Heavy Medal: A Mock Newbery Blog

December 1, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (1)

It is a challenge to be on an award committee if you have a small living space. My stints have at least scourged the under-the-bed of dust bunnies, dragging boxes in and out. 

Newbery committee members can technically do as they please with the "complimentary" books the publishers send them. Many wind up in the members' local libraries or schools. Because my library (happily) generally has copies already in the system of any worthy title anyway, I've often sent most of my books to the Alameda County Community Food Bank, for family holiday gift boxes.

Now's the time of year to do it, even though the committee deliberations are still in progress.  Nevertheless, I always found I could make a few boxes of books I really really really didn't think I'd need again. Since committee members ...Read More

November 25, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (6)

What is it that makes We Are the Ship so heart-thumping? Anyone who enjoys a live baseball game will feel that familiar stadium-big excitement that comes across in Nelson's stunning paintings, with their photographic compositions and larger-than-life perspectives. The heft of the large square book adds to the thrill, and I find myself turning to it often to page through the heavy, slick pages and look one great man after another in the eye. It's a book that makes you feel both humble, and powerful. 

Nelson's text also adds to the tone. It is in a conversational first-person-plural that one might not expect in nonfiction, but which has the immediacy, familiarity...Read More
Industries: Awards, Books, Interviews, K-8

November 24, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (4)

Gary Schmidt's Trouble is one of the books this year that hangs on tenacioulsy in my memory, even though it came out in the spring.  With layer upon layer of plot and character development, Schmidt creates a perspective that is real to life and constantly surprising.  He catches the mood shifts of a family in crisis with detail-rich precision:

...Read More

Industries: Awards, Books, Interviews, K-8

November 18, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (7)

"Thanksgiving" is roughly when Sharon and I try to have our final list of 8 or 9 titles pinned down...giving participants in our January discussion a good six weeks to read them all.  We've announced our first five, and have some ideas about what the last few will be--but we still want to hear from you if there's something that didn't come up already, or if something that has already been mentioned hasn't shown up yet on the shortlist. 

To catch our interest, be as detailed as you can about how the title you're pitching speaks to the Newbery criteria. Use specific examples. And if you disagree with us over something we didn't like, take us on!

Industries: Awards, Books, Interviews, K-8

November 13, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

Sharon gave a brief overview of how we organize our Mock Newbery, and I talked more about choosing titles.  We're now at the stage of shaking out the end of our shortlist, and I'm officially consigning some of my favorite titles of the year to the "UnMockable" shelf. These include:

...Read More

Industries: Awards, Books, Interviews, K-8