From: Ginny Moore Kruse <gmkruse>
Date: Sat, 16 Feb 2002 18:24:56 -0600

Thanks to everyone who has stepped up so far to write about each of these books: A Single Shard, Carver, and Everything on a Waffle.

You've offered perceptive pros and cons as to why each might (or might not) be considered "distinguished." You've been willing to make exceptions for varying personal tastes, and you've quoted young readers, too ! Keep it up until we begin discussing the 2002 Pura Belpr? Award/Honor Books on February 20.

Then there's Steven's query about whether or not Carver was technically eligible for the Newbery Award (previously published poems, rather than all original material). Joyce speculated that the poems were planned and written as a narrative sequence, and later published individually, or perhaps they were published elsewhere while a single volume had been proposed to a publisher. Helpful information about this is welcome. As with the Canadian pairs skaters in the Olympics, no one is talking about - or suggesting - that a greatly deserved honor be taken away. But it's wise to clarify the circumstances making the honor understandable to those who attempt to comprehend how the Newbery Award process works, and what is and isn't formally eligible. FYI: the Newbery "Terms & Criteria" can be found on the ALA/ALSC web site: http://www.ala.org/alsc/newbery_terms.html

There's still time to weigh in on why you do or don't see one or more of the above three books as "distinguished." We continue to welcome your accounts of young readers' responses to any of these books. - Ginny

Ginny Moore Kruse gmkruse at education.wisc.edu Cooperative Children's Book Center www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/ A Library of the School of Education, University of Wisconsin - Madison
Received on Sat 16 Feb 2002 06:24:56 PM CST