And the winner is......

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman wasn’t even on our Mock Newbery radar. I think the main reason was that we thought of Mr. Gaiman as a Brit and therefore ineligible, but now that he is a US resident his eligibility status has obviously changed. I did read his book and enjoyed it quite a bit and there is no doubt that children will love it. (Guess it’s been on the best seller list for some time.) I especially liked the humor and the characterizations of the all too ‘human’ ghosts in the graveyard. I’m just not sure it’s “the most distinguished contribution to children’s literature” this year. It is a coming of age story like no other and be warned ….the opening scene is pretty scary stuff, not for the sensitive child prone to nightmares.

As for the Honor books, we didn’t read After Tupac and D. Foster (Woodson) or The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba’s Struggle for Freedom (Engle). I can only imagine how many books Newbery committee members read ….. many, many more than our mock committee did. We did read Savvy (Law) and The Underneath (Appelt). While Savvy was discussed, there wasn’t much enthusiasm for it in our group. I think the magical realism aspect of the story was off-putting to some but there is much to admire about it. Character, setting and voice ring true and are memorable, and the idea that everyone has his/her own special savvy to be cherished and shared wisely may set a young reader on a journey of self-awareness. The Underneath is an entirely different matter. All of us found the plot to be difficult … both confusing and very dark. It is true the language is lyrical, the characters engaging and the setting a palpable presence. These are the novel’s strong points and strong they are. But the story is hard to follow as it jumps through time and space and the cruelty of several characters will be (or should be) disturbing. Yes, it all turns out well in the end but I wonder how many young readers will get that far. One of the biggest problems in my opinion is the adorable cover art by David Small. Many teachers and parents will think the book is a sweet animal story ….not!

So, the only title that I mentioned before which showed up on the winners list is Waiting for Normal (Connor). It is the middle school Schneider Family Book Award winner for books that embody the artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences. This and the other books mentioned in my previous blog about the Newbery I recommend without reservation.

Mock Newbery

I’ve got to get better at adding posts to this blog. Never having kept a journal, I’m just not used to putting my thoughts on paper. Guess I need some discipline here.

I’ve been busy with two library related projects since December. One is participating in the Mock Newbery meetings that take place every fall into January. Since I started my reading later than usual, I pretty much read every spare minute through the holidays. In my opinion this year’s crop of children’s fiction is quite good. We didn’t consider any non-fiction although I understand that the real Newbery committee can do that since the award is given to the author of the “most distinguished contribution to American literature for children published in the United States during the preceding year”.

Still, given the range of genres and subject matter in children’s lit and the 8 to 14 age range, it was no easy matter deciding on our winner, especially when there wasn’t a title that jumped out as a clear favorite. Our final/voting meeting occurred Wednesday. After a terrific discussion, several votes and no more time, we decided on Keeping Score (Park) as the winner by 1 vote over Waiting for Normal (Connor). The actual Newbery committee members would have to keep voting until a clear winner emerged.

Other titles that were contenders included my favorite, Masterpiece (Broach), The Hunger Games (Collins), Diamond Willow (Frost), Greetings from Nowhere (O’Connor) and the title I think will actually win, Shooting the Moon (Dowell). Hopefully the winner and several honor books are on this list but I’ll have to wait until the announcement on January 26th to find out.

I have to mention one more title that won my heart, Alvin Ho, Allergic to Girls, School and Other Scary Things (Look). It will probably be the first in a series but Alvin is someone worth knowing. He's funny, smart, wants friends but can't bring himself to speak to anyone in school. The father/son relationship depicted is especially winning. It's a perfect book for 2nd and 3rd graders, but older children will enjoy it too.