The Heights of Love, by Meadowlark Author Boyd Bauman, Named Co-Winner of the 2025 Paterson Prize for Books for Young People

A children’s book released by Meadowlark Press in 2024, The Heights of Love, by Boyd Bauman, was named co-winner of the 2025 Paterson Prize for Books for Young People in the category Pre-K to Grade 3. The awards program is organized by the Poetry Center at Passaic County Community College of Paterson, New Jersey. The judges select “the most outstanding book for young people” in each category, published in the previous year.

The Heights of Love is a poem by Boyd Bauman about the lengths a father will go to for a daughter. A little girl’s request for a bunkbed, so that her daddy doesn’t have to lean down so far to kiss her goodnight, leads to lofty dreams. When “she longed for a bunk bed tall enough she could nest in that tree,” her father’s love compels him to comply. Soon, the girl is sleeping among the clouds and stars. But is she satisfied? The book is 32 illustrated pages, a bedtime story for daddies and dreamers.

Bauman grew up on a small ranch south of Bern, Kansas, his dad the storyteller and his mom the family scribe. He has published two books of poetry: Cleave and Scheherazade Plays the Chestnut Tree Café. After stints in New York, Colorado, Alaska, Japan, and Vietnam, Boyd now is a librarian and writer in Kansas City, inspired by his three lovely muses. “I'm humbled and honored and want to thank the team at Meadowlark Press and urge you to support them as they work to publish Midwest regional authors,” Bauman said about being a recipient of the award.

The book is illustrated by Onalee Nicklin, with graphite
pencils and colored pencils. Onalee Nicklin is the illustrator of the Kansas Notable Book (2022), Ava: A Year of Adventure in the Life of an American Avocet, story by Mandy Kern, and the author/illustrator of To Hide a Hazelnut.

The Heights of Love is available through www.meadowlarkbookstore.com and wherever readers buy books. Meadowlark encourages readers to support their nearest independent bookseller.

“The Poetry Center, founded in 1980 by award-winning poet, Maria Mazziotti Gillan, its executive director, has hosted thousands of poets over the years at its readings, workshops and conferences. These include Poet Laureates, Pulitzer Prize winners, inaugural poets and others of national and international reputation. Readings at the Center have included Allen Ginsberg, Amiri Baraka, Lucille Clifton, Stanley Kunitz, Ruth Stone, Marge Piercy, Billy Collins, Richard Blanco, Patricia Smith and many others. 

“The Poetry Center has been awarded several Citations of Excellence and is funded in part by a grant from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.”