Saying Goodbye To My Newbery Year

Chances are, if you read this blog you know that the ALA announced the Youth Media Awards on Monday morning.  It was a bitter sweet time, as it signaled the end of my Newbery tenure.

This past year (and a half) has been filled with more books than you can possibly imagine.  I was reading with a critical eye, thinking and re-thinking, reading and re-reading.

I am particularly proud of our committee and our hard work.  It does seem a little strange to be reading for the sake of it, but I am pleased that this blog will be going back to its old format.  I will be keeping up with the tween interviews and the "on the clip-board" posts, but they will be interspersed with book recommendations!

The Ghost of the Un-finished Reviews

Let's face it.  Our lives are busy.  Many of us have families, we all have too much to read, plus the everyday business of life means that the best laid plans to blog, often do not come to fruition.  It is with a bit of a wry smile that I go through my old word documents and find snippets that didn't get finished and didn't get onto the blog. 

Here's a prime example of a bit that I wrote in November of 2010:

"Books like Moon Over Manifest are difficult to summarize since they are woven together so masterfully.  Set in Manifest Kansas, Abilene Tucker comes to town by herself on the train because her Daddy Gideon has a job working for the railroad in Iowa, and he has declared that it’s not fit living for a 12 year-old-girl.  Lots of folks who were in Manifest when Gideon was coming up still live there, and Abilene is to live with Shady…part-time preacher/ part-time saloon owner.  But old habits die hard, and instead of waiting for the train to pull into the station like the rest of the paying customers, she takes a leap because folks know that “it’s best to get a look at a place before it gets a look at you”. (p. 3)

Abilene sees some sights on her walk into town, but they don’t much resemble the vibrant and bustling town that her Daddy recently told her stories about..." 

I don't know what stopped me from finishing.  Perhaps it was a hungry daughter, or some curriculum tweaking.  Maybe I had to pick somebody up from a play-date or go grocery shopping. 

What are some titles that you ended up not blogging that came back to haunt you?

Pies & Prejudice, by Heather Vogel Frederick

The girls are back, and this time they are tackling some Austen as well as a cultural exchange of sorts!

The girls are 15 now and everyone seems to know what they want to do with their lives except for Jess. She’s throwing herself into her life at the Academy, and things are better since she no longer has to room with snotty Savannah (who is turning out not to be so snotty after all). She’s singing in the MadriGals and now her mom has her enrolled in a cake decorating class. It’s not really her thing, but she feels like she has to do it since she doesn’t really get to see her family as much as she used to.

Cassidy is still into hockey but her nice surprise is that she’s bonding with Stanley more than ever. Who knew her dorky step-dad would be such a sports nut and go to bat for Cassidy with her mom so that she can play with the elite girl’s team in the area? He’s even getting up at the crack of dawn to drive her to practice.

Megan’s passion for fashion is going strong, and she’s adding an anonymous blog to her resume. “Fashionista Jane” is a helpful yet snarky commentator on the world of fashion at her school. Not only is she showing readers how to rework their wardrobes, she also has a fashion faux pas section which is super popular. Too bad it bruises a few egos along the way.

The biggest change is in store for Emma and her family who up and leave for England for a year. At first Emma and Darcy aren’t thrilled with their parents’ announcement. They only got 2 weeks notice! But the allure of England and Jane Austen territory in particular is thrilling for Emma. Yes, she’ll miss Stewart, but it is only for a year.

Vogel Frederick has written another installment that is fun filled yet more grown up than the previous titles. She has managed to keep the girls innocent yet believable, and bringing the Hawthornes to England was a great way to introduce new characters and switch the focus a bit. Romances abound and will keep readers titillated without resorting to choosing “teams”. I don’t want to give too many plot points away, but suffice it to say that the laughter that came with the reading was familiar, while the tears were not. Fans will be delighted, and new readers will be able to jump right in.