MORE 'BOOK-DISCUSSION' POSTS
There’s plenty of precedent for sequels getting Newbery recognition. A YEAR DOWN YONDER won the medal in this century; earlier Dicey Tillerman, Will Stanton, and Taran the Assistant Pig-Keeper, among others, all debuted in earlier books before winning the gold. The Terms and Criteria state that “The committee’s decision is to be made following deliberation about the books […]
So, what about YA? We talked about this quite a bit in the comments of our post about the National Book Award Longlist, which was heavily Young Adult. It’s come up in other places too, including in one of our very first posts this year, about VINCENT AND THEO. There are quite a few titles […]
As the Newbery Committee manual dictates, the “committee is to make its decision primarily on the text” and “[o]ther components of a book, such as illustrations, overall design of the book, etc., may be considered when they make the book less effective.” In other words, good designs and fabulous illustrations that enhance the overall reading experience, theoretically, should not […]
Chris Harris’ I’M JUST NO GOOD AT RHYMING AND OTHER NONSENSE FOR MISCHIEVOUS KIDS AND IMMATURE GROWN-UPS is a strong collection of funny poems. Which might not be enough for Newbery consideration, but there’s a little more here. For one thing, the poems work together to create a sort of unified world of wordplay that’s […]
Certain recurring narrative devices have long been universally employed by authors of children’s books: a boarding school setting, moving (away) as the main conflict, meeting a wise mentor, etc. One often-seen element is an orphan protagonist: From Huck Finn and Mary Lennox to Harry Potter and the Beaudelaires, children’s books do seem to feature parentless protagonists disproportionally. Perhaps it allows the author to easily externalize […]
I’ve been thinking a lot about didactic content recently. As the Newbery Criteria states: The committee should keep in mind that the award is for literary quality and quality presentation for children. The award is not for didactic content or popularity. So, what do we do with books that are important and what counts as didactic […]
Non-fiction books in a picture book format can be a hard sell in a Newbery discussion. The Terms and Criteria state that the “distinguished contribution to American literature” is “defined as text.” And in the best picture book non-fiction, like the best picture books and graphic novels, text and illustrations are usually dependent on one another. But […]
The first rule of punk, according to Malú’s dad, is to be yourself – as if yourself is a single, easy-to-define, tangible something. But when you’re in middle school, figuring out who you are is a lot more complicated than that. The First Rule of Punk has starred reviews from Kirkus, Publisher’s Weekly, and School Library […]
Historical fiction has done well over the years in terms of Newbery recognition. In the past ten years, about 43% of the Medal and Honor books fit the category (18 of 42 if you count “When You Reach Me” and “Splendors and Glooms”), and all but one year included at least one historical fiction title. […]
By the third page of See You in the Cosmos by Jack Cheng, I am absolutely hooked: not because it has an unusual narrative device and not because of the almost stream-of-consciousness, intimate, conversational tone, although both are immediately noteworthy. I am hooked by the book’s unique and affable protagonist Alex, a first person/present/immediate past tense young narrator. When Alex brings […]
ADVERTISEMENT
Archives
ADVERTISEMENT