My hopefuls

I admit that I have not been reading as much this past year as I would have liked.  So my "hopefuls" form a small subset of a not-so-large universe of 2013 J reads.  These titles have appeared on several mock lists and have won in some cases.

What more can you say about an author who wrote The Underneath and the Keeper--both books I was rooting for way back when?   Appelt is warm and muddy and droll and her universe of animal- people -raccoons, wild hogs, a cat or two, gators, rattlers, the ghost bird--the ivory billed woodpecker, and the legendary Sugar Man populate a bayou swamp somewhere near the Gulf of Mexico.  Her people- people include 12 year old Chap (named after the roadrunner Chapparal by his bird obsessed grandfather); Sonny Boy Beaucoup -owner of all the swamp who wants to put Chap's pie business out of business so he can wrangle a deal with the greatest gator wrestler Jaeger Stitch to build a theme park to showcase her talents.  The absent grandfather Audie - enduring spokesperson for all things
essential to the preservation of  the swamp- presides over the narrative maintaining a necessary equilibrium. The voice, as in most of her fiction is the essential ingredient in luring and guiding the reader into and through this swampy, humid, mythical, mysterious stew of people and animals bad, good, dangerous and brave!  My #1 pick.


12 year old Summer Miyamoto-2nd generation Japanese American- whose family follows the wheat harvest is not having much luck. Her Japanese-born grandparents are in charge of her and her brother Jaz as they travel from their home in Kansas to various Midwestern states in a tense showdown between mother nature and machinery.  If Summer's family can't make their wheat quota their home may be in danger of foreclosure.  Despite the pressure and danger of working the trucks, Summer's humor (and her grandmother's caustic wit) and resilience in the face of ailing grandparents, bad weather, and a challenged brother, propel her to a final act that will ensure that their year of bad luck may be over.  Throughout the book are drawings of the various machines involved in the harvesting of the wheat displaying the fine-tuned choreography of man and machine. This is a story about working class people, migrant workers, farming, and coming-of-age.   A book that may be a "hard sell" but one that needs a good threshing!






Place is intriguing and so is the narrator of this (maybe YA) book about a boy, Jeremy Johnson Johnson who can hear the voice of Jacob Grimm (narrator) in a town called Never Better.  This is part fairy tale (dark indeed like a Grimm tale), part love/magic story (Jeremy and Ginger); part ghost story-- Jacob (the other half of the famous Brothers Grimm) is caught between the dead and the not-dead and is sent to protect Jeremy from the villainous "Finder of Occasions."  I have not read anything quite like this one and despite the evil that lurks within, I would put this forward to older J readers as a suspenseful, creepy, look behind the curtain kind of tale.










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Countdown to the ALA Youth Media Awards ...

Clearly, we've not got much time to begin deliberations for the 2014 Mock Newbery Award.

What books would you like to see us add to our Mock Newbery list?  Here are a few that we've been reading (or planning to read):

• The Center of Everything by Linda Urban 
• Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan
• Doll Bones by Holly Black
• Flora & Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo
• Hokey Pokey by Jerry Spinelli
• Hold Fast by Blue Balliett
• P.S. Be Eleven by Rita Williams-Garcia
• Rooftoppers by Katherine Rundell
• A Tangle of Knots by Lisa Graff

Which books do you think deserve a spot on our list?  Hurry to add your favorites so that we can finalize a list.  The clock is ticking!

2013 John Newbery Medal winner

The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

 

2013 Newbery Honors

Splendors and Glooms by Laura Amy Schlitz
Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon” by Steve Sheinkin 
Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage

 

And the Winner is...

With less than two hours until the 2013 ALA Youth Media Awards, let us take a moment to announce the results of our mock Newbery. 


The winner is:
Splendors and Glooms

 

Honor books:
Liar & Spy
The Lions of Little Rock
Starry River of the Sky

           


Thanks to everyone who voted and took part in our discussion!  Remember to watch the awards live today at 8:00 a.m. PT. 

What Came from the Stars

Tommy Pepper is turning twelve and for a twelve year old, he has a lot of worries.  Ever since his mother's accident, his father has stopped painting and his sister has stopped talking.  Tommy is wracked with guilt because he feels that he is to blame for his mother’s death.  To make matters worse, the Peppers may be forced to leave their beautiful home on the shore of Plymouth, MA to make way for new condominiums.

The last thing Tommy expects is for a powerful necklace from outer space to land in his lunchbox.  But that is exactly what happens.   Tommy puts on the necklace and suddenly knows the history of the Valorim, beings from a planet light years away from earth.  He finds that he can speak their language, paint pictures that move, and create living creatures from the sand.  But someone is mad that the Art of the Valorim has been sent away and that someone is determined to get it back.

Schmidt has written a fascinating story that is sure to delight lovers of fantasy.  He effortlessly weaves together two separate tales, that of the Valorim and their fight against the evil Lord Mondus and that of Tommy Pepper and his family.  At first, readers may be confused by Tommy’s use of the Valorim language but most of the words can be figured out in context.  If readers are still stumped, they can refer to the handy glossary provided at the end of the book.

What Came From the Stars is unique in many respects and certainly deserves consideration.  Has Schmidt created a Newbery winner?  What are your thoughts?

 

Liar & Spy

"was it a lie, or was it a game?"

"What if you decided to make your own rules?"


Setting: Brooklyn, New York
Main character: Georges 7th grader, named after French pointillist painter Georges Seurat
POV: Georges, 1st person
Themes: Friendships, secrecy, shame, redrawing boundaries,

Plot: Georges moves in to an apartment building and is befriended by Safer--a boy his age who trains (and manipulates) him in the art of spycraft.  Together they will discover the "secret" of the mysterious Mister X-a tenant who dresses all in black and carries suitcases. Or will they?    Will Georges flunk the taste test in Mr. Landau's class, and will he get the better of the bullies in his class? Will Georges' father find a job and will his mother come home from work? Along the way, mysteries will be examined, secrets revealed, and truths restated.

This story is like a charm bracelet. Each element of the story stands on its own like a bright, shiny object (like Safer's sister Candy loving candy, or "Bob who draws" who can't spell, or the scrabble tile messages Georges exchanges with his absent mother, or the funny fortune cookie fortunes, and the falling gum wrapper), but each of those charms is linked together spelling out the importance of the big picture as well as all those little  dots. Stead's craftsmanship is superb. Her prose is pitched to the characters and her audience perfectly.  I thought Liar & Spy was distinguished in every way.

Time to Vote!

The moment has finally come to cast your vote!  Here is the final poll to choose our 2013 Mock Newbery champion.  You will find listed all of the books we have discussed thus far and a few others that we will talk about in the coming days.

So ready, get set, vote!