Remember how we mentioned we were going to talk about books in roughly chronological order, but then we not-helpfully-at-all listed them alphabetically by — of all librarian crimes — title?
Well, it’s occurred to us that those of you reading along might appreciate more of an indexed approach.
This might be a bit more than the 60-odd contenders we've actually got. And also it's not actually any of our piles. Frankly, none of us felt that our piles were nearly as picturesque as this conveniently cc-licensed image by Flickr user Katey Nicosia.
Here it is: the Someday My Printz Will Come list of possible Printzs!
This list comprises those books that we, speaking as Printz veterans and YA librarians/reviewers/bloggers, feel very very sure the RealCommittee is looking at, and that we are therefore planning to discuss here.
How can we be sure?
Not gonna lie, there’s probably a little bit of sheer, unadulterated hubris driving our conviction.
But also, and with less flippancy, we know from our own experiences and those of many colleagues who have served time on the RealCommittee that the members of the RealCommittee are reading widely and paying close attention to buzz, reviews, and stars. The RealCommittee folks are probably also reading books that didn’t make our list, and we they may not even finish reading some of the books that did, so we are by no means claiming that this is a comprehensive list. Nevertheless, we feel confident that this longlist should have significant overlap with the RealCommittee’s longlist this year.
Who will wear the crown? (cc-licensed photo by pyjama on Flickr)
It’s September, and that means we are relaunching for reals!
Welcome to Someday My Printz Will Come, where we kiss—I mean read!—all the frogs in the pond.
In case you just landed here — and welcome, if so! — here’s how it’s goes: we’re going to read. We’re going to write. We’re going to scour other blogs, bookstores, review journals, and our friend’s and colleague’s brains. We’re going to listen to you. And each week we’ll talk about some of this year’s eligible titles, or the conversations around those titles. We’ll do our best to bring you the kinds of conversations and reflections committee members might be having. We’ll gush, we’ll analyze, we’ll split hairs and and appreciate the amazing variety and wealth published in YA this year.
Hopefully, you’ll join the conversation too!
And eventually, we’ll test our assessments and predictive skills with a Pyrite Printz. It’s never too soon to start building a case, so get out those sticky notes and start collating evidence for the books on your shortlist, because we’ve already started.
Pucker up and join the fun!
Hi!
We kind of disappeared for a week there, sorry! There were vacations! And back to school panics! And a guest post from Joy covering another preview that I failed to properly queue. Or possibly that the software failed on, given the comment weirdness, but I kind of suspect it was my fault.
And now we’re counting down to the contenda list release date!
I’ll post Joy’s preview coverage and my own coverage of another summer preview this week, and in the meantime, if there is a book you want to put forward as a contenda, stars notwithstanding (we’re still using the 3-star auto-contenda rule, arbitrary as it is, for the sake of convenience), please put the title forward in the comments here, ideally with author and pub date if it isn’t already out.
Thanks all, and soon enough, we’ll let the games begin!
Pyrite! (CC-licensed image by Flickr user Pictr 30D)
So, remember when I wrote that whole post about changes?
And I mentioned that we might make the whole Mock Printz thing a bit more—what’s the word?—organized, planned, intentional this year?
Well, now we are ready to unveil that set of changes. Because we don’t just have a plan. We have a vocabulary.
So, it’s taken me quite a while to get organized to drop by and say hello in a post, rather than comments, and now I’m feeling a little pressure to do a really amazing job with my introductory post, which is resulting in my throwing two pop culture jokes your way (more on that later).
Hi! I’m Sophie Brookover. Like Sarah & Karyn, I’m a Printz Committee alumna (2012 represent!) and have been a public YA librarian. Also like Karyn, I’ve been a high school librarian. I now work for LibraryLinkNJ–The New Jersey Library Cooperative, where I’m a Program Coordinator and my bailiwick is continuing education (or as I like to describe it, developing programs to help already-awesome librarians become even more awesome). (And, as noted in my fancy, official bio, my opinions are strictly my own.)
I spent an inordinate amount of time pondering titles for this post. Which pop culture reference to use? Changes? Or the infamous “We’re ba-ack“?
Both are appropriate, but in the end, change seemed the bigger theme.
And both are part of our excuse for the past two weeks of radio silence, although there was also the catching up on everything we’d let slide in those heady days leading up to the YMA announcements.
Also, for me, there was the prolonged period of mourning, what with the massive lack of love for Chime. Tempered, it must be noted, with victory dances over The Returning and occasional staring contests with my still-unfinished copy of Jasper Jones, which is getting a bit cheeky now that it has a sticker.
But I digress.
The point, dear readers, is that changes are afoot. Exciting changes. Changes we hope will make you rejoice much as they have made us rejoice.
I’ve been reading like madwoman lately, trying to get through any books that anyone I know has mentioned favorably in the context of award getting. I have one more (Brooklyn Burning) that I want to finish and one review from our original contenda list left to post (Beauty Queens), and Sarah’s been working on a pile of her own, so we’ll get all that up this week. But MOSTLY what we’re going to give you this week is a Mock Printz of (y)our own. The list will post tomorrow, and we’ll give until probably midnight Wednesday to vote, and then do honor book polls with the goal to post all results by Saturday, just as the REAL committee is finishing their own discussions, decisions, and votes.
But I’m jumping ahead, because what this post is really about the last minute reading I’ve been doing.
I’m loving all the Top 5′s over at Sarah’s post!
With no further fanfare, here are mine:
Chime: Above and beyond the literary merit, it’s just an awesomely haunting story. We need a name for this kind of book—I group this one with Galen Beckett’s Durrow Street series and a few others. Historical urban fantasy?
The Returning: I know you all know this by now, but I love this one. I fear no one else read it and it’s probably going to go out of print right away so I am just going to keep talking about it until that changes. Please read this and love it too.
Welcome to Bordertown: It’s not a real contenda for the Printz; mixed author anthology, uneven quality, and so on. But it’s important and beautiful, and Bordertown saved me when I was a teen, so I am excited to pass it on to my teens, whether or not they need saving.
The Piper’s Son: Heartbreak, redemption, and don’t you love a love story that isn’t easy? I think that’s one the things Marchetta does better than almost anyone. Love is messy and a comedy of errors (sometimes tragedy) and it doesn’t always go so well. Tom and Tara Finke’s story may be only one element of this novel, but even if I didn’t love the rest of the book, that alone might earn my vote. Plus, Ben and the mullet brothers and Anson Choi.
For my fifth book, I’m going to have to agree with Sarah and say The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Boat of Her Own Making, although the fact that I just finished rereading this one might have artificially elevated it in my rankings. I also considered The FitzOsborne’s in Exile and The Name of the Star and a few others for position five, so clearly there were a great many books I really enjoyed. And in the end, perhaps my fifth fave from 2011 will be one of my Top Five 2011 Books I Haven’t Read Yet But Really Really Want to Read ASAP:
Karyn has talked about this before — the conundrum you face when you really love a book but eventually have to admit that it’s flawed. I mean, maybe you email your committee about [REDACTED] and they respond politely at first, promising to take a look. But then you keep emailing and eventually someone, someone, has to respond and say, “Sarah, it’s a fun read but what about [REDACTED]? And you know, I had trouble believing [REDACTED]. And the [REDACTED] really just didn’t work, either, and I’m not even going to get into the [REDACTED].”
That’s when personal top five lists can come in really handy; you get to acknowledge — even celebrate — your baggage and then you can try to stuff it back in the closet and refocus on committee work. [Read more...]
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