Re: [LM_NET] Award winning books-- boring?

[Deb Waugh <deb.waugh@YMAIL.COM>]

Steven is right. I painted medal award winning books with too broad a brush. I 
apologize. I loved The Graveyard Book (and all of Neil Gaiman's books; and Printz 
Award winner, How I Live Now is on my top ten list for YA fiction and is equally 
well loved by my students. I was disappointed in some  of the later Printz Award 
books I bought, perhaps just because they couldn't live up to what I expected after 
Meg Rosoff's book. So apologies to Steven and to the rest of the group for my 
overstated opinion on that. I do still love selecting books from YALSA 
recommendations and from VOYA and LMC, but I'll definitely take medal winners into 
consideration in the future as well.

Thanks for the post, Steven, and for including several titles I will want to put on 
my collection consideration list for next time!

Deb Waugh
Librarian
Graham High School
Bluefield, VA
deb.waugh@ymail.com



----- Original Message ----
From: Steven Nabinger <SNabinger@MCS.CNYRIC.ORG>
To: LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Sent: Tue, January 5, 2010 9:57:37 AM
Subject: Re: Award winning books-- boring?

In a word, no!

While I fully support the collection development policies and opinions of
all of my colleagues, I cannot agree with the general portrait of the
"books with the medals on the covers" being painted here.

Yes, many of the Newbery medal books are dated.  That's inevitable with a
medal that's been handed out since 1922!  Some simply suffer from bad
covers, as is the case with the book that started this thread - Summer of
the Swans.  I mean, was that cover even considered cool back in 1971?
Others have bad titles.  Have you ever known a student who would take out
Gay-Neck?  Didn't think so.

To be fair, though, let's take a look at the past ten years of Newberies.
The Graveyard Book is one of the most amazing books I've ever read, and I
can't keep it on the shelves.  Good Masters!  Sweet Ladies! is very popular
among students that will give poetry a try.  Those that won't, won't - no
matter how good the book.  The Higher Power of Lucky never really took off.
Criss Cross and Kira-Kira aren't high demand books, but they circulate.
The Tale of Despereaux and Crispin, the Cross of Lead have been out almost
constantly for years now.

A Single Shard is a great book that never really took off.  I use it to
illustrate a point to my fifth graders when I teach my Newbery lesson -
many white students will not take out a book with an asian or
african-american face on the cover.  It's a shame, and I urge them not to
be that shallow.

Rounding out the last ten years are A Year Down Yonder and Bud, Not Buddy.
Again, not high demand books but they do see steady circulation.

Going back another ten years I find several titles that are still very
popular with my students, including Holes, The Midwife's Apprentice, Walk
Two Moons, The Giver, Shiloh, Maniac Magee, and Number the Stars.  Just
yesterday I had a student come in raving about Miracles on Maple Hill, the
1957 Newbery winner.
My Coretta Scott King books aren't nearly as popular, but see my comment on
A Single Shard, above.  I still purchase them all.
Of all the "books with the medals on the cover" it's the Michael Printz
award books that are the most popular with my students.  Of course the
majority go straight to my YA shelves, but it's amazing how many seventh
and eighth graders - kids I otherwise never see in the library - who come
in when a new Printz book hits the shelves.
As for local book awards, I find many (although by no means all!) are
simply beauty contests.  After all, Harry Potter and Twilight will always
be popular whether or not they win the latest write-in book award vote.


Steven Nabinger, Teacher-Librarian
C. S. Driver Middle School
Marcellus Central Schools
2 Reed Parkway
Marcellus, NY 13108
(315) 673-0259
snabinger@mcs.cnyric.org

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