This past year marked the first time since the Foundation's move to a more streamlined children's genre that an audiobook was awarded the top GRAMMY prize for the kids' music category. The incredible story of Malala Yousafzai had already caught the attention of millions through her co-written autobiography I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban. A young reader version was later published as I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World, and the audiobook of this tome won the 57th Annual GRAMMY Award for "Best Children's Album."
So why am I even bring up these points? Stefan Shepherd over at Zooglobble wrote up a great, thought-provoking article about the Children's GRAMMYs that got me thinking. If you look at the list of the most recent nominations for Best Children's Album, you'll notice a ton of super choices afforded judges. These included The Pop Ups' Appetite for Construction, Brady Rymer's Just Say Hi!, Secret Agent 23 Skidoo's The Perfect Quirk, and The Okee Dokee Brothers' Through the Woods, any of which deserved to win the GRAMMY if the category had remained music-only.
My reasoning is that at the very least, the discussions and arguments brought up by this year's winner will help draw the attention of less-informed listeners to inspiring stories like Yousafzai's and to the quality and diversity of new kindie rock music. Hey, if you need more proof of the improvement in children's music GRAMMY nominations in recent times just take a look at the choices between about 1978 to 2002: a full 16 GRAMMY winners were Disney, Pixar, or Sesame Street products. Any press afforded quality kindie rock is wonderful, and we should be thankful for and proud to include I Am Malala as a fellow nominee in helping to bring new ears to your musical creativity.
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