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Congratulations on making it to 50,000!

Congrats :)

Any estimates on how long it will be when you are done?

Awesome! Congrats on winning NaNo early! :)

Say 'dude' all you want, if it means we end up getting 50,000+ words of Cateish goodness! WSAHD!

Congrats. "Dude" is fine. Start using "Bro" ad nauseum, then there's gonna be problems. :)

Congratulations! Wanna finish mine for me? I don't mind.

There are far worse words that "dude." Dude-meister, for instance ; )

Thanks, Josh.

This draft about 64,000 words, Tony

Thanks, Corinne

Dude! Simone :D

No bro from me, bro...erm, sorry, Gef.

No, Andrea :D

Argh, I've never heard dude-meister. Must resist temptation, Natalie

Awesome, Dude!! Congrats are in order, mos def.

"Put them in the iron maiden..."

Oh yes!

Dude, you're like totally gnarly.

Cheers, Dudes!

Party on indeed! Well done!

I say it waaaay too much, too.

But YAY!! Congrats!

Thanks, girls. :D

It's true that giving books as gifts to adults can be tricky. They pretty much have settled down in their tastes. And they tend to bristle if it appears you're trying to impose your ideals on them. But with children, we adults are helping them to search out what they like and don't like. Why not give a favorite niece (or nephew) Almost Astronauts, even if she doesn't usually read nonfiction for fun. Maybe she will like it - maybe she won't. But at least you've exposed her to a new kind of reading that she might not have ventured into on her own. If she gets to page 10 and says - eh, this is not for me, that's OK. Next time I'll give her something different.

Lloyd Alexander's "The Extraordinary Journey of Prince Jen."
A wise book about a young man setting out into the word for the first time and almost getting smooshed by it. A gentle reminder that a diploma doesn't mean you know everything there is to know.

Personally, I want to give every teen-ager in the world a copy of *Lions and Shadows,* by Christopher Isherwood. It seems to me the ultimate book about the deadly seriousness and importance of both friendship and self-absorption at that age.

But I'm weird.

The problem with getting adults books is to find one that they'd like that they haven't already gotten for themselves.

Oh, agreed, choosing gift books is so hard! I'm confident with one my sisters, who tends to love what I love, and with my Dad, because some books just call out his name to me. And my baby twin nieces are pretty easy to buy board books for :). But beyond that, I'm often helpless. Makes me wonder about the complicated algorithms Amazon and Netflix and so on use to recommend titles.

The best gift book I recieved after my high school graduation was a brand new dictionary - with $1000 inside. I still have the dictionary; wish I could say the same about the cash.

A Mother's Gift: Probably not the kind of answer you're looking for--but I'll share anyway.

I wanted to give my daughter something special when she graduated from high school. I decided to make her a memory book of her life from the day of her birth through her senior year. It included her birth certificate, some birthday/greeting cards she had received from friends and relatives over the years, photographs, and poems—some of which I wrote myself. I divided the memory book into sections: the day of her birth and her first days at home, her christening, her birthday parties, holiday gatherings, relatives, her reading with her dad and me and some favorite childhood books, her years at school, sports, friends, vacations, my daughter with her dad, my daughter with me. I spent a couple of months on the project--and I shed lots of tears while I was going through hundreds of photographs—and writing and selecting poems. (The memory book included poetry by Naomi Shihab Nye, Nikki Giovanni, Mary Ann Hoberman—among others.)

My daughter LOVED her gift. She showed it to every friend who came to visit at our house that summer—and she took it off to college with her.

She is thirty now, lives in her own home, and still has the memory book I made for her a dozen years ago. It is one of her most prized possessions.

- What the effing crap? That angel guy just felt me up!

- Mullet with headlights?

That is the best YouTube find ever!

I'm really torn; can't decide which line I like best: "Blind possessed choir boys," "It started out as Hogwarts, now it's Lord of the Flies," or simply, "Now I whip my head to the right." Thanks for sharing.

Too. Funny. Who are these people who are so very clever? I love that people out in the world just do this stuff. It's by far the best thing about the Internets.

This made me so very happy.

Thank you for making me laugh today Roger! Favorite line: "Staring at the swim team gets you killed by a gang of dancing ninja men who know how to twirl."

Oh, crap, I wish I hadn't watched this at work! I'm not allowed to cackle aloud!

Is it my imagination or does this article imply that Sherman Alexie won the Newbery Medal for ABSOLUTELY TRUE DIARY rather than the National Book Award?

Jonathan

http://www.google.com/url?sa=U&start=5&q=http://latinalista.net/op-eds/Diversity%2520in%2520Newbery%2520Children%27s%2520Literature%2520-%2520AEJMC.doc&ei=dJdfSbvhEYi08ASl5L2IDQ&sig2=oruSJ-96il9NPigKjurzrQ&usg=AFQjCNGoFAsjvA01-LlqfA4F-gQztoe7bA

I found this link to a copy of the BYU paper cited in the article.

I found it interesting that the author cites "Tale of Despereaux" as a winner featuring an ethnically diverse protagonist.

The paper doesnt not include the "coding" for each title so we dont know how specific titles were classified.

Anonymous, I'm glad I'm not the only one wondering about that one! Not only that, but I wouldn't classify Alexie's book as potential Newbery material - potential Printz material, definitely.

Eric,

Thank you so much for the link. I'm posting it to the child_lit list as others were trying to find it unsuccessfully.

I do wonder about how he figured that for Tale of Despereaux. What strikes me most of all is that he has relatively positive conclusions from his study while the Bloomberg reporter used them very differently.

The Bloomberg piece and the NY Times piece based on it are wrong on two out of three counts: gender and family structure. They're wrong on gender because the reporter was careless. The study she used shows 14 girls and 12 boys as protagonists in the period from 1980-2007.

The study is wrong on family structure because the author makes careless mistakes in his underlying data, which he sent me.

I went into some detail about this on the Child Lit listserve.

Well, I think that this article, appearing as it does in Bloomberg, is quite delightful because of the political inversion. I mean, ever since the election of Ronald Reagan and the elevation of William Bennett's perspective, which attacked "tenured radicals," this effort to make children's literature more inclusive has felt like a rearguard battle -- fought while executing a strategic retreat and regrouping. I mean, the American Library Association is an organization that fights censorship, and is subject to ATTACKS for its defense of diversity and also controversy in books. Didn't a Newbery winning book just a year or two ago engender fierce attacks on ALA -- Susan Patron's book with the famous dog scrotum? And now, this is an article essentially saying that ALA is too conservative?? And the article isn't appearing in The Progressive or The Nation, but -- on Bloomberg.org??

It seems the Neo-Cons have well and truly lost the culture war! We have won! Huzzah!

And what of Ms. Garza's assumption that the Newbery Award goes to a novel? I suppose it's easy enough to determine the ethnicity of the protagonist of The Voice that Challenged a Nation, but what about Joyful Noise? or The Great Fire?

And if we're preoccupying ourselves with underrepresentation, what of all the kids with gender issues, of their own or of their friends and families? The last time a GLBTQ-themed book was recognized by the Newbery award was when?

Or maybe Despereaux was non-white and gay.

Kathleen, on the gender thing, the article only sort of implies that protagonists are increasingly likely to be male; it states first just that they ARE more likely to be male, which is true. Looking at the entire list since 1922, there are more male protagonists than female. (Then, of course, it says "increasingly", which is where the error comes in.)

Sorry, Thommy, Despereaux was definitely not gay, though I guess trans-species love isn't exactly "straight"...

Have there been more Dog Newbery Medal winners or Cat Newbery Medal Winners? (LOL)

How long has it been since a picture book was even a Newbery Honor? (Too Long!)

May the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children be honored.

I know what I would choose!

I would guess Horses! (tongue firmly in cheek.)

Show Way,a picture book received a Newbery Honor in 2006.

I just wrote a post TODAY about this very topic. Oh, the Newbery. . .

And that last bit about the unpopular titles just made me laugh.

I never thought of this before, but we could actually argue about which Newbery winners are the most boring and/or without kid appeal. I haven't look at it in years, but as a child I resolved to read all the Newbery winners and then stopped when bored by Invincible Louisa. And I wouldn't touch Gay Neck: Story of a Pigeon just because of its title. But I read I, Juan de Pareja though I don't even remember what it's about. Also (I guess this is off topic, but what the hell, it's the holidays) I was freaked out when that squirrel ate Miss Hickory's head.

Thank you! I've been waiting for someone to say something AGAINST that article. It seems the "cool" thing to do, to agree with it. The current SLJ issue has two letters praising it in their letters section. Did not one person write against it? Guess that person should have been me...

Love the Newbery list. I'm hoping for After Tupac or The Underneath. I know actual, real life children who've read both and loved them.

Thanks, Sarah, for bringing up your own favorites. I'm hoping for My Dad: John McCain, but I suppose that's a long shot. It's probably a stronger contender for the Caldecott, or a Siebert Honor.

"... of which I think five are ringers."

Well, then, out with it -- your own mock Newbery list would include what titles?

Elizabeth, I don't think the McCain endpapers are really strong enough for Medal consideration. A shame really.

Nancy, this year was a definite challenge. Most of my favorite books were first published overseas.

Roger, I'm in the same boat overseas. I'm thinking of offering Terry Prachett my basement so he can be a US "Resident" and eligible. We could probably even swing him an office in the Golden Gate Library.

I'm glad it's not just me, Nina--I was afraid I had been possessed by the spirits of my Anglophilic HB forebears.

I think that the Silvey article was legitimate in the sense that she believed that what she had to say was valid and important, even if I think that she was wrong on both counts.

I agree with Gail Gautheir though, that the subsequent articles, especially the one in the Washington Post, and on the Guardian Blog, seem more and more like ethic-less eyeball-mongering. They'll stir any pot to get readers to their website.

I don't know if one should rise to the bait or not. On the one hand, I think we are being played by the scandal mongers. On the other hand, I'm afraid that if I ignore stupid people hoping that they will go away, they'll get themselves onto the Newbery Committee instead, and rewrite the criteria so that Harry Potter can win.

How resistant to change are the Newbery rules? Impervious? Slightly resistant? Not at all?

h

I think it would be very difficult to change the Newbery rules, which is as it should be. I imagine the ALSC Board would appoint a task force, which would make recommendations, which would have to go through other committees, such as by-laws, then back to the board. I'm not sure if it's something that would have to be put up for a membership vote or not.

Hmmm. What WOULD we change, if we were King?

I'd change the age range, leaving the books for thirteen-and fourteen-year-olds to YALSA.

Let's try to change Caldecott rules first, pretty please? As I've said a thousand times, it drives me nuts (and not just because I'm a writer--it drove me nuts before that) that Caldecott goes only to the illustrator. A true picture book is a miraculous blend (when it works) of art and text. Why does the Caldecott committee have to pretend they can separate the two? And believe me, I know the criteria inside and out.

Laughed out loud at the McCain comment, Elizabeth. Hee. Still laughing.
leda

Duh. All the candidates for the Committee would have to be vetted by ME!

h

And here's the thing--everything that drove me crazy about Kira-Kira would have made me LOVE it when I was 12.

And as a child, I was not a great fan of Charlotte's Web.

Joyful Noise though? I could recite large portions of it in my youth.

I thought I could recall Newbery complaints prior to the years Silvey talked about, too. I've only been actively following kidlit since the mid-nineties, and still I sometimes feel like the oldest person in the room.

The Caldecott is fine! Bless all authors, but it's the illustrator who decides what to illustrate, and equally important what not to illustrate, and how to illustrate, and it's the illustrator who must have the skill to do it well. If the result is a miraculous blend, it is 99 times out of 100 because the illustrator found a way to make it that, not because author and illustrator put heads together. Most likely they never even spoke to one another.

It depends, Anon.--if the award is for "how good you draw," sure, give it to the artist. But if it's for "a picture book" then many minds are involved--artist, writer, editor, designer--to an extent that I would venture exceeds the similarly creative collaboration involved in preparing a words-only manuscript for publication.

If anyone is reading today, I am unable to post new blog entries due to some screwup on our server. So Merry Christmas and Happy Hannukah if I don't talk to you otherwise.

Will. . .not. . .be. . .drawn. . .into. . .this. . .discussion . . .again.

Jane

Let's not talk about how riveting I found A Gathering of Days in middle school, but the fact that I grew up to be a librarian probably discredits its child appeal in kerfuffles like this.

Roger,

You *do* get to the vet the committee members for the BG/HB award. How's that working for you? Any memorable surprises from people you otherwise thought were perfectly reasonable?

h

I gotta say, illustrating is about so much more than how good (sic) you draw. You should know that, RS! Ever talk to an author about how their manuscript should be illustrated? They know words, yes, yes, but they know squat about visual narrative. They’ll never believe it if you tell them so, but that’s just part of their problem. They would never concede that an illustrator knows language and plot and words, but they’ll tell you what to draw, and where, and how. And they’ll be off base, nine times out of ten. That’s why editors tend not to let authors and illustrators speak to one another.

Happy holidays!

OK, I am caving. Anon--you need to be careful about that Big Brush you are tarring all authors with. Some of us DO "know squat about visual narrative" and have been editors ourselves and know better than to tell an illustrator what to draw. Some authors are even artists themselves but don't do their own illustrations. Granted, we are not the majority. Not even a significant minority, But enough that you have to be careful about implying ALL authors are visual ninnies or control freaks or whatever.


Jane Yolen

Here's another angle people seem to miss. Text is intellectual, painting is spiritual. The librarians/judges get off on making themselves special or "specialists" when they haven't the foggiest clue on what goes into creating art for a picture book. It all seems like a horse race. And the only ones to win are the "specialists" who lack the talent to create that book they over-analyze (and for the most part) incorrectly to become special in the book world off the backs of the hard working, underpayed and not appreciated artists. Really, you chose a profession that is behind the scenes. Take some art classes if you want to be so celeb.

Hello Anon. You seem to be implying that "Celebrity Critics" are fakes. Do you include...say, Harold Bloom? What's so bad about being a specialist literary critic? Are you really saying that all literary critics are idiots?

I am beginning to think that Anon in this case is Roger playing with us.

Jane

By the same token, Anon, illustrators can go write their own books to illustrate, if they don't want to share the credit with the person who gave them the idea for the pictures in the first place. If you are a crack illustrator, and everything else is so trivial to the final product, then you're golden. If you don't want to share credit, don't collaborate, with an editor, an author, or anyone.

Anon2

Jane, I never troll my own blog (or anyone else's). Besides, I could not type "text is intellectual, painting is spiritual" with a straight face.

h, although I do choose the judges for the BGHB awards, I am not privy to their discussions. Sure, there have been times I would have chosen other books, but I can generally see how they chose what they did, and in any case would not know which of the three to "blame" for a choice I didn't like.

Back to the spiritual anon--it IS true that children's book reviews and awards are decided by people who, while they may demonstrate fluency and understanding of language, don't necessarily have a vocabulary or eye for images. That problem has always been with us, but I don't think it's that these people don't know how to paint, it's that they don't know how to communicate about visual images.

Jane,

I also was beginning to wonder if Roger was manipulating a sock puppet just to watch lots of people go Wah!

Anon2

OK I would say then that among the criteria for being a "specialist" judge of picture books should be a modicum (or maxicum) of training in (and love of) art history.

janeyolan: Point taken. I was generalizing. I'll stick with my nine-out-of-ten formulation, but point taken.

Anon2 (11:23): Yes, some illustrators do go ahead and do their own writing. As for text being what give the illustrator "the idea for the pictures in the first place" — it's just not that simple. Text is a springboard; it's not a set of directions. I don't mean to belittle its importance. In fact I think a book with a great text and bad drawings has a better chance at being worthwhile than technically great drawings that are about nothing. I'm just trying to write about process here.

Maybe part of the easy offense that we (or at least I) are/am taking here is due to the fact that we all work on books which to the outsider are often considered simply cute, easy, etc. It gets defenses up!

Thanks for the point taken.

However, I hope anon, if you do work in books, you are not a copy editor. My name is spelled Yolen. (They always get Mikolaycak right.)

Jane

"Text is a springboard; it's not a set of directions. I don't mean to belittle its importance."

I'm glad you aren't belittling it Anon. Have you ever seen a vaulter trying to operate without a springboard? It's, well, it's just... it's sad really.

Anon2

"Text is a springboard" only to the illustrator; to the reader/viewer/critic, the text and pictures should be working together.

Roger,

I could point out that you've wandered into dangerous metaphor territory before. Instead,I'll ask if you think there's any way to tilt the Newberys toward younger books. Anon's comment about "spiritual" made me hiccup, but it also made me think about some texts that are so simple and yet so readable that you can go over them again and again with a three year old and not go right out of your mind. Helen Oxenbury comes to mind, so does John Burningham (dating myself and my child-rearing years).

I suppose you could give texts like this a share of the Caldecott that they deserve, but is there any way they could get a share of the Newbery? Or would that make the Newbery less influential? I think that the Newbery has been a successful motivation to publish great books for readers and I really don't want that to change. But it bothers me that great writing for 2-6 never gets any credit. Isn't it covered by the Newbery criteria?

h

ps. Willard got the Newbery. Anyone else for a book for the younger child?

Because ALSC (the organization that sponsors the Newbery and Caldecott) is for librarians serving children aged 0-14, those awards follow suit. This probably presents a disadvantage, for the Newbery, to texts for the younger end, although they do pop up among the Honor Books--Tomie dePaola, William Steig and Arnold Lobel are three illustrators who have been thus rewarded.

I just have to respond to Anon, since Anon totally dissed my profession. Yes, I'm a librarian, but I'm hardly behind the scenes - I'm on the front line.
And, I also happen to be a very talented artist, and would warn Anon against making such broad generalizations about any group of people, librarians or other. Isn't that how wars often begin?
~ the artsy librarian

About the Newbery: I haven't read most of them, and don't have an informed opinion to give (preamble for: everybody back up, here it comes!).

When it comes to awards, I believe conflict is good. In professional baseball, there is annual outrage over the MVP Award. What does it mean? The terms are vague, confusing; people seem to make of it what they will. So there's passionate disagreement: How can Pujols be MVP is his team couldn't win? So every year there are those who wish to tighten the rules, define it, dice it up, in order to prevent these "misinterpretations."

And I think: Conflict is good. The discussions are the best part of it. In that sense, I had no problem with the original article by Anita Silvey, which really just restated what people have been saying for a long, long time. It's all good. Let the debate rage on! The day we stop arguing about these things is the day to begin to get worried.

James Preller

A few years ago the Printz Award was instituted, the idea being it would get the edgy YA books to judge, and the Newbery would be given to the younger side. So Anon, your work here is done.

Jane

Jane Yolen, are you conflating me with that other Anon? I know I should be able to get that at the top of my message, but I haven't figured out how. I don't have any ID.

I think the Printz *does* get the edgy YA to judge, and I worry that the non-edgy, but very good, stuff will miss out. In the future, I wonder if people will look at things like Criss-Cross and say, "Not Newbery, but not edgy enough for The Printz." I'm in a minority maybe, for loving Criss Cross, but I think it's the kind of book I want the Newbery to promote.

It's just that I'd like to see it go to a picture book every once in a while. Because I'm greedy that way. I want my cake and I want to eat it, too. We are being King, here, after all.

h

Well, you know, to a non anon all you guys look alike to me. Maybe I need a twelve step recognition program like they have in al-anon.

Mea culpa.

Jane

PS: For the humor impaired,I am trying for funny here.

Is that "all anon" you mean, Jane? For those of us who never remember a face?

h

Roger, Hello! Are you aware of any mock Coretta Scott King discussions this year? I just started a thread on my blog, but would like to see what others are saying about the award. Thank you!

Kyra Hicks

So what's your point, Roger?

It took me until I was 40 to get over the idea that I needed to be popular. I'd love my 12-year-old to get that message earlier.

Laudable message, wrapped in self-glorification. And notice how it told us just how popular she is?

I heard her speak at a conference and she bragged about writing five or six novels in seven months. During that same speech she said that she wrote literature. I think she truly believed it.

I'd rather hear:

I didn't like to read before --and now I do."


Jane

Or, "I liked your book. Here is some money."

At least, if they send money, you can tell if it's real.

Roger--I think I like THAT even better! LOL

Not to mention that most of the people with "small town minds" know how to use a shotgun.

Sincerely,

Small-Town Gal (pop. 50, except in flood years)

and it's not just a matter of thinking before you speak--it's also a good idea to interrogate the prejudices that such words are based on.

small-town america = roots, family, and heritage for many people, even for a whole lot of city folk.

i can't stand but a few of her political positions, but the gal reminds me of several of my favorite aunts and i admire the heck out of her feminine strength, her commitment to her family and to walking the walk of her faith, and even her mountain cat ferocity.

cuz i so hope Barack Obama wins in November, i really hope lots of liberal leaning people will listen well to cautious like this.

free advertising for all the books on that list!

"Mortal enemy," huh? Who speaks like that anymore?