Conservative radio commentator Rush Limbaugh won the Author of the Year award at the Children’s Choice Book Awards for his book Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims: Time-Travel Adventures With Exceptional Americans, in which Rush Revere and a talking horse named Liberty travel back in time to visit the pilgrims. Although the book has never been a critical favorite — one review accused it of “disdain for even the most rudimentary standards of storytelling” — it has been an enormous commercial success. Four finalists for the award were chosen because of their places on bestseller lists, and the winner was chosen by children’s votes. In response to concerns about the list of finalists announced in March, the prize organizers — Children’s Book Council and Every Child a Reader — had released a delicately worded statement: This program has never been about CBC or ECAR endorsing finalists. It has always been about CBC and ECAR endorsing young readers and giving them a choice and a voice on a national scale.” In accepting the honor, Limbaugh said, “I love America. I wish everybody did. I hope everybody will. It’s one of the most fascinating stories in human history … and it’s a delight and it’s an opportunity to try to share that story with young people so they can grow and learn to love and appreciate the country in which they’re growing up and will someday run and lead and inherit.”

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