Graveyard Book and the Newbery

Ok. I am SUPERBLY excited about The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman, won the Newbery. But, I'd have to point out to all those who have been writing/thinking along the line of, "finally, a Newbery winner that has been very popular with kids -- see it's been on the New York Times Bestselling List for children, like, forever" that if you REALLY look into who have been reading The Graveyard Book (and see who the 15,865 Neil twitter followers, who attend his Graveyard Book reading events and bought the book then, and who have written to him on his blog about this book,) you can EASILY find that the book has been a lot more popular with his adult fans. The New York City Graveyard Book reading event that I attended had about 500 people in the audience and only about 10 (or fewer) of them were children.

My husband read the book aloud, and loved every moment of it, to our 10-year-old daughter who really enjoyed listening to this intriguing and beautifully crafted story. And some of my students have read it and thoroughly enjoyed it as well. But, that is not to say that The Graveyard Book has been extremely popular with children (at least, not like the trendy but not as delicately crafted Twilight Saga, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, The Warriors series, Princess Diaries, or Cirque du Freak series - and dozens of others)

The Graveyard Book won the Newbery because it contains linguistic nuances, humor, dramatic tension, vivid and memorable characters, and unique world building -- and because these qualities are recognized and awarded by the 2009 Newbery Committee members.

It seems to me insulting all around to imply that 1. the Newbery Committee members did not examine the work for its literary and artistic achievements, but simply went with a "bestseller" and 2. Neil Gaiman did not win the award for his fine literary craftsmanship but for being a popular kid author -- which, he has really not been and we don't know what the future brings.

Like I said, being a HUGE fan of Gaiman's and The Graveyard Book, I am tickled all colors of the rainbow to see that the book got the recognition it deserves, but, please, folks, do not jump to conclusions!

Moribito, House in the Night, Graveyard Book, Oh My... in the BEST POSSIBLE SENSE!!!!

(a very small portion of the people waiting in line to get into the ballroom)

This is the step-by-step report from Denver Convention Center, at the Midwinter Conference of the American Library Association. We got here around 7:15 in the morning. The door opened around 7:30. There were about 800 people or 1000 waiting to storm in. We were a civilized crowd though, so we "strolled" in and only slightly rushed to the seats.

The Press Conference started by showing a celebration video for 40 years of Coretta Scott King Awards. Short video, very touching.

I'm so glad that this is not dubbed "The Academy Awards" of youth media any more. Just the "premiere" awards event.

We watched the slideshow of ALEX Awards. 10 titles of adult books for teens.

Schneider Awards were announced then. I'm really pleased that Waiting for Normal and Piano Starts Here both received the awards. (Although I think the dyslexia does not quite feature prominently in Waiting for Normal.) Lily is reading it right now.

Coretta Scott King Award

Kadir Nelson's illustration We Are the the Ship only received an Honor award for illustration. We were slightly surprised but I am very happy that Floyd Cooper's illustrations for The Blacker the Berry won the Award for illustrations!!! It is SO great.

But Nelson's writing for We Are the Ship, that is SOOO excellent, won him the CSK's author award! This one is amazing. Read it. Really READ IT!

I'm so happy for Hope Anita Smith's CSK honor of Keeping the Night Watch! And can't wait to read her new poetry collection featuring her own artwork, Mother (I think that is the title.)

Of course, all the others are wonderful titles as well.

The CSK committee did a splendid job!!!

YALSA

Odyssey -- FIVE honor recepients! The winner is: Absolutey True Diary of an American Indian. Narrated by Sherman Alexie himself. It must be a superb recording. I can't wait to listen to it.

Edwards Award for Life Time Achievement in YA Literature goes to Laurie Halse Anderson, author of Speak and many other excellent titles.

The William C. Morris Award -- a new one for new voice in YA Lit.
This one has a short list of five, published widely a while ago.
The winner is A Curse Dark as Gold. I can't wait to read this and the other three I have not read. (Already read Graceling)

Printz Award

4 Honor Books

The winner is Jellicoe Road -- I have not even heard of this. An Australian import. Nina Lindsay totally endorsed this one. So, another to-read for me.

ALSC

Pura Belpre Award

... was announced bilingually.
Three honor books for illustration.
The winner is desrvingly Yuyi Morales for Just in Case.

Three honor books for author
The winner is The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba's Struggle for Freedom" by Margarita Engle. Another one that I missed this year. I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS!!!

Arbuthnot Lecture Award is given to KT Horning!!!! My long time friend and mentor who taught me everything about serving on the ALSC Award Committees. I am so excited and thrilled and so inspired.

Batchelder

Honors go to Garmann's Summer and Tiger Moon. I absolutely adore Garmann's Summer. Need to read, Tiger Moon.

The Winner is MORIBITO!!!!! Yeah Arthur and Cheryl for their introducing this outstanding book and series to the American children!!

Sibert Award

Two Sibert Honors

Bodies from the Ice and What to Do About Alice. Two excellent books.

We Are the Ship by Nelson got this one, too!!! My friend Carol Philips chaired the committee.

Wilder goes to Ashley Bryan!!! And he's coming to Dalton for a pre-planned celebration of his new book next Tuesday. WOW.

Carnegie Medal goes to the video "March On! the Day My Brother Martin Changed The World".

Geisel Award

4 Honors: Chicken Said Cluck, One Boy, Stinky, Wolfsnail
Winner is: Are Your Ready to Play Outside by Mo Willems (An Elephant and Piggy book) OF COURSE!

Caldecott Award

Three honors: A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever, How I Learned Geography, A River of Words. I FEEL SO vindicated! I LOVE ALL THREE.

Winner goes to The House in the Night -- I ABSOLUTELY ADORE THIS ONE, as well. So glad that they all will make the Notables List without my having to spend votes on them.

Newbery Award

4 Honors: The Underneath, The Surrender Tree, Savvy, After Tupac and D Foster

And the winner is Neil Gaiman for THE GRAVEYARD BOOK.

I am hyperventilating..... OMG!! This has been my hope for the this award all year long and I am SOOO grateful, yes, grateful, to the Newbery Committee for choosing this title. OMG OMG again.

This has been the most amazing year and Press Conference (after my own year on the Newbery, of course) with most wonderful selections.

Graceling

Author: Kristin Cashore
Rating:
Reading Level: 7th, 8th, and older

Pages: 471
Publisher: Harcourt
Edition: Hardcover, 2008

I absolutely loved this book -- against my initial somewhat negative reaction to the very plain and sometimes clumsy prose and exposition. (The "listing" of kingdoms/names and their relationships definitely, or starting two consecutive sentences with the word And, or slightly muddled sentences like this, "... as if he'd done nothing wrong, nothing completely and absolutely wrong." -- none of this held much promise.) And of course, since I was reading it with the Notable Children's books in mind, the one sort of heavy sex scene stood out as not entirely necessary at the time. (Although, a lovely scene.)

And then, something changed: the characters became real and vivid and completely compelling and the plot took some unexpected turns that caught even me, a veteran fantasy reader, by surprise. I could not put it down and rushed to find out what happened next. Here are some of my thoughts as I read it:

1. In some ways, this one reminds me of Twilight: with its two main young protagonists completely absorbed with each other, against all odds and other people's views over their "talents." But, it is somehow "anti-Twilight" in that these two made a choice to have a physical relationship without conforming to the socially acceptable norm.

2. In some ways, this one reminds me of Jane Austen -- I know it is a far cry -- in that the two characters are initially at odds against each other emotionally, even though they are completely attracted to each other. It also is much like many many Harlequin Romance novels in this aspect -- except, except that they reconcile their differences early on, not dragging or making that sexual/emotional tension into the entire focus of the story (THANK GOODNESS!)

3. In some ways, this one alleviated a little bit of my need to read something akin to George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series: there are several very surprising plot twists that made me go, "WHAT?" and almost drop the book! (Of course, SoIF is so much so much more complex and so much grander in so many ways...)

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Here Lies Arthur

Author: Philip Reeve
Rating:
Reading Level: 5th to 8th grade

Pages: 352
Publisher: Scholastic
Edition:Hardcover, 2008

This is a book for the Arthurian Legends enthusiasts, and I happen to be one. Having read many re-imagined Arthurian tales, I was completely delighted by this fresh take on the “true story” behind the legends. Reeve’s conceit is a fabulous one: it is all about the power of stories, storytelling, and story tellers. The title alone is worthy of much examination, with its double meanings of "lying dead" and "telling lies."

At the beginning, I was perplexed by the switches between past tense and present tenses. Slowly, I realized the why and when of such passages. This is a meta-fiction in a slightly different form and it really works for me.

I imagine that, though, this might not be as much fun for some others. If you don’t find piecing together pieces of a complex story puzzle (who’s who and which event eventually “became” which well known tale,) then, you won’t be having as much fun as I do. If you are not usually a sucker for stories that “discuss” the underlying philosophical elements of story-telling or humans’ needs for such elaboration, then, you probably won’t like this book as much as I do. And if you are not totally loving the meta-fiction genre, then you definitely will not enjoy it as I do. Also, if you only want a story with magic and valor, (that’s what I expected, before reading the actual text) then, you definitely will be disappointed. This is one Arthurian tale, featuring heavily the prototype character or Merlin (Myrddin) that definitely has NO magic whatsoever!

What’s even more impressive with this tale is Reeve’s ability to actually tell a cohesive story, with a highly believable and admirable main character, set against a convincing backdrop. (Although one might say that the language of the telling is fairly contemporary 21st century, it is to be excused because the teller could be anyone in any time – everything is apparently made-up anyway.)

To say that I am highly impressed is to put it lightly. I hope many others (especially middle school readers) will find this an intelligent and satisfying read!

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Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Through the Gates and Beyond

Author: Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan
Rating:
Reading Level: 4th to 6th grade

Pages: 50
Publisher: Roaring Brook/Neal Porter
Edition: Hardcover, 2008

I am speechless and teary-eyed, reading and having finished reading this thrilling little biography of Christo and Jeanne Claude and of their art. Greenberg and Jordan did not disappoint -- as always, their words are as vivacious and artistic as the artists they chronicle. One cannot help but being completely infected by the passion from all of those involved: the artists and the biographers.

And to this one, since it is something I deeply experienced, with friends, students, and family, my emotional reaction is even stronger. Between me and my husband, we took about 500 photos -- both under a bright blue sky and in the snow, with the gates winding around and the fabric flapping wildly in the wind. In fact, when it was time for my then-kindergarten daughter to do her "hundred day" project, she chose to draw a tree with branches and then glue 100 miniature pictures from our collection as leaves -- a Fall Tree, as she called it, because these were orange leaves. The artwork is still hung next to my desk at work.

(Hmm... I was slightly perturbed why there have not been more pictures of the Gates in this book, especially of the Gates when they were "in action and in motion"?)

The meticulous and artistic design of the book itself also echoes the free and playful spirit of Christo and Jeanne Claude. I applaud all who worked on this book! Thank you for a precious gift.

And I simply cannot help but posting a couple of the snowy pictures (the blue sky ones are on a DVD somewhere else...) -- to commemorate a fabulous time in New York City:






And of course, my friend Monica Edinger had her class document the process on a web page. Go HERE to see!

And here's a link to many more Central Park Gates Pictures by searching google images of simple: Central Park Gates.

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Little Mouse's Big Book of Fears

Author: Emily Gravett
Rating:
Reading Level: K to 4

Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Edition: Hardcover, 2008

This is a fantastic offer from a truly creative mind, and I believe also, from a team of designers and editors who put in so much in carrying out all the ideas: from the nibbled cover and pages, to the flip-the-flap effects, to the completely black page (yes, I was fooled in thinking, 'huh? this is the end of the book? No way...' and found out, to my great delight, that there is still half of the book to go and plenty more of information to come!) And of course, Gravett's talent in illustration is unparalleled! I just love that pencil, getting gnawed to a stub bit by bit.

It will appeal to those children who love words and love to collect the names of so many phobias. It will appeal to those children who love poring over pages with extra words and details quite a few times over. It will appeal to those who enjoy visual jokes ("I worry about having accidents." page has Little Mouse ... um... accidentally leaves something on the bottom of the page... -- opposing the picture of a toilet.)

I love the page where all the feathers "have eyes" and "sharp teeth." I love the page with the newspaper clipping about the farmer's wife and the three mouse tails. I love the page with the fold-out map of the Isle of Fright. Actually.. I think I simply love all the pages, each for a different reason.

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That Book Woman

Author: Heather Henson, illus. by David Small
Rating:
Reading Level: K - 2

Publisher: Atheneum
Edition: Hardcover, 2008

Even though I knew from page 2 that this is a little story on the power of books and libraries, and that this young boy narrator will become a reader in the end, I did not feel disappointed when all the prediction came true. This is due to the artistry of both the author and the illustrator. Henson's text is folksy and true, with a wonderful lilting pace, while Small's illustrations are gentle but at the same time with a quiet but majestic integrity. Of course, being a librarian, I am completely won over. (Just so you know, I am usually very suspicious of books glorifying Library Services and Librarians -- oftentimes, I find those "books and reading are GREAT stories" corny and cringe-inducing.) I hope that others who are not in our profession will also find this fact-based story completely winning.

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