From: Judith O'Malley <jomalley>
Date: Thu, 27 Feb 1997 16:09:03 -0600

I'm forwarding the attached message from John Peters who is temporarily away from his usual e-mail address.

Judy O'Malley Book Links

Greetings, friends:
        Regarding Stacey Kaner's question about books, and Katherine Paterson's _JIP_ in particular, that were considered by the Newbery Committee but not awarded a medal or honor: as someone who was on this last committee, I don't think it compromises our obligation to keep our deliberations confidential to say that _every_ eligible book that we were able to lay hands on received serious attention, or that we had a real embarrassment of riches (at least in fiction) to sort through. Personally, I came to Midwinter perfectly willing to pin a medal on
_JIP_, though, being the sort who always seems able to find a fly in the ointment, I did have some reservations about how the characters were presented (the Quakers seemed too angelic, the slave catcher was
_instantly_ painted a Bad Guy, and though I have a weak spot for child protagonists who are deep down decent, Jip just never seemed like someone who would ever get up on the wrong side of the bed, and so came off to me as a bit limited) in this otherwise finely-crafted, eye-opening story.

John Peters (jepeters at nypl.org)(using GraceAnne's e-mail at present)
Received on Thu 27 Feb 1997 04:09:03 PM CST