I don’t have very many vivid recollections from my childhood, but I do remember being in the sixth grade, going to the school library, browsing the shelves, and pulling THE GREY KING off–I remember all of that very vividly with precise sensory details. By then, I had developed the knack for sniffing out fantasy without asking the librarian or consulting the card catalog: 1. Glance at the title, 2. Check out the cover, and 3. Read the jacket copy. THE GREY KING sounded kind of like THE HIGH KING (a book I had… Read More
The uncorrected version of the 2012 Notables list is now up here
The Notables list is considered a gathering of “the best of the best” of the year:
“”notable” is defined as: Worthy of note or notice, important, distinguished, outstanding. As applied to children’s books, notable should be thought to include books of especially commendable quality, books that exhibit venturesome creativity, and books of fiction, information, poetry and pictures for all age levels (birth through age 14) that reflect and encourage children’s interests in exemplary ways.”
I always look to this list to gather books that we’ve recognized stand out …often on… Read More
While DEAD END IN NORVELT wasn’t on our shortlist, the book earned three starred reviews, made three best of the year lists, and won the Scott O’Dell Award. We had a running conversation about the book here and here and here. Similarly, we did not include INSIDE OUT & BACK AGAIN despite the fact that it earned four starred reviews, made four best of the year lists, and won the National Book Award. It was discussed here and here and here. Both of these… Read More
You’ll get a more thoughtful post from Jonathan soon, but here’s something quick from the floor so you all can begin commenting. Remeber that your resource page for all the award winners is http://www.ala.org/yma
Sharon McKellar and I are here with Monica Edinger. We passed the closed Starbicks (7:30? come on, don’t they know what day it is?), the press office, where committees were still having photos taken after their phone calls:
…And into the theater. As the announcements proceed, there are shouts and yelps, recongition for each committee, and… Read More
I just breakfasted next to a Newbery committee member who was feeding and bolting to her 8am meeting. They met all day yesterday, and will again all day today, and by the end (“10pm” is often wishful thinking on Saturday) may have a winner. Sunday, if they’re on schedule, is for preparing press releases and staggering around in dazes… if they’re brave, maybe sitting in on the Notable Children’s Books discussion where we try to read their faces, and if not, perhaps to bed. They’ll be up early early Monday… Read More
Well, I’m here in Dallas now. Here are some final thoughts to mull over this weekend . . .
During our mock Newbery, I voted the same way on all three ballots: 1. AMELIA LOST 2. I BROKE MY TRUNK! 3. SIR GAWAIN. Since I clearly thought AMELIA LOST was the most distinguished that claimed my first place vote. I also knew I wanted I BROKE MY TRUNK on my ballot, and finally I opted for SIR GAWAIN despite a mixed discussion. I eschewed the novels entirely–since I still hadn’t made up my mind–and then, too, I wanted to keep SIR GAWAIN on… Read More
Tomorrow I head to Dallas for ALA, and Jonathan a little later. So here’s where our postings and comments may get a little more sporadic. You’ll hear from us at the conference, and on Monday of course.
A couple of Mock Newberies reported on the ALSC listserv:
Queens Library: Winner: OKAY FOR NOW, Honor: WONDERSTRUCK
Maryland Library Association: Winner: OKAY FOR NOW
Allen County Public Library reported online their winner: INSIDE OUT AND BACK AGAIN, and honor: OKAY FOR NOW.
Yesterday, thirteen of the smartest, most articulate, most passionate people in all of Northern California gathered at the Rockridge branch of the Oakland Public Library for the annual Mock Newbery. The discussion was stimulating, the snacks yummy, and the results surprising. I’m having a hard time making both the book covers and the ballot tables behave in this post, so I’m going very low tech with these results because I thought you’d want them in a more timely manner.
ICEFALL is the book most often mentioned in the comments that we have never properly featured in a post. Nina read it and was unimpressed. I read the first three chapters (about fifty pages) and put it down because nothing had happened yet. Since many of you have mentioned this book is similar to Megan Whalen Turner’s books, I realize that those first three chapters could hold important clues to the plot later on, and perhaps it is silly to admit this, but it just felt like a… Read More
One of my favorite books of the year that I can’t seem to find a Newbery argument for is DRAWING FROM MEMORY. We bandied it about lightly for our shortlist… but while I think it’s easily one of *THE* best children’s books of the year…I couldn’t find truly distinguished elements in the text alone on par with our other contenders. Where in WONDERSTRUCK or I BROKE MY TRUNK or THE MONEY WE’LL SAVE I feel the words and text play equal, related parts, here I feel like the text plays… Read More
