Judging the Salanga 2006

I'm halfway reading the entries for this year's Salanga. I have set aside seven entries for a second reading. I'm afraid I can't finish by the end of the week since graduate studies and work in school must come first. Anyway, I still have a week more to read the rest.

I am not judging on the context of a writer for children, but rather, as a children's librarian. There are of course factors to consider like the craft of writing and the artistic and literary values of a story. I'll leave that to Rayvi Sunico. What I am looking for is a story that children will find easy to read and comprehend; a story that empowers them; a story that speaks their experience; a story that entertains them and challenges them to read more books or books of that genre. I don't know what the other judges has to say. We can always deliberate.