The Westchester Library System’s 9th Annual Anne Izard Storytellers’ Choice Awards takes place Tuesday at the Ossining Public Library.

The award highlights distinguished books for children and adults in the field of storytelling—and some neat storytelling will take place during the program.

The Anne Izard Storytellers’ Choice Award was established in 1990 to honor Anne Izard, noted storyteller, librarian, and former children’s services consultant in Westchester Library System for 20 years.  She died in 1990 at the age of 74.

This year’s 13 story winners include tales written by noted storytellers and  writers. The stories feature ” fanciful tales, folk tales, family stories, and historical narratives of actual events shaped into stories that illuminate events and periods of history,” explains the Westchester Library System.

“The Anne Izard Storytellers’ Choice Award recognizes the magic of storytelling and the power of the human voice to add even more depth and delight to the words on the pages of these books,” says Judith Rovenger, director of youth services for WLS. “Each of the books honored are compelling stories, rich in their use of language, painting vivid word pictures that will captivate listeners as well as readers.”

The program is from 10 a.m. to noon at the Ossining library on Croton Avenue.

This year there will be special guests: 2009 recipients Judy Freeman, Peninnah Schram, Andrea Davis Pinkney and Alice McGill, and  celebrated storyteller Carol Birch from Chappaqua Library. A tribute to the late Kate McClelland, a children’s librarian, will also be part of the program.

The thirteen award recipients include (for a preview of each book, go to the WLS site):

THE GIRL WHO HELPED THUNDER AND OTHER NATIVE AMERICAN FOLKTALES, by James and Joseph Bruchac, illustrated by Stafano Vitale (Sterling), takes its readers on a thought-provoking ride through North American legend and legacy.

GOOD ENOUGH TO EAT, written and illustrated by Brock Cole (Farrar, Straus & Giroux), tells the captivating story of a brave and clever girl who outsmarts an ogre, shows up a town, and earns herself a name.

ONE IS A FEAST FOR A MOUSE:  A THANKSGIVING TALE, by Judy Cox, illustrated by Jeffrey Ebbeler (Holiday House), starts with a pea, and then a cranberry, and then…. well, a delicious Thanksgiving feast of a tale featuring a mouse with eyes much bigger than his stomach and a sly sneaking up cat.

MARTINA, THE BEAUTIFUL COCKROACH: A CUBAN FOLKTALE, by Carmen Agra Deedy, illustrated by Michael Austin (Peachtree), is a fresh and outrageously funny retelling of as a Cuban folktale about a young cockroach on the verge of marriage.

A TASTE OF COLORED WATER, by Matt Faulkner (Simon & Schuster), is poignant and compelling picture book account of segregation. After hearing about “colored water,” two children decide to find the fountain and have a taste for themselves.

ONCE UPON A TIME:  USING STORYTELLING, CREATIVE DRAMA AND READER’S THEATER WITH CHILDREN IN GRADES PRE K-6, by Judy Freeman (Libraries Unlimited), is a “field tested” resource jam-packed with one idea after another for the novice to experienced storyteller.

DANCE, NANA, DANCE/BAILA, NANA, BAILA:  CUBAN FOLKTALES IN ENGLISH AND SPANISH, by Joe Hayes, illustrated by Mauricio Trenard Sayago (Cinco Puntos Press), offers a glimpse of Cubans’ fun-filled zest for life, joy and love of song and dance.

THAT BOOK WOMAN, by Heather Henson, illustrated by David Small (Atheneum), is an earnest first person account with a rhythmic mountain vernacular that reads beautifully and will move all who take a love of books and reading for granted.

WAY UP AND OVER EVERYTHING, by Alice McGill, illustrated by Jude Daly (Houghton), recounts the McGill family version of a slave story with hero longing for freedom who possesses magical powers.

DOCTOR ALL-KNOWING: A FOLK TALE FROM THE BROTHERS GRIMM, by Doris Orgel, illustrated by Alexandra Boiger (Atheneum), is a wondrously silly book based on a little-known Grimm Brothers folk tale.

BOYCOTT BLUES:  HOW ROSA PARKS INSPIRED A NATION, by Andrea Davis Pinkney, illustrated by Brian Pinkney (Greenwillow), is a blues ballad that sings and, ultimately, shouts the joyous tale of the foot-weary seamstress and the people of Montgomery Alabama who changed the world with their courage.

THE BEARSKINNER: A TALE OF THE BROTHERS GRIMM, by Laura Amy Schlitz (Candlewick), illustrated by Max Grafe, tells of a soldier returning from war who strikes a bargain with the devil and must wander the world for seven years dressed only in a bear’s skin.

THE HUNGRY CLOTHES AND OTHER JEWISH FOLKTALES, by Peninnah Schram, illustrated by Gianni De Conno (Sterling), is a humorous, sly, wise, moving, and lively collection of Jewish folktales retold in a fresh manner that makes them unforgettable to young and old alike.