And the Winner Is...

Yippee for the award announcements! I was happy with most of the books that won, but now I have to read the Newbery winner. I started reading it months ago and I didn't like it, so I put it back on the shelf and started a new book. Now I have to find it on my bookshelf again, which is not an easy task because it is most likely in one of the piles of books in my room that don't actually fit on the shelf (Mom, can I have another book shelf? Please?). I am not so excited to read it again, but maybe the rest of the story isn't like the first few chapters. If I made it through The Dark Frigate, I can make it through Dead End in Norvelt.




Other books I still need to read: Heart and Soul, Where Things Come Back, Balloons Over Broadway, Tales for Very Picky Eaters, A Ball for Daisy, Breaking Stallin's Nose and The Notorious Benedict Arnold. There are others that I haven't read yet, but those are the ones that caught my eye. Any others I should read?



I am going to say it one more time: I am SOOOOOOOOO excited!!!! This really is the best time of the year for me :)

My Newbery 2012 Pick!

So, I have read every book that has every won the Newbery, and for the past 3 years I have joined the mock Newbery lovers of the world, reading the best books published and picking my winner.  In 2010 I was right when I picked When You Reach Me.  Last year I LOVED several books and was a little disappointed when One Crazy Summer was not the pick.  But, it was really cool that the winner, Moon Over Manifest, was a dark horse and a first book from an author.  This year honestly, I have been all over the place.  I loved several books and some of my favorites didn't bubble to the top of other list, you all should really give the Romeo and Juliet Code a read, it is worth it!  My love of The Floating Island, makes me wonder if everyone saw the same feminist theme I did, or if that is about what I was thinking as a reader.  After much thinking I have one winner and 3 Honor book choices this year.
My winner is Okay For Now, a book I read early in the year that stayed with me.  When thinking about Newbery criteria this book really is most Newberyish.


Honor book predictions:

Inside Out and Back Again, an extraordinary journey that is worth reading and remembering.
Amelia Lost, a bit of a surprise pick for me because I don't always LOVE non fiction.
I broke My Trunk,a light hearted book that told lots in a few words, a good change for Newbery!  And I promise if it wins kids everywhere will pick it when they have to do their "Newbery" book report (my brother defiantly would.

So, now we wait for Monday morning, I will be watching live and tweeting and blogging about it all (yes, I am skipping school--don't worry I will make up the work!)

The Summer Before Boys

I LOVE Nora Raleigh Baskin!  Nora is the Schnieder Family Award winning author of Anything But Typical, and I was lucky enough to meet her at ALA 2010; she is as wonderful in person as you would think she is from reading her books!  All of this is to say I was very excited to read her newest book.  I saved the honor of my last Mock Newbery 2012 for her, it was worth the wait, I read the book in under a day and look forward to reading it again (maybe on a snow day).  I liked the friendship dynamic between the "cousins" and the different way this book looks at the common theme of a growing up story.  I'm a Middle School student, so the idea of diffrent views on boys and dating is something that is all around me.  I wonder if the Newbery committee will think this book is limited by a small age audience, I don't find that to be a problem, but I am 11 (getting close to 12).  I highly recommend this book and reading more from Nora.
Rating *****

Mock Newbery 2012 #2

This is the second year that I have had a Mock Newbery at my local library. I really like this event because it allows met to talk to other kids about who's gonna be the winner. Today we talked about 14 books, including some of my favorites. We ended up picking our top 5 (in no particular order): In a week from today, we will all know what the real winner is. I will share my personal picks later this week.

Lost Voices

I Broke My Trunk

Breadcrumbs

The Emerald Atlas

Inside Out and Back Again

Hidden

I really liked this book. I got so many recommendations for this book I lost count, and I wasn't allowed to leave the ACPL Mock Newbery without a copy of it. Everyone insisted that I could not decide on my final pick for Newbery without reading it, I am glad that I did! The storyline in this book was really really twisty- not twisted, twisty. The way the book was written really reflected the personalities of the characters. I loved how there was a second story hidden in Darra's chapters. I think that this book might be an Honor Book, but I don't think that it will win the Newbery.




Rating: *****

Wonderstruck

I LOVED this book!!!!! The illustrations were amazing and the story was well written. I hardly put the book down (much to my teachers' dismay) and read it in half a day. I was wondering throughout the book how the stories were going to intertwine, but I never would have guessed about Rose and Ben's relationship. I loved how Jamie and Ben's friendship grew throughout the story and how Jamie was included at the end. I think this book has little to no chance of winning the Newbery, though, because it wouldn't work without the pictures.




Rating: *****

On the Road to the Newbery 2012

I had an awesome Saturday!  I got to go participate in the Mock Newbery discussion at the Allen County Public Library.  I love this annual chance to talk about all the great books I have been reading.  Saturday's discussion was for adults, but they let me participate, which I think is great training for being on the real Newbery Committee (come on ALA).  You can read about the results of the Allen County Voting here.
I will be sharing my personal picks soon!