Heavy Medal: A Mock Newbery Blog

November 20, 2009 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

Ah...Thanksgiving on the horizon. That means: final nominations due soon for the Newbery committee.  

The Newbery Manual doesn't actually provide a fixed schedule for these nominations, but the final round generally happens in December: enough time for members to ferret out all the eligible books...enough time for everyone to re-read nominations and prepare for discussion in January.

It's also around the time I intended to have our final discussion list for our January 10th live Mock Newbery ready...to give people the Thanksgiving weekend to get sta...Read More

November 16, 2009 | Link This | Email this | Comments (6)

I recently finished a second read of The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate, after having read the ARC many months ago. Comments on Jonathan's original post continue to pop up over a month later, and we've been comparing it to many other books in subsequent posts.

Jonathan said in one such comment:

"I'm all for understanding that a plot-driven plot and a character-driven plot are trying to accomplish different things, and judging them accordingly, but to my mind ...Read More

November 12, 2009 | Link This | Email this | Comments (2)

Meanwhile, The Dunderheads is really growing on me.  When the discussion started, I was relying on month's-old memory of having read the dummy at ALA.   My library's copy just made it through processing, and I have to say that I couldn't agree more with Jonathan's assertion of "superb characterization." He goes on to say t...Read More
Industries: Awards, Books, Interviews, K-8, Preschool to Grade 4

November 9, 2009 | Link This | Email this | Comments (4)

Moonshot was brought up a few times in our discussions of  short texts that could be Newbery worthy. As commenters like Monica and Wendy have pointed out, the poetic text is full of great imagery and sound.  "High above / there is the Moon, / cold and quiet, / no air, no life, / but glowing in the sky. // Here below / there are three men / who close themselves in special clothes / who-click-lock hands / in heavy gloves..."   Make sure to read it aloud to get...Read More
Industries: Awards, Books, Interviews, K-8, Preschool to Grade 4

November 6, 2009 | Link This | Email this | Comments (12)

I've been steadily plowing through the many titles that have been suggested by you all, and still have a ways to go. My jaw isn't dropping yet, and I find myself thinking a lot about Jonathan's suggestion that "When I see the word writing in these conversations I am assuming that it is interchangeable with style which is merely one of the Newbery criteria--one of six, to be exact."   I'm not sure that I agree. 

"Appropriateness of style" to me suggests the tone of a book, or its rhythm, or arc, or voice...the "manner" or "character" of the presentation of the "stuff" that is plot, character and setting.  In this crietrion, as much as in as many of the other five that are "pertinent,...Read More
Industries: Awards, Books, Interviews, K-8, Preschool to Grade 4