Nina Lindsay
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If You Want to See A Whale
Jonathan posted about potential easy reader contenders for the Newbery; but we have yet to delve into picture books. I’m always on the lookout for picture books with text strong enough to give a 300 page novel a challenge at the table. I think that such a thing is rare, but I’m excited to have [...]
Al Capone Does My Homework and The Water Castle
Billed as the “last installment” of Gennifer Choldenko’s Alcatraz trilogy, AL CAPONE DOES MY HOMEWORK stands out to me from the pack of widely-appealing middle-grade novels as one with some real grit to chew in the Newbery criteria department. It starts in Moose’s singular and vivid voice and moves deftly into its plot while giving [...]
What do you want from a Newbery title?
As we progress through this season of Heavy Medal, Jonathan and I will be putting together a shortlist of titles that we’ll use in an in-person Mock Newbery discussion. There, we’ll model the actual committee deliberation process to determine our Mock Newbery Winner. (Hold the date: Sunday, January 12th, Oakland CA. Not near Oakland? Check [...]
The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp
Kathi Appelt’s newest is another National Book Award Finalist that I think makes for interesting Newbery possibilities. While very different in mood and characters than her Newbery Honor THE UNDERNEATH, I find the same sense of pacing here: leisurely and wandering between different viewpoints. The storyteller’s voice is strong and becomes a character in itself, [...]
Reader, Know Thyself: Guest Post from Vicky Smith
We’ve been rolling out discussion on a lot of titles that seem to be meeting with ambivalence, which may be turning you to a second read. Before you crack open that title you didn’t really like again…we thought you might like to hear from Vicky Smith, Children’s and Teen editor of Kirkus Reviews, on [...]
Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures (or, The Pictures Question)
If any book this year passes the first-page test with flying colors, it might be this National Book Award Finalist from Kate DiCamillo. (And, at this point, I’m talking about the first page of text.) Not only are character and setting immediately called into action, the tone and spirit of the book come on so [...]
The Age Question
Ah, the weekend. Housecleaning, tomato canning, and anticipation of the NBA Longlists to be announced 9am Eastern Monday morning. I’m completely opportunistic regarding the National Books Awards. If I like them, I salute them, if not, I dismiss them. (My loss.) I think this is easier to do with awards that have no posted criteria [...]
P.S. Be Eleven: sequels and sympathies
At Heavy Medal Jonathan and I strive for discussion of books within the confines of the Newbery criteria. Use in curriculum? Doesn’t matter. Breadth of popularity? Doesn’t matter. ”Importance” of theme or message? Uniqueness to the canon? Comparison to books of other years? Doesn’t, doesn’t, doesn’t matter. This is not to say these things [...]
The Center of Everything
Spring. After a exhausting fall and winter of measuring the year’s best books against each other; the new publishing year opens and those of us who doggedly follow children’s literature in the peculiar quest of speculating about the Newbery Medal get excited. Very excited. The slate is clean: what book will garner next year’s golden [...]
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