THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN by Katherine Applegate (three stars) is a novel in prose poems with rich themes.

DRAGONSWOOD by Janet Lee Carey (two stars) is a sequel to the author’s earlier fantasy book.

THE MIGHTY MISS MALONE by Christopher Paul Curtis (two stars) is a sequel to Newbery Medal winner BUD, NOT BUDDY.

STEP GENTLY OUT by Helen Frost (two stars) is a single poem with striking photographic illustrations.

PENNY AND HER SONG by Kevin Henkes (three stars) is an easy reader.

PRINCESS ACADEMY 2 by Shannon Hale is coming in the fall.  I can’t wait!

TITANIC: VOICES FROM THE DISASTER by Deborah Hopkinson (two stars) is a nonfiction account on the 100th year anniversary of the disaster.

THE LIONS OF LITTLE ROCK by Kristin Levine (three stars) is historical fiction about the year after the Little Rock Nine.

WE’VE GOT A JOB by Cynthia Levinson (three stars) is a nonfiction book about the 1963 Birmingham Children’s March.

SON by Lois Lowry, the final book in the Giver quartet, publishes in the fall.

NO CRYSTAL STAIR by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson (two stars) a documentary novel about the life of a Harlem bookseller.

THE FALSE PRINCE by Jennifer Nielsen is a fantasy adventure.  Great pageturner.  Should be a big hit with readers.

MILES TO GO FOR FREEDOM by Linda Barrett Osborne (three stars) is a lavishly illustrated nonfiction book about Jim Crow.

WONDER by R.J. Palacio (three stars) is about a kid with a deformed face about to start school for the first time.

MAY B by Caroline Starr Rose (two stars) is a historical novel in verse.

WHAT CAME FROM THE STARS by Gary Schmidt is an epic high fantasy with a contemporary setting.  This one also comes in the fall.

LITTLE ROCK GIRL 1957 by Shelley Tougas (two stars) is a nonfiction book about the iconic photograph.

CROW by Barbara Wright (four stars) is a historical fiction set during the Reconstruction.

Please feel free to add your own recommendations here, now and throughout the spring and summer.  See you in the fall.  Signing off for now.

Since I served on the committtee, I’ve started paying special attention to the comments about each book in the press release. Those word counts are strictly adhered-to, and within them the committee has its one chance to craft its public “why” regarding each title. So here are their thoughts, followed by mine. I’m going to do mine in reverse order (honors are presented alphabetically) so that Velchin gets to wind up on top. We’ve remarked on his work the least so far, so here it will get the most.

BREAKING STALIN’S NOSE
On the eve of his induction into the Young Pioneers, Sasha’s world is overturned when his father is arrested by Stalin’s guard. Yelchin deftly crafts a stark and compelling story of a child’s lost idealism.

In his blog post about Horn Book’s fanfare list, Roger Sutton said of this title: ” It needed one person—me—to bring it to the Fanfare table; much debate and discussion later, it needs another person—you—to help it flourish.” Clearly at least one person on the Newbery committee heeded his call (or led it?). I will admit that I’d have been one of the ones on the committtee thinking “really?”…who would have needed to be convinced, as it doesn’t jump out with the sorts of things I’m usually on the watch for.   Yet, this is definetely one of the books Jonathan was championing when he posted about the length of some of this year’s books.  Yelchin’s prose is not fancy…but it does achieve a keeness of child perspective that is respectful of its readers, allowing Sasha’s conscious and subconscionus to exist in tangible layers, in and between the lines of text. (For instance, Sasha’s observations of Stukachov while his father is being arrested. “So we’ll be moving in then?” p.28. This scene has two readings, one in the moment, and one with hindsight.) This is a book where “interpretation of theme or concept” and “presentation for a child audience,” stand out…especially in its eerie, open ending (where I have to point out the effectiveness of the illustration that snakes across the final four spreads, even though the committee would not have)…and it’s these strengths in particular that suddenly made me see the committtee’s three honored titles as of a piece.

INSIDE OUT AND BACK AGAIN
Hà and her family flee war-torn Vietnam for the American South. In spare yet vivid verse, she chronicles her year-long struggle to find her place in a new and shifting world.

We’ve talked about this one many times, and while my initial feelings about it haven’t changed, my appreciations of it continue to develop, especially rereading it following BREAKING STALIN’S NOSE. It’s the voice and perspective that have always stood out to me here, and the story, while completely different, and appealing to a different readership, than BSN, has a remarkable parallel to it’s co-honoree in treating a child’s reaction to related periods of recent history.

DEAD END IN NORVELT
The importance of history and reading (so you don’t do the same “stupid stuff” again) is at the heart of this achingly funny romp through a dying New Deal town. While mopping up epic nose bleeds, Jack narrates this screw-ball mystery in an endearing and believable voice. “Who knew obituaries and old lady death could be this funny and this tender?” said Newbery Medal Committee Chair Viki Ash.

And: yup, there are the Communists again! Happily, DEAD END IN NORVELT is bigger than its politics, but the parallels in these three titles is a little startling. I truly appreciate how Gantos weaves in his politics equally with humor to shape a world view for his protagonist… er, himself.   His three formative adult role models couldn’t be more flawed or, therefore, effective.  The ending has always been my favorite of the year…requiring even more of a leap of faith than in OKAY FOR NOW.  I’m so glad the committee made it.

So: three works of historical fiction dancing around the impact of the rise of Communism in the 20th century. That’s surely a coincide. What may not be is that in these three works the major strength is in how the author shows the protagonist coming to terms with the politics of the world they live in.  They show it in remarkably different ways, and that makes each one’s place on the podium all the stronger.

I actually gave myself this challenge last year and picked Virginia Hamilton.  I had read a couple of her picture books, but none of her longer novels, and when Scholastic sent VIRGINIA HAMILTON: SPEECHES, ESSAYS AND CONVERSATIONS edited by Arnold Adoff and Kacy Cook, I begin to browse through it, reading here and there, and it was the perfect impetus to start reading her books.  I decided to try to read THE PLANET OF JUNIOR BROWN; M.C. HIGGINS THE GREAT; SWEET WHISPERS, BROTHER RUSH; and IN THE BEGINNING this year.  I did manage to finish M.C. HIGGINS and IN THE BEGINNING, but I still need to read those other honor books.  The collected writings also made me want to read THE PEOPLE COULD FLY, MANY THOUSAND GONE, ANTHONY BURNS, THE MAGICAL ADVENTURES OF PRETTY PEARL, and the Justice trilogy (JUSTICE AND HER BROTHERS, DUSTLAND, THE GATHERING).

I’m going to try to read some more Virginia Hamilton this year, but I’m going to add another author to my list: Elizabeth George Speare.  I’ve read her Honor book, THE SIGN OF THE BEAVER–in fact, I’ve taught it to a couple of fifth grade classes–but I’ve never read either THE WITCH OF BLACKBIRD POND or THE BRONZE BOW.  So that’s my goal for this year: read a couple more Virginia Hamilton books and read this pair of Medal winners from Elizabeth George Speare.  I’m going to report on my progress in the fall, and I’ll ask you to do the same.  Are you up for it?

Oh, and by the way . . . Monica and Roxanne are fixing to announce the Battle of the Kids’ Books shortlist on Wednesday, February 1st over on the BOB site.  I think you may see some familiar faces.  Stay tuned.

Jonathan and I have a few more things to say this season (yes, including our thoughts on “Breaking Stalin’s Nose”)…but we’ll be wrapping up early next week. So if there’s anything else you’ve been too shy to ask all along, now’s the time!

I read the rest of the series completely out of order: THE DARK IS RISING, GREENWITCH, and OVER SEA, UNDER STONE.  But then–horror of horrors!–I had to wait for the final volume, SILVER ON THE TREE, because it hadn’t been published yet.  Or so I thought.  See, this was circa 1982 and SILVER ON THE TREE would have been out for five years by then!  Maybe I should have asked the librarian.  Or maybe she should have ordered all the books in the series!  Or taught me about copyright date.  Or something.  Oh, how I pined for that final book!  Anyway, a couple of years later I found a paperback edition in a bookstore, and I was overjoyed that it had finally–finally!–been published.

Flash forward about 20 years.  I was attending Children’s Literature New England, a really cool week-long children’s literature seminar for die-hard junkies. I arrived a day early, booked a hotel room for the night (before moving into the dorms for the seminar), and it was not until I got fully inside the elevator and the doors shut that I noticed who else was there with me: Susan Cooper.  (And, oh yeah, there was this fellow named Hume Cronyn, too, but he’s not important to this story.)  I was so starstruck and tongue-tied.  I spent the short elevator ride admiring my shoes.  And despite the intimate nature of the seminar–probably a couple hundred attendees–I never mustered up the courage to introduce myself to her.  What would I say?  How could I articulate how much her books meant to me?  I simply couldn’t do it.

Flash forward another 10 years or so.  I was on the 2012 Margaret Edwards committee which recognizes an author for her significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature.  As we sifted and sorted our way through dozens of worthy authors, we finally settled on Susan Cooper as our choice and cited the Dark Is Rising sequence as her significant and lasting contribution.  It’s probably pretty rare that you get to serve on a lifetime achievement committee and give the award to an author that made a huge impact on you as a young reader.  This bit of serendipity affords my twelve- to fourteen-year old self the opportunity to validate the sentiments I felt in that elevator, but could never voice.  Thank you, Susan Cooper.  Thank you.

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 their OWN terms, rather than on any of set of particular award criteria. And here are some of our unmedaled favorites…that nonfiction triumvirate of AMELIA LOST, BLIZZARD and BOOTLEG…. My own fav in the “overlooked by medals” category: SWIRL BY SWIRL… and still others not there at all, perhaps because they don’t stand out enough. The Notables list is, still, done by committee. And I can be my own champion, in my own library, for MO WREN.

What are you delighted to see on this list? What do you miss?

Clearly, our discussion here coalesced around OKAY FOR NOW, A MONSTER CALLS, and AMELIA LOST.  The absence of these books–the absence of any particular book–does not necessarily say anything about what the committee thought about that particular book.  Surely, the committee–or, perhaps more accurately, a subset of the committee–appreciated each of these books in the way that we did.  It’s just that, collectively, they esteemed these three books to fit the criteria better.  So, yes, some omissions may be disappointing, but we cannot view these choices as the committee slighting certain books (as tempting as that is).  Rather, they simply chose to celebrate other worthy books.  And so I congratulate the 2012 Newbery committee on a job well done!  I look forward to reading BREAKING STALIN’S NOSE in the very near future, and we all look forward to what promises to be one of the more entertaining Newbery Medal speeches.

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 the tension mounts. (All these wonderful books haven’t read yet!) The room gets hot, and electric.

Finally, we hear that the Newbery honors are:

INSIDE OUT AND BACK AGAIN

BREAKING STALIN’S NOSE

…And the winner is:

DEAD END IN NORVELT

And I am thrilled at all the surprises. See you soon!!! Coffee…..

So here’s to the committee and their Saturday: it’ll be intense, the hardest work in a hard working year still ahead, but over soon. And, here’s proof, they’re fortified.

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 the table–and in the conversation.  I figured by voting this way, I would defer to those people who strongly supported one novel above the rest, and then I could strategically adjust my votes for the second ballot once I saw the lay of the land.  Thus, I never really had to do a direct comparison between OKAY FOR NOW and I BROKE MY TRUNK! and since, to my mind, AMELIA LOST was as distinguished, if not more so, I didn’t necessarily feel bad about it.  Having been on the real committee, I’m not any good at making predictions anymore.  I can only offer up how I would approach the Midwinter meetings, given the small sampling of books I have read and without the benefit of knowing what was suggested and nominated.  I like my strategy from the mock Newbery and think I would go into the meetings with the same three, listen to the discussion with an open mind, and then adjust accordingly.

I know those three titles are not necessarily the most traditional kind of Newbery book, but they are not the only nontraditional titles I can vote for if the support is there.  I can also get behind BOOTLEG, DRAWING FROM MEMORY, and THE MONEY WE’LL SAVE.  I can also support the following novels: DEAD END IN NORVELT, THE FREEDOM MAZE, A MONSTER CALLS, OKAY FOR NOW, and THE PENDERWICKS AT POINT MOUETTE.  So while the discussion can change things dramatically by altering which books I would put on my ballot, I really cannot see myself going outside of these eleven books, regardless of what happens in the discussion and how long and torturous the road to consensus.  It doesn’t mean I’m against other books getting recognized; I just don’t feel the need to vote on the prevailing side.

I finished ICEFALL.  I did like it and I do see distinguished qualities all over the place, but I don’t think it rises to the level of most distinguished.  One thing about reading books late in the year, you’re comparing them against what you’re serious about putting on your own ballot, and perhaps I would have given ICEFALL more consideration if I had read it earlier when I wasn’t putting pressure on it to live up to certain expectations.  I did like the plotting, but thought the pacing was slow–and I thought this about THE CLOCKWORK THREE, too.  Theme was another criticism I had of that book, but this one has a wonderful pair in the coming of age theme and the importance of storytelling.  I didn’t care for the first person present tense narrative, but I ignored it once the story picked up after the first third of the book.

So . . . Do you have any final thoughts, predictions, pleas, rumors, or gossip to share?