A Fuse #8 Production
December 30, 2014 by Nina Lindsay
We are nearly done with our “redux” posts of our shortlisted titles, and as you each finish your reading, I encourage you to go back to those posts and add your thoughts. The ALA youth media awards this year are happening a little later than usual, and that gives us the whole month of January […]
December 27, 2014 by Jonathan Hunt
Josh Bell is my name. But Filthy McNasty is my claim to fame. Folks call me that ‘cause my game’s acclaimed, so downright dirty, it’ll put you to shame. My hair is long, my height’s tall. See, I’m the next Kevin Durant, Lebron, and Chris Paul. On our Top Five post, THE CROSSOVER […]
December 24, 2014 by Jonathan Hunt
Because of the holidays, this is traditionally a slow week here at Heavy Medal. And that makes it a perfect time for us to trade our final set of nominations, which is a thread that typically has a longer life. The real committee trades three in October, two in November, and two in December–but since […]
December 22, 2014 by Nina Lindsay
In the original post on this title, Jonathan and Leonard Kim got into a little back and forth comparing it to REVOLUTION, so it seems apt to take this one up next. How does it compare in prose, in structure and context setting? Each book of course has a different ultimate goal: Wiles’s is […]
December 18, 2014 by Jonathan Hunt
First of all, you should know that I am simply not the audience for this book. I find the plot too slow and the characters uninteresting, and the whole thing was kind of a slog to get through–and I always feel that way about Deborah Wiles’s books. For me, the history in this story was […]
December 15, 2014 by Nina Lindsay
We’ll continue over the next few weeks to review books from our shortlist and talk about the Newbery process as we ramp up to our Mock Newberies on January 11th (Oakland) and 15th (San Diego), but I wanted to take a moment to address Rosanne’s recent comment about whether we’ve noticed small/indie press Newbery contenders […]
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December 11, 2014 by Jonathan Hunt
Since traditional chapter books have spot illustrations, and since some people might consider them picture books instead of illustrated books, I’m going to quote from some of the reviews and read your comments below about their literary merit. DORY FANTASMAGORY by Abby Hanlon Kirkus; Often just on the edge of out of control, this inventive child […]
December 8, 2014 by Nina Lindsay
As Jonathan and I start revisiting each of the titles on our mock discussion shortlist (and please do keep commenting on JOEY PIGZA), it seems time to jump back to one of the first titles we introduced this season, Steve Sheinkin’s THE PORT CHICAGO 50: DISASTER, MUTINY, AND THE FIGHT FOR CIVIL RIGHTS, which has since made […]
December 4, 2014 by Jonathan Hunt
This is the only book on our shortlist that we have not previously discussed, and while that may have made it something of a surprise, it really shouldn’t have been: the book got five starred reviews and was a Kirkus Prize finalist. This is the fifth and final book in the Joey Pigza series and […]
December 1, 2014 by Nina Lindsay
Over the course of last week, my mind was mostly occupied with the Ferguson decision, and some of the resulting protests here in Oakland. Between that and Tamir Rice, I purposefully limited my exposure to the fallout over Handler’s remarks at the National Book Award, but I took some time over this weekend to catch […]
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Teen Librarian Toolbox
by Amanda MacGregor
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