It’s here. Heavy Medal, SLJ’s mock Newbery blog, resumed September 4. Bloggers Nina Lindsay, supervising 
librarian for children’s services at Oakland (CA) Public Library, California and Jonathan Hunt, library media teacher for Modesto (CA) City Schools, return to discuss and debate potential titles in the running for this year’s Newbery Award. Bestowed annually by the American Library Association (ALA), the Award honors “the most distinguished American children’s book” of the year. This is the most fun you can have without having to get out of your pajamas!
Visitors to the site are welcome to comment on and yes, even dispute the opinions of the Heavy Medal bloggers and anyone else who weighs in on a book title. Jonathan is already looking forward to a banner year for nonfiction, and Nina dove right into the medal season with a discussion of Katherine Applegate’s The One and Only Ivan, featuring a cast of animal characters, which Fuse #8 blogger Betsy Bird compared to “Charlotte’s Web if you took that tiny spider and replaced her with a 300-pound gorilla.”
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