Winner of the LEE BENNETT HOPKINS POETRY AWARD in 1997 ...This is the only annual national award in the U.S. honoring a children's author or anthologist for a single volume of poetry!

Dear David,

You were wonderful! Everyone was impressed with your presentation and the power of your words and images. You do know that you now have central Pennsylvania in the palm of your hand?...the Children's Literature Council of Pennsylvania

REVIEW:

"...it exemplifies the qualities of good poetry: imagination in thought, expressive in language, and graceful in form. Voices from the Wild offers readers a unique perspective on the animal kingdom." the Children's Literature Council of Pennsylvania

AWARDS:

1. Winner of the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award.

2. Shortlisted for the Ontario Silver Birch Award.

3. Canadian Children's Book Centre Our Choice Award.

An Excerpt taken from the CHILDREN'S LITERATURE COUNCIL OF PENNSYLVANIA's home page:

The 1997 Awards ceremony was, as expected, a delight. We are working on scanning in pictures from the event, held at the Hotel Hershey on April 30. This year's winning poet was David Bouchard, for his Voices from the Wild: An Animal Sensagoria, published by Chronicle books. Mr. Bouchard's address to the council's members and friends was entertaining, moving, and educational. An educator himself, Bouchard is keenly aware of what it takes to interest and delight young people. He read extensively from his poems, both from his Hopkins Award winning collection, and others. Mr. Bouchard was as delighted to be with the Council as we were to have him with us. He was a gracious winner, and made us promise to send a picture of him receiving the award from Lee Bennett Hopkins -- so he could give it to his dad. We thought we'd do him one better, and publish it on the Internet...

AUTHOR'S COMMENT:

I love this book and can't believe it hasn't sold a million copies. The art is spectacular and the text... Awards indicate that the text is equally as fine.

There are three national awards in the U.S.: one for the best novel, one for the best illustrated book of the year and the other for the best single volume of poetry. This book was selected, out of 86 submissions, as the winner of the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award.

It is a superb read aloud. The rhythm makes for a book that everyone can enjoy, particularity reluctant readers (often boys, sadly enough....).