Western Kentucky University Libraries has selected Same Sun Here, written by Silas House and Neela Vaswani, as the winner of the seventh Evelyn Thurman Young Readers Book Award. The national award was created to honor the memory of former WKU librarian Evelyn Thurman, who made significant contributions to children’s librarianship and literacy during her 25 years of service to the university and community. Books eligible for the award must be written or illustrated by a Kentucky author or illustrator or have a significant Kentucky-related connection.
The Southern Kentucky Book Fest partnership (Barnes & Noble, WKU Libraries, and Warren County Public Library) had over 60 books donated by author Maureen Wright. Ms. Wright had to cancel her visit to last year’s Book Fest at the last minute due to a family emergency, and rather than have the books returned to her, she asked the partnership to find a good home for them. Jennifer Wilson, Marketing Coordinator for WKU Libraries, took those books as well as other children’s books that were contributed by a host of authors and gave them to Dr. Mark Lowry and his staff in the pediatrics department at Graves Gilbert Clinic. Over 60% of Dr. Lowry’s patient base is comprised of children who are either uninsured or on Medicaid, and he did his pediatric residency in a clinic that distributed free books to children during their well child visits. Dr. Lowry is excited about the opportunity to assist the Book Fest partnership fulfill its mission to encourage reading and a love of books, and to be a positive force for promoting literacy in the area.
