I am sorry to report that this will be our last post here for awhile. Thank you so much to everyone who has read and commented and made this blog such a great success.  We have had a lot of fun with it, and have enjoyed all the great conversation. We’ll be back in the fall, [...]

American Libraries has given us a great little peek inside one of the most fun (I imagine) parts of being a member of a book selection committee; the calls to the winning authors! Check it out here! And only slightly off topic – but what did we all think of Coraline?  I saw it over [...]

Neil Gaiman pointed out, via a tweet, this comment on a New York Times blog post announcing the winners of the Newbery, Caldecott, Printz, and others. This book opens with a killer going from room-to-room, knifing a family — mother & father and a child — one-by-one while they sleep, but accidentally leaving a toddler to [...]

Sorry I am a day behind adding photos.  My usb cable was buried under a pile of ARCs, dirty clothes, and papers from meetings.  But now that I’m all packed up and ready to go it has been uncovered and I was able to upload all my pictures. So, here’s a morning in the life [...]

Neil Gaiman has already posted on his blog about the phone call he received this morning giving him the big news!  Read it here.

Nina and I had the same idea…to make a post about all the anticipation.  I’m finally resting in my hotel room watching the snow out the window and wondering wondering wondering what the Newbery (and other) Awards will look like tomorrow, bright and early.   Will the Graveyard Book surprise us with eligibility and a win???  [...]

So, just for fun – place your bets!  Who do you think *will* win the Newbery Award and Honors?  How do you *want* to win???

Nina just posted about Kids and Mock Newbery Discussions.  A perfect lead-in for this post, where I’m going to provide as much information as I have found about winners and honor books from other Mock Newberys around the country.  The reason I see Nina’s post as a perfect lead-in is that I always wonder, when [...]

Oakland "Heavy Medal" Mock Newbery participant, Emily Jiang, was inspired to get back to blogging after our discussion on Saturday.  If you’re interested in reading more about how the day went, from the standpoint of a participant, do check out her blog post here.  I know she plans on writing more – reviews of the [...]

Yesterday, thirteen people gathered to discuss the eight books on our short list and to crown an Oakland "Heavy Medal" Mock Newbery award to the most distinct of them.  We talked, we debated, we discussed, and in the end we had a clear winner. (Drum roll, please…) The Porcupine Year by Louise Edrich!! The group [...]