INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana Center for the Book director Suzanne Walker has announced that the 2024 Indiana Early Literacy Firefly Award recipient is “I Was Born a Baby,” published by Harper Collins, written by Meg Fleming, and illustrated by Brandon James Scott.
“When I heard the news that ‘I Was Born a Baby’ won the Indiana Early Literacy Firefly Award I was thunderstruck. While all awards are truly an honor, this one is decidedly special because the votes came in from real kids,” Fleming said.
“This book was inspired by my youngest son who, when he was three, walked in the room and made the declaration, ‘I was born a baby!’ Several years later, I was thinking up a clever way to teach kids all the baby animal names and I remembered his declaration. That’s when I started to wonder what baby animals would think about their own baby names. The rest is history.”
This is the tenth year of the Indiana Early Literacy Firefly Award. Votes were submitted from 45 Indiana counties, and over 3,000 Indiana children aged 0-5 voted.
The Indiana Early Literacy Firefly Award is an Indiana Center for the Book initiative designed to promote early childhood literacy in Indiana. The Indiana Early Literacy Firefly Committee chooses the nominees from a list of books nominated by library staff who work with children all over Indiana.
The nominated books are chosen for their ability to encourage parents and children to use the Every Child Ready to Read® practices of talking, singing, reading, writing, and playing together. Caregivers can use the Firefly books as a resource for having fun and learning with their young children.
A program guide for parents, librarians, and teachers to use with children is available here.
