Politics in Practice
October 30, 2017 by Roxanne Hsu Feldman
This week, all three of us will be posting about titles that are probably considered “too old” to even dream about being nominated for, let alone winning, the Newbery. And yet, when a book features a godly dreamer, a citadel floating in the sky, and characters accomplishing the impossible, its contribution to the young reader’s […]
October 26, 2017 by Steven Engelfried
My county library system catalog lists 34 nonfiction books about the Statue of Liberty. I think I’ve actually only read one (Lynn Curlee’s, which was excellent), but I’m pretty confident that none of them resembles HER RIGHT FOOT in terms of style, presentation of information, or interpretation of theme. It starts out light and conversational: […]
October 24, 2017 by Sharon McKellar
Katherine Applegate is the master of a certain kind of quiet novel. I’ll resist comparisons to her previous Newbery winning title, though, and stick to just this book and this year. WISHTREE whispers its message of tolerance and hope With such slight text, Applegate manages to make characters that are real, believable, flawed, and honest. […]
October 20, 2017 by Steven Engelfried
There’s plenty of precedent for sequels getting Newbery recognition. A YEAR DOWN YONDER won the medal in this century; earlier Dicey Tillerman, Will Stanton, and Taran the Assistant Pig-Keeper, among others, all debuted in earlier books before winning the gold. The Terms and Criteria state that “The committee’s decision is to be made following deliberation about the books […]
October 18, 2017 by Sharon McKellar
So, what about YA? We talked about this quite a bit in the comments of our post about the National Book Award Longlist, which was heavily Young Adult. It’s come up in other places too, including in one of our very first posts this year, about VINCENT AND THEO. There are quite a few titles […]
October 16, 2017 by Roxanne Hsu Feldman
As the Newbery Committee manual dictates, the “committee is to make its decision primarily on the text” and “[o]ther components of a book, such as illustrations, overall design of the book, etc., may be considered when they make the book less effective.” In other words, good designs and fabulous illustrations that enhance the overall reading experience, theoretically, should not […]
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October 11, 2017 by Steven Engelfried
Chris Harris’ I’M JUST NO GOOD AT RHYMING AND OTHER NONSENSE FOR MISCHIEVOUS KIDS AND IMMATURE GROWN-UPS is a strong collection of funny poems. Which might not be enough for Newbery consideration, but there’s a little more here. For one thing, the poems work together to create a sort of unified world of wordplay that’s […]
October 9, 2017 by Roxanne Hsu Feldman
Certain recurring narrative devices have long been universally employed by authors of children’s books: a boarding school setting, moving (away) as the main conflict, meeting a wise mentor, etc. One often-seen element is an orphan protagonist: From Huck Finn and Mary Lennox to Harry Potter and the Beaudelaires, children’s books do seem to feature parentless protagonists disproportionally. Perhaps it allows the author to easily externalize […]
October 7, 2017 by Roxanne Hsu Feldman
Some followers of Heavy Medal asked about Subject Headings and their potential influences over the Sibert or Newbery Committee members’ decisions. I went ahead and queried one of the 2017 Sibert Committee members, Gail Nordstrom, a public library consultant at the Viking Library System, Minnesota. She also served on Newbery and Caldecott committees. My email […]
October 5, 2017 by Sharon McKellar
I’ve been thinking a lot about didactic content recently. As the Newbery Criteria states: The committee should keep in mind that the award is for literary quality and quality presentation for children. The award is not for didactic content or popularity. So, what do we do with books that are important and what counts as didactic […]
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Good Comics for Kids
by Brigid Alverson
A Fuse #8 Production
by Betsy Bird
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