From: Flyingpig2 at aol.com <Flyingpig2>
Date: Wed, 5 Dec 2001 16:03:31 EST

Dean, Dean, it's so nice to have you here to speak for me! We have such compatible tastes. Next time you and Robin are in Charlotte, we have to have an impromptu book group meeting.

My picks:

Newbery: I did really love Amber Was Brave, which does something new.... It reminded me in some ways of Estes' The Hundred Dresses, and I think would appeal to the same readers. I also loved Richard Peck's Fair Weather, which has a timeless appeal. Peck's writerly assurance puts me in mind of E.B. White.

Printz and King: True Believer, hands down. What a phenomenal book. I also loved An Na's A Step from Heaven, which I hadn't read until the NBA nominations. Beth Goobie's Before Wings was memorable, but I think she's Canadian and therefore ineligible? There are still some YA books I haven't yet read: the new Han Nolan, L.R. Frank, and a couple more. So I may be back.

Caldecott: I love Fannie in the Kitchen, as well as Steig's Gifts from Zeus
(although the text outweighs the artwork in terms of content). There are several other picture books that struck me as noteworthy (David Wiesner's Three Pigs is primary among them) but I always feel less capable of figuring out what makes a picture book a "Caldecott" book than I do looking at the Newbery possibilities.

The books I'm giving as gifts? More on that later.

Cheers, Elizabeth

************** Elizabeth Bluemle Flying Pig Children's Books 86 Ferry Rd. Charlotte, VT 05445 www.flyingpigbooks.com
Received on Wed 05 Dec 2001 03:03:31 PM CST