Library Notes
January 30th 2009
Dara L. Cain
Newbery News
The suspense and excitement leading up to the announcement of the winner of the Newbery Award came to fruition at 7:45 a.m. Mountain Standard Time on Monday, January 26. The Graveyard Book by author Neil Gaiman was chosen by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association as the 2009 Newbery Medal award winner for providing the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children published in the previous year. The “contribution to American literature” refers to the text of a book for which all forms of writing shall be considered and for which children up to age fourteen are the potential audience. “Distinguished” is defined as a book noted for significant achievement encompassing excellence in quality and individual distinctness.
The Newbery Medal became the first children’s book award in the world and was named for the eighteenth-century English bookseller John Newbery. The criteria the ALSC committee members took into account when deciding to select The Graveyard Book included interpretation of the concept, presentation of information, development of plot, delineation of characters, description of setting, and the appropriateness of style.
The Graveyard Book is about an orphaned child named Nobody Owens, otherwise known as Bod to his friends. Bod lives an extraordinary life as he grows up to become a teenager while living in a graveyard where he is raised and educated by ghostly residents who have adopted him. If you enjoy adventure, danger, and the supernatural this is the book for you. Neil Gaiman made the New York Times bestseller list for the children’s book Coraline. He also wrote the picture books The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish and The Wolves in the Walls.
Honor books are runner ups to the Newbery Medal books. This year four diverse honor books were selected. The Underneath by Kathi Appelt is about the unlikely friendship between a calico cat and a hound who ultimately become a family. This book is recommended for fans who have enjoyed reading Sounder, Shiloh, and/or The Yearling. In the book Savvy by Ingrid it is the eve of Mibs’s big day when she will turn thirteen and discover her “savvy” – a special supernatural power. To find out if Mibs’s new power can save her father you will have to read the story. The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba’s Struggle for Freedom by Margarita Engle creates a lyrical description of 1896 Cuba during her struggle to fight for independence after having already fought in three wars. Jacqueline Woodson’s book After Tupac & D Foster takes place in 1996 where three girls living in Queens, New York bond over their mutual love of Tupac Shakur’s music and the unreliable world they live in.
To obtain a complete listing of Newbery Medal winners, honor winners, and other literary award winners visit the American Library Association website at http://www.ala.org.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Erika Kosin
Library Notes
January 23, 2009
The Caldecott Award 72 Years and Going Strong
Every year in January, Children’s Librarians throughout the country wait with bated breath for the announcements of the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), book and media awards. One of the most coveted awards is the Caldecott Medal, named in honor of nineteenth-century English illustrator Randolph Caldecott, which recognizes the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children published in the United States within the past year.
To be eligible for the Caldecott Medal a picture book must provide the child with a visual experience that is consistent with the story-line, theme, or concept developed within the series of original images. It must also respect the understandings, abilities and appreciations of the intended age group for whom the book was written whether three years old or fourteen. Keeping these criteria in mind, a committee must select the winner and honor books each year.
This year’s winner of the 2009 Caldecott Medal is a bedtime story illustrated with scratchboard and watercolor called The House in the Night by Susan Marie Swanson and Beth Krommes. Some past winners include:
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznak: This 2008 Caldecott medal Winner is a 533 page chapter book filled with wonderful black and white pencil drawings that are full of texture and movement. The illustrations allow you to follow along with Hugo as he discovers a world of silent movies, magic and science. A great read for third grade and up.
Rapunzel by Paul O. Zelinsky: The tale of Rapunzel has been told and retold many times, but each individual illustration in Paul O. Zelinsky’s version could stand on its own. Each page is an oil painting depicting the story with Italian Renaissance flavor, giving a real time and place feel to this classic tale. It is no surprise that this book won the 1998 Caldecott award when it’s beautiful illustrations can be enjoyed by all ages.
Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McClosky: Winner of the 1942 Caldecott award, this tale follows Mr. and Mrs. Mallard around the City of Boston as they try to find the perfect place to hatch and raise their eight ducklings, finally landing in the Boston Public Garden. The charcoal drawings that set this book apart have since been brought to life in the form of a bronze statue erected in the Boston Public Garden in 1987 with a replica installed in Moscow, Russia in 1991 while the book is still one of the most beloved Caldecott winners to date.
For a list of Caldecott Medal winners from 1980 to the present visit the Rowan Public Library website http://www.youseemore.com/RowanPLint/hotpicks.asp?l=caldecott&n=Caldecott+Medal+Winners or for a complete list of medal and honor winners visit the ALA website at http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/caldecottmedal/caldecotthonors/caldecottmedal.cfm.
Library Notes
January 23, 2009
The Caldecott Award 72 Years and Going Strong
Every year in January, Children’s Librarians throughout the country wait with bated breath for the announcements of the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), book and media awards. One of the most coveted awards is the Caldecott Medal, named in honor of nineteenth-century English illustrator Randolph Caldecott, which recognizes the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children published in the United States within the past year.
To be eligible for the Caldecott Medal a picture book must provide the child with a visual experience that is consistent with the story-line, theme, or concept developed within the series of original images. It must also respect the understandings, abilities and appreciations of the intended age group for whom the book was written whether three years old or fourteen. Keeping these criteria in mind, a committee must select the winner and honor books each year.
This year’s winner of the 2009 Caldecott Medal is a bedtime story illustrated with scratchboard and watercolor called The House in the Night by Susan Marie Swanson and Beth Krommes. Some past winners include:
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznak: This 2008 Caldecott medal Winner is a 533 page chapter book filled with wonderful black and white pencil drawings that are full of texture and movement. The illustrations allow you to follow along with Hugo as he discovers a world of silent movies, magic and science. A great read for third grade and up.
Rapunzel by Paul O. Zelinsky: The tale of Rapunzel has been told and retold many times, but each individual illustration in Paul O. Zelinsky’s version could stand on its own. Each page is an oil painting depicting the story with Italian Renaissance flavor, giving a real time and place feel to this classic tale. It is no surprise that this book won the 1998 Caldecott award when it’s beautiful illustrations can be enjoyed by all ages.
Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McClosky: Winner of the 1942 Caldecott award, this tale follows Mr. and Mrs. Mallard around the City of Boston as they try to find the perfect place to hatch and raise their eight ducklings, finally landing in the Boston Public Garden. The charcoal drawings that set this book apart have since been brought to life in the form of a bronze statue erected in the Boston Public Garden in 1987 with a replica installed in Moscow, Russia in 1991 while the book is still one of the most beloved Caldecott winners to date.
For a list of Caldecott Medal winners from 1980 to the present visit the Rowan Public Library website http://www.youseemore.com/RowanPLint/hotpicks.asp?l=caldecott&n=Caldecott+Medal+Winners or for a complete list of medal and honor winners visit the ALA website at http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/caldecottmedal/caldecotthonors/caldecottmedal.cfm.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Library Notes
January 16, 2009
Susan Triplett
Patrons entering the library are likely to spy the carousels filled with current rental
selections which sit just inside the main doors. For many visitors, the sight of popular
new books and DVDs prompt a closer look. Fewer patrons, however, may notice the copies of a slim periodical, BookPage, which sit atop each rental display and are also available – for free.
As a monthly publication, BookPage can’t be beat for pithy, informational summaries of the latest books. The editors’ selections are representative of a broad range of genres and often include books which patrons might not otherwise readily discover. One such book, The Leanin’ Dog, comes from the periodical’s December issue and stands out as an invitation to family reading, enjoyment, and discussion.
The Leanin’ Dog is ostensibly written to an 8 – 12 yr-old audience. On one level, the novel is the adventurous story of a girl and her dog. Yet as a coming-of-age tale, The Leanin’ Dog is ambitiously comprehensive in the spectrum of issues it addresses, for instance: grieving the loss of a parent, experiencing life as a child with special needs,
developing trust, and overcoming fear. How do an 11 yr-old child and her father handle the leaps of faith that life asks of them?
In The Leanin’ Dog, Dessa Dean and her dad share a spartan existence in a remote part of Colorado. During the winter months, they’re completely isolated. Dad must tend his traps and Dessa is left on her own at home each day. The harsh cold and snow-filled days and nights provide a beleaguering background throughout the novel. The reader quickly learns that Dessa’s mother recently froze to death, an event which imbues the high plains’winter season with particular menace. The loss of her mother has left Dessa
slightly frostbitten, deeply grieving, and severely phobic.
When Dessa meets an equally fearful dog, the story of how a girl and a dog actually save each other takes off. It’s a tale which could easily fall into stereotypes, becoming overwrought and sentimental. Instead, the reader is likely to find the story credible and down-to-earth; even the dog’s behaviors seem true to life. Told in first person narrative, the prose is simple yet descriptive, the sensory images are compelling, and the pace moves along without a ho-hum pause. What’s the significance of the title? Check it out!
BookPage is full of pleasant surprises for the patron seeking the next good book – of just about any genre. Why not take a copy of BookPage home today?
January 16, 2009
Susan Triplett
Patrons entering the library are likely to spy the carousels filled with current rental
selections which sit just inside the main doors. For many visitors, the sight of popular
new books and DVDs prompt a closer look. Fewer patrons, however, may notice the copies of a slim periodical, BookPage, which sit atop each rental display and are also available – for free.
As a monthly publication, BookPage can’t be beat for pithy, informational summaries of the latest books. The editors’ selections are representative of a broad range of genres and often include books which patrons might not otherwise readily discover. One such book, The Leanin’ Dog, comes from the periodical’s December issue and stands out as an invitation to family reading, enjoyment, and discussion.
The Leanin’ Dog is ostensibly written to an 8 – 12 yr-old audience. On one level, the novel is the adventurous story of a girl and her dog. Yet as a coming-of-age tale, The Leanin’ Dog is ambitiously comprehensive in the spectrum of issues it addresses, for instance: grieving the loss of a parent, experiencing life as a child with special needs,
developing trust, and overcoming fear. How do an 11 yr-old child and her father handle the leaps of faith that life asks of them?
In The Leanin’ Dog, Dessa Dean and her dad share a spartan existence in a remote part of Colorado. During the winter months, they’re completely isolated. Dad must tend his traps and Dessa is left on her own at home each day. The harsh cold and snow-filled days and nights provide a beleaguering background throughout the novel. The reader quickly learns that Dessa’s mother recently froze to death, an event which imbues the high plains’winter season with particular menace. The loss of her mother has left Dessa
slightly frostbitten, deeply grieving, and severely phobic.
When Dessa meets an equally fearful dog, the story of how a girl and a dog actually save each other takes off. It’s a tale which could easily fall into stereotypes, becoming overwrought and sentimental. Instead, the reader is likely to find the story credible and down-to-earth; even the dog’s behaviors seem true to life. Told in first person narrative, the prose is simple yet descriptive, the sensory images are compelling, and the pace moves along without a ho-hum pause. What’s the significance of the title? Check it out!
BookPage is full of pleasant surprises for the patron seeking the next good book – of just about any genre. Why not take a copy of BookPage home today?
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