Book Crush

I'm giddy, I'm nervous, I can't stop smiling and I just have to tell you about it - it's a book crush! I only started reading Shannon Hale's The Actor and the Housewife at lunch and already I feel like I've never felt this way about a book before. Never have I been so consumed... strange, considering all the books I love all the time. Like any infatuation, I don't know where this is going or how it will end, but in the meantime, I'm loving every minute of it. Now to just get through the work day...

Do you know this feeling?

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate

Today I finished reading The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate, by Jacqueline Kelly, and had to write about it immediately. What a satisfying read!

Calpurnia Tate is living in a time when becoming a proper lady is the only job a girl should aspire to, but she is terrible at piano, tatting lace, and baking pies. Instead, Calpurnia wishes to be a naturalist like Mr. Charles Darwin, and maybe attend the University. The balance of these two desires drive this wonderful and timeless story.

The Tate family is made up of six boys, Calpurnia, her long-suffering parents, a naturalist granddaddy, and the household servants. None of the family knows their granddaddy very well, even though he lives with them, because he's always pursuing his own interests. One day, Calpurnia's interst in the animal and plant life around their Texas farm drives her to seek out her granddaddy's company. The bond that blossoms between them is the heart and soul of this story. Grandaddy imparts many life lessons as they observe the ways of the natural world together, keeping notes in a journal and samples in jars.

While Calpurnia's own wishes to escape being made into a lady are the motivation that drives the novel, it is largely an old-fashioned family story (set in 1899) and reminded me for some reason of Cheaper by the Dozen. The six brothers are characters in their own rights that become fleshed-out as Calpurnia matures and sees them more as individuals than as a noisy group.

This story lives and breathes. It is the best juvenile novel I've read in a long time. One of my colleagues questioned whether children would read this and argues that it's just another "children's book for adults", but I think the good readers will enjoy it. Definitely a Newbery contender for me.

Newest Mo Willems

On Friday, Mo Willems posted a very brief preview of his up-coming pop-up book Big Frog Can't Fit In on his blog. Check it out!

A Wonderful Pile of Picture Books

I've been mulling over a zombie post for the last two weeks and time has slipped away from me. In the meantime, I read a whole bunch of really great picture books today, so I'm going to recommend those now.

Tillie Lays an Egg by Terry Golson

Tillie Lays an Egg is simliar to the Minerva Louise books by Janet Stoeke, but is fun it its own way with vivid photographs of the lovely chickens.

There are seven chickens in the henhouse, but only Tillie is not interested in eating corn or laying eggs in a nest. Tillie is an adventurer, always exploring and looking for worms. She lays her eggs is amazing places! Children must search the pictures to find the eggs left in funny and unusual situations. Recommended for 2-4 year olds. The author has a hen-cam on her website that is really fun to watch: http://www.hencam.com/index.php

Food for Thought: The Stories Behind the Foods We Eat by Ken Robbins

Here is an excellent investigation of the history and mythology of food. From apples to pomegranates to mushrooms, the author humorously relates both fact and fiction about our most elemental and ancient foods: fruit and vegetables. A great gift for a foodie parent, this volume with its gorgeous photographs can be enjoyed by all ages.

Not All Animals are Blue: A Big Book of Little Differences by Beatrice Boutignon

I absolutely love this book of differences. This is one that is meant to be looked at individually with parent and/or child, as the illustrations and the things the reader needs to hunt for are quite small. Each page features an illustration in which the reader must find the differences between the animals pictured. The illustrations are just beautiful and the things we are hunting for are whimsical and not always easy to spot. Sometimes, it's up to interpretation and there are difficult new vocabulary words. This is a perfect book for examining and discussing.

Birds by Kevin Henkes

Henkes has of late been focusing on a much younger audience with his picture books. Birds is a wonderful introduction to what makes birds unique and special. It is very appealing to a young audience with simple ideas and colorful illustrations. For example: "Once I saw seven birds on the telephone wire. They didn't move and they didn't move and the didn't move. I looked away for just one second...and they were gone." These are truths about birds that young children can relate to. The book also has the nostalgic feel of favorites of a bygone era like those of Lois Lenski or Charlotte Zolotow.

Three Little Kittens and Other Favorite Nursery Rhymes selected and illustrated by Tony Ross

Tony Ross's new nursery rhyme collection is right up there with my favorites like Rosemary Wells and Richard Scarry. The illustrations are big, bold and bright. They clearly illustrate the predicament of the characters in the antiquated rhymes and will help children learn new vocabulary and help parents explain what's going on. There's also quite a bit of humor here, in characteristic style for Ross. If you're not famliar with Tony Ross, think Quentin Blake's humourous illustrations of his own and Roald Dahl's books. Some parents might find them too sassy. Ah well, back to Rosemary Wells if you do.

SLJ's Battle of the Books

In April, School Library Journal launched their very first Battle of the (Kids') Books. This fun and ambitious project pits the favorite and best books of 2008 against each other in brackets. The judges are well-known and award-winning authors and experts such as Tamora Pierce, Roger Sutton, and John Green . The Battle has been so engrossing and satisfying to watch. Finally, favorites get the recognition they deserve, even if they didn't win the big awards. The reviews are thought-provoking and well-reasoned. I can't wait for the final showdown this week when my favorite The Hunger Games (by Suzanne Collins) is pitted against The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves (by M.T. Anderson), a book that I did not warm to in the least. Go Hunger Games! To read back over the whole comptetition, go to the Battle of the Books blog.

Escapes to the Sea

This week, I read two ARCs I picked up at ALA mid-winter: Escape by Sea, by L.S. Lawrence and Distant Waves: A Novel of the Titanic, by Suzanne Weyn.

Escape by Sea tells the story of Sara, her father, and the crew of his ship as they must escape the Roman invasion of Carthage. With a ship full of goods, the group makes their way around the Mediterranean trading, battling pirates, and avoiding danger at all sides. An important Roman soldier they take hostage makes their situation even more precarious.

Sara is in her teens and chafes against the rules and expectations for women. The Sara in her head has all kinds of opinions and comebacks she wishes she could share, but good Sara knows to keep her mouth shut. As calamity after calamity befalls the group, Sara becomes more powerful and is able to express herself and be heard.

The novel ends with a perfect resolution, though readers looking for a romantic conclusion will be disappointed. This is a great historical novel of Roman times and lays out the way the different people groups around the Mediterranean felt about each other and their powerful neighbor. Escape by Sea was published last year in Australia and is due out from Holiday House later this month in the U.S.

Distant Waves is a well-paced but ultimately silly historical novel set mainly in the Victorian spiritualist colony of Spirit Vale, New York. Jane and her four sisters have been raised by their single mother who is a medium. Jane is interested in science and becoming a journalist and is skeptical about her mother's communication with the other side, but when her younger sisters seem to have a genuine gift as psychics, Jane is torn about her feelings.

Regardless of her own feelings, spiritualism is very popular and soon Jane's whole family is invited to attend a spiritualism conference in London. Jane meets many famous people there, like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Houdini. Jane's mother befriends a couple of men who have premonitions about the fate of a luxury ship, Titanic, that is making its debut voyage. When it is discovered that two of Jane's sisters are sailing aboard the Titanic, Jane's mother sends her to persuade them off the ship. Soon, Jane is trapped aboard with all of her sisters, two of whom know that their lives are doomed. The events that follow on the ship, to the conclusion of the novel, are ludicrous but entertaining.

If the reader takes Distant Waves as a historical fantasy, then it's a pretty enjoyable novel. The author has written thorough notes about the real people and events that are portrayed in the story, which is good for giving an idea about how people viewed spiritualism during the early 1900's. All in all, though, it's way too far fetched for me, but I'll give it a thumbs-up for the cool cover art. This novel is available now.

The Devil's Paintbox

A few years back, I really enjoyed Victoria McKernan's first novel for young adults, Shackleton's Stowaway. Now, she has written another gripping historical novel.

The Devil's Paintbox tells the story of Aidan and Maddy, two orphans who are on the verge of starvation out on the Kansas prairie when a wagon train comes by and "rescues" them, in return for a year of work at a logging camp near Seattle. Off on the adventure of the Oregon Trail, Aidan and Maddy actually have an easier life than they have ever known before. But, of course, the westward journey is fraught with danger, hardship, and difficult relationships, and events catch up with the kids. While attempting to ford a river, Aidan's life is saved by some young Native American men. He has to confront his prejudices and in the last third of the novel, the title earns its place. The "devil's paintbox" is another name for smallpox and it is illegal for Indians to get vaccinated. Aidan's new friends beg him to help get them the vaccine. The policies and prejudice of our past are once again shocking as this true practice is explored and Aidan weighs his sense of justice and his desire keep to himself. Aidan's life in the logging camp is vividly described and he becomes a prizefighter in the camps. There is no shortage of adventure in this tale.

Well-written and well-researched, this is the historical novel for any reader to dig into before spring lures us outside.

Mormon YA Fantasy Novelists

At the library, the growing group of really fantastic Mormon YA authors is something that we talk about quite often. We've often speculated, without a Mormon colleague to ask, if there are elements to the religion that lend themselves especially well to the creation of fantasy. Look at the popularity of Orson Scott Card in the past and now Stephanie Meyer, Shannon Hale, Jessica Day George, and even Obert Skye. All of them are creating fantasy worlds that strike a chord with young readers and critics alike. (I would list Shannon Hale as one of my favorites, and her blog, squeetus, is a delight!) A recent article Boston Globe perfectly addressed this phenomenon and talked with some of the authors.

I read Jessica Day George's Princess of the Midnight Ball (a retelling of "The Twelve Dancing Princesses") last week and really enjoyed it. Like her Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow (a retelling of "East of the Sun, West of the Moon"), it beautifully retells a less popular and very romantic fairy tale. The author uses exquisite details to fully realize the world in which the fairy tale is set to make it work. In this tale, twelve individual princesses are a lot to take on, but George handles the challenge by naming each sister after flowers in their mother's garden. I loved the description of the enchantment that makes the princesses dance and how George is not easy on the queen mother for her selfish wishes that cursed her daughters.

Lately, I've been having a rough time staying with anything I pick up, but Princess of the Midnight Ball had me in nearly one sitting.

Reminiscences from the Greats

And while I'm just throwing links up here...I just read the most wonderful article from Publisher's Weekly. Here are a handful of legends from the field of children's publishing reminiscing about how things used to be. What a delight!

Cybils

The children's literature blogging community issues its own year-end awards and they announced them on Saturday. Here's some love from the Cybils.

Lovely New Novels for Teen Girls

I always like to take a little breather from children's books right after all of our end of the year reviewing and awards build-up, but this year, since I went to ALA mid-winter, I picked up tons and tons of ARCs for great up-coming stuff and I haven't really had a break at all. Where's that hot 2008 adult novel I was going to read? Oh well. And I'm still far down on the waiting list for The Graveyard Book.

I've most recently read a trio of novels that will appeal to teen girls, and the next two on my pile will as well. The first is The Musician's Daughter, by Susanne Dunlap. Fifteen-year-old Theresa is the daughter of a violinist playing in the glamorous royal court of 18th century Vienna. When her father turns up murdered, Theresa is determined to find out more about his death, if not solve the mystery. But the social constraints of both her sex and her social position get in Theresa's way as she tries to move in various circles to get more information. Gypsies, musicians, courtiers, and even Haydn himself are all part of the wider mystery that grows more and more complicated the closer Theresa looks. The historical setting is uncommon for young adults novels and provides an in-depth look at the social class structure and the view of Romanies in the 18th century. The story is engaging with intrigue, romance, and music woven throughout. This is not a five-star novel, but it is definitely appealing and would be perfect to hand to fans of historical fiction.

Next, I read the fabulous Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side, by Beth Fantaskey. Jessica is so excited for her senior year and everything is going her way when Lucius, a vampire prince from Romania, shows up and tells her that she is really Antanasia, his betrothed vampire princess. Lucius is enrolled in her high school as an exchange student and lives with her family while he tries to convince Jessica to embrace her inheritance and join him in ruling the vampire clans. Jessica is rational, doesn't believe in vampires, and already has her sights on a guy - all of this is going to ruin her perfect senior year! What starts out as a hilarious fish out of water story soon becomes a dark and serious gothic tale perfect for readers who love OR hate Twilight. Jessica and Lucius are really well-rounded characters who really stay with you. This was a serious page-turner and I had to stay up until I finished it; it was absolutely delightful and the ending did not disappoint. I'm telling everyone about it right now.

Finally, I just finished the ARC for Deb Caletti's newest, The Secret Life of Prince Charming, due out in April. At first I was not in love with the premise of this newest; it seemed a little too much like a movie theme, kinda like the last one (but you see, I can't go into depth, because I don't want to give away the plot). However hokey the premise, Caletti's writing always conquers all. This, to me, was her most powerful novel. It's all about love and relationships and what women are willing to put up with for love. Like so many of her other novels, it's a multi-generational story and while the heroine is a teen; her mom, grandma, aunt, and the women who have been in her father's life are all multi-faceted, important characters. The story of Quinn and her journey to learn more about her charismatic father is interwoven with the life lessons and stories of all the women in her life and their disasters with love. It's heartbreaking and empowering and seems like a really important novel for teen girls to read. Finally, I love how misleading the title is - any girl would pick this up with totally the wrong idea about this as a "romance" and it will end up being something she really ought to read. Fantastic!

I've finally started Kristin Cashore's ARC for Fire, the prequel to Graceling, which will be released in October. I'll have more on that soon. And my eagerly awaited copy of Envy in the "Luxe" series by Anna Godbersen, also just came in, so I'll be very busy reading this weekend. Hurray!

And the award goes to...

Publisher's Weekly's rundown of today's children's and young adult literature awards is the most concise, so that's the link I'll give you, if you haven't already looked up the awards for yourself.

I was at the awards press conference in Denver this morning and had both cheers and jeers. I do think the choice of Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book as the Newbery winner might answer some of this year's debate about commerical viability and popularity of the award winners, but does not satisfy those who wish the award would skew younger. So there. I haven't read it yet because our library copies had publisher errors and had to go back, thus making those on the waiting list wait even longer. I liked The House in the Night, by Susan Marie Swanson, and I am fine with it winning the Caldecott, but it wasn't my favorite. What really disappointed me was not seeing any honor for either of the books many of the librarians felt were stand-outs: Diamond Willow and Chains. Ah well, we'll go on reccommending them anyway! Some of the other, less well-known, awards were much more satisfying. Hurray for The Blacker the Berry, by Joyce Carol Thomas, and We Are the Ship , by Kadir Nelson, for their many honors.

The newest award, the William C. Morris Award, for a debut young adult title, had really strong contenders and we've been hotly debating the possibilities ever since we heard they were giving the new award. The winner, A Curse as Dark as Gold , by Elizabeth Bunce, was not my favorite on the list. It's quite good, though. (Obviously, if you've read my blog before, you'll know that I'm a huge Graceling fan. Which reminds me...I have an ARC of the prequel, Fire, right now and will get around to reviewing it soon.)

And that's my round-up. How are you feeling about the results?

Some Awards Links

If you're interested in hearing the winners of the aforementioned children's book awards as quickly as possible tomorrow morning, the blog for the Allen County Library System has a great round-up of ways you can hear the big news, from the Today Show to Twitter.

If you're interested in seeing what titles other librarians have loved and think are worthy of awards, the author Jim Averbeck has created a great spreadsheet of nationwide mock discussions lists. Enjoy!

Mock Newbery Awards 2009

This week at the Denver Public Library we held a lively Mock Newbery discussion. We had created two lists of excellent titles during the year and encouraged our participants to read as many as possible. Here is the list of the books we read and discussed:

Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson

Hummingbird by Kimberly Green Angle

The Underneath by Kathi Appelt

Waiting for Normal by Leslie Connor

Jeremy Cabbage and the Living Museum of Human Oddballs and

Quadruped Delights by David Elliott

The Trouble Begins at 8 by Sid Fleischman

Diamond Willow by Helen Frost

Eleven by Patricia Reilly Giff

Bird Lake Moon by Kevin Henkes

Brooklyn Bridge by Karen Hesse

Alvin Ho: Allergic to Girls, School, and Other Scary Things by Lenore Look

The Willoughbys by Lois Lowry

We Are the Ship: The Story of the Negro Baseball League by Kadir Nelson

Trouble by Gary Schmidt

The Newbery Medal is given by the American Library Association each year to the author of the most distinguished work of literature for children, which includes fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Here is a link to the criteria considered for the award. Here is a link to past winners.

Our group discussed and debated the pros and cons for each title and determined what we believed to be the most distinguished titles. Our winner was Diamond Willow and the way the votes played out, our only honor vote went to Chains. Yay! Those were definitely the ones I'm hoping to see recognized at tomorrow's awards ceremony. Speaking of...

The American Library Association's Mid-Winter Meeting/Conference is in Denver this week and I was fortunate enough to attend the notable children's picture book discussion yesterday and picked up tons of ARCs for hot new titles coming out this year. I'm sure you'll be seeing my reviews of those books in the coming months. As a part of the group being in town, the announcement of the chidren's book awards will also take place in town, so I'll be up bright and early tomorrow morning at the press conference to hear their winners firsthand. So exciting!

So exciting

The most exciting new today is that the Hunger Games sequel is coming out in September and ARC copies will be given out at Book Expo America in May. If you're going and you want to grab me a copy, I'd love to get my hands on it!!!
Here's a link to the notice in today's Publisher's Weekly: http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6631377.html?nid=2788

Non-Fiction Book Reviews

I've been given mostly non-fiction books to review lately, which has me rather bogged down. Here are a couple of current reviews.

Making Cents, by Elizabeth Keeler Robinson and illustrated by Bob McMahon.

The United States has a lot of different forms of currency, or money, from the penny up to the $100 bill. How much is the money worth and how can you get some of it? This non-fiction title describes each monetary unit, shows a nice picture of it, and describes what you can buy with it. Turn the page, and the penny is multiplied to the nickel, and its buying power is multiplied too. As the amount of money grows, the illustrator continues drawing pennies, nickels, and dimes so that the reader can see the pile of money growing and growing. The author also shows how the choices of purchases multiply along with the money. For a penny, the kids can buy one-penny nail, but for one dollar, the kids can buy one hundred penny nails or twenty spiraled wood screws or ten marking pencils or four sandpaper squares, or a hinge for a door. The ascension of money and products is simply laid out and explained and makes a bold impression. In addition to the text, the bright and appealing illustrations show kids doing various neighborhood tasks to earn the money they are going to need to build a clubhouse, so the concepts of earning and saving are mildly introduced as well. An author’s note at the end discusses other currency not mentioned in the text, such as the two-dollar bill or the one-dollar coin. The author also describes how the pictures on our coins change all the time and gives the websites for the Bureau of Printing and Engraving and the U.S. Mint so that kids can see the various designs for themselves.

Hide and Seek: Nature's Best Vanishing Acts, by Andrea Helman with photographs by Gavriel Jecan.

Animals around the world and across many habitats use camouflage to hide themselves from predators. Giraffes in the savanna, candy crabs in the sea, grasshoppers in the desert, seal pups in the arctic, tigers in the forest, and jackrabbits in the mountains are just some examples of the varied animals that use their skin to stay safe. In this book, dramatic photographs show how difficult it can be to see these, and other, animals hiding in plain sight. Notes at the end of the book will help you find animals you might have missed hiding in the photographs. The notes also pinpoint where in the world the photos were taken and give further information about the animals pictured, including each animal’s Latin name. Large, bold-face type and simple text make this an accessible choice for younger elementary children. The layout of the book is not particularly special, but the space on the page devoted to the amazing photographs makes up for the lack of jazzy editorial features.

More Newbery Fervor

Since my recent post about the various Newbery articles out there, even more have been published. This year the Newbery is really a popular tempest in a teapot. Today the Scripps Howard News Service summed up both sides of the argument nicely. No doubt there will still be more hubbub before the award announcement, which is still two weeks away - I get to go to the press conference this year, which should be fascinating.

I'm currently reading the fourth installment in the Enola Holmes mystery series, The Case of the Peculiar Pink Fan, and I think this one is the best yet.

Play with Elephant and Piggie for a while...

I have not been liking anything I have picked up lately and I'm reading some dry adult non-fiction, so there isn't much for me to blog about right now. Instead, I will give you the link to the Elephant and Piggie Dance game from Mo Willems, which is not new, but still gives me the giggles. Enjoy!

If you are not familiar with Elephant and Piggie, they are the stars of a series of early reader books by Mo Willems (who also wrote Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus). Here is my recent review of an Elephant and Piggie book, I Will Surprise My Friend:

Elephant and Piggie are good friends. As they are walking, they see a squirrel surprise his friend, making everyone laugh. Elephant and Piggie decide together that it would be really fun to surprise each other. After sneakily hiding on either side of a rock, each friend waits for the other to appear. When neither friend sees the other, each friend begins to worry that something has happened to the other. Characteristically, Elephant envisions terrible scenes of what might have happened to Piggie. Piggie imagines Elephant may have become hungry for lunch. Lost in their own daydreams, Elephant and Piggie each leap from the rock and startle each other. Elephant and Piggie discover that not all surprises are funny—but readers will find the situation very funny, indeed. Showing his unfailing understanding of children’s humor, Willems has created a delightful story for very early readers. What is really wonderful about the Elephant and Piggie stories is how skillfully Willems uses the simplest words combined with illustrations of outstanding expressiveness to convey rather complicated ideas. Each arch of an eyebrow, position of an arm, and line of motion tells the story and cues early readers to recognize the thoughts behind the words and teaches plotting and pacing. The illustrations are done in Willems’ standard line art style and with a limited color palette, which highlights the action in the illustrations better than a busier page would. These stories are terrific for early readers but can also be enjoyed by younger children when read aloud or by older children who will continue to enjoy Willems’ trademark humor.

Just a Bit

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and received all the gift books your hearts desired. While I was traveling over the holiday, I took a break from "new" books and read some older ones that were sitting in my pile, like A Northern Light, a wonderful historical mystery by Jennifer Donnelly.

Last night I finished Seven Paths to Death, the sixth volume in the always fascinating Japanese mystery series by the Hooblers. This last installment was not my favorite and had a weak conclusion, but it doesn't diminish the rest of the series. If you haven't read this series yet, start with The Ghost in the Tokaido Inn. The third volume, In Darkness, Death, won an Edgar award.

I promised that if I found the other Newbery article I had read I would post it. Here is a link to the December 16th article from the Washington Post.

Arguing the Merit of the Newbery

It seems like this year the voices of the children's literature world have really spoken up against, and in defense of, the Newbery Award. The Newbery is an award given each year by the American Library Association's Association of Library Services to Children to the "most distinguished contribution to American literature for children published in English in the United States during the preceding year." For more on the criteria click here. The committee that awards the medal changes each year and is made up of librarians, booksellers, publishers, and sometimes other authors.

Suddenly, there is a really vocal outcry about the recent winners of the medal and whether they "appeal" to the audience who usually is assigned to read them - generally 5th graders handed a list by their teacher and told to pick a Newbery. Or by parents who want their child to read something "good." My former professor, the children's literature expert Anita Silvey, formerly editor of The Horn Book, wrote the first incendiary article this fall that sparked conversation and controversy all across children's bookdom. Here is a link to her article in School Library Journal from October. One of my colleagues was passing around another article this week (which I have since misplaced...I will post it when I see her tomorrow) that expressed displeasure at the seemingly esoteric recent choices. Finally, in defense of the Newbery, children's author Erica S. Perl rebutted on Slate.com yesterday.

I am torn by the whole issue. I advocated for both Criss Cross and Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! at Newbery time in 2006 and 2008 and was pleased when those books won. Both of those titles are attacked by librarians. On the other hand, I agree with the disappointment in The Higher Power of Lucky and Kira-Kira of 2007 and 2005. Honestly, the disagreement here seems to me like any other award from the Oscar to the Pillsbury Bake-Off--it's all a matter of taste.

The argument that makes me feel more passionate is this: now that the ALA has the Printz Award that recognizes contributions to the field of literature for teens, could the ALSC not change the upper age level considered by the Newbery committee for its prize? I think for some of the recent titles that would assuage some of the concerns felt by librarians and teachers. Now, when we have our mock Newbery discussions we're always leery. Last year it was this: "Does The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian fit the Newbery criteria? Because we think it's too old." Both Kira-Kira and Criss Cross walk that age line, as do recent honor books The Wednesday Wars and The House of the Scorpion.

Whatever happens this year and no matter what side of the issue you might take, I'm glad the issue has been re-visited. If nothing else, it's an exercise in critical thinking that I have enjoyed. Read the articles for yourself and let me know what you think.

Here is a list of past Newbery winners and honor books.

In January, I will revisit the whole topic after our library's mock Newbery discussion.