Blueberry Awards in Evanston Honor Best Kids' Books on Ecology
Also, my public service announcement for getting a colonoscopy
Blueberry Awards Honor Better-for-Planet Books
Local Food Forum carries a lot of stories about food education and school gardening programs because I believe strongly that the surest way of building a better food system into the future is to instill good food values in our youngest eaters.
That’s also why we believers in a better-for-people, better-for-the-planet food system also feel a kinship with those whose focus is on teaching children about the importance of protecting and improving our natural environment.
And tomorrow (March 14), from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m., you can visit the Robert Crown Branch Library, 1801 Main Street in Evanston, to enjoy The Blueberry Awards Ceremony, which celebrates the books selected as the best of 2023 about the environment and ecology for children ages 3-10+.
According to the organizers, the Blueberry Awards — presented by Evanston Public Library — “honor literature that best supports kids’ connection to and stewardship of the Earth in a given year.” They add, “Blueberry Changemakers foster concrete action for the planet!”
I attended the media preview of the 2023 awards held February 29 during a lunch event at Prairie Grass Cafe in suburban Northbrook (Chef/Co-owner Sarah Stegner is an Evanston native). The mission of the Blueberry Awards program was explained by the founder, Martha Meyer, an assistant at the Evanston library.
Martha explained that the annual Awards concept was established in 2020, with the first ceremony held in 2021. She said the project was driven by this question: How else are kids gonna learn about climate? She continued, “Their parents are not experts. But the book authors are.”
To answer her rhetorical question about how a “relatively small library in the state of Illinois stuck in the middle of the country decide to launch [the Awards] all by themselves?”, she answered, “The American Library Association does not, at this time, have an award specifically for nature and climate... The pandemic gave us guts, chutzpah. We said, ‘We're just gonna do it because it needs to happen.’”
Here is why the organizers believe it needed to happen.
Climate change is a major challenge of our time, and kids deserve to learn about the planet from the very best authors and illustrators. We also need them all to be working with us. Time is late in terms of climate change, and we can't afford to leave the children out of climate discussions. But we also have to be very careful in how we talk with them, and that's maybe the most important reason to have this award. You've probably heard about the epidemic of climate anxiety among children... Child development says that you need to tell children the truth, but age appropriately.
Other participants in the discussion included Cara Pratt, the City of Evanston’s Sustainability and Resilience Manager, and Betsy Bird, Evanston Public Library‘s Collection Department Manager, a children’s book author, and publisher of a blog characterizing and recommending selected children’s books.
Betsy, said Martha, is “terribly well known among library book buyers for children. She has the column that everyone reads when they're trying to decide what to purchase.... When Betsy says something, there are librarians across the whole country that listen.”
Sarah added her remarks about the importance of the Awards: “From my perspective as a chef, I really want to see the whole of Chicago rise up and and become a stronger community that supports each other in a healthier way…. I felt like this is a component of the project that is so valuable, that if we can get these books into our kids’ hands, not only in the libraries but beyond homes and into the school systems, how powerful that can be to awakening people to the importance of taking care of our environment along with our food system and farming.”
And this being Prairie Grass Cafe, the lunch was delicious too.
Tomorrow’s ceremony is free (registration link below) and will be fun. According to the organizers, “Hear book talks of a selection of the books, hear from authors and illustrators, vote on your favorite, rub shoulders with Evanston area children's literature and climate ‘celebrities,’ and finally, enjoy a firepit, s'mores, and a bookwalk in the Reading Garden!”
: Oscopy — Just Do It
Apologies for the very brief hiatus in Local Food Forum’s typically robust schedule. On Monday, I had a (fortunately) routine medical procedure aimed at giving myself the best opportunity to continue this project for a long time. But I needed an extra day to re-energize myself.
Namely, I had a colonoscopy on Monday morning. I’d procrastinated, waiting 14 years instead of the recommended 10 since my last procedure, so there was some concern even though I had no signs of trouble. Gratefully, the doctor told me he saw no major problems, and it is likely five years or more before I have to go through this again.
I’m sure there are many people who try to dodge getting a colonoscopy either because it sounds unpleasant or because they’ve been through it and found it unpleasant. My suggestion: Just do it. A couple of forgettable days to potentially save your life or avoid a lot of misery is a very fair trade.
Truth is, the procedure itself was a piece of cake. I had it done at The Endoscopy Center in the medical building at St. Joseph Hospital in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood, and the doctor and staff were kind and walked me through every step of the procedure. A short-acting anesthetic knocked me out for the duration, and the next thing I knew I was back in the private room (you have to have someone there to take you home, and Barb was allowed to wait for me in that room).
The hard part of a colonoscopy is actually the prep. You have to be completely cleaned out for the exam to be done efficiently and quickly, which means a lot of laxative and a lot of sprinting to the bathroom. Also, you can only consume clear liquids for the full day before the exam (not in my nature as a food lover).
There are prescription preps but I chose the over-the-counter version. That involved drinking a half-liter of a Gatorade/Miralax cocktail within one hour the afternoon the day before and then again at a terribly early hour of the morning.
In my normal life, I almost never consume sweetened soft drinks, and if I never had to drink Gatorade again after this, I’d be okay with that. But let me tell you, kids, it used to be worse.
When I had my first colonoscopy back in the ‘90s, the prep came in a huge plastic container that I called the gas can because it felt like I was drinking gasoline. If you’re a Harry Potter fan, you’ll remember the episode in which Dumbledore had to drink water that made him wretchedly ill in order to recover one of Voldemort’s horcruxes, and ordered Harry to not let him stop no matter how much he pleaded. Getting through the gas can prep was kind of like that.
I have to admit that the Gatorade was much better.
My procedure went exceptionally well, but I was waxed afterward and the rest of Monday was rather wasted, so plan on that. And when you have a colonoscopy you’ll be told to contact your doctor or go to the emergency room if there are certain after-effects, but I had none of that.
I’ll close this public service announcement with two recommendations:
Eat a high-fiber diet: I would have been really disappointed if I did have any major problems, because man, do I eat a lot of fiber. Eat plenty of vegetables, fruit and whole grains. It is universally agreed that this is your best assurance of avoiding colon issues.
Get that colonoscopy: I’m pretty sure we’re all adults here so you all want to do everything possible to avoid cancer. As a prostate cancer survivor myself, I highly recommend this, and if chugging Gatorade-lax and laying unconscious during a very brief procedure will help, just do it.