Simon vs. Hercules: Comparing the current leaders in our Mock Newbery rankings
STEVEN: Today in our final Wednesday round-up we look at the books with the most nominations, the ones that are leading the pack. Two books are way ahead with 16 nominations each: SIMON SORT OF SAYS and THE LABORS OF HERCULES BEAL. There’s been lots of little snippets about these books in our comments– but what makes them such front runners? Will they actually stand in Newbery conversation?
EMILY: OK…SIMON vs. HERCULES! That’s the biggie right. I think the Newbery committee is definitely considering those two- A because of the buzz and B because, yes they are high quality. I do wonder if they will last under a microscope though. And of course I have always been team HERCULES and I’m not giving up now.. The characterization both primary and secondary, the plot development, the delineation of themes.. It really hits all SIX CRITERIA on the head!
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STEVEN: I agree that HERCULES is a strong contender. But so is SIMON. I read it a while ago and have been mostly thinking about the gripping plot and strong characters, but when I opened it up again I’m reminded of how strong Simon’s narrative voice is. Funny and self-deprecating while at the same time carefully revealing a very serious story. Hercules is a different kind of kid than Simon, but in that book the first-person narration also stands out. Do you think SIMON is a worthy rival to HERCULES, Emily?
EMILY: I think SIMON is a worthy rival to HERCULES, but I’ve never been the biggest fan of this title. It definitely deserves a reread. That’s something to remember later in the year- to reread these titles underneath a different lens. However, I understand the appeal and the strength in Newbery criteria.I need to think more about the plot and narrative voice during my next read.
STEVEN: It’s great when books get such a positive response, so I hate to do this (actually not really), but: let’s consider some possible flaws in these two front-runners. Or we’ll follow the terminology I was taught in a book discussion workshop long ago, and call them “possible concerns” instead of “flaws” or “weaknesses” or “problems.”
I’ve got one for HERCULES: Matching the mythical labors to real life is a fun idea for a book, but does the plot get stretched a little too much to make things match up? If so, do the plot stretches weaken the impact of the themes at all?
EMILY: I actually talked to some of my child friends about HERCULES and they were incredibly unhappy with how the labors matched with the plot. They think that the labors were not accurately portrayed and that Hercules’ challenges could have been much better thought out. So there’s a child perspective for you.
STEVEN: My possible concern for SIMON also runs into plot. Although it led to some interesting character interactions, I wonder if Agate’s plan to contact aliens, and Simon eventually going along with it, is too far-fetched?
EMILY: I don’t know if that is far-fetched or realistic for that age group. Kids do get these different ideas and go to various lengths to accomplish goals. Is it just our jaded adult-ess that thinks it’s unrealistic? Paging Quade!
STEVEN: For now, I give the nod to SIMON over HERCULES, but just barely. Though neither is at the absolute top of my list, I would have no problem with seeing either one of those with a Medal…but I haven’t read them twice yet, and, as Emily noted, that can change things.
EMILY: OK, on that note, of the top five books on our nomination list so far… which one do you think is most likely to win a medal?
STEVE: We actually have a six-way tie for fifth place…so should we consider all ten?. I see a lot of strong potential contenders in that group, including several that I feel are just as strong (maybe even stronger) than our two front-runners. But I’m still putting SIMON as the most likely Medal book. What’s your prediction as of now?
EMILY: I feel like some books people think are”shoo-ins” might barely last in discussion. I would reference my own year… but legalities…
STEVEN: So true. There’s a very good chance that some of our top ranked books aren’t clicking at all with the real Committee. And they may be looking very closely at others we’re not even thinking about. But we don’t get to know (or tell about our own experienced).
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EMILY: But now I can talk about whatever I want soo… I am team HERCULES of course, but think the best it’s getting is an honor. I’m looking at THE LOST YEAR and EB AND FLOW (hey they’re both on our early six list). I can’t think of many (any?) flaws for those titles and think they can stand strong against everything else.
OK now the fun question… of the top ten books, which is the LEAST likely to win a medal?
STEVEN: I know it’s a great year for graphic novels, but I see A FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING (4th place with 6 nominations) as kind of a long shot. I know I should probably just play it safe and pick MY HEAD HAS A BELLYACHE, but I refuse to stop believing in the poetry possibility. What’s your least likely choice?
EMILY: Sorry Steven, I’m going to name MY HEAD HAS A BELLYACHE. It’s just not as good as I’M JUST NO GOOD AT RHYMING from a few years ago. It needs to fit more criteria to win it all. That being said, I think we have a year of strong contenders and it’s safe to say we are going to be TOTALLY surprised by the medal winner. And I’m OK with that.
STEVEN: Here’s the list of the top nominated books so far. We’d love to hear from HM readers. Let us know which you think has the best chance of winning a Newbery and/or which ones are the biggest long shots…
| Rank | Title | Author | Noms |
| 1 | THE LABORS OF HERCULES BEAL | Schmidt | 16 |
| 1 | SIMON SORT OF SAYS | Bow | 16 |
| 3 | THE LOST YEAR | Marsh | 8 |
| 4 | A FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING | Santat | 6 |
| 5 | EB AND FLOW | Baptist | 5 |
| 5 | THE MANY ASSASSINATIONS OF SAMIR… | Nayeri | 5 |
| 5 | MEXIKID | Martín | 5 |
| 5 | THE MONA LISA VANISHES | Day | 5 |
| 5 | MY HEAD HAS A BELLYACHE | Harris | 5 |
| 5 | THE SKULL | Klassen | 5 |
Filed under: Book Discussion
About Steven Engelfried
Steven Engelfried was the Library Services Manager at the Wilsonville Public Library in Oregon until he retired in 2022 after 35 years as a full-time librarian. He served on the 2010 Newbery committee, chaired the 2013 Newbery Committee, and also served on the 2002 Caldecott committee. You can reach him at sengelfried@yahoo.com.
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I agree with Steven that, for LABORS, it will be important to assess, “does the plot get stretched a little too much to make things match up? If so, do the plot stretches weaken the impact of the themes at all?”
The way I’ve been thinking about this is, should Schmidt get credit for tackling a structural challenge and doing as well as he did, even though the end result might have been better if he had not imposed such strictures on himself? It’s like the argument over writing a sonnet. If a poet violates the line or metrical count for the sake of a “better” overall poem, is that better or worse than the poet that observes the form but allows some imperfection as a result?
On the one hand, I think matching the labors does introduce weaknesses. On the other hand, I think the task Schmidt set for himself was so difficult compared to other books under consideration, that it might be unfair to overly penalize him for that. I’ll note that with Wednesday Wars and Okay for Now, arguably better books than LABORS, Schmidt could at least pick and choose what Shakespeare plays and Audubon plates to parallel and in what order. LABORS seems more challenging to write, because there is a fixed order and number. In contrast, I enjoyed A FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING, and would be happy if it won something, but I also feel that it should be acknowledged that Santat had advantages and freedoms that Schmidt did not: 1) it’s a memoir so there is less invention involved; 2) Santat can pick and choose what incidents from his life to include; 3) he could choose in what order to present his episodes – which he does effectively to be sure, interleaving the trip with flashbacks. (I recall now thinking that the Lernaean Hydra chapter was an early highpoint of LABORS precisely because Schmidt used flashback to show the true parallel isn’t what Herc initially intended.)
Thinking about this also leads me to think that while I thought BUFFALO FLATS and LABORS may have a similar weakness – arguably overly episodic with some episodes stronger than others, at least Schmidt had an excuse.
I like Leonard’s point about the “structural challenge” of writing a book like HERCULES BEAL. Once you accept the premise, that Herc will be able to find things in his experience that match the myth in some way, the whole thing works really well. And it sets up the theme that comes through so strongly throughout the book, that the things ordinary people do and the ways they face challenges can be heroic in their own way. I feel like that’s Lieutenant Colonel Hupfer’s goal as Herc’s teacher and also Gary Schmidt’s goal as a writer.
And I think it helps that it’s not just the author’s hand manipulating events to match, it’s also Herc as a character. Since he’s aware from the start that his life will have to match the myth in some ways, he’s consciously looking for parallels and sometimes even making decisions that will match. It’s a very different dynamic from other books from this year that are tied to classics, like A BIT OF EARTH (“The Secret Garden”) and THE SONG OF US (“Orpheus & Euridice”), where the events align with the classics, but the characters don’t know it. Not better or worse, necessarily, just different.
Another way I thought HERCULES BEAL shines within the premise is how Herc doesn’t exactly follow the myth, even when he has a chance to. He has the burlap sack all ready to capture Pirate Cat (the Nemean Lion stand-in), for example, but makes friends with it instead (71).
Much later, he rejects the Hercules story even more consciously, buying the statue for Mrs. Savage:
“For this Labor, I didn’t want to let Hercules get away with the belt and sail happily back to Eurystheus. I wanted to get the belt back and give it to Mrs. Savage – like Hercules should have given Hippolyta’s Belt back to the Amazons when he found out he had been a jerkface.” (265)
The book that’s 4th on our list (and the one I thought was the biggest Newbery long shot in our top 10) is A FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING by Dan Santat, and it just won the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature!
I just read SIMON because of the heavy focus on it from nominees, and I do want to say, If Agate was trying to contact aliens, absolutely kind of hard to believe for the rest of the plot, but since she’s just trying to trick the people in town, I think it feels more cohesive!
I’m not inclined to vote for HERCULES but I’m not sure if my reasoning holds water Newbery-wise. I really enjoyed HERCULES but find it less “individually distinct” because Herc sounds a lot like Doug Swietek from OKAY FOR NOW. I’ve read a lot of Gary Schmidt’s books and I’m a big fan, but there was something so familiar about Hercules that it felt like Schmidt was borrowing from the strength of that earlier book. Some similarities: a middle school boy who is traumatized, angry at his older brother, and is pleading his case to the reader (repeatedly insisting he’s “not lying” and “not making this up”) while connecting with an old book (either Audubon or the 12 labors). Noticing the similarities did not affect my personal enjoyment of HERCULES but it detracts somewhat from my appreciation of it as a significant contribution to children’s literature.
I know we are supposed to only compare eligible books, but it is very hard to read HERCULES without thinking about OKAY FOR NOW and the WEDNESDAY WARS because they share a few characters and because Schmidt has two Newbery Honors already (again, not something we’re suppose to consider — it’s just hard to put out of my mind).
I am pinning this criticism entirely to the idea that a book is less distinguished if it is less “individually distinct” than other eligible books.
It’s true that the Newbery Manual says the Committee should: “Make comparisons but only in relationship to other eligible books. That is, do not compare a book with an author’s body of work or with books published before the year under consideration.” But as Dest points out, our knowledge of previous works can be “hard to put out of [our] mind.”
In a Newbery discussion, we couldn’t make that direct comparison between Herc from HERCULES BEAL and Doug from OKAY FOR NOW. So is there a way to still bring that knowledge that Herc doesn’t seem like a new and distinct character into the discussion? The only way I see is to make it a broader discussion about what makes a character distinct. Though Committee members limit conversations to current-year eligible books, they all bring with them considerable knowledge and experience with children’s literature. And should recognize innovative, original elements. So you might say that Herc’s narrative voice may be appealing, but isn’t highly original. Or that the challenges he faces are not that unusual in the world of middle grade fiction.
Some examples might be easier to do that with. The protagonists in ONCE THERE WAS and THE MANIFESTOR PROPHECY share qualities with many characters in kids’ fantasy: Ordinary kids discover that they have magical powers and learn how to use them. We wouldn’t compare them directly to Harry Potter or Percy Jackson, but we can still look at how those common characteristics play out in those current-year books and have a sense of how distinguished that might be, given the general body of literature that has come before. I actually thought ONCE THERE WAS did a better job at making Marjan’s story seem less formulaic; I would mention that in comparison to MANIFESTOR, but also might say something like: “it was less formulaic than we usually see in this type of book.” And leave Committee members to think of the formulaic books they’ve read in the I-just-discovered-I’m-magic genre.
Another example from this year works better from a Caldecott view. I’ve always assumed (though I don’t know) that THE INVENTION OF HUGO CABRET’s Caldecott Medal came in part from the fact that no one had every done a picture book like this before. “Individually distinct” for sure. This year’s BIG TREE does some similar things in terms of form, and you might still give it a medal, but it wouldn’t be because the form is unique and new.
Not sure if any of this gets us closer to dealing with the Herc/Doug situation…these aren’t that easy to work through in Newbery world…
I appreciate this thoughtful response! It helps a lot.
I got a text that I was paged. Thanks, Emily! (Googled ‘page.’)
Regarding SIMON, since March, I believed that this would be a strong award contender. It starts with a singular event (school shooting), and the theme of recovery feels timely. The attention-getting introduction hooks the reader, and the funny dialogue helps tackle complex subjects.
Is it far-fetched? I won’t speak for all kids, but the holes were in the details for me. We got to a research town with no cell coverage, but that was a footnote in the story. I wish this had been intertwined and resolved.
“Agate’s plan to contact aliens, and Simon eventually going along with it,” was that realistic? Actually, with Agate being autistic, her creativity and imagination combined with science made it believable as a plot line for me. More reasonable than the town scientists with no mobile coverage. In middle school, sometimes logic wins, and sometimes it just doesn’t. The book had a great beginning hook. Sadly, its conclusion was a big miss for me.
*More: https://heavymedal.slj.com/2023/09/25/newbery-possibilities-on-the-national-book-award-longlist/#comments
HERCULES wins for me in this battle. Hercules Beal is a character full of humor and hope.
I think the theme was the search for meaning. As a character, Hercules was trying to understand why things happen, why they are going badly so he could change for next time, and what was going well so he could get stronger. Equally strong were the supporting characters- particularly the teacher, Lieutenant Colonel Hupfer. The dialogue and relationship between these characters are memorable.
The Greek mythology ties helped tie everything together. They were a creative reference point for a great story arc. The Cape setting was clear, check. The plot was clear, check. “Excellence of presentation for a child audience” from criteria 1b, check. This is just a feel-great favorite—my #3 of 2023.
After reading the Newbery criteria many times, the most consistent choice would be my #2 choice for 2023, THE LOST YEAR. This book is timely. It has a strong theme, characters, and setting. A real page-turner and the plot twist at the end was epic. I see it with a Newbery sticker (Medal or Honoree.)
*More: https://heavymedal.slj.com/2023/09/25/newbery-possibilities-on-the-national-book-award-longlist/#comments
My #1 favorite book of the year remains A FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING. It has been at the top of my list since March. I have read it a dozen times and get something new from each reading. It hits my interpretation of the criteria and is a modern Newbery choice. I was so excited it won the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature. Grab a Fanta and put it on the list.
*More: https://heavymedal.slj.com/2023/09/27/memoirs-big-families-and-road-trips-oh-my-wednesday-roundup-graphic-novels/#comments
There is a National Radio Quiet Zone in Virginia/West Virginia/Maryland where there are restrictions on things such as radio waves, microwaves, WIFI, and cordless phones so there is no interference with scientific and government projects. I imagined that the author was using this place as inspiration for the setting of Simon Sort of Says. This made Simon feel much more realistic to me than Hercules being left alone to run a business and keep things going for the school while also taking care of himself and solving his brother’s relationship problems. I didn’t love either book but I see the wide support for both and could see why they are other’s favorites.