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I hope many of you are finding the time to wind down a little for the winter holidays. At my library, children’s librarians recently traded lists of titles of "comfort food books"….children’s books that we turn to, to re-read as adults, to get through challenging times. Interestingly, the ones that leapt to mind first for me […]
Since the Newbery Medal is most closely associated with middle grade novels, I imagine this blog has been frustrating for those who would like to see us discuss one middle grade novel after another. To be sure, we’ve spent lots of time on WHEN YOU REACH ME, A SEASON OF GIFTS, and THE EVOLUTION OF CALPURNIA TATE, […]
Now we turn our attention from starred reviews to best of the year lists. I’ve included Booklist Editors’ Choice, Horn Book Fanfare, Kirkus Best Children’s Books and Best Young Adult Books, Publishers Weekly Best Books, and School Library Journal Best Books. When the Bulletin Blue Ribbons come out in a couple of weeks, I’ll update this […]
I’m trying to clean up on my re-reading in time for our Mock Newbery and the actual announcements…. Having now read Years of Dust thoroughly, I’m not sure I have much to add to the debate, except to respond to Jonathan when he says: "I think the incorporation of Florence Owens Means (aka Migrant Mother) shows how […]
With one month to go before The Great Lakewood Newbery Book Club holds its own mock Newbery, I decided we need to focus our time and energy on a narrower segment of books. Students nominated their top two to three books and the following list represents the titles that we will be discussing next month. […]
In a couple of posts commenters have raised issues about Almost Astronauts. The book’s editor, Marc Aronson, challenges readers to bring objections to his blog, but no one has yet. Though some of our commenters mentioned "inaccuracies" and "questionable sources"…this real gist of the issue seems to be about "slant" or "propoganda" in Stone’s text. One […]
Elizabeth Bluemle has taken to occasionally posting a list of books earning multiple starred reviews from the various review journals (Booklist, Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, Horn Book, Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, and School Library Journal). Thus a book can earn up to six starred reviews. Wendy wonders, in a previous comment, how the number […]
Ok, I’m ready to admit I’ll probably never feel ready to comment on this one. The New York Times review by Adam Gopnik revived my interest, because he appreciates everything I appreciate in it. He nails a description of her prose style in the final paragraph. It is sentimental, but utterly genuinely so. People have wondered […]
No, this post is not about Albert Marrin‘s YEARS OF DUST or accuracy in nonfiction. It’s about fantasy fiction, broadly defined, so maybe the headline should read LIAR, FIRE, CATCHING FIRE. As excellent as LIAR by Justine Larbaelstier and FIRE by Kristin Cashore may be, however, both are too old for the Newbery. HEROES OF THE VALLEY […]
Recent discussions on Almost Astronauts and Years of Dust have prompted commenters like Leslie C to wonder: "I’m impressed by the level of detail that I’ve read on this blog about nonfiction accuracy. Can you tell us how that works in committee discussions, Nina or Johnathan or any other former members? What if one person […]
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