Ladies and Gentelman May I Present Your 2010 Children's Literature Awards

It has been a very good morning indeed: a bit of snow, good companions, and TOTAL VINDICATION.

Two of my intrepid Fantasy Newberyers, Matt and Shannon, joined me in the early hours of the AM in my more than frigid library to watch the proceedings. Also joining us, via speaker phone, was my sister in Portland who couldn’t master the connection. All events should have a disembodied voice in attendance.

Enough on setting and character development let us proceed with the action portion of the tale. I will begin at the end and work backwards for those of you who just showed up for the Newbery results.

Meaningless points will be scored under the following criteria:

• 5 point if my predicted winner won the medal
• 3 points for every honor book (also for any books that I choose to win the medal but won the honor, and vice versa)
• 1 point if I have read the book, but did not choose it to win.

In addition:

• 3 points for every book I have for the library prior to the awards.

Naturally I will be ignoring all the awards that didn't manage to score me any points but you can get a comprehensive list here.

YOUR 2010 ALSC AWARDS

NEWBERY MEDAL:

• When you Reach Me by Rebecca Stead - Oh how little faith I had. So, so deserving, however one among us still maintains "If you have to engage in time travel apologetics to explain a book, then perhaps that book lacks the necessary criteria of plotting and organization." I on the other hand was nothing but smiles and giggles. (6 points, I can’t take the 5 for the medal as my prediction moved it down to the honor spot)

NEWBERY HONORS:

• Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip Hoose – also winner of the most bling of the day. (6 points)
• The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly – In my world there will be many more books like this, and I’m hoping Jackie is up to it. (6 point, I know I’m cheating as I didn’t put her in my predictions, but I’m taking the points anyhow, deal with it)
• Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin – Well earned and deserved. (6 points)
• The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg by Rodman Philbrick – I think hearing this title announced may have given me the biggest thrill of the morning as it was the most unexpected. Up until a week ago, when I had to make my final decision, this was on my Goodreads 2010 Newbery List. Our book club read it very early in the year and unanimously adored it, but as time went on, as time does, it slipped from my memory, as memory does. I hope an audio book is in the works. I’m most excited, however, that it was one of the required books for our student Mock Newbery. (4 points)

CALDECOTT MEDAL

• The Lion & the Mouse, illustrated and written by Jerry Pinkney – No surprises or complaints here (8 points)

CALDECOTT HONORS:

• All the World, illustrated by Marla Frazee, written by Liz Garton Scanlon - Sigh, I guess I’ll have to break down and give this another chance. Let the record show I was on board with the illustrations from the beginning. Go Frazee! (4 points)
• Red Sings from Treetops: A Year in Colors, illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski, written by Joyce Sidman – This is a lovely addition to an elementary library with its soft poetry about the season and their colors and of course it’s now award winning illustrations. (6 points)

SIBERT MEDAL:

• Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream,” written by Tanya Lee Stone – also a YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award nomination. It ranks for an older audience than my students. (0 points)

SIBERT HONORS:

• The Day-Glo Brothers: The True Story of Bob and Joe Switzer's Bright Ideas and Brand-New Colors,” written by Chris Barton, illustrated by Tony Persiani – Have it, have it - but haven’t read it yet - maybe today. (3 points)
  
• Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11 written and illustrated by Brian Floca – Caldecott should be feeling ashamed for passing on this most perfect of books. (6 points)
  
• Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice,” written by Phillip Hoose – with a YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award nomination and the National Book Award the count is 4 shiny objects that can be plastered on this vivid account of injustice turned historic renovation. (6 points)

GEISEL MEDAL: (Can I go on the record here as stating that this is the committee I want to serve on. Being a bit dyslexic I could never give the Newbery its just due, but the oversized and evenly spaced words in this field would be just right)

• Benny and Penny in the Big No-No!, written and illustrated by Geoffrey Hayes – Not the TOON book I picked for the medal but I’m guessing Art Spiegelman is considering this a very good day. (3 points)

GEISEL HONORS:

• I Spy Fly Guy! written and illustrated by Tedd Arnold – This is so fitting, I first encountered Fly Guy due to the first Geisel awards 5 years ago. This disease ridden superhero is a crowd pleaser with my students. (3 points)
• Little Mouse Gets Ready, written and illustrated by Jeff Smith – Told you he would be there, I love this little guy. (6 points)
• Mouse and Mole: Fine Feathered Friends, written and illustrated by Wong Herbert Yee – I am totally ignorant. Guess what just went into my Amazon cart? (0 points)
• Pearl and Wagner: One Funny Day, written by Kate McMullan, illustrated by R. W. Alley – I will be taking the two books I have in the series home today for some serious professional reading. I’m a big fan of McMullan’s “I’m” series; I’m Bad is a big crowd pleaser with the story time set. (0 points)

There you have it. Total points - 67. If any other School librarians want to play please feel free to count up your totals and post them in the comments.

Mock Results and Mental Illness

I think I’m developing a couple of disorders. First off I seem to be suffering from a bizarre form of Tourettes. Yesterday I told my daughter to turn the Newbery off. I told my husband that the Newbery was out of gas. And announced that I was much too tired to make Newbery and maybe we should just order pizza.

My husband, who by day is a school psychologist, is worried his wife is becoming further entrenched in the Autistic spectrum. He pointed out that I seemed to be showing signs of a full blown “special focus”. Merely because I arranged to have my school security turned off a half hour early, and convinced our most generous and accommodating custodian to meet me at the school in order to unlock the door at 5:30 AM so I could be assured of getting the best band-width available to watch the ALSC webcast. I’m not sure of this diagnosis but then again I don’t always have the best social skills either. . . I prefer to think of my current pre-occupation in the terms that my fellow Mock Newberyer, Shannon, put it, “Some people have fantasy Football teams, we have fantasy Newberys”.

Speaking of which, here is a recap of our 1st annual Northern Utah Fantasy Newbery (we still need to come up with a name). By some accounts it might not be considered a triumph, as there were only four of us present, and only two of us had read all the books. On the other hand we managed to fill up over three hours with intelligent conversation of the books at hand and the Newbery criteria. It helped that the other three present were indeed brilliant.

Here is a quick recap: (very quick as it is late and I have an early morning)

The Participants:

• Shannon: beautiful and brilliant 5th grade teacher. The kind of teacher you would slip your principal a $50 to ensure your kid got into her class, (but then we have five 5th grade teachers like that, guaranteeing that our principal has plenty of spending money) Shannon can also sit down and whip through hundreds of page at a single sitting. As a member of my book club she had read all the books with the exception of Claudette. She was able polish it off hours before the festivities.
• Matt: Soon to be published author, school psychologist, Azure’s husband, and very insightful commenter at Mock Newberys. He had read ¾ of When You Reach Me.
• Azure: One of the smartest most focused people I’ve shared space with, (I honestly feel smarter after speaking with her), school psychologist, Matt’s wife, and close examiner of Newbery Terms and Criteria, holding us to a high standard of evaluation. She had read none of the books, but forced me to consider elements beyond “But I really liked it.”
  

I don’t have time to go over the discussion on each of the books. I do think it is important, considering the results, for you to know that I went in knowing which book I wanted to win; secure nothing could sway my choice, especially with only one other voting entity on the committee.

Shannon, teacher that she is, whipped up a Rubric graph with the Newbery Criteria across the top and the books down the side.

We went over each title talking about the elements of:

• Interpretation of the theme or concept
• Presentation of information including accuracy, clarity, and organization
• Development of a plot
• Delineation of characters
• Delineation of a setting
• Appropriateness of style
• Distinguished contribution to Children’s Literature

Once the dust had settled and we looked at the cold, hard numbers, my choice did not have the highest score (and I conceded that it did not meet the highest standard in terms of accuracy, clarity, and organization).

The winner of the NUFN 2010 is:

• The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate

Three-way tie for honors:

• When you Reach Me
• Wild Things
• Claudette Colvin (Shannon did not want to give a non-fiction book the award, stating that reading non-fiction was not the same experience as fiction. She was told to get over it)
  
  

  
  We will see what happens tomorrow.
  

Two insightful comments by Matt:

• In referring to the criticism that Calpurnia was too long and meandering, without much action “But isn’t evolution a long and slow process with just the tiniest of variation when it happens”.
• “Anne of Green Gables is one of most influential female characters in children’s literature. Writers who have never read the book are still being influenced by works that are 3 or 4 times removed.”

You may remember that I predicted that Where the Mountain Meets the Moon will walk with gold. Shannon took a copy home with her after we wrapped up. I recieved this comment from her in my e-mail today:

“Ok - so I just finished reading Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, and surprisingly I really liked it - as you know I do not generally gravitate towards books with dragons.... I really think it could be contender for the Newberry. Using the 'rubric' we used on the other books - in my opinion it has great character and plot development - the setting was vivid and I would say developed to the point of being a character in the book. Even though it was fairy-talish (is that an adjective?) I did find myself connected to and caring about the characters. It is appropriate for children and I think contributes excellence to children's literature- the style is unlike any other book we read. I love the way Grace Lin integrated the folktales from her childhood into a cohesive story. I definitely think the writing was superb, and the theme simple yet complex as the layers of the various stories came together. In a nutshell - in my mind it is distinguished and unique. Although it's not my favorite genre - and not a book I would typically pick up, I think based on the Newberry criteria it may now be my number one pick... Just curious to hear what you think if you've read the book. I have my class read folktales from other countries & then write their own folktales, and I think this would be a great read-a-loud to introduce Chinese folktales. See you tomorrow morning - I can't wait to see what books the committee chooses - we'll see if they are as wise as us.”

Told you she was intelligent.

I will shed no tears if Garce Lin gets the call either.

Only a few hours left!

A Shot at Prediction: please hand me my Swami turban

I’ve been reading everyone else’s predictions regarding the upcoming AlSC awards on Monday and I want to play. As I mentioned before I will be hosting my own Mock Newbery for grown-ups this Saturday. Some of my students are in the midst of a Mock Newbery of their own, on which I also plan to post the results of at some point. In the mean time let me revert back to my tried and true method of holding an awards ceremony with a committee of one, so much simpler than arriving at a consensus.

Two years ago I made my first venture into the prediction game, and as you can see here I didn’t do too bad with my results, with 2 of the actual four as my finalists. Last year I scored 3 of 5. I have yet to get the gold placed in the right spot which may not bode well for my Medal pick this year, but they might find comfort in the fact that they are assured of earning silver.
This year, in an act of bravado, I’ve decided to branch out and hit a few other awards as well.

Newbery:

First the winners if I were a committee of one.

Medal:

• When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead - I’ve been happy with many a book this year. But nothing said “Look at me, I bet you haven’t seen my ilk in quite some time.” I like this story of friendship, mystery, game shows, and redemption, I really do.

Honors:

• The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly– Some say too long, I say I could have spent a few hundred more pages in Texas, unbearable heat or no, with Calpurnia, her brothers and her curmudgeon of a grandpa.
• Claudette Colvin: Twice toward Justice by Phillip Hoose– I find this account of one un-sung girl, who was a catalyst for one of the most important events in the Civil Rights movement, distinguished in every way.
• Wild Thing by Clay Carmichael – Every year I have a choice on my list just because I absolutely adored the book (Emma Jean Lazarus, Alvin Ho). This story of a precocious untamed girl connecting with her unmanageable Uncle, a feral cat and mysterious forest boy is everything I would have loved in a book at the age of 12.

My prediction of what I think the real committee will come up with:
Medal: Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin
Honors: When You Reach Me, and Claudette Colvin

Caldecott

Medal:

• The Lion & the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney – If there can be a sure thing on Monday this would be it. I’ve been sharing it with most of my students this week and we all agree that this wordless story is worthy of all the hype. And really, can 900 kids be wrong?

Honors:

• Higher, Higher by Leslie Patricelli – I have been reading this all week to my wee ones and I so wish I could have a video of the faces as we move through the pages:
  
• First few pages - polite amusement
• The mountain page – jaw dropping, bug-eyed incredulity
• Leaving earth behind page – utter unadulterated delight
• Spaceship page – uncontrolled giggling
• Wordless dissention pages - always accompanied by appropriate winding-down sound effects

• Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11 by Brian Floca – a perfect book in every way.
• A Penguin Story by Antoinette Portis – Simple, succinct, and delightful.

Predictions:
Medal: The Lion & the Mouse
Honors: All the World, Moonshot, and Red Sings from the Treetops

Sibert:

(Confession, I haven’t read much non-fiction, but by all accounts this was a killer great year for the facts, and nothing but the facts. I have yet to read two of my picks so these are also my prediction. On my honor I will read the other two or may hellfire rain down)

Medal:

• Claudette Colvin: Twice toward Justice by Phillip Hoose

Honors:

• Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11 by Brian Floca
• Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith by Deborah Heiligman
• Marching For Freedom: Walk Together Children and don’t You Grow Weary by Elizabeth Partridge
  

Gisel:

(I’m not as familiar with the field for this award so I’m going with what has gone over like a house-a-fire with my students)

Medal:

• Little Mouse Gets Dressed by Jeff Smith

Honors:

• Pigs Make Me Sneeze by Mo Willems
• Rhyming Dust Bunnies by Jan Thomas
• Birthday for Bear by Bonny Becker

Announcements

Here is your official reminder about the 1st annual Northern Utah, East of the Great Salty Lake, West of the Rockies, Adult Mock Newbery. We will work on the name, never fear. As I mentioned last month, the meeting will be held at my school library:

Snow Horse Elementary,

1095 Smith Lane, Kaysville,

This Saturday, January 16th

10:00 A M.

It should be a swell time, with many thanks to my Principal, Kathleen, for arranging that there will be heat for the occasion. Although an extra sweater might not go amiss as we tend to have a barn of a room to heat.

The list of books chosen for discussion are:

• Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip Hoose
• When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
• Wild Things by Clay Carmichael
• The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate Jacqueline Kelly
• All the Broken Pieces by Ann Burg
• Season of Gifts by Richard Peck

Please consider coming even if you have not read the entire list, or indeed any of the list. In fact if you have another title you would like to put forward don't be shy about singing it's praises. It's not like I got the word out in a timely manner and this year will be about setting a precedent and possibly coming up with a name for our group. When I choose this weekend last month, pushing it to the latest possible weekend, I forgot what a juicy long weekend it was for leaving town and not coming to Mock Newberys. At this point I will be thrilled if I'm not muttering to myself in a corner. If it helps, I believe there will be treats.

The Second announcement is that it is time for another Kid Lit Pie Night. Brooke and I have been in negotiations and have settled on a time and place:

Wednesday January 27th
7:30 P M
Bountiful Marie Callenders
406 S. Main, Bountiful, UT

Those of us who were able to make it to the pilot meeting had such a satisfying time, talking about all things involving books that are targeted well below our median age. Consider this an open invitation to anyone in the vicinity, with the same passion/obsession, looking for an outlet this side of harassing shoppers in the children's section of Barnes and Noble. Timing will be just right to hash over the results of the upcoming non-mock ALSC awards. Hopefully there will be rejoicing and not too many brandishing pitchforks because their favorites were robbed.

The Top 10 Middle-Grade Novels of all Time

The Challenge: to pick, choose, classify, pigeonhole, endorse, and/or isolate the top ten middle-grade chapter books of all time. Oh, Sophie I feel your pain.

That’s right folks Betsy Bird of Fuse #8 is at it again. After holding us enraptured last year as she, with the help of her readers, tallied up the 100 picture books of all time, she is now asking us to pick our top 10 middle-grade books, in order to create a top 100 list. No sweat you say? That’s what I thought. I immediately scampered over to Goodreads and created a top-middle-grade-fiction bookshelf and before I knew it there were 25 titles lined up on the shelf, each one smugly daring me to send it to the discard pile. I wanted to make sure I didn’t forget anyone so I let the shelf simmer for a bit - asked other readers their favorites – looked about my library – checked the Newbery listings from the beginning of time – rifled through the best of lists on Goodreads and . . . the list just got bigger. Dagnabit!

This morning I sat down with the intention of doing a rough draft of the books that were absolute must-haves on the list, supposing that there would be a few slots left over for a bit of debate. Alas once the Must-have list was finished it counted up to 12. Double-dagnabit!! At least I could see, (through my tear-glazed vision), who would be left behind. In an excruciating slash I also had to cut Laura Ingalls and Grandma Dowdel. I hope they will forgive me, and may God have mercy on my soul.

This list turned out to be very personal. I have an emotional attachment to nearly every one of these books. I was not a big non-Nancy Drew children’s lit reader when I was an actual child. A few of the books that were around when I was the age of the intended audience, I didn’t find until I was of a more advance age. A couple of the titles were discovered when my children were small enough for me to hold captive and read to every night. There is only one book on the list because I know it will be in the top three once the dust has settled. About half of the choices are part of a greater series and since Betsy is not, rightly-so, allowing us to nominate an entire series I had to filter out my top choice in the series, which was brutal. My original list had a fair amount of newer titles, When You Reach Me, Savvy, The Penderwicks, and for what I’m guessing is a subliminal need to allow a bit of fermentation, they didn’t drop onto the must-have list. I wouldn’t be surprised if in ten years one or all of these titles shove some of the others aside.

Here goes from bottom to top:

#10- The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton: this is the most personal choice of all. Hinton’s melodramatic story of high school social-economic gang warfare is here for no other reason than it was my favorite book when I was a middle-grade reader. I remember exactly where I was standing as I was walking home from school, when I first saw it in the Scholastic book order. I’m pretty sure it was the first book I chose for myself without my mother’s influence. I knew nothing about it other than it looked exciting and . . . dangerous. I’m not sure what it was in my 5th grade existence that needed the spice of danger, but that’s what I was drawn to. Once I got the prize in my little hands I proceeded to read it countless times though early adolescence. I was pretty convinced that one day I would meet Soda Pop and we would live happily, if a bit dangerously ever after. I know it is technically considered YA but it stays for my 10-year-self!



#9 – Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White: This is here because I know it will be in the top three once all is counted up and recognized, also I do adore this story of friendship and farm smells. This is the first chapter book I remember my mother reading to me. I still own that copy. Regardless if a child has never seen a porcine anything outside the meat department of the local grocery store, they will immediately identify with Fern’s desire to rescue Wilber and put doll clothes on him. As a rule I am not drawn to, indeed actively shun, talking animal books but when it comes to geese with speech impediments I’m putty-utty in the masterful E. B. Whites hands.



#8 – Holes by Louis Sachar: Another one of my tiles that will be scratching and clawing for the #1 spot on the final list. It is widely considered the best Newbery of all time, simply because it is a perfect book!






#7 – Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli: I read this several times to my, now-grown, boys and for years when asked what their favorite book was Maniac was their unhesitant answer. Since I’ve been working in Elementary schools, I’ve noticed that it is a popular choice as a classroom read. I’ve never heard a single kid who despised this story of orphaned super-heroic cleverness, athleticism, and poignant longing to find family. Spinelli’s prose is as rhythmic and swift as his character’s gait as it moves us breathlessly through the pages of the story.



#6 – The Watsons go to Birmingham – 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis: Not only does this book have a mightily important year in its title (the March on Washington, Kennedy assignation, the year yours truly entered the world), but the Watson’s are one of my favorite families in literature. In fact once upon a time I called into a local NPR show, which was hosting the author, just to say that I would really like the Watsons to move in next door to me, and did he know if they were looking? The radio station had some questions for their screeners after that lapse of judgment, I am sure. This was another read-aloud to my young ones, and as I read it to my then innocent little boys I mentally took parenting notes on how to handle idiotic teenage shenanigans. Of course it also begins with one of the funniest opening scenes of narcissistic comeuppance. While deicing the car in the sub-zero Michigan winter, big brother Byron gets attached to the family vehicle by the lips, when he kisses his irresistible reflection in the side-view mirror.


#5 – The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner: This wasn’t going to be on the list at first glance, as I was placing it on the YA side of things. Although the Eugenides series is my current obsessive series, the one I fear I may die before I get to the end, I realize that it is much too subtle and complex for the average middle-grade reader. Thus I wasn’t going to put it on my list, but then I took Betsy’s advice and checked what Powell’s had to say on the subject of its reading level and as you can plainly see it is firmly placed in the middle-grade section. I’m choosing The King of Attolia over The Thief as it is my favorite of the three I’ve been able to get at thus far. (I really think those you with ARCs of #4 are just plain cruel to flaunt your riches on Goodreads in front of us peasants) Outside of Grandma Dowdel there is no other character I love more than Eugenides. I actually believe they would be very good friends. Can you imagine the high jinks the two of them could pull off? Mischievous teenagers and conniving attendants should be put on notice at once.


#4 – Ramona the Pest by Beverly Clearly: There is no other character that I identify more with than Ramona. Notice that I didn’t use the past tense of the verb? As a child I fully understood every motivation that Ramona had for the trouble she managed to find herself in, whether it was getting stuck in the mud because it was too irresistible to one sporting new boots, to being fascinated by the fancy girl’s ringlets to the point of covert tugging. Beverly Clearly is an absolute genius when it comes to capturing what it means to be a kid. She completely understands their fears, joys, anxieties, and passions. It took Ramona 50 years to go from being a casual mention as Beezus’s odd little sister in Henry Huggins to reach 4th grade in Ramona’s World. I figure I still have a few years before I need to outgrow my Ramona stage. For readers of this blog you may remember my romp through Ramonaland this past summer.




#3 – The High King by Lloyd Alexander: I guess it’s a given that someone who named one of her sons Taran would have at least one of Chronicles of Prydain on her list. This series was my first exposure to Fantasy and I found it as an adult. Believe it or not I managed to get through childhood without exposure to Middle Earth or Narnia. I was utterly enchanted with the experience of moving through an epic adventure with a troop of loveable companions. Although I would never suggest reading just one of the 5 books in the series, let alone the final book, I am choosing The High King for the list as it is everything a middle-grade novel should be. There is despair, treachery, daring-do, romance, intrigue, an epic moment of nick-of-time realization all tied up in an enormously satisfying ending. Truth be told Taran Wanderer is my personal favorite of the five, but it doesn’t come close to standing alone where I think The High King might stand a chance, though it would be a shame to miss out on the beginning of the tale.


#2 – Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J. K. Rowling: Choosing the first book is a strategic choice to offset vote splitting. There are certainly others in the series that may excite me more (Order of the Phoenix comes to mind) but I can’t fathom getting to any of the other books without first facing off with the original Harry. I would like to say I was the first person I knew personally to read this book, which is a very braggy thing to say, but it also means that I had to wait through 6 release dates. I’m horribly jealous of my little students who are plowing through the series for the first time and don’t need wait any longer than it takes to run over to the shelf to start the next book. Early on when the release dates were staggered between the UK and the rest of the world, we were living close enough to Canada to get a limey copy of The Chamber of Secrets. Well that was quite a bit about me, me, me and not a bit about the book but then what is there to say really. Harry made the entire world sit up and take notice of Fantasy fiction and Children’s literature at large, what more important phenomena could there be in a list about top Middle-grade fiction. Not to mention that it is quite an excellent yarn in every way.

#1 – Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery: If my childhood self was Ramona, Anne is who I wanted to be. If at some point I don’t get to put on a dress with puffed sleeves and run down the White Way of Delight to the Lake of Shinning Waters, my life will be a pale shadow of what it should be. After reading this for the first time at the age of 12 or 13 I re-read and re-read the passage where Gilbert finds Anne stranded under the bridge. So much romance for my little twitterpated heart! Although the rest of the series can’t compare to the first I have read them all through several times. I am enchanted by the Victorian delicacy of the language, particularly when Anne is pregnant. What “secret smiles” and “small hopes for the future” can covey in reference to biology.

For good or ill that is my list. With deepest apologies to my favorite ADD duo Clementine and Joey Pigza, Schmidt’s Holling Hoodhood, the fair Kate, and the Fitzgerald brothers. If only counting to 10 could have included you.

Now readers, if indeed you do exist, what are your picks and shouldn’t you scoot over to Fuse#8 and make your voice heard.

The Stars of 2009

With the end of the year rolling up on us, I thought it was about high time I updated the highest reviewed books of 2009. As of this year there are six sources of reviews for Children's books: School Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, Booklist, The Horn Book, The Bulliton of the Center for Children's Books and Kirkus Reviews. My dirty little secret is that with my meager district budget, I can only justify paying for a subscription to one of the above. Most of the reviews can be found on-line. My other secret is that I mooch off the generosity of Kathy Baxter, who is willing to share her research with me. With Kirkus hitting the skids at the end of the year, the chances of a book garnering five stars is significantly decreased.

I have never done a comprehensive research project as to whether, come the ALSC January awards, any books have walked away with a shiny medal without at least garnering one starred review. I would sincerely doubt it. If you tend to have the ALSC awards on your brain as much as I do, it is worth taking note of those books that have made a reviewer (or at least three) sit up and take notice.

Beginning with the highest reviewed (5 stars), I have divided them into the sections they would occupy in my library. As I service a K-6 clientele, I have not included YA titles. Elizabeth Bluemle over at Shelftalker has done a lovely and comprehensive job of all YA and Children's titles. I'm cutting off at 3 stars as I do have other things on my schedule today. Some of my favorite books of the year did not get up to 3 stars, or any as a matter of fact. I will be sharing those with you soon (as infrequently as I get around to doing a post this may indeed be a hollow promise).

Also in a pointless burst of self-compitition I am giving myself a point for each book I have purchased for the library and 2 points for each one I have read.

Middle-Grade Fiction

WHEN YOU REACH ME. Rebecca Stead. (3 pts)

THE LOST CONSPIRACY. Frances Hardinge (1 pt)

SEASON OF GIFTS, A. Richard Peck (3 pts)

THE STORM IN THE BARN. Matt Phelan (3 pts)

Picture Books

THE LION & THE MOUSE. Jerry Pinkney (3pts, although do I really deserve points for a wordless book?)

Non-Fiction

MOONSHOT: THE FLIGHT OF APOLLO 11. Brian Floca. (3 pts)

MARCHING FOR FREEDOM: WALK TOGETHER, CHILDREN, AND DON'T YOU GROW WEARY. Elizabeth Partridge (1 pt)

CLAUDETTE COLVIN: TWICE TOWARD JUSTICE. Phillip Hoose (3 pts)

CHARLES AND EMMA: THE DARWINS' LEAP OF FAITH. Deborah Heiligman (1 pt)

Middle-Grade Fiction

THE EVOLUTION OF CALPURNIA TATE. Jacqueline Kelly (3 pts)

HEROES OF THE VALLEY. Jonathan Stroud (1 Pt)

Picture Books

THE MITTEN. Retold by Jim Aylesworth (1 pt, it is still en route)

HOOK. Ed Young (3 pts)

THE SNOW DAY. Komako Sakai (3 pts)

ALL THE WORLD. Liz Garton Scanlon. Illustrated by Marla Frazee. (2 pts, as much as I enjoy Frazee, I can't quite bring myself to purchase this greeting card sentiment wrapped up with stupendous illustrations)

THUNDER-BOOMER! Shutta Crum. Illustrated by Carol Thompson (3 pts)

YUMMY: EIGHT FAVORITE FAIRY TALES. Lucy Cousins. (3 pts)

Non-Fiction

SWEETHEARTS OF RHYTHM: THE STORY OF THE GREATEST ALL-GIRL SWING BAND IN THE WORLD. Marilyn Nelson. Illustrated by Jerry Pinkney (0 pts, regardless of the stellar reviews I can't convince myself that my shelves or my students are in need of yet another book on the jazz age)

JOHN BROWN: HIS FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. John Hendrix. (1 pt)

BAD NEWS FOR OUTLAWS: THE REMARKABLE LIFE OF BASS REEVES, DEPUTY U.S. MARSHAL, by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson; illus. by R. Gregory Christie (1 pt)

THE FROG SCIENTIST. Pamela S. Turner. Illustrated with photos by Andy Comins (1 pt)

POETRY

BUTTON UP! WRINKLED RHYMES. Alice Schertle. Illustrated by Petra Mathers. (0 pts)

RED SINGS FROM TREETOPS: A YEAR IN COLORS. Joyce Sidman. Illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski. (3 pts)

Middle-Grade Fiction

WHERE THE MOUNTAIN MEETS THE MOON. Grace Lin. (2 1/2 pts, I have to confess that I'm dragging my way through this book. I don't question its brilliance, it is just a matter of not being my kind of book)

THE MAGICIAN'S ELEPHANT. Kate DiCamillo. Illustrated by Yoko Tanaka. (3 pts)

THE SMALL ADVENTURE OF POPEYE AND ELVIS. Barbara O’Connor. (3 pts)

BINKY THE SPACE CAT. Ashley Spires. (0 pts, it will be in my next order. It showed up late in the year)

ALL THE BROKEN PIECES. Ann E. Burg. (3 pts)

Picture Books

TSUNAMI! Kimiko Kajikawa. Illus. by Ed Young (3 pts)

PRINCESS HYACINTH: THE SURPRISING TALE OF A GIRL WHO FLOATED, by Florence Parry Heide. Illustrated by Lane Smith. (0 pts)

A BOOK OF SLEEP, by Ll Sung Na (0 pts, seemed a bit young for my gang)

LITTLE CHICK. Amy Hest. Illustrated by Anita Jeram. (0 pts)

BUBBLE TROUBLE. Margaret Mahy. Illustrated by Polly Dunbar. (3 pts)

CROW CALL. Lois Lowry. Illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline (3 pts)

DINOTRUX. Chris Gall (3 pts)

ROBOT ZOT! Jon Scieszka. Illustrated by David Shannon. (3 pts)

BIRDS. Kevin Henkes. Illustrated by Laura Dronzek. (3 pts)

SOPHIE PETERMAN TELLS THE TRUTH! by Sarah Weeks. Illustrated by Robert Neubecker (0 pts, on order)

THE DUNDERHEADS. Paul Fleischman. Illustrated by David Roberts. (3 pts, I actually have this in my fiction section, it's one of those hard to place books)

HIGHER! HIGHER! Leslie Patricelli (3 pts)

CHICKEN LITTLE. Rebecca Emberley and Ed Emberley. (3 pts)

Non-Fiction

SCIENCE

WRITTEN IN BONE: BURIED LIVES OF JAMESTOWN AND COLONIAL MARYLAND. Sally M. Walker. (1 pts)

THE DAY-GLO BROTHERS: THE TRUE STORY OF BOB AND JOE SWITZER'S BRIGHT IDEAS AND BRAND-NEW COLORS. Chris Barton. Illustrated by Tony Persiani. (0 pts)

REDWOODS. Jason Chin. (3 pts)

HISTORY

WE TROUBLED THE WATERS. Ntozake Shange. Illustrated by Rod Brown. (0 pts)

A SAVAGE THUNDER: ANTIETAM AND THE BLOODY ROAD TO FREEDOM. Jim Murphy. (0 pts)

PHARAOH’S BOAT. David Weitzman. (1 pt)

YEARS OF DUST: THE STORY OF THE DUST BOWL. Albert Marrin. (0 pts)

TRUCE: THE DAY THE SOLDIERS STOPPED FIGHTING. Jim Murphy. (3 pts)

ALMOST ASTRONAUTS: 13 WOMEN WHO DARED TO DREAM. Tanya Lee Stone (0 pts)

MISSION CONTROL, THIS IS APOLLO: THE STORY OF THE FIRST VOYAGES TO THE MOON. Andrew Chaikin and Victoria Kohl. Illustrated by Alan Bean. (0 pts)

BIOGRAPHY

DARWIN. Alice B. McGinty. Illustrated by Mary Azarian. (0 pts)

GERTRUDE IS GERTRUDE IS GERTRUDE IS GERTRUDE. Jonah Winter. Illustrated by Calef Brown. (0 pts, will there ever be a need for children't biography of Gertrude Stien?)

CORETTA SCOTT. Ntozake Shange. Illustrated by Kadir Nelson. (1 pt)

SOJOURNER TRUTH'S STEP-STOMPING STRIDE. Andrea Davis Pinkney. Illustrated by Brian Pinkney (1 pt)

ANNE FRANK: HER LIFE IN WORDS AND PICTURES. Menno Metselaar & Ruud Van der Rol. Translated by Arnold J Pomerans. (0 pts, I'm seriously considering this, as unlike jazz books, there seems to be no end to the Anne Frank books some kids crave to read)

YOU NEVER HEARD OF SANDY KOUFAX?! Jonah Winter. Illustrated by André Carrilho (0 pts)

POETRY

DINOTHESAURUS: PREHISTORIC POEMS AND PAINTINGS; written and illus. by Douglas Florian. (0 pts)

A FOOT IN THE MOUTH: POEMS TO SPEAK, SING, AND SHOUT. ed. by Paul B. Janeczko, illus. by Chris Raschka. (0 pts)

WHIFF OF PINE, A HINT OF SKUNK, A: A FOREST OF POEMS. Deborah Ruddell. Illustrated by Joan Rankin. (0 pts)

ORANGUTAN TONGS: POEMS TO TANGLE YOUR TONGUE. Jon Agee. (0 pts)

POINT TOTAL: 94 1/2 (I know - I made a shameful showing in the non-fiction events)

Mock Newbery Anyone?

Come January 18, 2010 the actual Newbery will be announced to the world at large, along with a passel of other awards. If you have ever dreamed of wielding a ghost of the power of the actual committee and live in Northern Utah join us for the first unofficial Mock Newbery of an as yet unnamed organization of Kid Lit enthusiasts.

We will be meeting at my School Library in Kaysville, 1095 Smith Lane, on January 16th, at 10:00 A.M.

At our first Kid Lit Pie Night Brooke and I hammered out a list of 6 books we thought should be on any rational list.

• Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip Hoose
  
• When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
  
• The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate Jacqueline Kelly
  
• Wild Things by Clay Carmichael
  
• All the Broken Pieces by Ann Burg
  
• Season of Gifts by Richard Peck

I realize this posting is coming a bit late for some of you, but you have the long winter break to do nothing but read, right? If you have trouble locating some of the books, let me know and I will hook you up. At this point in time all the titles with the exception of Wild Things and Claudette Colvin are tied up in the student mock Newbery we are holding here at our school. Upon last perusal my library was the only one in our district to have the Hoose book and our county library has yet to get it. Come on people! It won the National Book Award!