The Newbery Award will be announced on January 28, 2013. What are your feelings about this award?* Do your students regularly read award winners?
* Do some teachers assign students to read award books?
* The Newbery is traditionally intended for excellence in writing
for middle readers. Do you think that the Newbery winners
and Honor books really reflect the interests of middle
readers?
* Have there been years where you just loved the winner?
* Have there been years when you didn't think the winner was a good choice?
* Have you seen trends in Newbery winners?
* What is your favorite Newbery winner of all time?
* What is your least favorite Newbery?
I think Newbery winners are great books for 4th - 6th grade readers. If the content isn't quite as bloody as many 6th graders might enjoy, the quality of the writing always trumps porridge. My favorite honor book is Hoot.
ReplyDeleteI really liked Hoot, too, but I didn't care for the one he wrote after that "Flush" I have also really liked Calpurnia Tate, and Moon over Manifest. I have a hard time hooking my students in to them, though, doesn't seem to be their genre-- fantasy, sci fantasy, vampires :)
DeleteYou're right about the award books not appealing to the "blood, guts, vampires, fantasy" needs of the kids.
DeleteI haven't read too many of the newer Newberys because most of them are not at a high school interest level. I think the last one I purchased was "The Graveyard" and I did not care for the book and it has not been a popularly checked out book. I even purchased the Playaway and students still don't check it out. I actually have several favorites: "Tale of Despereaux" (which I bought for my grandson for Christmas, "Bridge to Terabithia" (which I read aloud to my 5th grade classes when I taught 5th grade, and "Holes" (before they made it into a movie).
ReplyDeleteI did like and ordered last year's book "Dead End in Norvelt". I even booktalked it to all my English classes and very few students have checked it out. Maybe it just didn't contain enough blood and guts, I'm not sure.
The kids at my school love "The Graveyard Book" (and so do I...such an interesting plot.) I think one reason my kids like it is BECAUSE it starts out so gory!
DeleteI think that often the winners are books adults like for middle readers, but not necessarily what middle readers like for themselves. I think about this alot, since I try to read a lot of books that my students might like, and I don't always find it easy to distinguish between what I personally like, and what my students would enjoy. I aim to buy books that combine both good story-telling and writing (which I like) with a topic or plot that is compelling to my student readers. This isn't always easy.
ReplyDeleteYes, Pamela, I agree, in fact I think that is something you could say about the Caldecott books, too. I am feeling that it is more and more what adtuls think should be good subjects for kids. Like the Lane Smith book, Grandpa Green: charming, nostalgic, bittersweet -- not your best hooks for 4-6 grade kids who have no background connections to it.
DeleteTouche', Pamela! I'm frustrated that the committee for the Newbery Award may be out of touch with what CHILDREN like to read.
DeleteI am like some of the others who have already commented. Many times I either don't like the books chosen, or I am pretty sure that the kids won't like them. Some of the winners that were very good for both are Number the Stars, The Giver, Ella Enchanted, Wringer, Holes, and The Tale of Desperaux.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments. As a new librarian, I have noticed very little interest in the Newberry winners. My school is only K-5, but I also noticed that my daughter isn't a big fan either. I do have a lot of requests for the Giver.
ReplyDeleteI have to admit that I really like some of the older Newbery winners. However I have had little success in getting the students excited about some of my favorites; like The Witch of Blackbird Pond, Call It Courage, Johnny Tremain. I think part of it is the language and subject. I have had some success in getting students to read Out of the Dust, and the fifth and sixth grade teachers have had students reading books like Shiloh and Number the Stars. Over all I think I enjoy the books more than most of my students do. I will have maybe one or two students a year that enjoy Newbery books without the classroom teacher using them in class.
ReplyDeleteI used to get excited about the newberry and caldecott awards. My students and I would wait exictedly for the announcement and then I would with the help of the school secretary try to find a copy to purchase. It was a huge deal!! Then the selections started to change and I felt I needed to read the book, not just a review, before publizing to the kids. I have many that I do love, Number the stars, The Giver, Maniac Magee, Tales of Desperaux, and Lincoln the photobiography are a few.
ReplyDeleteI'm always excited to hear what the winners are each year. However, they don't always appeal to children. Personally, I would rather know which books win the children's choice awards like the Beehive Book Awards.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your comments, but one book that I love and have read with my own children is "Carry on Mr. Bowditch." I think the older Newbery winners are better books. I plan to read most of them to my grandkids, if they will sit still that long.
ReplyDeleteHaven't read this one! I'll have to give it a whirl!
DeleteI'm a bit whiney when it comes to the newer Newberys. This is my 8th year in the library and in those 8 years there is only 1 Newbery winner that I liked enough to want to "pitch" to the kids: The Graveyard Book. And the kids at my school DO love that book. The rest have been disappointing in my estimation. Didn't like last year's winnner and thought the runner-up "Inside Out & Back Again" was MUCH better. However, there are some FABULOUS older winners. I love Caddie Woodlawn, The Giver, Witch of Blackbird Pond, Number the Stars.
ReplyDeleteAre there other awards you have liked better than Newbery? Someone mentioned the Beehive awards. I have liked those, too. I also pay attention to the Cybils winners. Chosen by children and young adult book bloggers, the only two criteria are literary merit and kid appeal, exactly what I hope to find in a book for my library. You can find them at Cybils.com.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to read your comments. I have felt for sometime that award books in general are often more of what the award-givers liked, more than the targeted audience. But there are those authors that shine through, David Wiesner, Lois Lowry, Virginia Lee Burton, Louis Sachar, and others. I personally do not strive to read every award winning book novel, but rather to be familliar with them. There are just too many books that I am realy interested in to waste time on those that I am not.
ReplyDeleteI do prefer many of theolder winners, and am surprised that no one has mentioned Madeline L'Engle. "A wrinkle in time" is probably the scarriest book I ever read - not for its content, but for where I was at the time I read it. When students ask me where the scarry books (or the good books) are, I tell them what is scarry to them might not be scarry (or good) to me, but I feel safe in recommending many of the older award winners.
Has any one else wondered about the connection between the various coming out of ALA and its sub-groups. They often contain the same titles, and I wish they were more separated, and gave more variety.
I remember being absolutely enthralled with "A Wrinkle in Time" when I first read it, probably in the 1970s. It has been reread since then.
DeleteI have to agree with most of you. I am not a huge fan of the Newberry winners either. I remember when I was doing my student teaching a hundred years ago and my co-operating teacher was huge on having the kids read award books. I liked them more back then. I love the discussion on the Graveyard book. I personally wasn't excited about it, but like many of you my students love it. I went to Peggy Sharp yesterday and always find that her top 10 are excellent picks that the kids will really love. Maybe the committee needs to talk to Peggy!!!!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea! Let's get Peggy on the selection committee! She seems to understand what kids like.
DeleteI don't think that the Newberry books are always the best of the best. I guess it is in the eye of the committee that chooses. I would not want to be in that position. I have many that I have really loved, Graveyard Book, The Whipping Boy, Crispin, Walk Two Moons, Out of the Dust, The Giver and so many others. I still am puzzled by The Higher Power of Lucky, and okay book, and what is up with using the word testicles in that story? It was almost as though the author, Patron, used the word to prove that she could, it really didn't have that much to do with the story. I also went to Peggy Sharp yesterday. I really love her presentations. She is amazing and the day flies by. She sure loved Wonder. I look forward to reading it.
ReplyDeleteI agree with all the titles mentioned. I really liked "The Single Shard" too. Secondary should send some of us when Peggy Sharpe comes for YA, don't ya think?
ReplyDeleteTwo thumbs up for Single Shard.
DeleteShortly after I read "A Single Shard", one of my daughters visited Korea and brought me a small celadon vase. It was exciting to make the connection with the book. The vase resides, of course, on my bookcase.
DeleteBy the way, when are we going to discuss the "Blue Fish" book we were all given?
ReplyDeleteSo many questions to answer! My primary thought about the Newbery is that often the author's book that I think should win doesn't. I am thinking about Shannon Hale. I loved Goose Girl but she won Honor for Princess Academy, a book that I thought was not as intriguing and for a younger audience. It feels to me like a missed call in sports where the ref blows it and tries to make it up on the second one. But I feel that way about a lot of awards.
ReplyDeleteThe two books I've always felt should be switched are Richard Peck's "A Year Down Yonder" & "A Long Way From Chicago" with "A Long Way From Chicago" being the Newbery winner. That book was so engaging and brought forth gales of laughter.
DeleteRight, Sarah, but they don't review the play.
ReplyDeleteMore women authors than men?
ReplyDelete2011 — Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool
2010 — When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
2009 — The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, illus. by Dave McKean
2008 — Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz
2007 — The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron
2006 — Criss Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins
2005 — Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata
2004 — The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread by Kate DiCamillo
2003 — Crispin: The Cross of Lead by Avi
2002 — A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park
2001 — A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck
2000 — Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis
1999 — Holes by Louis Sachar
1998 — Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse
1997 — The View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg
1996 — The Midwife's Apprentice by Karen Cushman
1995 — Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
1994 — The Giver by Lois Lowry
1993 — Missing May by Cynthia Rylant
1992 — Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
1991 — Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli
1990 — Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
1989 — Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices by Paul Fleischman
1988 — Lincoln: A Photobiography by Russell Freedman
1987 — The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman
1986 — Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan
1985 — The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley
1984 — Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary
1983 — Dicey's Song by Cynthia Voigt
1982 — A Visit to William Blake's Inn: Poems for Innocent and Experienced Travelers by Nancy Willard
1981 — Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Paterson
1980 — A Gathering of Days: A New England Girl's Journal, 1830-1832 by Joan W. Blos
1979 — The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
1978 — Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
1977 — Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor
1976 — The Grey King by Susan Cooper
1975 — M.C. Higgins, the Great by Virginia Hamilton
Susan Cooper opened the world of high fantasy to me with her beautifully written sequence: Over Sea Under Stone, The Dark is Rising/1974 Newbery Honor, Greenwitch, The Grey King/1976 Newbery Medal, & Silver on the Tree.
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