ACPL's (Virtual!) Mock Newbery

 Last year, I had the immense pleasure to travel to Fort Wayne, Indiana (about a 4 hour trek from my home in Southern Indiana) to attend the Allen County Public Library's Mock Newbery discussion. I had been one time before and it's always been a really great program. It's such a fun experience to get together with like-minded book lovers and talk in depth about some of the best books of the year. 

This year, due to COVID, the discussion is taking place virtually, mirroring the work the actual committees are doing right this very moment. I'm very excited that I get to take part in the discussion once again and I'm really excited to see how the discussion will work virtually. 

These are the titles that we'll be discussion on Saturday afternoon this year with links to any that I've blogged about. I have some personal favorites that I'll be discussing a bit on Wednesday, and I'd love to know your top contenders for the Youth Media Awards!

All He Knew by Helen Frost (Indiana author!)

Before the Ever After by Jacqueline Woodson

Black is a Rainbow Color by Angela Joy

Black Brother, Black Brother by Jewell Parker Rhodes

The Blackbird Girls by Anne Blankman

Box: Henry Brown Mails Himself to Freedom by Carole Boston Weatherford 

Echo Mountain by Lauren Wolk

Fighting Words by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

From the Desk of Zoe Washington by Janae Marks

A Game of Fox and Squirrels by Jenn Reese

Go With the Flow by Karen Schneemann & Lily Williams

Kent State by Deborah Wiles

The List of Things That Will Not Change by Rebecca Stead

Prairie Lotus by Linda Sue Park

Show Me a Sign by Anne Clare LeZotte

Snapdragon by Kat Leyh

The Summer We Found the Baby by Amy Hest

Ways to Make Sunshine by Renee Watson

When Stars are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed

When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller

It's Coming: The Youth Media Awards!

It's beginning to look a lot like Youth Media Awards season!!

Yes, in a few short weeks, the American Library Association's Youth Media Awards will be announced at the Midwinter Conference in Philadelphia. I won't be there in person, but I will be excitedly watching the webcast with (I hope) some similarly excited coworkers. I've booked a meeting room for us at the library and hope to be able to offer comp time to anyone who wants to come in early that day to watch with me. I'm debating whether I should pick up some healthy breakfast items or splurge on some donuts... Hmmm.

The Saturday before the announcements, I will be heading 4 hours north to Fort Wayne to participate in Allen County Public Library's Mock Newbery discussion. I have been reading (and in some cases re-reading) to get ready. I'm not quite finished with all the books, but as soon as I schedule this blog post I'm going to get back to it.

What are my favorites this year?

A Good Kind of Trouble by Lisa Moore Ramée (Balzer + Bray, 2019). I love the plotting in this book and the thoughtful structure that's deceptively simple. On its surface, this is a typical middle school story about a girl dealing with friends and boys and racial tension in her town. As you drill further down, you realize that each obstacle Shayla grapples with in her personal life is preparing her for the huge realization that she needs to stand up for what she believe in, even if it means she'll get in trouble. This is the book I would hand to young activists and I think it's supremely relevant to today. Read my full review with booktalk and readalikes here!

New Kid by Jerry Craft (HarperAlley, 2019). Okay, it's hard to know how the committee will come down on the eligibility of graphic novels. Does the text have to stand on its own? Can storyboarding be considered part of the "text"? If the committee is amenable to graphic novels, I think this one is worthy of consideration and distinguished for its interpretation of theme and appropriateness of style for a child audience. I think the way that Jerry Craft examines racial microaggressions is so skillful because it's hilarious at the same time it's being serious. This makes total sense for the protagonist who processes his own emotions by drawing comics. 

Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga (Balzer + Bray, 2019). I love the language in this book and the effective poetic structure that conveys big feelings with very few words, which is so appropriate to the story. As Jude moves to America and struggles with learning English and making friends when it's difficult to express herself, the poems play with language and emphasize the important role that language plays in feeling at home. 

Now, like I said, I haven't finished all the books on our mock Newbery list yet and I certainly haven't read or reread nearly as much as any of the committee members. But these three (all books from HarperCollins! I promise they didn't sponsor this post!) are all books of my heart and books I will be proud to promote to kids whether or not they garner shiny stickers (although I would be thrilled if they do!).

What books are your favorite contenders for the Newbery this year?

On Newbery Honor Books

Gold stars. Photo by Creativity103, used under Creative Commons license.

FIRST OF ALL, a hearty congratulations to the winners and honorees of the 2019 Youth Media Awards, announced Monday in Seattle. I'm pleased to say that I dragged my two roomies out of bed to come with me to the live announcements (they are NOT morning people). 

I have to say that I am especially pleased to see The Night Diary by Veera Hiranandani win a Newbery Honor because that was a book of my heart this year, which means it was one of my own personal favorites. And it is always pleasing to see your favorites win an award and get an acknowledgement that others see the good in it, too. 

Now. We librarians get super excited about the Youth Media Awards. And we all have our favorite titles. And we LOVE IT when there are lots of honor books. The more the merrier, right? 

But I need to set the record straight on one thing. If there are only a few honor books selected for an award, that does NOT IN ANY WAY MEAN that there were no other books worthy of distinction. It means that these books selected were the ones that a diverse committee of 15 different people, people from different kinds of libraries, from different areas of the country, from different types of experiences and backgrounds, could all come to a consensus on. 

Have you ever tried to get a group to agree about anything? 

Have you ever tried to get a group of fifteen people to agree about anything? 

I guarantee you that every single person on the 2019 Newbery Committee had additional books that they would have loved to see get an Honor sticker. I guarantee that every person on that committee had at least one book that broke their heart a little bit when it didn't make the final list. 

My 2015 Newbery Committee was also a committee that "only" had two honor books. And yes, we heard the disappointed sounds from a room of thousands when the number was announced (especially on the heels of the 2015 Caldecott committee announcing SIX honor books). All I can say is that the winner and two honor books announced were the three books that our committee could come to a consensus on out of a field of dozens of wonderful books. 

That's how the process works. And it works that way to make the awards mean something. If I got to give a Newbery honor sticker to every book that I personally found amazing, that would be super fun for me, but it wouldn't mean much to the rest of the world. It's the consensus that makes the award mean something. It's why the committee ballots and re-ballots until a book meets the required score to be declared a winner. You can read more details about the process in the John Newbery Award Committee Manual and I highly recommend that you do so if you're curious about how it all works. 

One last little thing before I step down from my soapbox is this: 

Just because your favorite book didn't get a shiny sticker on it this weekend doesn't make it any less a favorite. I call these "books of your heart". Don't stop loving that book. Don't stop sharing that book and pushing it into the hands of children. Ultimately, it's not a shiny sticker that's going to get that book into the hands of every child who needs it. It's you, the gatekeeper. It's you the librarian, the teacher, the parent, the friend. Keep matching up your favorite books with their readers. THAT is what makes those books shine, not a sticker.