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January 1, 2014 by Jonathan Hunt

2013 Best Books Overlap

January 1, 2014 by Jonathan Hunt   7 comments

Well, it looks like Jen J beat me to the punch.  She must get the print copy of the Bulletin whereas I have to wait for them to post online, so I’m taking her word for the Bulletin Blue Ribbons.

six lists-

BOXERS/SAINTS

five lists–

ELEANOR & PARK

LOCOMOTIVE

MARCH: BOOK ONE

MR. TIGER GOES WILD

P.S. BE ELEVEN

THE THING ABOUT LUCK

four lists–

COURAGE HAS NO COLOR

THE DARK

DOLL BONES

EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION

FAR FAR AWAY

FLORA & ULYSSES

IF YOU WANT TO SEE A WHALE

MR. WUFFLES

ON A BEAM OF LIGHT

PARROTS OVER PUERTO RICO

PICTURE ME GONE

THE TORTOISE & THE HARE

three lists–

ALL THE TRUTH THAT’S IN ME

BECOMING BEN FRANKLIN

BLUFFTON

A CORNER OF WHITE

COUNTING BY 7s

THE GREAT AMERICAN DUST BOWL

JINX

JOURNEY

MIDWINTERBLOOD

NAVIGATING EARLY

PENNY AND HER MARBLE

REALITY BOY

ROSE UNDER FIRE

SEPTEMBER GIRLS

A SPLASH OF RED

THE TRUE BLUE SCOUTS OF SUGAR MAN SWAMP

WINGER

YAQUI DELGADO WANTS TO KICK YOUR ASS

THE YEAR OF BILLY MILLER

THE YEAR OF THE JUNGLE

two lists–

THE ANIMAL BOOK

BATTLE BUNNY

THE BOY WHO LOVED MATH

THE BRUSH OF THE GODS

BUILDING OUR HOUSE

THE COLDEST GIRL IN COLDTOWN

CRASH AND BURN

DARIUS & TWIG

DARK TRIUMPH

DELILAH DIRK AND THE TURKISH LIEUTENANT

THE DOLPHINS OF SHARK BAY

THE DREAM THIEVES

EARTH GIRL

ERUPTION!

EXCLAMATION MARK

FANGIRL

FLORA AND THE FLAMINGO

GHOST HAWK

GO: A KIDD’S GUIDE TO GRAPHIC DESIGN

HAVE YOU SEEN MY NEW BLUE SOCKS?

IMPRISONED

LINCOLN’S GRAVE ROBBERS

LITTLE RED WRITING

LOOK UP!

THE LUCY VARIATIONS

THE MAD POTTER

MAGGOT MOON

MARTIN & MAHALIA

MORE THAN THIS

NELSON MANDELA

NINO WRESTLES THE WORLD

ONE CAME HOME

ONE GORILLA

RELISH

ROOFTOPPERS

SCALY SPOTTED FEATHERED FRILLED

SERAFINA’S PROMISE

SEX & VIOLENCE

THE WAR WITHIN THESE WALLS

THE WATCHER IN THE SHADOWS

WATER IN THE PARK

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About Jonathan Hunt

Jonathan Hunt is the Coordinator of Library Media Services at the San Diego County Office of Education. He served on the 2006 Newbery committee, and has also judged the Caldecott Medal, the Printz Award, the Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards, and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. You can reach him at hunt_yellow@yahoo.com

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Comments

  1. Jonathan Hunt says

    January 1, 2014 at 10:43 am

    Some observations–

    1. Biggest Losers: WHAT THE HEART KNOWS, RANDOLPH CALDECOTT, and ETIQUETTE & ESPIONAGE received four starred reviews; HOLD FAST, THE CENTER OF EVERYTHING, and THE BOY ON THE WOODEN BOX got three; and DIEGO RIVERA, ZEBRA FOREST, and PAPERBOY two. None of them made any best of the year lists. This, of course, means nothing for their Newbery chances, as during my own Newbery year both PRINCESS ACADEMY and WHITTINGTON failed to “list” despite a couple starred reviews apiece.

    2. Team Nonfiction may or may not place any members on the Newbery roster, but it is not a “weak” year for nonfiction: LOCOMOTIVE, MARCH (memoir), COURAGE HAS NO COLOR, EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION, ON A BEAM OF LIGHT, PARROTS OVER PUERTO RICO, BECOMING BEN FRANKLIN, THE GREAT AMERICAN DUST BOWL, A SPLASH OF RED, THE ANIMAL BOOK, THE BOY WHO LOVED MATH, THE BRUSH OF THE GODS (fictionalized), THE DOLPHINS OF SHARK BAY, ERUPTION, GO: A KIDD’S GUIDE TO GRAPHIC DESIGN, IMPRISONED, LINCOLN’S GRAVE ROBBERS, LOOK UP!, THE MAD POTTER, MARTIN & MAHALIA, NELSON MANDELA, RELISH (memoir), and SCALY SPOTTED FEATHERED FRILLED.

    3. I may have had my quibbles with the NBA longlist, but those judges rocked when it came to the shortlist: BOXERS/SAINTS (six), THE THING ABOUT LUCK (five), FAR FAR AWAY and PICTURE ME GONE (four), and TRUE BLUE SCOUTS (three).

    4. There are some two-list books that we haven’t covered here. Several of those are nonfiction books, but here’s a pair of novels: SERAFINA’S PROMISE and THE WATCHER IN THE WOODS. Would anyone care to argue on their behalf?

    • Leonard Kim says

      January 6, 2014 at 3:37 pm

      I just read SERAFINA’s PROMISE. As a verse novel, I thought it was stronger than SALT, which a couple of people have nominated here. As an “issues awareness” novel, I thought it was stronger than HOLD FAST, which is currently #12 on the Goodreads poll. I realize didactic content is not a criterion, but it can’t be a bad thing if the added readership that comes with Newbery recognition generated inspiration or passion to want to do something about homelessness, deprivation, lack of education, disaster relief, etc. etc. Despite that, SERAFINA’s PROMISE is not depressing nor didactic in tone. All in all, I think it’s a stronger candidate than many of the books discussed here, and possibly in my top 10.

      • Jonathan Hunt says

        January 6, 2014 at 4:13 pm

        I’m happy to see you champion SERAFINA’S PROMISE, as I do think it deserves more attention than we’ve given it here. Berg’s earlier novel, ALL THE BROKEN PIECES, was even stronger, so perhaps I’ve been subliminally affected by that. Hmm.

  2. Jen J. says

    January 1, 2014 at 9:23 pm

    We do indeed get the print copy of the Bulletin at my library (many thanks go to them for great professional resources – I probably couldn’t afford to do this if I had to pay for all these subscriptions myself!) and I was delighted to see it there Monday!

    I think I’ve finally gotten the numbers sorted out for this year – I couldn’t get anything to match up right yesterday, but a new day can do wonders!

    395 total entries from the 6 journals – although I grabbed a couple from non-Children’s/YA portions – Relish and March got listed all over the place, so I went ahead and added them even if they weren’t listed for the 18 and under crowd. 243 distinct titles were named.

    As Jonathan has pointed out only Boxers and Saints made all 6 lists. The Bulletin was the big spoiler on hitting all 6 lists. They were the lone holdout for all 6 books that made 5 lists keeping them in my mind as the most idiosyncratic of the reviewing journals. 12 books made 4 lists; 21 books made 3 lists; 45 books made 2 lists and 158 made one list only.

    Kirkus listed by far the most titles with 160; Horn Book and the Bulletin tied for fewest with 30 each. SLJ had 68, Booklist had 57 and PW had 51.

    If time allows, I may go through and look at how many of the single list titles came from each journal and percentages and such, since my math nerdery makes that interesting to me.

    In the meantime here’s some of last year’s (2012) numbers for comparison:
    418 total entries (somewhat higher than this year’s 395)
    267 distinct titles (again higher than 243 – and at a glance by a higher percentage than the total entries)
    6 lists: 3 titles (1 in 2013 – as an interesting side note, NOTHING made all 6 lists in 2011)
    5 lists: 4 books (6 in 2013)
    4 lists: 10 books (12 in 2013)
    3 lists: 22 books (21 in 2013)
    2 lists: 46 books (45 in 2013)
    1 list: 182 (158 in 2013)
    Those numbers are pretty static except for the decrease in single list books which could possibly be explained solely by the fact that last year Kirkus named 200 books and dropped down to 160 this year.

    Anyone see anything else interesting in the data?

  3. Jonathan Hunt says

    January 2, 2014 at 10:10 am

    Something that I’ve always found interesting is when Bulletin and Horn Book, the two stingiest publications, star and/or list a book–and are the only ones to do so. For example, this year they both listed NINO WRESTLES THE WORLD, but nobody else did. It almost happened with COUNTING BY 7s, but SLJ joined them. And it seems to happen once or twice a year.

  4. Tricia says

    January 2, 2014 at 8:58 pm

    I miss seeing “The Real Boy” on any of the lists…

    • Jonathan Hunt says

      January 3, 2014 at 9:49 am

      You know, THE REAL BOY only got a single starred review from SLJ, so they were the most likely journal to list it. In marked contrast, BREADCRUMBS got, like, five starred reviews and three lists. While the critical reception to THE REAL BOY has been underwhelming (save for the NBA longlist), Ursu’s fans seem to love this one as much as ever, and the Newbery canon is littered with books that were passed over by the critics. As you know, I have grave reservations about it, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see it recognized. We’ll see.

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