The Feisty Girls

Who is your favorite feisty Newbery girl? There is Karana (Island of the Blue Dolphins, 1961 Newbery award winner) who survives the death of her family, hunts wild creatures, provides shelter for herself, and lives on an island without human companionship after the death of her brother.  Caddie Woodlawn (1936 Newbery award winner) is the pioneer story of a young girl who runs wild with her brothers as she resists the traditional ladylike role that her mother and older sister envision for her. Garnet in Thimble Summer (1939 Newbery Award winner) is an independent young girl who does chores with her brother on the family farm, hitchhikes to a town miles away from home, and dreams of owning a farm someday. Marly in Miracles on Maple Hill (1957 Newbery award winner) manages to convince a traditional 1950s school truant officer that girls should also be included in collecting sap during an educational maple sugaring event. There was an outcry during the 1970s for children's literature to contain more positive portrayals of females and less stereotyping of both genders. While many of the feisty Newbery girls engaged in traditional activities such as washing dishes and helping mother in the kitchen, they also possessed an independent spirit, a sense of self-worth, and were active adventurers in contrast to other female characters portrayed in children's Literature before 1970.  How do these characters compare to the female protagonists in the Newbery award winning books published in the past twenty years?

The Newbery Committee

Newbery committee members must be fair and objective in their selection of a winner, and by all assumptions, they are just that.  However, the committee is made up of people - people with likes and dislikes, favorite authors, preferred genres, etc.  While I am without a doubt that these individuals try hard to keep their biases at bay, a part of me still wants to know: 

     What do they enjoy reading? 

     Do they like humor, fantasy, historical fiction?

     Who are their favorite authors? 

I can’t help but wonder, is it possible to predict anything about the Newbery winner by learning about the committee members?

In a 2011 article for The Oregonian, Molly Young interviewed Stephen Engelfried, youth services librarian at Wilsonville Public Library and chair of the 2013 Newbery committee.  At the time of the article, Engelfried said that he was reading and enjoying Amelia Lost, Candace Fleming’s biography of Amelia Earhart.  He also said that his favorite series is The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander, a fantasy series.  With this in mind, is it safe to presume that 2012 books such as The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There by Catherynne M. Valente and the semi fictional biography No Crystal Stair by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson may interest Engelfried?

I do not wish to oversimplify the Newbery selection process or suggest that the committee plays favorites.  But I do find it interesting to learn about the committee members and their personal preferences. 

What are your thoughts?  If you were on the Newbery committee, would you be able to put aside any favoritism and be completely objective in your selection?    

Good librarian / Bad librarian

Mr. Powell raised an eyebrow. "I'm a librarian," he said. "I always know what I'm talking about. 

What librarian didn't love that line from Gary Schmidt's, Okay for Now (Clarion 2011)?  Librarians are accustomed to playing bit parts or major roles in children's fiction. Sometimes, a wonderful librarian is featured in book based on a true story, like Penguin Group's, Ron's Big Mission (2009), by Corinne Naden and Rose Blue.  In it, a young African American boy, Ron McNair, challenges his public library's policy of refusing to issue lending cards to African Americans. The librarian realizes that the policy is wrong and untenable, and she issues him a library card. That boy grows up to become a future NASA astronaut. An inspiring story for young boys, aspiring astronauts, African Americans, and librarians.

In library school, we study our profession's Code of Ethics.  As a group, we like to think of ourselves as champions of the right of all people to have access to information.  That is why we are not surprised to find ourselves featured positively in books. 

That is why I find the variety of librarian appearances in Glory Be (Scholastic), The Mighty Miss Malone (Lamb/Random), and The Lions of Little Rock (Penguin) so striking.

One book features a librarian willing to take a stand against 1960s segregationists in Mississippi, ensuring that the library will remain open and available to all residents.  In another, the local librarian delivers a purposeful or perhaps unwitting insult, describing boxer, Joe Louis, as a credit to his race and inferring that the well-read and intelligent protagonist of the story is also somehow an anomaly among her race.  And finally, one book describes a librarian that simply refuses to acknowledge the African Americans seeking service in her library.  Of course, we knew it all along;  librarians, like the professionals in any other field, are individuals, encompassing the entire range of human dispositions - good, bad, and everything in between.

Thanks to Augusta Scattergood, Christopher Paul Curtis and Kristin Levine for pointing out the opportunity for professional librarians to shape history. That our predecessors did not always influence history in a positive manner should be a wake up call for all of us.  May we all appear positively in the historical fiction books of the future.

Excerpts from the Code of Ethics of the American Library Association:

I.  We provide the highest level of service to all library users through appropriate and usefully organized resources; equitable service policies; equitable access; and accurate, unbiased, and courteous responses to all requests.

VII. We distinguish between our personal convictions and professional duties and do not allow our personal beliefs to interfere with fair representation of the aims of our institutions or the provision of access to their information resources.

Adopted at the 1939 Midwinter Meeting by the ALA Council; amended June 30, 1981; June 28, 1995; and January 22, 2008.



Clip art licensed from the Clip Art Gallery on DiscoverySchool.com

First round live

Because I've gotten some people asking where they can vote, here's the survey monkey.

However, we're eager for more conversation.  What did you think about some of these titles? How do you justify your choices?

What's next?

We’ve finished introducing our first round of mock Newbery contenders.  The reading list at right now contains links to the posts for each of our first seven books. 

Going forward, we envision using SurveyMonkey to whittle down our initial list of seven books to three.  To these three, we will add a new selection of books as the fall titles begin appearing.  Ultimately, we will pare our list down to the winner, to be announced just before the official Newbery Medal winner is revealed at the ALA Youth Media Awards on January 28, 2013.

How can you participate?

1.       Leave us a comment.  Did you read the first seven books?

2.       Join in the conversation.  Click the links at right for each book and share your thoughts.

3.       Comment on this or any other post with suggestions for books we should add to the reading list.

 Questions or suggestions?  Please, share.

Thanks.

Wonder by R.J. Palacio

Auggie is a normal 10 year old, except he has lost the genetic lottery when it comes to his face. A combination of rare mutations has left him with an appearance that frightens others, even after many surgeries. Because of all those surgeries, up until now he has been homeschooled. So now, at the age most kids begin to be focused on appearance and the approval of peers, he is about to start school. Auggie undoubtedly has a tough year ahead of him, but he will also find friendship and compassion among his classmates.

Structured somewhat oddly, the novel is mostly told through Auggie.  However, there are (sometimes short) chapters each contributed by a different person in Auggie's life.  Each character relays their experience with Auggie. This provides a richer understanding of motivations and histories that Auggie's first person narration alone might lack.

One can't read this story without thinking what would I do if I were Auggie's classmate, sister, teacher. How would I feel if I were him?


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