Online Mock Newbery
Something weird happened. Knowing I was going to be out of town during the holidays, I wrote my last couple of posts and scheduled them. I wrote one about picture books, specifically THE SKUNK and IT’S ONLY STANLEY, that should have posted this morning. Try as I might, I cannot figure out what happened to it; it’s simply disappeared. If I can solve the problem then I’ll post it next week sometime.
Meanwhile, we’ve done an informal online mock Newbery the past couple years, so I’ll take advantage of this lapse to jump start that process. For me, the top three books are THE HIRED GIRL, MOST DANGEROUS, and MY SENECA VILLAGE in no particular order. On the real committee, I’d listen very carefully to the discussion to decide in which order to vote for them–of course, some of them might not have the support necessary to remain on the table for the first ballot. In that case, I’d probably turn to ECHO, GONE CRAZY IN ALABAMA, and LISTEN, SLOWLY. But I would also be happy with another dozen books including, but not limited to, THE WAR THAT SAVED MY LIFE, THE PENDERWICKS IN SPRING, DROWNED CITY, and THE BOYS WHO CHALLENGED HITLER. So many books! So hard to choose!
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One thing I notice about my top three choices is that they are all for readers between the ages of 12-14, while my next three are for ages 9-12. Clearly authors can make greater demands on an older audience, but that doesn’t necessarily mean their books are more distinguished than a book for a younger audience. I’d also listen to the discussions to see how these audience issues are addressed.
But for the purposes of our informal mock Newbery, I’m going to stick with MOST DANGEROUS and MY SENECA VILLAGE since nonfiction and poetry need all the help they can get. Speaking of help, we’ve given THE HIRED GIRL, ECHO, and GONE CRAZY IN ALABAMA lots of help here, so I’m going to throw some love to LISTEN, SLOWLY.
1. MY SENECA VILLAGE
2. MOST DANGEROUS
3. LISTEN, SLOWLY
Please list your top three in numerical order. I will tally them and post the results in the middle of next week.
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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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1. The Penderwicks in Spring
2. Listen, Slowly
3. Most Dangerous
1. Goodbye Stranger
2. The Hired Girl
3. Roller Girl
1. Echo
2. Most Dangerous
3. Gone Crazy in Alabama
I just finished Gone Crazy a couple days ago, and I would *love* to see a little love thrown its way!
1. The War That Saved My Life
2. The Hired Girl
3. Echo
1. Most Dangerous
2. Drowned City
3. Goodbye Stranger
1. Echo
2. Full Cicada Moon
3. Goodbye Stranger
1. ECHO
2. THE WAR THAT SAVED MY LIFE
3. MY SENECA VILLAGE
1. ECHO
2. GOODBYE STRANGER
3. MY SENECA VILLAGE
1) The War that Saved My Life
2) The Hired Girl
3) Goodbye Stranger
1. MY SENECA VILLAGE
2. GOODBYE STRANGER
3. GONE CRAZY IN ALABAMA
1. The War That Saved My Life
2. Drowned City
3. Audacity by Melanie Crowder
1. Roller Girl
2. Most Dangerous
3. Drowned City
#1 is definitely Echo. I’m not sure on 2-3 yet.
1. Orbiting Jupiter
2. Circus Mirandus
3. The Honest Truth
1. Echo
2. Orbiting Jupiter
3. Goodbye Stranger
1. Drowned City
2. The War that Saved My Life
3. The Hired Girl
1. The War That Saved My Life
2. Goodbye Stranger
3. Circus Mirandus
1. The Penderwicks in Spring
2. Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom
3. Goodbye Stranger
1) THE WAR THAT SAVED MY LIFE
2) MOST DANGEROUS
3) GONE CRAZY IN ALABAMA
1. The War That Saved My Life
2. Circus Mirandus
3. Crenshaw
So… are we supposed to be taking our 3 from the long list? Or just whatever our 3 books from all of the eligible books we may/may not have discussed? because it looks like we’ve got a little of both going on…
The field is wide open. You don’t have to stick with the nine titles we chose for the Oakland/San Diego Mock Newberys.
Thanks, Jonathan! I can’t publicly voice my opinion about a lot of eligible books, but of the books that I *CAN* mention, I’d vote…
1. Goodbye Stranger
2. Listen Slowly
3. Most Dangerous
1.MOST DANGEROUS
2.THE WAR THAT SAVED MY LIFE
3. THE BOYS WHO CHALLENGED HITLER
1. Goodbye Stranger
2. The War that Saved My Life
3. The Thing About Jellyfish
1. Echo
2. The War That Saved My Life
3. The Hired Girl
1. Echo
2. Most Dangerous
3. The War That Saved My Life
1. Goodbye Stranger
2. Most Dangerous
3. The Hired Girl
I also support The War that Changed My Life and My Seneca Village! I need (at least) five slots! So many good books…
1. Most Dangerous
2. The War that Saved My Life
3. The Thing About Jellyfish
1. The Hired Girl
2. The War that Saved my Life
3. Roller Girl
(if only he were eligible, THE NEST would have been my #1)
So hard..
1. Echo
2. Crenshaw
3. Fish in a Tree
Enchanted Air
Echo
Wish Girl
The Marvels, Echo, The War That Saved My Life
1. Echo
2. The Thing About Jellyfish
3. Goodbye, Stranger
Nice to see a familiar face. 🙂
1. Echo
2. The War That Saved My Life
3. The Honest Truth
Anticipation is KILLING me slowly… LOVE this time of year.
1. Fish in a Tree
2. Crenshaw
3. Goodbye Stranger
5 days to go… so much still to read. Thanks Jonathan and all commenters.
The War That Saved My Life
Lost in the Sun
Listen, Slowly
(loved The Hired Girl, but consider it much more appropriate for the Printz than the Newbery)
1. The Marvels
2. The War That Saved My Life
3. The Detective’s Assistant
Also, my students just voted this week, and our results are:
Medal: The War That Saved My Life
Honors (4 because the votes were just so close!): The Thing About Jellyfish, A Night Divided, Lost in the Sun, The Honest Truth
1. MOST DANGEROUS
2. A NIGHT DIVIDED
3. ORBITING JUPITER
Typically, I steer away from anything toward the upper end of the Newbery age range, but I enjoy Gary D. Schmidt so much, and liked ORBITING JUPITER A LOT, so I’m making an exception.
Wish A NIGHT DIVIDED would have gotten a little more play and love.
Not sure anyone compares to Sheinkin. Guy is a powerhouse right now.
1. The War That Saved My Life
2. Echo
3. Full Cicada Moon
Can someone remind me where to post my student mocks?? I read it somewhere, but I’ll be darned if I can find where to post them!!
Thanks
Found it!!
1. THE WAR THAT SAVED MY LIFE
2. THE PENDERWICKS IN SPRING
3. GONE CRAZY IN ALABAMA
You posted while I was tallying the results, Genevieve, so I went back and revised the totals.
Thanks, Jonathan – the “Winners” post says The Penderwicks has two 1st place votes and one 3rd place vote, so either mine didn’t get counted or it got counted as a 1st or 3rd rather than a 2nd, I think.
Yours was inaccurately listed as a 3rd, but the points were right. That is, 4 + 4 +3 = 11. I made the change, however. Thanks for catching it!
Voting is closed!
https://blogs.slj.com/heavymedal/2016/01/06/online-mock-winners/
You are welcome to post votes, but it won’t affect the outcome.
Drat! Just missed it!
1. Echo
2. The War that Saved My Life
3. Drowned City
1. A Night Divided
2. Fuzzy Mud
3. The War that Saved my Life