I first became acquainted with Peter Sieruta about a dozen years ago on the child_lit listserv. We shared a love of children’s books, young adult books, and theater. And we developed a daily correspondence over the next several years that allowed me to appreciate Peter’s wit and wisdom on a wide range of topics, both [...]

Upon rereading MOONBIRD, it remains firmly entrenched in my top three.  It doesn’t have the buzz that BOMB does, but I think it’s just as good in its own way.  Take plot, for instance, a criterion that most people would give to BOMB in a head-to-head comparison.  To be sure, the tension and suspense of BOMB [...]

It’s time for our final two nominations.  32 of you played our little game in the last round, and this is what we came up with. (17) LIAR & SPY (16) BOMB (16) SPLENDORS AND GLOOMS (8) NO CRYSTAL STAIR (8) THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN (7) SUMMER OF THE GYPSY MOTHS (7) WONDER (6) [...]

Documention has evolved–perhaps is still evolving–in nonfiction books for children and young adults, and as such, it is a bit of a moving target.  Jim Murphy said as much on a recent thread. About the sourcing for The Great Fire. That book was done a long time ago (as far as publishing goes) and sourcing [...]

When Nina introduced this book way back in September, her biggest quibble was with Ivan’s voice, particularly the rich metaphorical language that dominates the first 50 pages or so.  This didn’t bother me because, like many of you, I made a distinction between his thinking voice and his speaking voice.  However, I do still find that first section [...]

We’ve already spent quite a bit of time obsessing over BOMB–and with good reason–but there are a handful of other worthy narrative nonfiction books that deserve our attention.  Each writer, to one degree or another, has structured the plots of their books to take full advantage of the suspense of their stories.  The book you [...]

Autobiography (or memoir) is not recognized very often by the Newbery committee. 26 FAIRMOUNT AVENUE BY Tomie DePaola (2000 Newbery Honor) I didn’t always live in the house at 26 Fairmount Avenue.  We moved there when I was five years old.  I know that because in 1938, when I was still four, a big hurricane [...]

Thirteen books have been recognized by the Newbery committee in the past three years, and eleven of them have been historical fiction.  The irony, of course, is that historical fiction is not a genre that kids ask for–at least, not in explicit terms.  In fact, I daresay that from a child viewpoint historical fiction is not [...]

I’ve mentioned here and there in the comments that I just never warmed up to THE BIRCHBARK HOUSE and THE GAME OF SILENCE for whatever reason, and I’m not even sure that I read THE PORCUPINE YEAR, but I really, really like CHICKADEE.  While it’s currently not in my top three, should one of those [...]

TRADITIONAL LITERATURE From the terms and criteria— “Original work” means that the text was created by this writer and no one else. It may include original retellings of traditional literature, provided the words are the author’s own. And the expanded definitions in the Newbery manual– A committee may consider books that are traditional in origin, [...]