Kouun  is “good luck” in Japanese, and one year my family had none of it.  We were cursed with bad luck.  Bad luck chased us around, pointing her bony finger.  We got seven flat tires in six weeks.  I got malaria, one of fifteen hundred cases in the United States that year.  And my grandmother’s [...]

When MOON OVER MANIFEST won the Newbery Medal a couple of years back it took us by surprise.  The book had three starred reviews, but it was a debut novel published in October.  It definitely flew under our radar.  I enjoyed the book very much and looked forward to Vanderpool’s sophomore effort to see whether [...]

At the end of the last Heavy Medal season, Wendy announced– I’m now retiring from Newbery fandom. This was my fifth year, and I read more widely than ever before thanks to the great Seattle Public Library system that I’m now privy to (72 books that I considered eligible for the Newbery, plus a number of [...]

DON’T SAY ANYTHING AT ALL

IT’S TIME TO SAY GOODBYE As we wrap up another season of Heavy Medal, we’d like to thank all of our readers for their contributions.  It’s always hard to recognize only a small handful of books every year, but I always feel like we are able to celebrate many more worthy titles here, titles which [...]

Newbery Medal THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN Newbery Honors SPLENDORS AND GLOOMS BOMB THREE TIMES LUCKY Can I just say how pleased I am with this committee?  Really.  I think these are awesome choices.  As I mentioned on the Battle of the Kids’ Books site, I think no other book this year has the combination of [...]

The anticipation of Monday’s announcements is making me giddy and restless.  It’s also making me lose my blogging mojo.  I wrote about potential Newbery books for a third grade audience, but wasn’t happy with it.  Then I wrote about second-guessing the Newbery committee, but decided that wasn’t quite right either. So I’ll just mention that my top four choices are BOMB, CHICKADEE, [...]

With 59 voters, we have the following results . . . BOMB . . . 14 (1st) + 12 (2nd) + 5 (3rd) = 125 SPLENDORS AND GLOOMS . . . 9 (1st) + 6 (2nd) + 9 (3rd) = 68 STARRY RIVER OF THE SKY . . . 3 (1st) + 11 (2nd) + [...]

I know we said we were not doing an online ballot this year, but since we’ve been doing mock nominations throughout the year, the natural and logical conclusion is to vote.  Now keeping in mind that we’ve had just over 30 people participate in each round of voting, we would probably need a single book to [...]

20 people (19 voters) gathered together yesterday afternoon at the Rockridge branch of the Oakland Public Library to discuss our shortlist with the following results. NEWBERY MEDAL           NEWBERY HONORS                     During the discussion, I thought BOMB and SPLENDORS AND GLOOMS emerged [...]

JONATHAN HUNT: Before we have another go at BOMB–I’ve finished reading it again–I want to address two of the other concerns that were raised on previous discussion threads.  First, the epilogue–well, not the whole epilogue, really–the last page where Sheinkin breaks the fourth wall and addresses the reader directly.  On rereading, I didn’t find this [...]

Consensus among best books lists is not necessarily the best indicator of Newbery recognition, and we’re now going to take a look at some books that made just a single list.  Last year, this excercise yielded a Newbery Honor book, BREAKING STALIN’S NOSE, which the Horn Book called and allowed us to save face.  Maybe one [...]

This is essentially a mystery novel, and while the central mystery is what happened to the moon, Lin delivers up little mysteries along the way: Why did Rendi run away from home?  Where did the innkeeper’s son run away to?  Why can no one else hear the moon wailing?  Why are Madame Chang and Mr. [...]

The Bulletin Blue Ribbons are here which means that we have a full complement of best books lists.  Here’s what the overlap looks like . . . 6 lists– THIS IS NOT MY HAT THE FAULT IN OUR STARS CODE NAME VERITY 5 lists– LIAR & SPY AND THEN IT’S SPRING Z IS FOR MOOSE MOONBIRD [...]

I first became acquainted with Peter Sieruta about a dozen years ago on the child_lit listserv. We shared a love of children’s books, young adult books, and theater. And we developed a daily correspondence over the next several years that allowed me to appreciate Peter’s wit and wisdom on a wide range of topics, both [...]

Upon rereading MOONBIRD, it remains firmly entrenched in my top three.  It doesn’t have the buzz that BOMB does, but I think it’s just as good in its own way.  Take plot, for instance, a criterion that most people would give to BOMB in a head-to-head comparison.  To be sure, the tension and suspense of BOMB [...]

Upon rereading MOONBIRD, it remains firmly entrenched in my top three.  It doesn’t have the buzz that BOMB does, but I think it’s just as good in its own way.  Take plot, for instance, a criterion that most people would give to BOMB in a head-to-head comparison.  To be sure, the tension and suspense of BOMB [...]

It’s time for our final two nominations.  32 of you played our little game in the last round, and this is what we came up with. (17) LIAR & SPY (16) BOMB (16) SPLENDORS AND GLOOMS (8) NO CRYSTAL STAIR (8) THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN (7) SUMMER OF THE GYPSY MOTHS (7) WONDER (6) [...]

Documention has evolved–perhaps is still evolving–in nonfiction books for children and young adults, and as such, it is a bit of a moving target.  Jim Murphy said as much on a recent thread. About the sourcing for The Great Fire. That book was done a long time ago (as far as publishing goes) and sourcing [...]

When Nina introduced this book way back in September, her biggest quibble was with Ivan’s voice, particularly the rich metaphorical language that dominates the first 50 pages or so.  This didn’t bother me because, like many of you, I made a distinction between his thinking voice and his speaking voice.  However, I do still find that first section [...]