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From: Megan Schliesman <Schliesman>
Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2005 16:24:00 -0600
We've heard some varying opinons on Kira-Kira, and several favorable comments on both Al Capone and Lizzie Bright.
It seems to me one of the great challenges for the Newbery Committee each year is to evaluate, and ultimately compare, books that are so different stylistically and often thematically. These three books, as well as the third honor book this year, The Voice That Challenged a Nation, are great examples of how very different books can be (although there are some themes common to all of them).
I find Kira-Kira quiet and understated, and the second time I read it, long after the first, I had forgotten how funny it is; like everything else about the novel, the humor is subtle. At the same time, it was a a book I couldn't stop thinking about, making it a powerful and profound reading experience that continued to resonate after I'd closed the cover.
I found that Al Capone, like Kira-Kira, felt like effortless storytelling, but it had a much brighter, crisper tone as it deftly balanced much higher humor as well as drama in a lively narrative. Lizzie Bright also blends humor and high drama, but with language that is dazzling with its richness. And The Voice That Challenged a Nation shows how artful non-fiction writing can be. The opening chapter made me feel the excitement, anticipation and, above all, importance of that Lincoln Memorial Concert as if I was in the midst of the crowd--spine-tingling.
Whether you've read one of the 2005 Newbery books or all of them, tell us what you thought, or what your experiences have been sharing them with children.
Megan
Megan Schliesman, Librarian Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education, UW-Madison 600 N. Park St., Room 4290 Madison, WI 53706
ph: 608&2?03 fax: 608&2I33 schliesman at education.wisc.edu
Received on Fri 18 Feb 2005 04:24:00 PM CST
Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2005 16:24:00 -0600
We've heard some varying opinons on Kira-Kira, and several favorable comments on both Al Capone and Lizzie Bright.
It seems to me one of the great challenges for the Newbery Committee each year is to evaluate, and ultimately compare, books that are so different stylistically and often thematically. These three books, as well as the third honor book this year, The Voice That Challenged a Nation, are great examples of how very different books can be (although there are some themes common to all of them).
I find Kira-Kira quiet and understated, and the second time I read it, long after the first, I had forgotten how funny it is; like everything else about the novel, the humor is subtle. At the same time, it was a a book I couldn't stop thinking about, making it a powerful and profound reading experience that continued to resonate after I'd closed the cover.
I found that Al Capone, like Kira-Kira, felt like effortless storytelling, but it had a much brighter, crisper tone as it deftly balanced much higher humor as well as drama in a lively narrative. Lizzie Bright also blends humor and high drama, but with language that is dazzling with its richness. And The Voice That Challenged a Nation shows how artful non-fiction writing can be. The opening chapter made me feel the excitement, anticipation and, above all, importance of that Lincoln Memorial Concert as if I was in the midst of the crowd--spine-tingling.
Whether you've read one of the 2005 Newbery books or all of them, tell us what you thought, or what your experiences have been sharing them with children.
Megan
Megan Schliesman, Librarian Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education, UW-Madison 600 N. Park St., Room 4290 Madison, WI 53706
ph: 608&2?03 fax: 608&2I33 schliesman at education.wisc.edu
Received on Fri 18 Feb 2005 04:24:00 PM CST
