Morey (February 3, 1907 – January 12, 1992), was a writer of numerous works of children's fiction, set in the U.S. Pacific Northwest and Alaska, the places where Morey lived for all of his life. His book ''Gentle Ben'' was the basis fo ...
* 1969 ''Two in the Wilderness'' by M. W. Thompson * 1968 ''The Taste of Spruce Gum'' by Jacqueline Jackson * 1967 ''The Summer I Was Lost'' by Phillip Viereck * 1966 ''
Ribsy ''Ribsy'' is a children's book by Beverly Cleary Beverly Atlee Cleary (née Bunn; April 12, 1916March 25, 2021) was an American writer of children's and young adult fiction. One of America's most successful authors, 91 million copies of ...
'' by
Beverly Cleary Beverly Atlee Cleary (née Bunn; April 12, 1916March 25, 2021) was an American writer of children's and young adult fiction. One of America's most successful authors, 91 million copies of her books have been sold worldwide since her first b ...
* 1965 '' Rascal'' by
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* 1964 ''Bristle Face'' by Zachary Ball * 1963 ''
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'' by
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* 1962 ''City under the Back Steps'' by Evelyn Sibley Lampman * 1961 ''Captain Ghost'' by Thelma Bell * 1960 ''Double or Nothing'' by Phoebe Erickson * 1959 ''Comanche of the Seventh'' by Margaret Carver Leighton * 1958 '' Fifteen'' by
Beverly Cleary Beverly Atlee Cleary (née Bunn; April 12, 1916March 25, 2021) was an American writer of children's and young adult fiction. One of America's most successful authors, 91 million copies of her books have been sold worldwide since her first b ...
* 1957 ''Old Bones, the Wonder Horse'' by Mildred Pace


Multiple awards

Several writers have won more than one DCF Award:
Beverly Cleary Beverly Atlee Cleary (née Bunn; April 12, 1916March 25, 2021) was an American writer of children's and young adult fiction. One of America's most successful authors, 91 million copies of her books have been sold worldwide since her first b ...
in 1958, 1966, and 1985;
Mary Downing Hahn Mary Downing Hahn (born December 9, 1937) is an American writer of young adult novels and a former school librarian. She is known for books such as ''Stepping On The Cracks'' and ''Wait Till Helen Comes''. She published her first book in 1979 and ...
in 1988, 1996, and 2006; Jerry Spinelli and Kate DiCamillo and Alan Gratz twice each. Seven times from 1985 to 2005 (), and no others, the schoolchildren selected the winner of the annual
Newbery Medal The John Newbery Medal, frequently shortened to the Newbery, is a literary award given by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), to the author of "the most distinguished contr ...
(dated one year earlier, established 1922). That award by the
Association for Library Service to Children The Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) is a division of the American Library Association, and it is the world's largest organization dedicated to library service to children. Its members are concerned with creating a better future ...
recognizes the year's "most distinguished contribution to American literature for children". The first agreement of Vermont children with U.S. children's librarians was their 1985 selection of ''Dear Mr. Henshaw'' by Cleary and there were six more such agreements during the next twenty years to 2005.


Controversy and renaming

In 2018, there was a call from the Vermont Library Board to change the name of the award to no longer honor
Dorothy Canfield Fisher Dorothy Canfield Fisher (February 17, 1879 – November 9, 1958) was an educational reformer, social activist, and best-selling American author in the early 20th century. She strongly supported women's rights, racial equality, and lifelong educat ...
, following a report that she had ties to Vermont's
eugenics Eugenics ( ; ) is a fringe set of beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter human gene pools by excluding people and groups judged to be inferior or ...
movement. In April 2019, the Vermont Department of Libraries announced that the award would be renamed in 2020. It was temporarily renamed the "VT Middle-Grade Book Award". In November 2020, it was officially renamed the "Vermont Golden Dome Book Award" after a vote by Vermont elementary school students.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vermont Golden Dome Book Award American children's literary awards Awards established in 1957 Vermont education-related lists Vermont culture