Top Five
In the past couple years we’ve checked in with our readers at various points in the year to see what they would nominate. Due to the shorter timetable this year–the YMAs are on January 11th–we’re consolidating those into a single post. I’ll go first. In alphabetical order . . .
DROWNED CITY
ECHO
THE HIRED GIRL
MOST DANGEROUS
MY SENECA VILLAGE
Your turn . . .
Filed under: Uncategorized
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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In alphabetical order:
DROWNED CITY
GOODBYE STRANGER
MOST DANGEROUS
ORBITING JUPITER
PENDERWICKS IN SPRING
I hate leaving out gone crazy in alabama, a title that hits all the criteria and would likely gain consensus around the table.
Penderwicks in Spring
Echo
goodbye stranger
Most dangerous
The thing about jellyfish
Echo
The Thing About Jellyfish
Orbiting Jupiter
The War That Saved My Life
Fish in a Tree
Alphabetical
A FINE DESSERT
PENDERWICKS IN SPRING
THE PRINCESS IN BLACK AND THE PERFECT PRINCESS PARTY
TURNING FIFTEEN ON THE ROAD TO FREEDOM
I don’t really have a 5th– maybe Calpurnia, maybe Lenny and Lucy. I’d also like to see people’s reactions to Evan Kuhlman’s Great Ball of Light. It could have been terrible in so many ways (kids re-animate zombie dog and grandfather — basically Pet Semetary for kids) that the fact that most of it is rather wonderful won me over. My reaction is sort of like the NY Times review of that Adam Sandler movie, 50 First Dates (“This review is not going where you think it’s going, because neither, thank goodness, is the movie…..[turns what] could have been either laughable or appalling into something…nearly sublime.”)
THE PRINCESS IS BLACK is genius! Genius, I say!
Finally, A FINE DESSERT. Coming at this obliquely — I like the TV show, Gilmore Girls, and maybe you do too. I think the awards it has won (including for young people) are deserved. The sidekick character and her mom, Lane and Mrs. Kim, are Korean. There are jokes about Koreans and their culture. Mrs. Kim in particular is a stereotype and speaks an accented, halting English. Neither character can credibly speak Korean when they are called to, because the actresses who play them, Keiko Agena (who has won awards for her portrayal as Lane) and Emily Kuroda, are both Japanese-American. There might not be a bad history for Koreans in America, but there sure as heck is bad history within living memory between the Japanese and Koreans, the repercussions of which are still felt today (e.g., reparations or even apology for “comfort women.”) I think there is a credible analogy between ethnic Japanese playing Koreans and something like blackface. Is this something worth discussing? Maybe. But I personally don’t feel this issue should affect one’s judgment of the Gilmore Girls, nor its award-worthiness, and I certainly don’t want anyone who loves the show to “let go” of it because of this issue.
Leonard, would you nominate A FINE DESSERT (if you were on the real committee) knowing that Emily Jenkins has already publicly apologized and winning could create a very awkward situation for her? I have this mantra–I can’t want your book to win more than you do. It’s typically what I say to console myself when publishers don’t submit their books or invest in really poor production values, but in this case it would apply to the author herself. (FWIW, I’m a big Emily Jenkins fan; she does have two other strong picture book texts out this year: TOYS MEET SNOW and THE FUN BOOK OF SCARY THINGS.)
Jonathan,
Please help me understand this. It sounds like you are saying that committee members’ nominations do not need to follow the criteria. I assume that members of both the newbery committee and caldecott committee will look at A FINE DESSERT in terms of the criteria only, and if the book raises to the top based on these criteria then they will make it one of their nominees.
Are you suggesting that members can or do use other agendas when making their nominations and are only bound by the criteria outlined in the manual during actual deliberations?
My problem is that I always have more then seven books that I want to nominate. Several of those that are books that I think can legitimately win the Medal; others are there to build the list and make sure that we are covering all of our bases. A picture book would be a longshot, and a picture book text with an author’s apology would take it out of the nominating pool–for me. Not saying that I would discuss that as a negative at the table, necessarily, but it would certainly dampen my enthusiasm for spending on of my seven on it. I think it would be fun to look at the text of A FINE DESSERT through the Newbery lens, though, since most of the discussion has focused on the illustration . . .
The Thing About Jellyfish
Most Dangerous
The War that Saved My Life
Alphabetically:
Echo
Goodbye Stranger*
Most Dangerous
My Seneca Village
The War That Saved My Life
*even though I still can’t make up my mind about it, despite numerous book club discussions, impromptu conversations with teachers in my school who have read it, and sounding off on Someday My Printz Will Come. I swear, this book might just send me to an early grave. That’s how much it’s messing with the way I interpret literature.
I haven’t read too many that I can comment on, but the ones I did (and liked) are:
THE BOYS WHO CHALLENGED HITLER
GOODBYE STRANGER
LISTEN SLOWLY
MOST DANGEROUS (haven’t finished it yet but close enough to the end to know it’s tops)
Fish in a Tree
Echo
Crenshaw
The Book Scavenger
Wolf Wilder
WOLF WILDER is ineligible since it’s British. Greater writer, though, with ROOFTOPPERS and CARTWHEELING IN THUNDERSTORMS to her credit.
Currently in my to read pile I have: The Boys Who Challenged Hitler, Listen Slowly, The Thing About Jellyfish, Echo, Lost in the Sun, and Most Dangerous, but here’s my list so far. And unless anything I just listed is truly spectacular, I don’t foresee my 1 and 2 spots changing.
The War That Saved My Life
The Hired Girl
Fuzzy Mud
Fish In a Tree
Goodbye Stranger (I’m still not comfortable putting this one in the Newbery category. I think the content pushes it solidly into Printz territory, but I’ll leave it here for now.)
And a book I loved but (as was already pointed out over on the Printz blog) isn’t eligible for the Newbery
Rollergirl
Emily–my understanding of Karyn’s comments was that while Rollergirl is eligible for the Newbery, she just doesn’t think it’s a strong contender because she sees a heavier dependence on the illustrations than Jonathan does. Do you have additional information about the book or the author that strikes it from eligibility?
My reading has been controlled by other obligations, but here are 5 books I’ve read that I most hope the Newbery committee members are considering:
Enchanted Air
Gone Crazy in Alabama
The Marvels (I think it has, realistically, a 0% chance, but I just want there to be a conversation about whether the text section is Newbery-worthy in and of itself)
The Penderwicks in Spring
Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer
No, I was just referring to Karyn’s comment about how the text doesn’t stand alone (apart from the illustrations). I inferred from her comment that Rollergirl fell into Caldecott territory because it uses illustrations to tell the story (rather than complement the story). That’s actually what I thought made the book distinctive, the images tell the story just as much (if not more) than the text. I kept going back to those conversation panels because the characters’ facial expressions spoke volumes.
I know that the line between the Caldecott and Newbery (or even Printz, as we saw last year) has become fuzzy recently with the emergence of graphic novels. All the more reason, I think, for a new award to be created. But in the meantime, if that line is drawn around the idea of how images are used in relation to text to tell a story, then that would put Rollergirl in the running for a Caldecott along with Marvels by Brian Selznick.
I’m not sure of the order but my top five are:
Most Dangerous
The War that Saved My Life
Book Scavenger
Moonpenny Island
House Arrest
THE PENDERWICKS IN SPRING
THE HIRED GIRL
THE WAR THAT SAVED MY LIFE
LISTEN, SLOWLY
I can’t come up with a clear choice for fifth place — on any given day, it could go to GOODBYE, STRANGER or GONE CRAZY IN ALABAMA, or even COMPLETELY CLEMENTINE.
I’m amazed to find that I don’t have any fantasy on my list! Though I did like CIRCUS MIRANDUS, it doesn’t measure up to the titles I’ve listed in terms of literary quality. Hmm… not a strong year for juvenile fantasy? (Or will I think of some great titles after I post this comment?)
THE PENDERWICKS IN SPRING
THE WAR THAT SAVED MY LIFE
THE HIRED GIRL
GONE CRAZY IN ALABAMA
ECHO
I read the ALA criteria, but is there a widely used definition of “child”? My 14-year-old and I both read The Hired Girl, and she’s a frequent reader of adult books…but I got a LOT more out of that one than she did.
Marjorie, the back of the Newbery manual has a specific set of questions meant to guide the committee as they think about this upper range.
In some instances, award-winning books have been criticized for exceeding the upper age limit of
fourteen. If a book is challenging, and suitable for 13-14-year olds but not for younger readers, is it eligible? Yes;
but it can be given an award only if it does what it sets out to do as well as or better than other, younger
books that are also eligible. Questions for committees to
consider include these:
* Is there any 14-year old for whom this book is suitable?
* If so, is it distinguished enough to be considered?
* If so, exactly what 14-year-olds would respond to it, and why?
A book may be considered even though it appeals to a fairly small part of the age range if the committee
feels that
* it is so distinguished that everyone of that age should know the book;
or
* it is so distinguished, in so many ways, that it deserves recognition for the excellence it provides to a
small but unique readership;
or
* it is exceptionally fine for the narrow part of the range to which it appeals, even though it may be
eligible for other awards outside this range
A number of my 5th & 6th grade students have read THE HIRED GIRL and don’t find it out of their reach. It feels very middle-grade with the advantage of having an older protagonist (although not as old as she might pass herself off to be) that may appeal to Jr. High and even older. As Jonathan said, somewhere, It could easily score with Printz and Newbery.
DROWNED CITY
ECHO
GOODBYE STRANGER
MY SENECA VILLAGE
WAR THAT SAVED MY LIFE
Penderwicks in Spring seems to be getting a lot of love despite not being on the shortlist doesn’t it? ????
That’s true. Seeing so many people rate Penderwicks in Spring highly has motivated me to add it to my to-read list. I’ve noticed the same can be said for The War That Saved My Life. It seems to be showing up on almost everyone’s top five.
After the drubbing Revolution took in the Oakland and San Diego mock Newbery last year, I think Nina and Jonathan are right to only shortlist books they personally champion. (We can always support the Penderwicks in the online vote.) Maybe if there were attendees who were willing to volunteer ahead of time to serve as a book’s champion at both events, they might consider including a crowd favorite neither of them were wowed by?
THE MARVELS
THE WAR THAT SAVED MY LIFE
THE DETECTIVE’S ASSISTANT
LISTEN, SLOWLY
THE BOYS WHO CHALLENGED HITLER
I’ll go with four today as I am still reading Most Dangerous and My Seneca Village is up next. Surely given the high ratings here, they’ll probably both nudge their way onto my list!
Not in any particular order:
Echo
The Hired Girl
The War that Saved My Life
The Thing About Jellyfish
I LOVED Orbiting Jupiter. It’s easily the book that has haunted me most and stayed with me in the most poignant way. Unfortunately, I feel like there are some significant flaws that rule it out of contention for me.
May I please add to my list of 5 (I can’t believe I forgot it!)
Enchanted Air by Margarita Engle
That one is near the top of my list for sure! Sorry for the omission!
I only have four that I have read so far
1. Echo
2. Gone Crazy in Alabama
3. Listen Slowly
4. The War that Saved My Life
The stronger titles mentioned so far (Hired Girl, Most Dangerous, Goodbye Stranger, Orbiting Jupiter, Gone Crazy in Alabama) all skew older than the traditional Newbery age range. I look forward to the day when the ALA decides that it makes no sense to have the Newbery and Printz age limits overlap; hope it’s soon.
That said, I am having a difficult time coming up with 5 Newbery nominations. There were too many books I didn’t like this year (Echo, Thing About Jellyfish, Circus Mirandus) and those I did like did not seem unequivocally distinguished – just good or great reads.
The War that Saved My Life fits into that latter category, as does The Penderwicks in Spring. I loved Lost in the Sun as well. Listen, Slowly had appealing characters and an interesting setting. I look forward to reading Marilyn Nelson’s latest, but if it’s like all the rest of her beautifully-written books, it’s YA (or adult). Crenshaw, The Marvels, and Unusual Chickens… are still on my to-read list.
I think the Newbery is a real toss-up this year (except for the Bradley book).
Mary, I’m not sure why you lump GONE CRAZY IN ALABAMA with the older crowd as Delphine, the oldest of the three sisters is only 12. If that’s too old then surely THE THING ABOUT JELLYFISH is too old, too.
With each passing year, I think the argument for YALSA taking over the 12-14 overlap grows weaker and weaker. Let’s see we’ve had the Printz now for 16 years and once every four years they give us a middle school book: SKELLIG, THE HOUSE OF THE SCORPION, LIZZIE BRIGHT AND THE BUCKMINSTER BOY, and NAVIGATING EARLY. Why do any of us think that the YALSA awards can serve these readers?
As I recall, the convoluted plot in Gone Crazy focused on some issues of little interest to younger kids (elderly relatives arguing at length about who was married to whom when….). I tend to consider plot, syntax/vocabulary, theme/concept and cultural references rather than the stated age of the protagonist when deciding on the most appropriate audience for a particular book. It’s a subjective process, of course, as one notices when reading various reviews for a specific title; the reviewers frequently do not concur on the appropriate age range for the book. (I do agree that many kids like to read “older” – though when it comes to funny books, they’re not so fussy.)
And to your next point, perhaps you might agree that the major ALA awards are just as much tools of book promotion as they are intellectual endeavors? This is not meant as a criticism. To me, it would be more practical if librarians, parents, bookstore owners, and teachers – the target audience for the awards – could depend on the Newbery Medal being focused on the child reader and the Printz Award focused on the teen reader. (Isn’t it a bit odd that, taking 2014 as an example, The Year of Billy Miller was judged in comparison to One Came Home and Paperboy – almost a matter of apples and oranges.)
One has to applaud the incredibly hard work of the award committees. What a huge effort it must be to come to a decision!
The narrator in Orbiting Jupiter is twelve as well. I’ve always found most of my students prefer to read of characters older than themselves.
Alphabetically:
The Boys Who Challenged Hitler
Goodbye Stranger
The Hired Girl
Most Dangerous
The War That Saved My Life
THE WAR THAT CHANGED MY LIFE
PENDERWICKS IN SPRING
MOST DANGEROUS
THE DETECTIVE’S ASSISTANT
THE BOYS WHO CHALLENGED HITLER
I still haven’t read DROWNED CITY or SENECA VILLAGE, so my list could change slightly. I really hate leaving off GONE CRAZY IN ALABAMA….
I love Gary Schmidt but can’t imagine with the content it could win…it seems to be for a much older reader.
Here’s what we have so far–
(13) THE WAR THAT SAVED MY LIFE
(9) ECHO
(9) MOST DANGEROUS
(7) GOODBYE STRANGER
(7) PENDERWICKS IN SPRING
(6) THE HIRED GIRL
(4) THE BOYS WHO CHALLENGED HITLER
(4) LISTEN SLOWLY
(4) THE THING ABOUT JELLYFISH
(3) DROWNED CITY
(3) FISH IN A TREE
(3) MY SENECA VILLAGE
(2) BOOK SCAVENGER
(2) DETECTIVE’S ASSISTANT
(2) ENCHANTED AIR
(2) GONE CRAZY IN ALABAMA
(2) THE MARVELS
(2) ORBITING JUPITER
(1) CRENSHAW
(1) A FINE DESSERT
(1) FUZZY MUD
(1) HOUSE ARREST
(1) MOONPENNY ISLAND
(1) THE PRINCESS IN BLACK 2
(1) TURNING 15 ON THE ROAD TO FREEDOM
(1) UNUSUAL CHICKENS FOR THE EXCEPTIONAL POULTRY FARMER
I’ve found the internet toxic of late and missed this. If I’m too tardy so be it.
GOODBYE STRANGER
ORBITING JUPITER
THE HIRED GIRL
ECHO
PENDERWICKS IN SPRING
Here are my top 5:
Finding the Worm
The Curious World of Calpurnia Tate
The Penderwicks in Spring
The Seventh Most Important Thing
The War That Saved My Life
I also adored Ursula Vernon’s Castle Hangnail, but it may not be weighty enough, though it’s a welcome book that can make me laugh that hard.
I haven’t yet read Most Dangerous, The Marvels, Fuzzy Mud, The Thing About Jellyfish, Rhythm Ride…probably some others. That said, here’s my top five so far (in alphabetical order):
The Boys Who Challenged Hitler
Drowned City
Goodbye, Stranger
Orbiting Jupiter
The War That Saved My Life
If I could add a sixth, it would be Enchanted Air (and really, in an hour, I might feel like one of the above was the just-missed-the-cut title.)
The War That Saved My Life
Echo
The Boys who Challenged Hitler
The Marvels
Goodbye Stranger
Curious Tale of the In-Between
Enchanted Air
Full Cicada Moon
the Thing about Jellyfish
Wish Girl
Final tally–
(16) THE WAR THAT SAVED MY LIFE
(11) ECHO
(10) GOODBYE STRANGER
(9) MOST DANGEROUS
(9) PENDERWICKS IN SPRING
(7) THE HIRED GIRL
(6) THE BOYS WHO CHALLENGED HITLER
(5) THE THING ABOUT JELLYFISH
(4) LISTEN SLOWLY
(4) DROWNED CITY
(4) ORBITING JUPITER
(3) FISH IN A TREE
(3) MY SENECA VILLAGE
(3) THE MARVELS
(3) ENCHANTED AIR
(2) BOOK SCAVENGER
(2) DETECTIVE’S ASSISTANT
(2) GONE CRAZY IN ALABAMA
(1) CRENSHAW
(1) A FINE DESSERT
(1) FUZZY MUD
(1) HOUSE ARREST
(1) MOONPENNY ISLAND
(1) THE PRINCESS IN BLACK 2
(1) TURNING 15 ON THE ROAD TO FREEDOM
(1) UNUSUAL CHICKENS FOR THE EXCEPTIONAL POULTRY FARMER
(1) THE CURIOUS WORLD OF CALPURNIA TATE
(1) FINDING THE WORM
(1) THE SEVENTH MOST IMPORTANT THING
(1) WISH GIRL
(1) CURIOUS TALE OF THE IN-BETWEEN
(1) FULL CICADA MOON
I have a concern about The Boys Who Challenged Hitler and apologize if this came up in an earlier discussion. I wonder about the large percentage of the text that is made up of quotes from Knud Pedersen. It seems to be his story (well honed from previous tellings) with the author connecting the sections. Does this really meet the criteria?
Phillip Hoose conducted 25 hours of interviews with Knud Pedersen and then exchanged over 1,000 follow-up e-mails with him in order to get his story (which so far as I know is not available in English in any other incarnation). All writers have to be editors, too. It’s just more explicit in this book. So it doesn’t bother me, but that doesn’t mean another person couldn’t object to the treatment. For what it’s worth, his previous book, CLAUDETTE COLVIN, won a Newbery Honor so it wasn’t problematic for that committee. Nor was it problematic for the committee that recognized TO BE A SLAVE which features even less of Lester’s original text.
We voted on our top five just this morning! Here they are in order:
1. CIRCUS MIRANDUS
2. ECHO
3. THE WAR THAT SAVED MY LIFE
4. ROLLER GIRL
5. FISH IN A TREE
I’ve compiled a Mock list that our students are reading. After reading through the posts, I do see a few we’ve ordered. What are your thoughts on debut authors? Have there been any debut authors that have won? Here are a few that I have not seen on the list. Some of these are debut authors.
Another Kind of Hurricane
Curious Tale of the In Between
The Doldrums
Paper Things
Thoughts?
Full Cicada Moon
The Hired Girl
The Thing About Jellyfish
Crenshaw
Orbiting Jupiter
Just out of curiosity, has anyone suggested that Drum Dream Girl is really an amazingly text? The words sound like drumming (even my first graders picked up on that) and the artwork does nothing to detract! Sure wish I could spend more time with you all!
Ed,
I finally got around to catching up on picture books this weekend, and Drum Dream Girl was in the pile. I’m so glad I read it – not only do I think the text is remarkably distinguished (it is, after all, Engle, who never fails to wow me), but the art is undeniably gorgeous and vibrant. I’d love to see a Newbery Honor on a picture book – and if it’s an picture book I’ve read this year that would be deserving of such, it is definitely Drum Dream Girl.
As a side note, I, too, read the text with staccato drumming in my head – even just say “drum dream girl” has a marvelous rhythm to it.
I think it could be the Caldecott winner! And wouldn’t it be interesting if it had a Newbery sticker too?
No?
“…amazingly great text?” Oops.
So interesting to read this dialogue. I’m looking forward to seeing the winner soon. I pushed Echo hard as a bookseller when it came out and most kids were into it but I need to read it again to see if I still feel the same way about it now. I think Last Stop on Market Street has great writing. I think it will be seriously considered for Caldecott but I love it for the story more than the illustration.