Comments on: Shortlist and Discussion Details Announced!

By: more mock awards « garish & tweed

more mock awards « garish & tweed — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 15:30:25 +0000

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By: Nina Lindsay

Nina Lindsay — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 23:18:21 +0000

…and being a huge library, it gets hard to stay on top of getting certain things through fast. Believe me, we’re always trying. I could lay out our whole order process by way of excuse, but I think that’s getting off topic. Things slip through, and it’s simply a huge challenge for libraries to have stuff shelf-read on the sale lay-out date.

By: Jess

Jess — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 02:52:51 +0000

Nina, I totally get that it can take a while to get books ordered, processed, and ready to check out. Every month I read reviews and realize I missed something! That said, I order juvenile fiction for my library and I do try to order as many books as possible the month they’re published (I do monthly orders, too). And since we’re a smallish library, if a box arrives, I can unpack it and get things moving the same day if there are lots of holds (I just did that with Diary of a Wimpy Kid). Otherwise it might take a few days or a week to get something ready to check out. I was just pointing out that 2-5 of our 13 libraries HAD managed to order in advance or quickly on those titles. The Kneebone Boy had a bunch of reviews in Sept., KKK in July and August, and Dark Emperor as early as June.

By: Kate Coombs

Kate Coombs — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 19:31:47 +0000

Nice list, especially A CONSPIRACY OF KINGS, but my addition would be Laura Amy Schlitz’s THE NIGHT FAIRY–one of the most beautifully crafted books I’ve read in years.

By: Nina Lindsay

Nina Lindsay — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 22:48:14 +0000

Jess, what usually happens with library ordering–and is exacerbated at this time of year when publishing is plentiful and we’re all looking for it as it comes out–is there’s a couple month’s lag between the bookstore floor date and the date you can get a library copy. If it’s something on our radar for advance order, we’ll receive it as soon as it’s available for sale, but it still takes a few weeks for us to get our shipments unpacked, invoiced, and the books cataloged and processed (if there’s a hold on the book, we do find that out as soon as it comes out of the box and it speeds through in a few days). But more often: we order based on reviews. We see the review right around the on-sale date, sometimes a little before, sometimes a little after. So we put it on our next order list…which may not go out for several weeks, since we just submit orders once a month.

By: Blakeney

Blakeney — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 00:01:07 +0000

Ah, Cecilia, I read Secret of the Andes as a 6th grader and loved it. And I was definitely a reluctant reader. I mentioned some strengths of Turtle in Paradise elsewhere on this blog. If I wanted to mention a slight weakness, it would be the pirate treasure part of the plot, although I think this has some grounding laid in the characters and it becomes important in moving toward the finale. I am more likely to support One Crazy Summer and Keeper at this point, but it is one of a cluster I am eager to hear more discussion about.

By: Jess

Jess — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 21:47:43 +0000

The Dreamer, KKK, and One Crazy Summer are the only overlap between your shortlist and the list for the Mock Newbery I’m attending – I love seeing a variety of shortlists!

In response to the comments about libraries not yet owning KKK, Dark Emperor, or The Kneebone Boy – I’m a little shocked that a large system (28 libraries) wouldn’t have at one copy of each of these. I’m in a 13-library system, most of them small libraries, and we’ve got between 2 and 5 copies of each of those (we don’t order centrally).

By: Cecilia

Cecilia — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 21:53:41 +0000

I love Jennifer Holm, but I was disappointed with Turtle in Paradise. It was funny, and had interesting characters but it didn’t stick with me the way some other books this year have. And I always have to laugh at this time of year, because I think I am the ONLY person who read Secret of the Andes as a third grader and loved it. Ever since, I have wanted to travel to South America and explore the ruins of the Inca civilization.

By: Monica Edinger

Monica Edinger — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 21:52:45 +0000

Jonathan controversial? Pshaw!

By: Wendy

Wendy — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 21:33:21 +0000

But, Mr. H, you’ve shown a couple of times here, by your own admission, that you aren’t particularly familiar with the Newbery Terms and Criteria–just as Jonathan said. While I, too, find it frustrating (and I’m not picking on you, there are several instances of that here, and every year), I thought part of the purpose of the blog was to get people familiar with the criteria. I certainly wasn’t born knowing them either.

I think you’re missing the point with your fourth paragraph. Whether Turtle in Paradise is distinguished as a novel aimed at 3-6th graders is exactly the point Jonathan is addressing. I do think it can be a challenge to judge a less-sophisticated book against a more-sophisticated book, but if this wasn’t challenging–well, it would be easy. The biggest step is to be aware that that’s what you have to do, I think–apples and oranges, etc.

Jonathan, I’m uncomfortable with how often we’ve been on the same page this year and would rather you stirred up some controversy.