Politics in Practice
November 28, 2014 by Jonathan Hunt
Cynthia Kadohata won the National Book Award last year for THE THING ABOUT LUCK, and she follows that up with another strong book. Lightning didn’t strike twice, however. She doesn’t have the most memorable character of the year; that honor would go to Gregory Maguire for Baba Yaga in EGG & SPOON. But it’s still […]
November 25, 2014 by Nina Lindsay
The genesis of this blog was as a discussion platform to build a shortlist for the Mock Newbery discussion I’ve held in Oakland CA for the past (gulp) 11 years.This year we will get together on Sunday January 11th, from 12:30-5pm. Email me if you’d like further details. (Jonathan will hold a Mock Discussion in […]
November 20, 2014 by Jonathan Hunt
For the past several years, we’ve surveyed you about your “nominations” at various points in the fall, mirroring the process that the real committee follows. We skipped October and are late here in November. The reason that I’ve dragged my heels here is that (a) for me, THE FAMILY ROMANOV and BROWN GIRL DREAMING remain […]
November 17, 2014 by Nina Lindsay
Several of you have mentioned Barnhill’s THE WITCH’S BOY, and our library copies finally hit the shelves recently. I wasn’t a fan of Barnhill’s starred debut THE MOSTLY TRUE STORY OF JACK, and was underwhelmed by IRON HEARTED VIOLET….so I’m having a hard time parsing my appreciation of THE WITCH’S BOY. Did it simply exceed […]
November 14, 2014 by Jonathan Hunt
Over at Calling Caldecott, they recently took time out to consider international picture books that are ineligible. We could probably do something similar here, as there seems to be quite a few translated books for middle grade and young adults: AS RED AS BLOOD, MARINA, NINE OPEN ARMS, VANGO, WHY WE TOOK THE CAR–not to […]
November 11, 2014 by Nina Lindsay
There is no stipulation that the Newbery be fiction, nor that it be long, though it tends to happen that way. Some exceptions from the lengthy category include a 1973 Honor for FROG AND TOAD TOGETHER, a 1983 Honor for DOCTOR DE SOTO, the 1989 winner for JOYFUL NOISE, and the 1982 Medal for A VISIT […]
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November 9, 2014 by Jonathan Hunt
Last year, we began a retrospective series where we revisited the 2005 Newbery crop. This year, we’re going to turn our attention to the 2007 Newbery picks. WHAT WON Susan Patron won for THE HIGHER POWER OF LUCKY. You’ll remember there was a big fuss made in some quarters about the use of the word […]
November 6, 2014 by Nina Lindsay
Curtis’ companion novel to ELIJAH OF BUXTON is an equally excellent stand alone, which shares much of what made its predecessor distinguished: unique voices that take their time, building deep familiarity with character and setting so that–in this case–a fairly simple but highly dramatic plot line supports a complex coming-of-age in the two main characters. […]
November 3, 2014 by Jonathan Hunt
If you’ve read the blog long enough, you probably know that when push comes to shove, I’m going to advocate for nonfiction and fantasy if there are viable contenders from those genres. We’ve already covered the various possibilities in the former genre, and while Nina recently brought up EGG & SPOON as the most likely […]
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