Black-Eyed Susan Award Program


  Burtonsville students have been participating in the Black-Eyed Susan Book Award Program since 2011
The Black-Eyed Susan Book Award is the children's choice book award for the state of Maryland.
Students participating in the program read several of the nominated books in their age appropriate category and in April vote for their favorites.

The Media Center staff will begin promoting the Black-Eyed Susan program in September and several copies of each nominated book will be available for check-out . These books are also available in the public library.

 

 Frequently Asked Questions

 

What is the Black-Eyed Susan Book Award Program?
The Black-Eyed Susan Book Award Program (BES) is a children's choice award for the state of Maryland.  The BES Award honors outstanding picture books and chapter books – each year 15 picture books and 10 chapter books are nominatedStudents in the state of Maryland vote for the winning book in each category – that is what makes this Award program so exciting!

 

How does this affect my child?
All students will be reading nominated picture books during their Media Center time.  All of them will have the opportunity to vote in April. 

Fourth and fifth grade students may want to vote for their favorite chapter book.  In order to vote for their favorite books, the students must have read or listened to at least 3 of the 10  nominated  chapter books.  Each student who says he/she has read a book must complete a brief form. Voting will take place in the end of April.  We will have several copies of each book in the Media Center for students to check out beginning this week. These books are also available at the public library.  There will be a party in the Media Center in April to celebrate the students who read 3 books and voted.  Participation in this book award program is voluntary

 

How does this affect me as a parent?
Hopefully all of you will encourage your children to read the nominated books – they are excellent pieces of literature!  Just like the program is voluntary for students, it is also voluntary for teachers.  Some of the classroom teachers in the building may be reading selected BES books in class.  Otherwise, just encourage your children to check out the books in the Media Center and/or public library and help them keep track of what they read.  Participation in this book award program is voluntary

 

Links to Black-Eyed Susan Information