91´«Ã½

CHICAGO - The Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) has awarded the 2020 Maureen Hayes Author/Illustrator Visit Award to the Algonquin Area Public Library in Algonquin, IL.



The award, sponsored by Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing, is designed to provide up to $4,000 to an ALSC member’s library to fund a visit from an author/illustrator who will speak to children who might otherwise not have had the opportunity to hear from a nationally known author/illustrator.



The Algonquin Public Library will be celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2020. Though it has been able to host local authors in the past, they have never hosted a nationally known children's author in the community. For their celebration they are planning to bring in Bob Shea.



The library will be locally partnering with St. John’s Lutheran Church to host Shea’s visit in the church’s gymnasium to accommodate a large amount of attendees. Three author sessions will allow the library to host over 2000 attendees and be open to the public. Outreach will be done through schools, the library, local and regional news agencies.



The library will be partnering with its five public school districts, parochial and independent schools as well as several preschool programs, including two headstart programs, an ESL school, and a site for the Northwestern Illinois Association Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program. In preparation for the program, the library will offer in house programming as well as storytimes to community outreach sites and partner with area preschools to feature lessons and readings of Shea’s books.



“The committee was impressed with Algonquin Area Public Library proposal celebrating the founding of the library and its commitment to early literacy.” said Ariana Hussain, 2020 Grant Administration Committee chair.



“We are proud to support the Maureen Hayes Author/Illustrator Award year after year, and delighted that so many readers in the Algonquin Area Public Library community will benefit from author Bob Shea’s visit as a result,” said Michelle Leo, VP, Director of Education & Library Marketing at Simon & Schuster.

ALSC, a division of the 91´«Ã½, is the world’s largest organization dedicated to the support and enhancement of library service to children. With a network of more than 4,000 children’s and youth librarians, literature experts, publishers and educational faculty, ALSC is committed to creating a better future for children through libraries. To learn more about ALSC, visit ALSC’s website at ;