Graphic Novel Win for Scott O'Dell Award Gets Stormy
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By SLJ Staff -- School Library Journal, 01/13/2010
Matt Phelan’s The Storm in the Barn (Candlewick) is winner of the 2010 Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction, marking the first time the honor has gone to a graphic novel.
Following last week’s announcement, some tweeted about the eligibility of a graphic novel for a prize for historical fiction. But The Horn Book editor Roger Sutton, one of the award’s judges, blogged that it never occurred to him to think otherwise.
“As far as I'm concerned, historical fiction is an invented tale which not only takes place in the past but proposes to shed some kind of light on an actual event or situation of historical import. The Storm in the Barn has all the ingredients of great fiction—astute characterization, evocative atmosphere, a compelling story, a theme rewarding consideration—and gives us a unique vision of the Dirty Thirties. How is it not historical fiction?”
Set on a Kansas farm in the Dust Bowl era, The Storm in the Barn is about 11-year-old Jack’s desperate family, who hasn’t seen rain for four years. His sister is ill with dust pneumonia, and there’s nothing he can do to help his furious dad. Is there someone hiding in the barn on his neighbor’s abandoned barn, or does Jack suffer from dust dementia? With spare words and pictures, the graphic novel tells the story of one boy who finds the power to make a difference.
Established in 1982 by historical fiction writer Scott O’Dell, the annual $5,000 award is given to a distinguished work of historical fiction for young people, published by a U.S. publisher, and set in South, Central, or North America. The author must also be an American citizen. Since O’Dell’s death, the award has been administered by his wife, Elizabeth Hall.
“While the criteria for the O'Dell Award do require that a winning book be published and set in the Americas, they say nothing about judging an entrant on the basis of words alone,” writes Sutton. The Newbery award, however, specifies that entrants are judged based solely on text.
Graphic novels are not only a huge hit with kids, they’re also snatching major awards. In 2007, the Michael L. Printz Award went to Gene Luen Yang, whose American Born Chinese (Roaring Brook/First Second) marked the first time a graphic novel had won a major children’s book award.
And a recent article in SLJ, “It’s Caldecott Time” by librarian Ernie Cox, argues that it’s time for a graphic novel to win a Caldecott. The article starts off by recommending The Storm in the Barn as one of this year’s serious contenders.
Hazel Rochman, contributing editor of YA books for ALA’s Booklist, was the O’Dell award committee chair, succeeding the late Zena Sutherland, who served as chair from the inception of the award. The other members of the committee were Ann Carlson, English and Fine Arts librarian at Oak Park and River Forest High School, and Sutton.
