2023 CLEL BELL Award

I am so pleased to share the news announcing the 2023 CLEL Bell Award Winners! The Colorado Libraries for Early Literacy (CLEL) Bell Picture Book Awards are an annual recognition of five high-quality picture books that provide excellent support of early literacy development in young children. Read more here: https://www.clel.org/clel-bell-awards/

I am very pleased to hear that How To Say Hello To A Worm: A First Guide to Outside won the TALK award for modeling early literacy practice, selected because “The book asks questions, provides practical guidance, and prompts conversations about the living creatures and plants all around us.”

I wrote this book based on my experiences teaching toddlers and preschoolers to garden at our local community garden. When children so young are learning to garden, learning to say hello to other living things sharing the earth are manners of building relationships that only become more important as we grow. I am also trained as an inquiry-based science teacher, so to me, learning to ask questions based on our observations is a key skill to empower understanding and a life long love of learning. I am very excited that this book was chosen for recognition as a model of how to ask questions and how to greet others in the world.