2013 Best Books Overlap
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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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?
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.
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.
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?
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.
I miss seeing “The Real Boy” on any of the lists…
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.