JUDY GODDARD AWARD WINNER 2023

DANIELLE FRADETTE

Danielle is a new teacher mentor for Tucson Unified School District and special education teacher who has lived in the Sonoran desert for over 20 years.  She enjoys traveling throughout the Southwest with her daughters, and it is during  one of those walks that she got the inspiration for her first book,  The Giving Tree of the Desert.  Beautifully illustrated by Tais Lemos,  the book shows how a palo verde becomes the nurse tree for a tiny black saguaro seed, protecting the baby saguaro from animals, heat, monsoon storms and other dangers.

Danielle plans a Spanish translation of this book, and is also exploring the idea of writing science fiction stories for very young children.

Danielle enjoys helping children cultivate their curiosity and creativity, and welcomes the opportunity for school and classroom visits.

Lunch, followed by presentation of the Judy Goddard Award for 2023 to Danielle Fradette of Tucson.

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What is the “Judy Goddard Award”?

Sensing the importance of recognizing authors and illustrators whose work captures the uniqueness of Arizona and the Southwest, Judy Goddard, the founder of Libraries, Ltd., worked with members of the Arizona State Library Association in 1983 to establish an award for excellence in books about Arizona for children.

Originally, the award was named the Arizona Author Award. In 1997, this evolved into two awards: one for children’s authors and illustrators and the other for writers for the young adult audience. At this time, the boards of both organizations voted to change the name of the awards to honor the work of the awards’ sponsor. The awards were renamed the Judy Goddard/Libraries, Ltd. Arizona Children’s Author/Illustrator Award and the Judy Goddard/Libraries, Ltd. Arizona Young Adult Author Award.

As of 2019, Libraries Ltd will give only one award each year instead of two. The award will be presented to the author/illustrator whose work best meets our criteria for either children or young adults. The most important criteria are literary and/or artistic merit and that the work features or is closely identified with Arizona and the surrounding regions. Preference is given to authors living in Arizona.