Comments on: Kids reject Newbery books

By: Assigned Reading » Blog Archive » Newbery Award Losing its Luster?

Assigned Reading » Blog Archive » Newbery Award Losing its Luster? — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 18:08:01 +0000

[...] Joanne Jacobs identifies an article entitled “Has the Newbery Lost Its Way?” in School Library [...]

By: Newbery Award Losing its Luster? | Assigned Reading

Newbery Award Losing its Luster? | Assigned Reading — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 17:08:38 +0000

[...] Joanne Jacobs identifies an article entitled “Has the Newbery Lost Its Way?” in School Library [...]

By: Just John

Just John — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 09:29:03 +0000

Ellen Raskin’s “The Westing Game” was wonderful. Lloyd Alexander and Susan Cooper are on there too; man, I haven’t read them in a decade or two, but now I get to raid the local used-book stores.

By: wahoofive

wahoofive — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 19:01:44 +0000

I just looked at the past list of winners, and I’ve hardly heard of any of them. “A Wrinkle in Time,” of course. But still. Maybe it’s just hard to tell what’s going to be popular with kids.

Most of the ones I’ve heard of are mainly because they’ve been made into movies, e.g. “Bridge to Terebithia” and “Tale of Despereaux.”

By: Samantha

Samantha — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 17:32:26 +0000

Thank you Me for reminding me of the title of that book (The Egypt Game)! I read it several times as a kid (might still have a battered copy somewhere) and I want to introduce my kids to it.

By: Me

Me — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 15:29:21 +0000

I liked The Egypt Game, The Giver, and The View from Saturday. (from off the top of my head)

As a tangent, does anyone else think that The Egypt Game would have been considered way too politically incorrect to be published today? I envision people complaining about Egyptian stereotypes and how Elizabeth Chung is described as “Oriental”…whatever, I still loved it.

By: Jim McGuire

Jim McGuire — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 01:45:05 +0000

I would bet many students do not even know about Newbury winners. There are so many good books today for adolescent readers, if a book is going to get read, it better hook kids in a hurry.

Five years without a hit is forever when you are twelve.

By: Stacy in NJ

Stacy in NJ — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 01:29:00 +0000

My sons have read many Newbury winners and Honors books. My oldest is current reading Dragonwings by Laurence Yep. I do think Newbury winners in recent years, maybe since 1980 or there about, do tend to focus on social messages – divorce, racism, homelessness, and can be depressing. But, the older books are great. We homeschool, so I assign these.

The books they choose to read in their free time are usually less heavy and aren’t Newbury books; Percy Jackson, The Mysterious Benedict Society, Pendragon.

Some of our history “texts” are Newbury winners, as well; The Story of Mankind and Genevieve Foster.

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 21:52:15 +0000

The original article makes it sound more like librarians are rejecting Newbery books — the kids never even have it available to them. The librarians might be right, and maybe the medal has its ups and downs, but it still just feels funny for a school library not to aim for a complete collection of Newbery winners.

By: Jeff the Baptist

Jeff the Baptist — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 20:57:55 +0000

It sounds like the Newbery is just following the same path as a lot of modern literary criticism. They’re trying hard to find the diamond in the rough to lift from obscurity, but many of those works they choose were in obscurity for a reason.