NATIONAL BOOK AWARD As I’m sure you already know, The National Book Award for Young People’s Literature went to GOBLIN SECRETS by William Alexander.  Nina reviewed it here, but I still haven’t read it.  I did finish ENDANGERED this morning which could be considered a cuspy Newbery candidate–and the NEVER FALL DOWN debate continues to intrigue me.  [...]

Oops! Got your attention, didn’t I? Of couse, I meant TWELVE KINDS OF ICE and BENEATH A METH MOON, but first things first . . . We had 30 people submit a full set of three nominations in October, and the results are listed below. Please note that these are slightly different from the earlier [...]

The 90-Second Newbery Film Festival returns to NYC on December 2 at 4 pm.  Check out the details. Kids who love videos as much as they love books will want to check out this event, hosted by the festival’s  hilarious co-creators James Kennedy (The Order of Odd-Fish) and Jon Scieszka (The Stinky Cheese Man) with special guest appearances [...]

WE CONSIDER ONLY THE TEXT . . . Each book is to be considered as a contribution to American literature. The committee is to make its decision primarily on the text. Other components of a book, such as illustrations, overall design of the book, etc., may be considered when they make the book less effective. [...]

We’ve already considered TEMPLE GRANDIN and CHUCK CLOSE: FACE BOOK, but there are four additional biographies for young readers that we ought to pay attention to this year: ABRAHAM LINCOLN & FREDERICK DOUGLASS by Russell Freedman, MASTER OF DECEIT by Marc Aronson, THE BRONTE SISTERS by Catherine Reef, and THE AMAZING HARRY KELLAR by Gail [...]

We’ve already considered the work of Christopher Paul Curtis (THE MIGHTY MISS MALONE), Karen Cushman (WILL SPARROW’S ROAD), Kate DiCamillo (BINK & GOLLIE: TWO FOR ONE), Rebecca Stead (LIAR & SPY), Laura Amy Schlitz (SPLENDORS AND GLOOMS)–and I’d like to consider Russell Freedman (ABRAHAM LINCOLN & FREDERICK DOUGLASS) a bit later in the context of [...]

Last year, we seriously entertained the idea of Newbery recognition for an Elephant & Piggie book, specifically I BROKE MY TRUNK!  Willems has two more books in the series this year: LISTEN TO MY TRUMPET! and LET’S GO FOR A DRIVE!  I’m equally enthusiastic about these books, and if I were on the real committee I [...]

It has become fashionable of late to praise narrative nonfiction, that brand of nonfiction that seeks to employ many of the tools of a novelist while being scrupulously faithful to the factual record. This year we have an abundance of these books to consider including TITANIC, THE IMPOSSIBLE RESCUE, THE FAIRY RING, and THE GIANT [...]

Trouble cruised into Tupelo Landing at exactly seven minutes past noon on Wednesday, the third of June, flashing a gold badge and driving a Chevy Impala the color of dirt.  Almost before the dust had settled, Mr. Jesse turned up dead and life in Tupelo Landing turned upside down. As far as I know, nobody [...]

There’s this totally false map of the human tongue.  It’s supposed to show where we taste different things, like salty on the side of the tongue, sweet in the front, bitter in the back.  Some guy drew it a hundred years ago, and people have been forcing kids to memorize it ever since. But it’s [...]