CCBC-Net Archives
[CCBC-Net] Trends in Newbery and Caldecott and Criss Cross
- Contemporary messages sorted: [ by date ] [ by subject ] [ by author ]
From: Gail Zachariah <gzachariah>
Date: Fri, 27 Jan 2006 16:03:51 -0500
There have been so many interesting emails lately, that I had to contribute.
I think you have to be very careful with generalizations regarding trends. You might think your generalizations are true, because maybe coincidentally it has worked out that way in the past year or so. But it isn't a rule, even an unwritten rule, at all.
The award committees start fresh each year with new members and a whole new bunch of books to choose from. Each year is different.
I don't think it is a trend that Newbery winners are less well recognized than Caldecott winners. Maybe most of the reading public haven't been aware of Lynn Rae Perkins. They might not have heard of Cynthia Kadohata. Most likely they had heard of Kate DiCamillo. They had to have heard of Avi, Linda Sue Park, Richard Peck and on and on.
The trend of older aged fiction being honored with the Newbery is complicated. I believe that that is primarily a function of what is being published. I think that someone on this list made the observation that perhaps publishers are putting out more fiction in the older age range because these books could win the Newbery and the Printz. This might be true, but I think that more books are published for this age group, because this age group buys more books.
I agree that Criss Cross is a "meditative and leisurely" book and it may not be the most popular book, but popularity isn't a criteria with the Newbery. Although it is beautifully written and I love the way Perkins captures adolescence, the plot doesn't compel me to keep reading late into the night. The quote from the press release describes it well:
"With seeming yet deliberate randomness, Perkins writes an orderly, innovative, and risk-taking book in which nothing happens and everything happens."
The use of illustrations in Criss Cross is interesting. Actually, I find them distracting and I don't really like them. I imagine the Newbery conversations on this point were lengthy. The Newbery criteria states that "the committee is to make its decision primarily on the text. Other aspects of a book are to be considered only if they distract from the text." Obviously, the committee didn't feel like the illustrations were distracting.
How does everyone else feel?
Gail Zachariah Keene Public Library 60 Winter Street Keene, NH 03431 603-352-0157 gzachariah at ci.keene.nh.us
Received on Fri 27 Jan 2006 03:03:51 PM CST
Date: Fri, 27 Jan 2006 16:03:51 -0500
There have been so many interesting emails lately, that I had to contribute.
I think you have to be very careful with generalizations regarding trends. You might think your generalizations are true, because maybe coincidentally it has worked out that way in the past year or so. But it isn't a rule, even an unwritten rule, at all.
The award committees start fresh each year with new members and a whole new bunch of books to choose from. Each year is different.
I don't think it is a trend that Newbery winners are less well recognized than Caldecott winners. Maybe most of the reading public haven't been aware of Lynn Rae Perkins. They might not have heard of Cynthia Kadohata. Most likely they had heard of Kate DiCamillo. They had to have heard of Avi, Linda Sue Park, Richard Peck and on and on.
The trend of older aged fiction being honored with the Newbery is complicated. I believe that that is primarily a function of what is being published. I think that someone on this list made the observation that perhaps publishers are putting out more fiction in the older age range because these books could win the Newbery and the Printz. This might be true, but I think that more books are published for this age group, because this age group buys more books.
I agree that Criss Cross is a "meditative and leisurely" book and it may not be the most popular book, but popularity isn't a criteria with the Newbery. Although it is beautifully written and I love the way Perkins captures adolescence, the plot doesn't compel me to keep reading late into the night. The quote from the press release describes it well:
"With seeming yet deliberate randomness, Perkins writes an orderly, innovative, and risk-taking book in which nothing happens and everything happens."
The use of illustrations in Criss Cross is interesting. Actually, I find them distracting and I don't really like them. I imagine the Newbery conversations on this point were lengthy. The Newbery criteria states that "the committee is to make its decision primarily on the text. Other aspects of a book are to be considered only if they distract from the text." Obviously, the committee didn't feel like the illustrations were distracting.
How does everyone else feel?
Gail Zachariah Keene Public Library 60 Winter Street Keene, NH 03431 603-352-0157 gzachariah at ci.keene.nh.us
Received on Fri 27 Jan 2006 03:03:51 PM CST
