September Check-In: Poll Results
Last week we asked readers to weigh in on the Mock-Newbery related reading that we’ve done so far in 2024, based on our suggestions from March – September. 75 people responded! The results are pretty interesting, I think. Of course there are still a lot of books we haven’t seen yet, but Emily and I will pay attention to these results when we do our Wednesday Roundups throughout the fall. Here are the results:
Of the top five suggested books, which is your favorite?
- 34%: AND THEN, BOOM
- 30%: THE TENTH MISTAKE OF HANK HOOPERMAN
- 23%: THE FIRST STATE OF BEING
- 10%: FERRIS
- 4%: LOUDER THAN HUNGER
Interesting to see FERRIS, which had the most total suggestions (23), lower on this list. AND THEN, BOOM was last in number of suggestions among the five (15), but tops the favorites list. A reminder that suggestions identify books that should be in the conversation, but standing out as the most distinguished book of the year is a different thing.
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We also asked for favorites in eight different book categories. I won’t list all of the choices here, just the books with the top responses:
Realistic Fiction:
- 33%: THE TENTH MISTAKE OF HANK HOOPERMAN
- 15%: LOUDER THAN HUNGER
- 9%: FERRIS
- 9%: NOT QUITE A GHOST
- 9%: THE WRONG WAY HOME
Historical Fiction:
- 28%: MAX IN THE HOUSE OF SPIES
- 19%: TREE TABLE BOOK [oops: I don’t think this really is historical fiction]
- 11%: THE GIRL WHO SANG
- 11%: THE NIGHT WAR
- 9%: AMIL IN THE AFTER
Fantasy/Science Fiction/Mystery:
- 27%: OLIVETTI
- 20%: THE SECRET LIBRARY
- 17%: THE COLOR OF SOUND
- 9%: MEDUSA
THE FIRST STATE OF BEING, which fourth in overall suggestions with 17, only got 5% in this category. I’m not sure what that means…
Nonfiction:
- 55%: THE ENIGMA GIRLS
- 6%: AMERICAN WINGS
- 6%: THE IGUANODON’S HORN
This category had the clearest leader. And several titles with just two or three votes.
Graphic Novel:
- 41%: PLAIN JANE AND THE MERMAID
- 27%: THE GIRL WHO SANG
- 6%: YOUNG HAG AND THE WITCHES’ QUEST
Picture Book:
- 28%: THE HOUSE BEFORE FALLING INTO THE SEA [original post missed this book; now corrected]
- 14%: BEFORE THE SHIPS
- 14%: A FLICKER OF HOPE
- 12%: THE IGUANODON’S HORN
- 7%: OUTSPOKEN PAUL ROBESON
Upper End of the Age Group:
- 40%: BLACK GIRL YOU ARE ATLAS
- 23%: ULTRAVIOLET
- 21%: JUPITER RISING
Book in Verse:
- 64%: AND THEN, BOOM
- 24%: MID-AIR
Interesting to see just two big vote-getters in a category that seems pretty strong to me this year.
What trends are you noticing in this year’s books?
This wasn’t a multiple choice option, so here are some highlights from those responses:
- Social Issues: If we use that broad term, this is the definite leader. Many people cited the number of books looking at social issues of one kind or another. Specific threads include troubled and/or absent parents (especially mothers), poverty, personal trauma, and just generally heavy subjects and hard lives.
- World War II: Look for a post next week on some of these titles.
- Supernatural/ghosts
- Historical Fiction. Including an observation that we’re seeing more recent history in our fiction.
- Sad: also dark, depressing…
Some readers also noted types of books that are not showing up so far this year:
- Humor: I’ll add my name to that list. I wasn’t sure at first why HOW IT ALL ENDS stood out for me among graphic novels, then I realized: Finally…a funny book! (and it’s not like it was a comedy or anything…)
- Graphic Novels: Specifically, high-quality graphic novels. The poll results above seem to match with that, with only two stand-outs so far.
Thanks to all for the thoughtful responses. We’d love to learn what you think of the results in the comments below…
Filed under: Book Discussion
About Steven Engelfried
Steven Engelfried retired from full-time library work a couple years ago and now works as a part-time Youth Librarian at the West Linn Public Library in Oregon. 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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Thanks for the results Steven! It’s interesting to see like you said, something might have the most suggestions but not be the strongest. I think And then, boom! Deserves a reread from me because I can barely remember what it’s about….. my bad on tree table book! Categorizing is hard haha
I think the reason that First State of Being only got 5% of the SciFi/Mystery/Fantasy category is because it wasn’t listed in that category…So that 5% represents people (myself included!) writing it in as Other.
Thanks for catching that, Alys. Our bad. So we’ll assume that FIRST STATE OF BEING has more support from readers than that part of the poll shows. I’m sure we’ll discuss that book in posts and comments…
I also didn’t remember “Haven’t read enough of these yet” as an option for picture books (or any of the groups) so I went back and checked and I still don’t see that option. Or was the 28% who chose “haven’t read enough of these yet” simply implied because that’s the number of people who skipped the question?
Uh-oh, another big mistake. The leading Picture Book vote-getter actually was THE HOUSE BEFORE FALLING INTO THE SEA, with 28%. I read the results graph wrong and mixed up the total for that book and the total of a write-in answer (“haven’t read enough…”). Yikes. Totals are corrected above. Sorry for the carelessness, and thanks Alys and others who read carefully and catch our errors….