20 people (19 voters) gathered together yesterday afternoon at the Rockridge branch of the Oakland Public Library to discuss our shortlist with the following results. NEWBERY MEDAL NEWBERY HONORS During the discussion, I thought BOMB and SPLENDORS AND GLOOMS emerged [...]
ALSC is hosting Facebook Forums with Caldecott medal and honor-winning illustrators, as a part of the 75th Anniversary Celebration of the Caldecott Medal. This past Thursday morning, Melissa Sweet was at the ALSC Facebook site to chat with whoever showed up. A couple of her responses to the “how does the medal change your life” [...]
JONATHAN HUNT: Before we have another go at BOMB–I’ve finished reading it again–I want to address two of the other concerns that were raised on previous discussion threads. First, the epilogue–well, not the whole epilogue, really–the last page where Sheinkin breaks the fourth wall and addresses the reader directly. On rereading, I didn’t find this [...]
Consensus among best books lists is not necessarily the best indicator of Newbery recognition, and we’re now going to take a look at some books that made just a single list. Last year, this excercise yielded a Newbery Honor book, BREAKING STALIN’S NOSE, which the Horn Book called and allowed us to save face. Maybe one [...]
As Jonathan pointed out in a recent comment, our blog facelift now includes some links on the right sidebar. Scroll below those all-important ads, and you’ll find quick links to some of the official Newbery resources we most regularly point you to, as well as a list of other Mock Newbery sites. Our live discussion [...]
This is essentially a mystery novel, and while the central mystery is what happened to the moon, Lin delivers up little mysteries along the way: Why did Rendi run away from home? Where did the innkeeper’s son run away to? Why can no one else hear the moon wailing? Why are Madame Chang and Mr. [...]
We’ve revisited nearly all of our shortlisted titles, with STARRY RIVER OF THE SKY still to go, before our Mock Discussion on January 13th in Oakland. (If you’ve read all the titles and would like to come, email me for the Evite). Participants may be preparing notes, flipping through copies again to re-read an [...]
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 [...]
This was my Holiday re-read treat. We posted Jonathan’s and Nina’s takes way back in September, when the world seemed new. Between then and now, SPLENDORS & GLOOMS has been used in many discussions as a comparative work…a sort of default book that exhibits a high standard of sentence-level writing, and of overall craft. In my [...]
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