Mock Newberry

I have had the chance to participate in the 2012 Mock Newbery Discussion Group, and we meet this week for a final discussion and vote.

According to the OLIS website, The Newbery Medal is awarded annually to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children published in the United States during the preceding year. The award is restricted to authors who are citizens or residents of the United States. Voting for the Rhode Island Mock Newbery winner uses the balloting procedures of the actual Newbery Medal committee and will take place at the January meeting. The official Newbery Medal will be awarded in January by the American Library Association.

I want to let you in on my top three choices. They are not necessarily in 1,2,3 order, rather, they are favorite choices of mine for unique reasons.

First Gary D. Schmidt's, Okay for Now, is a coming of age novel that combines so many of my favorite things: a quirky kid that finds sanctuary in ...a library with not one but two equally quirky elders; one of whom lures him into the art of drawing nature with the library's unique Audubon folio. "Hello Rhode Island, the Athenaeum selling off their prized Audubon plates".

Throw in the dysfunctional family with the Dad who can't handle his drink and is always looking for the easiest way out of difficult adult problems rather than working, mixed with the fire brand of a local girl his age who serves as his connector to the new town including an idiosyncratic writer and can you spell N-E_W-----???



More later.....