You say the last seven years have produced winners with limited child appeal compared to earlier times, but what earlier times are you talking about? I–along with many others–thought Anita Silvey’s piece on that had flaws, omissions, and leaps of logic, all water under the bridge now. It’s easy enough to cherry-pick a few popular titles over the first eighty years of the award while ignoring the many that aren’t and never were popular choices with children.

I don’t think it’s particularly telling that a fifth-grade class was unenthusiastic about Criss Cross, which is a. a book aimed at older children and b. a book that is not particularly well-suited to reading aloud, given the varying formats of the chapters.

But in any case, it seems like what you’re arguing is that books without wide appeal to children don’t make good Newbery winners, which is not in the criteria and doesn’t reflect what the Newbery has ever been, so I shrug my shoulders.

Wendy, you said:

“Richard, what you said wasn’t that too many of the Newbery winners had “limited” child appeal… you said, or at least implied, that they had lost “all semblance of child appeal”.”

Wendy…I’m not sure that’s an accurate accounting of what I wrote…
Here is verbatim a copy of my comment…I said:

“The trick to get children reading is to put a book in their hands that they will enjoy. The pages must keep turning.
What is distinction?
Maybe distinction in children’s books are those books that show distinction in all the required areas…but at the same time don’t loose all semblance of “child-appeal”. I think things have strayed too far over into the adult realm by defining “distinction” with a set of adult eyes, tastes, and sensibilities.”

So as you see, I was trying to define distinction. If you want to make the leap that my generic definition of distinction somehow then carried over as a blanket statement, and tarred and feathered all Newberry winners as having lost all semblance of child appeal… you are entitled to your interpretation. But I think your conclusion is a bit of a stretch.

Wendy you also asked…whether I think the Newbery committees used to select books with wider-ranging appeal.

My answer is…yes. I think there has been a narrowing of child appeal in last seven years vs. earlier times. It’s the very thing Anita Shivey was writing about. Commenter Brian said, “My fifth graders couldn’t relate to Criss Cross, and they were ambivalent about The Higher Power of Lucky.” “Couldn’t relate” + “ambivalence” = “limited child appeal”.

Wendy you said, “everyone has always acknowledged that many of the Newbery winners are not aimed at the “average” child.”
Agreed…
But, if the winners aren’t aimed at the average child, wouldn’t one of the expected outcomes be “a narrowing” of child appeal over the total child population?

Specifically, I think When You Reach Me(2010) and The Graveyard Book(2009) have fairly wide child appeal.
I think Kira-Kira(2005), Criss Cross(2006), and The Higher Power of Lucky(2007) have a more narrow or limited child appeal.
Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village(2008) is an interesting case. At first blush, one can argue that it has limited child appeal. Yet, as a readaloud and classroom aid in teaching the children about the middle ages by dressing-up in period costume, reciting lines, building sets, and presenting full-blown productions…it’s fantastic!!! It’s one of those rare books that excels in a group or classroom setting.
Moon Over Manifest(2011) has not yet had a chance to be judged by the child population.

Mark,
Those numbers are surprising! They actually look extremely good for the three books that I consider to be narrow in child appeal! I wonder what the falloff is for the ensuing years? How does Lightening Thief hold up in ensuing years vs. how the other three hold up. The falloff or lack thereof is the real proof in the pudding. Of course I would expect a spike in Lightening Thief when the movie hit…which for that year is not fair comparison. Also a lot of kids actually go out and buy a personal copy of Lightening Thief…but not so much for the others. Having said this—those numbers are still surprising!!!

Here’s some completely non-scientific numbers for you. My library system’s (Solano County) total circulations for four books:

2007: Higher Power of Lucky – 316
2006: Criss Cross – 430 (half of these are in Young Adult, btw)
2005: Kira-Kira – 557
2005: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan – 938

Does this mean anything? Not a whole lot – but it does mean that the three books you mentioned are being checked out, and have *some* child appeal. Is that because of the the gold sticker on the front? Partly. But I’d call that a good thing, since those three books happen to be fabulous.

On the main topic that seems to be happening here, I think what Jonathan and Nina keep reminding us is that the Newbery has a very specific purpose – to name the most distinguished book for children. That’s not always going to be a book with a lot of child appeal (personally, I feel that some the ones with child appeal mentioned so far–Graveyard, When You Reach Me, and don’t get me started on Richard Peck–are among the committee’s lesser picks (but I don’t want to get in an argument, I just bring it up as an example of personal taste). That’s not only OK, it’s *good*. Usually, books with high child appeal (gold ol’ Percy and Wimpy Kid) find their audience just fine–so it’s really important to have an award that aims kids at books that they might not have thought of, but that are really quality literature. If they don’t like it? If you don’t like it? If I don’t like it? Oh well, read something else.

In fact, pretty much every actual first Newbery ballot I’ve ever seen has a very good handful of titles that have only one vote. That’s where the person championing it sees whether they were able to sway anyone or not. In a second ballot (when necessary), sometimes those single votes move, sometimes not. Sometimes the lone voter offers to remove it from the table before proceeding to a second ballot.

I think I was confused by the word “hype” because nothing I’ve ever seen at a committee discussion remotely resembles that. The level of discussion is extremely intense and detailed, and because time is tight, the chair curtails anything that is not focussed and on point, or anything that starts to repeat. There’s no room at the table for hype!

“One more thing about readalouds.
Readalouds have to deliver on the first reading.”

Whew!!!

“One more thing about readalouds.
Readalouds have the deliver on the first reading.”

I’m glad hear the feedback from Brian in regards to his fifth grade class. Of course a Newberry winner doesn’t necessarily need to bowl everyone over. And the age range is always going to come into play. Some years an older book will win, some years a younger book. Hopefully the Honors selections fill in the gaps.

Some may argue for more popular readalouds in the classroom like Wimpy Kid or Percy Jackson. But isn’t that just a waste of time since the vast majority of students have already read these books?

Or have they?

I wonder if 75% of 5th grade boys ever sit down and read anything for pleasure. Some parents never read to their children. That means classroom readalouds may be the only exposure these kids have to help them “turn-on to reading”. The selection of appropriate reading materials also depends on your audience. In a high-income suburban school, a 5th grade teacher might not fret about trying a Higher Power of Lucky…or a Criss Cross. I’m only guessing, but this sounds like Brian’s situation. Props to Brian!…as it sounds like the kids in his class are high achievers getting lots of exposure to many varieties of books…including the difficult ones.

But maybe in the lower to middle end of the spectrum, one needs to fret about the selections, since these readalouds may be the student’s only exposure to reading for pleasure. In this case wouldn’t Holes, The Graveyard Book, The Giver, Bud not Buddy be more effective? I may even suggest that the teacher stoop to Percy Jackson and Wimpy Kid.

Wendy wanted to know what Newberry winners lacked child appeal. She cited a single one, the 1935 Newberry winner entitled Dobry.

I need only go back six years to uncover three:
2007: Higher Power of Lucky
2006: Criss Cross
2005: Kira-Kira

One more thing to about first readings to contemplate.
Readalouds have the deliver the goods on “the first reading”.