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College Presents Eighth Bock Book Award

John Michael Powell, director of the College library, and Dr. Rosalie Mirenda, College president, present the 2007 Bock Book Award to Diane Gibfried (right).

Neumann presented the eighth Frances and Wesley Bock Book Award for Children’s Literature on October 4 in the college library. Local author Diane Gibfried read Brother Juniper, her first book and the 2007 winning entry, to children from the Child Development Center.

A committee of scholars and librarians selected Brother Juniper – written by Gibfried and illustrated by Meilo So – from dozens of books submitted for consideration.  The book tells the story of Brother Juniper, the most generous of seven Franciscan friars who live in Assisi with Father Francis. Juniper has been known to give away the robe off his back – literally. When Francis asks Juniper to look after the church while the others are away, all the brothers wonder what they’ll find when they return.

“I wondered what would happen if a person could follow his inclination to give away all that he had,” says Gibfried, who is a McBride Scholar at Bryn Mawr College where she is completing a degree in psychology. The mother of three grown children, she lives in Bala Cynwyd, PA.

Principal criteria for the Bock Book award are a values-oriented text that appeals to the wonder

	After the award presentation, Gibfried read her book to a group of children from the campus Child Development Center.

and curiosity in children from ages three to eight; illustrations that instill a reverence and compassion for creation, in all diversity; and the integration of text and illustrations to promote a moral attitude or action. 

The Neumann College Library and the Institute for Franciscan Studies established the award in 2000 in honor of Philadelphians Frances and Wesley Bock, who built a strong business and personal relationship with the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia during more than 50 years.

10/12/07