From: Julie Roach <jul_roach>
Date: Wed, 25 Jan 2006 18:52:48 -0800 (PST)

Alison,

I also think that the age overlap with the awards (and notables/best books too) accounts somewhat for the incredible amount of interesting, well-written material being published for kids ages 12-14ish and the incredible lack of such material out there for kids ages 7-9ish. A book published more for ages 12-14 has a double shot at getting recognized.

Sadly, that 7-9 age range is where we tend lose kids as readers. When they first learn to read, they are so excited. I think once they conquer the beginning readers, (though there ARE some really wonderful things for this age) there isn't very MUCH there for them. Obviously many other issues contribute to the drop off in reading (reading aloud often stops, etc.), but I do think this isn't helping.

Julie Roach Cambridge Public Library


--- "Hendon, Alison"
<A.Hendon at BrooklynPublicLibrary.org> wrote:

> Hi Meghan - I might agree with you except for My
> Friend Rabbit which seemed
> (at least to me) to come out of left field. The
> trend that I'm deploring is
> the very high-end Newbery titles that (to me) are
> really YA. This will
> occur as long as Newbery goes to age 14 and YALSA
> starts at age 12...
>
> Alison
>
> Alison M. Hendon
> Youth Selection Team Leader
> Brooklyn Public Library
> a.hendon at brooklynpubliclibrary.org
> (718) 230-2744
>
Received on Wed 25 Jan 2006 08:52:48 PM CST