If you thought the blog posts were going to slow down Post -Newbery, think again! Below are some of the posts I thought were most interesting and thought provoking...First and foremost, Neil Gaiman's twitter response to The Graveyard Book winning the Newbery has been all over the blogs and zines (Oh, my:-) On his own blog, Gaiman writes about his reaction to the phone call from the Newbery Committee:
You are on a speakerphone with at least 14 teachers and librarians and suchlike great, wise and good people, I thought. Do not start swearing like you did when you got the Hugo. This was a wise thing to think because otherwise huge, mighty and fourletter swears were gathering. I mean, that's what they're for. I think I said, You mean it's Monday?Nice recaps of Newbery coverage are at SLJ and Heavy Medal.
Wizard's Wireless responds to the question: How do Caldecott and Newbery winning books get their shiny stickers? "I wish I could tell you that on the day of the award announcement, everyone stops what they're doing and puts the stickers on the books. But really, it's much more mundane and gradual than that." Click to find out...
The Reading Zone writes about how her sixth grade class responded as they watched the award announcement webcast.
Laurie Halse Anderson, winner of the 2009 Margaret A. Edwards Award for Catalyst, Fever 1793, and Speak wrote her reaction to receiving the award:
Suffice it to say, I am honored and humbled to have my work put in the class with writers whom I admire so much. And I am particularly proud that the committee singled out both Catalyst and Fever 1793, and that they get to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Speak, instead of in its shadow. [read the rest here]Audiobooker wrote a very nice post about the 2009 Odyssey Award winner and honor books and the 2009 Notable Children's Recordings List.
PlanetEsme writes a very personal response to the Coretta Scott King award:
I have a very hard time with an award that claims to “commemorate the life and works of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and to honor Mrs. Coretta Scott King for her courage and determination to continue the work for peace and world brotherhood,” and yet uses the author’s race as a criteria. I find this contradictory. [read the rest here]In a follow-up post, Esme includes a comment from author/illustrator Yuyi Morales, who is a past winner of the Pura Belpré Award for illustrating Los Gatos Black on Halloween and presented to a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth. Morales responds (in part):
If the ethnic awards were to disappear, or integrate, would I miss the celebration? Yes I would. Would there be other challenges to obtain? Certainly yes, because what I am is not Latina but a force... You will understand it when you are propped in front of children—those of all possible colors, including brown, like me; who speak all kinds of languages, including Spanish like me; who perhaps struggle with their English, like I did; who feel like“tontos”, fools, unable to fit in the foreign culture, like once I did too. And then, in that moment when the teacher introduces you, and tells the audience that you have been the winner of this prestigious shiny golden medal stuck on the cover of your book, given here in the United States to a person like YOU in recognition for the quality of your work, you can see it with your own eyes and your heart, that very moment when a child begins to dream that if you did it, he can do it too. [read the entire post]
This is thoughtful, heartfelt exchange and I encourage to to read both posts in their entirety.
So, this is all I have for Post-Newbery. What intersting stories did you hear?
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