Best Books
Five of the six review journals have spoken: Booklist, Horn Book, Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, and School Library Journal. I will add Bulletin in after the turn of the new year.
Five lists–
THE BEST MAN
THE INQUISITOR’S TALE
THE LIE TREE
MARCH, BOOK THREE
SCHOOL’S FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL
SOME WRITER!
Four lists–
AS BRAVE AS YOU
BEFORE MORNING
BURN BABY BURN
DU IZ TAK?
FREEDOM IN CONGO SQUARE
GHOST
THE GIRL WHO DRANK THE MOON
THE JOURNEY
THE PASSION OF DOLSSA
RADIANT CHILD
THE WILD ROBOT
Three lists–
EXIT, PURSUED BY A BEAR
FREEDOM OVER ME
JAZZ DAY
JUANA & LUCAS
MS. BIXBY’S LAST DAY
PAX
THE PRINCESS AND THE WARRIOR
RAYMIE NIGHTINGALE
SAMURAI RISING
SCYTHE
STILL LIFE WITH TORNADO
THE SUN IS ALSO A STAR
THUNDER BOY, JR.
VIETNAM
WE FOUND A HAT
WHEN THE SEA TURNED TO SILVER
WOLF HOLLOW
Two lists–
THE AIRPORT BOOK
BEAST
BEST FRINTS IN THE UNIVERSE
BEST IN SNOW
BUBONIC PANIC
FRANK AND LUCKY GET SCHOOLED
GARVEY’S CHOICE
GHOSTS
THE GREAT AMERICAN WHATEVER
I HEAR A PICKLE
IDEAS ARE ALL AROUND
IF I WAS YOUR GIRL
IT AIN’T SO AWFUL, FALAFEL
LEAVE ME ALONE
LUCY
MAKOONS
MY LADY JANE
MY SISTER ROSA
A POEM FOR PETER
THE READER
SALT TO THE SEA
THE SERPENT KING
STEAMBOAT SCHOOL
STEEPLEJACK
THEY ALL SAW A CAT
THIS IS NOT A PICTURE BOOK
THE TRAGIC TALE OF THE GREAT AUK
UNBECOMING
UPROOTED
A WELL-MANNERED YOUNG WOLF
WHEN GREEN BECOMES TOMATOES
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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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We’ve talked “starred” reviews before, but has anyone ever done the work to see if these “Best” lists make good predictors? Any correlation?
I’m sure it’s a tenuous connection at best, but it is interesting to see which books lose support from the starred reviews to the best books list.
My data only goes back to the 2011 Awards, but here’s how the Newbery Winners and Honors stack up against the Best Lists:
2016: Winner: Last Stop on Market Street: 3 lists (HB, K, PW)
Honors: Echo: 2 lists (K, PW); Roller Girl: 3 lists (K, PW, SLJ); The War That Saved My Life: 3 lists (HB, K, PW)
2015: Winner: The Crossover: 3 lists (PW, K, SLJ)
Honors: Brown Girl Dreaming: 6 lists (B, BCCB, HB, K, PW, SLJ); El Deafo: 4 lists (HB, K, PW, SLJ)
2014: Winner: Flora & Ulysses: 4 lists (B, K, PW, SLJ)
Honors: Doll Bones: 4 lists (B, K, PW, SLJ); One Came Home: 2 lists (BCCB, K); Paperboy: 0 lists (!); The Year of Billy Miller: 3 lists (HB, K, SLJ)
2013: Winner: The One and Only Ivan: 2 lists (K, SLJ)
Honors: Bomb: 3 lists (BCCB, HB, SLJ); Splendors and Glooms: 4 lists (B, HB, K, SLJ); Three Times Lucky: 3 lists (B, K, PW)
2012: Winner: Dead End in Norvelt: 3 lists (HB, K, PW)
Honors: Breaking Stalin’s Nose: 1 list (HB); Inside Out and Back Again: 4 lists (B, K, PW, SLJ)
2011: Winner: Moon Over Manifest: 1 list (K)
Honors: Dark Emperor: 3 lists (B, BCCB, HB); Heart of a Samurai: 3 lists (B, K, PW); One Crazy Summer: 5 lists (B, HB, K, PW, SLJ); Turtle in Paradise: 2 lists (B, K)
So for the winners we have 1 book on 1 list; 1 book on 2 lists; 3 books on 3 lists; and 1 book on 4 lists. Nothing has won in the last 6 years that wasn’t on at least one of the lists.
Honors breakdown looks like this: 6 lists: 1 book; 5 lists: 1 book; 4 lists: 4 books; 3 lists: 7 books; 2 lists: 3 books; 1 list: 1 book; 0 lists: 1 book
Of course there’s tons of factors that would need to be considered for a serious study – did all 6 journals even review/consider all of these books; the size of the Best Lists, were other books that were named to many lists even eligible for the Newbery, but for a quick and dirty analysis I would say there’s a very high chance that the Winners and Honors are somewhere on Jonathan’s list above.
Hopefully once the holiday season is over I’ll get to update my Best Books spreadsheet as well. Changing jobs at the beginning of November meant forgoing a planned week of vacation for holiday prep and it’s a longer commute, so I’ve been desperately trying to squeeze spreadsheet/blog work in between other commitments. Maybe I’ll even get to writing a post breaking down these stats vs. starred reviews as well. Maybe.
That’s awesome!
According to your data, out of the last six winners
Kirkus: 6
PW: 3
SLJ: 3
Horn Book: 2
Booklist: 1
Bulletin: 0
Does Kirkus put out the largest “Best” list? That would explain, correct?
Check that! Should read…
Kirkus: 6
PW: 4
SLJ: 3
Horn Book: 2
Booklist: 1
Bulletin: 0
Yes! Kirkus always seems to choose the most by a pretty big margin. Breakdown of numbers by journal:
2015: PW: 52; SLJ: 63; Kirkus: 160; Horn Book: 31; Booklist: 61; Bulletin: 35
2014: PW: 50; SLJ: 70; Kirkus: 160; Horn Book: 29; Booklist: 56; Bulletin 37
2013: PW: 51 ; SLJ: 68; Kirkus; 160; Horn Book: 30; Booklist: 56; Bulletin: 30
2012: PW: 40; SLJ: 65; Kirkus; 200; Horn Book: 27; Booklist: 55; Bulletin: 31
And apparently I don’t have that info tabulated for 2011 or 2010 lists; must go back and do that sometime.
Notes: those numbers are all matched with the following Award year. (i.e. 2015 lists are looking at books eligible for the 2016 Newbery) and the numbers may not match what the journals think they named. PW puts things like Relish and March, Book 3 in their Graphic Novel category instead of the youth categories, but I count them in my list anyway. SLJ has been naming additional lists of books – Top 10s in other categories that aren’t included in these numbers, but maybe should be? It can be confusing to figure out what should and shouldn’t be included in “official” counts, but I do my best! And the Bulletin (by far the most idiosyncratic with their lists) almost always names something from the previous publishing year to their list.
Oh data nerdery, how do I love thee…….someday I’m going to take a class in statistics which will make me so much better at this and I’m sure open the door to even more questions.
I am perversely fascinated by this data.
Jonathan,
Thanks for doing this. I believe “When the Sea Turned to Silver” has received five starred reviews–PW, Kirkus, SLJ, Horn Book, and Booklist.
Yes, that’s what I have, too, but these aren’t starred reviews, but rather the annual Best Books that each journal puts out annually. While both Kirkus and PW starred the book, neither one put it on their Best Books list.
Jonathan,
My bad! I should have read more carefully. Maybe I should stay away from the computer while babysitting for my two granddaughters.
This is very interesting! Seeing books with more reviews NOT on best lists really gives us pause – especially to see the few that made five lists!! Won’t it be fun to see how this list corresponds with the winners……Thank you for this, Jonathan!
I must say I am so excited for Jason Reynolds. I haven’t read As Brave as You – but it’s sitting on my TBR pile at home. Ghosts is my top pick right now, and it sounds like both of his books should be getting serious consideration this year. Has it ever happened that an author has been recognized twice in the same year for the Newbery (gold or honor)?
E.L. Konigsburg recieved both a newbery medal for The Mixed Up Files of Basil E. Frankweiler and a newbery honor for Jennifer, Hecate,, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me Elizabeth in 1968 (these were her first two novels!).
More recently (2013) Jon Klassen won both a Caldecott Medal for This is Not My Hat, and a Caldecott Honor for Extra Yarn
“Do these list make good predictors?” It strikes me that this question assumes that the Newbery Medal and Honors are the ultimate touchstones of whether or not a book is good. I have enormous respect for the Newbery committees; every year the committee members are chosen from a body of deep and committed readers. But committed or not, there are only fifteen of them, and they are all in contact with each other; they are working to come to consensus.
The “Bests” lists comes from a larger sampling of people, working independently–so you could make the argument that the “Bests” lists show broader–and thereby more reliable– support for the excellence of a given title.
Then, too, the Best Books lists range in size from 20 to . . . well, how many books are on the list, Kirkus? 100? 200? But I do think there is value in consensus among the review journals. The Newbery committee will probably only recognize 2-5 titles. We’ll see lots of good books that don’t make the cut here and on ALSC Notables and other selection lists.
That’s not what I meant by the question. Just asking if there’s a correlation. Obviously 1-3 books cannot represent an entire year’s worth of good children’s literature.
I wanted to note a couple of changes to the original list. I had initially left off WHEN GREEN BECOMES TOMATOES which made 2 lists (SLJ, PW) and had credited GHOSTS with too many (only PW, Booklist). I’m sure I made other mistakes. Please feel free to point them out and I will make changes.
On SLJ, two books (FREEDOM OVER ME and FREEDOM IN CONGO SQUARE) are listed in the Nonfiction category of “Bests.” Don’t these classify better as picture books?
FREEDOM OVER ME contains one main primary source as it’s inspiration, but actually, fictionalizes all of the “characters.”
FREEDOM IN CONGO SQUARE fits better, I guess, but still is so general in the information it is presenting. Maybe it’s just the poetry throwing me off.
You are not thinking like a librarian, Mr. H. They are listing poetry and folklore in nonfiction. You’ll notice both THE PRINCESS AND THE WARRIOR and JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS are both listed as nonfiction by SLJ, too.
Gotcha.
I was surprised to see THE LIE TREE on all these 2016 best books lists. Wasn’t it published in 2015? Either way, the author is British so I think it would not be Newbery eligible.
Are there other ineligible titles? That would skew the data everyone is reporting.
Kate, since many of us order books for our library collections at the end of the year, or are simply interested in multiple awards, we’ve always printed the entire list without regard to anything other than American copyright year.
LIE TREE is not eligible for Newbery but does have a 2016 US publication date
Other changes: THE INQUISTOR’S TALE actually made all five lists as we’ll, while THE BEST MAN made four!
And THE BEST MAN also has five! When I printed the list out, it was at the top of the page with a staple through it. Sorry, Penguin! 🙁