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By:
Betsy Bird,
on 10/1/2011
Blog:
A Fuse #8 Production
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But in case you haven't...The John Newbery Medal is a literary award given by the Association for Library Service to Children of the American Library Association (ALA) to the author of the Outstanding American Children's Book. The award has been given since 1922. Together with the Caldecott Medal, it is considered the most prestigious award for children's literature in the United States and it's named for John Newbery, an 18th century publisher of juvenile books. But there's been A LOT of discussion lately on the winning books and whether or not they appeal to children.
Previous winners of the award are...
Bud, Not Buddy (Delacorte, 1999)
A Year Down Yonder (Dial, 2000)
A Single Shard (Clarion, 2001)
The Tale of Despereaux (Candlewick, 2003)
Kira-Kira (S & S, 2004)
Criss Cross (Greenwillow, 2005)
The Higher Power of Lucky (S & S, 2006)
Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! (Candlewick, 2007)
Susan Patron, the author of The Higher Power of Lucky
(the 2006 Newbery Award Winner) recently weighed in on the controversy. Read her amazing article, "Don't discount the Newbery" that gives excellent reasons why children's books that deal seriously with serious issues can change readers' lives. I can honestly say that it was because of that shiny gold sticker that I picked up a copy of "The Higher Power of Lucky" and I'm thankful I did. I would think that children would want to read this book, because it doesn't talk down to them and deals with issues that face our society today. The writing is superb and should be a book that aspiring writers are influenced by. But the beautiful thing about award books is that it's simply a recommendation. Just because it's an award winning book, doesn't mean that it will appeal to everyone. A reader can pick out any book they'd like to read, whether it be serious, funny, sports-related, multi-cultural, historical, etc... And as long as young readers are reading, isn't that all that really matters?
Don't forget to mark your calendars for January 26th when ALA announces the new Newbery Award winner- a book you MIGHT want to read!
I just want to say thanks to all the swell people that I had the pleasure of meeting at the ALA convention. I had a sincere and total blast. Since I am a blogger of few words, I'll simply post the initial sketch of what became the cover of The Higher Power of Lucky, and direct you to the intrepid Fuse #8 for a recap of the whole shebang. She's good with the words and stuff.
Pick up a copy of the new Horn Book for a transcript of the wonderful speeches by David Wiesner and my friend Susan Patron, a class act through and through.
I'm pleased as punch to be attending the American Librarian Association's Annual Conference in DC this weekend. On Saturday, I'll be signing copies of the upcoming Very Hairy Bear (preliminary sketch above) at the Harcourt booth from 1:30-2:30, and then I'll be at the Simon & Schuster booth from 3-4 with Newbery Medal winner Susan Patron to sign The Higher Power of Lucky. If you miss that, Susan and I will be signing Lucky again on Sunday from 11-12. Later that evening, I'll have a pretty good seat at the Newbery/Caldecott Banquet. Stop by and say howdy.
If you read only one post about Scrotumgate (in addition to Sophie's post, of course!), read Thoughts on the Great Scrotum Kerfuffle of 2007 by pixie stix kids pix. (The blog is written by Kristen McLean, "a designer, writer, and children’s book ringleader who lives in Boston, MA. She is also the Executive Director of The Association of Booksellers for Children (ABC) a non-profit trade association for the children’s book industry."
Thoughts... is the post I was planning to write. And it shows the type of journalism that should have been practiced by The New York Times and assorted other newspapers and blogs etc.
It's a long post; but it is not a wordy post. McLean sets forth the timeline of the Kerfuffle, documenting each step with a link to the report, website, list serv or blog. She then breaks it down into the following observations:
"Words are powerful." And scrotum isn't the only word; the other word is banned. In essence, as McLean documents, what was going on at LM-Net was that "librarians were having some lively debate and strong feelings about the most recent Newbery winner. This is nothing new." Julie Bosman of the New York Times reported this debate as meaning "the book has already been banned." As McLean says in her brilliant post, "Give me names, details." Read her full post to discover just how many of those who participated in the debate, or were quoted, are not buying the book for their libraries (this is her source; while I don't want to repeat all the wonderful work & links done by McLean, that article is a must-read for those following this story.)
"Read the entire book before offering an opinion". Part of the reason I haven't weighed in more on this is I have yet to read the book. One of the more interesting series of comments I've read is that the character who initially uses the word is, basically, an old drunk (now in AA) who would have said balls or nuts instead of scrotum. Yet then another person says, hey, that may all be true but he is also someone who has been to Paris, appreciates this and that...and in other words, yes, would have used the right term. Anyway.
"What you say on a list serv may come back to bite you in the scrotum later." I'd add to this that it's equally true of blogs. Before you giggle at the foolishness of people who were misquoted, think of your own posts and comments; could they be taken out of context? What about any interview you give with a reporter -- could an offhand joke or comment be the sole thing she uses?
I've just given the quick recap; please, go read it in full. It's thoughtful, it's well documented, it covers all sides. And it has a scientific illustration!
Seriously? Kill me now. There are almost no words to describe how annoyed I am by this whole meaningless kerfuffle. And so many others have done such a good job talking about tempest-in-a-teapot it all is (thank you, Fuse #8, for this roundup). I mean, first of all, how is "scrotum" hurting anyone? It's a dog's scrotum, by the way, not even a human scrotum, and even if it were a human scrotum, how, exactly, is that bad? Half of the human race has a scrotum. The other half has boobs. Big. Deal. This pearl-clutching silliness (and make no mistake, that is exactly how this situation makes us look, like a bunch of prudish, "well, I never!"-ing schoolmarms circa 1912) is the diametric opposite of the kind of publicity we need. But there's room to be irritated at the usually admirable NY Times, too. What, was it too hard to pick up the phone and call one of the well-informed people at ALSC? Too inconvenient to quote Frederick Muller accurately? If you'll excuse me, I'm off to order a Neighborhoodie with "Scrotum & Boobies" on it. If you say it enough times, it sounds like an old-fashioned English dessert.
You've heard, no doubt, of the controversy surrounding Susan Patron's Newbery-winning novel, The Higher Power of Lucky. Of course you have; everyone is talking about it. The word scrotum appears on the first page of the novel (that's where Lucky's...
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That bear is incredibly cute. It seems to be regretting not being able to fly.
Hey Matt,
Love the Very Hairy Bear! Love the name of your blog, too – mine is called planetpapillon.
Continued success with your art!