My Newbery Year: The Burden and the Boon Jean Hatfield Wichita Public Library.

My Newbery Year: The Burden and

the BoonJean Hatfield

Wichita Public Library

What to expect from this presentation

Many questions answered and possibly some secrets revealed

Why is it a burden?Why is it a boon?

What is the Newbery Medal?

ALA/ALSC AwardSince 1922Named after John

NewberyMost

distinguished book for children ages 0 - 14

Criteria

Who is on the committee?

14 members and a chair7 members and chair elected by ALSC

membership7 members appointed by president-elect

of ALSC2007 committee: 2 retirees, 3 professors,

2 school librarians, 3 heads of youth services, 3 youth services librarians, 1 branch manager, 1 reviewer

2007 Newbery Committee

How Do You Get on the Committee?

How do you get on the committee?

Be a member of ALSC– Must join ALA first ($110 per year after 3

years)– Join ALSC ($45 per year)

Volunteer to be on ALSC committeesSay “yes” when asked to runBe willing to loseKnow lots of people, publish, contribute

to discussion lists, go to conferences, be on committees

What do you do when you find out you are on the committee?

tell your boss, co-workers, family and friends

clear off your bookshelvesclear your calendar for the coming yeartake vacation early in the year and plan

on taking off time in December or early January for reading

plan on attending 2 Midwinter and 2 Annual conferences

make sure you can receive boxes at your mailing address

do some researchput away your hobbieslose 10 poundsget organized

What I didTold my boss, co-workers, family

and friendsArranged to have boxes sent to my

mother’s housePlanned my vacation for early

MarchDeveloped spread sheet for

tracking books

Changed jobs (made sure I could attend conferences)

Moved (decided NOT to unpack my books so the bookshelves were cleaned off)

Talked to friends who had been on the committee before and asked their advice

Stopped reading adult books, going to movies, doing crossword puzzles

Gained 10 pounds

Learn the Rules!

Newbery manual ConfidentialityCommittee eligibilitySoliciting books

F.A.Q

(You aren’t the only one to wonder…)

What most people ask me

How many books did you get and how many did you read?

How did you keep track of them?

How many times did you meet?

What was it like to call the winner?

How many?

Books received – over 600– Like Christmas!– Duplicate copies– Self-published

Books read, reviewed, looked at once – about 500

Books read, reviewed, looked at twice (or more) – about 100

Keeping Track

Author Title Pub Rec List Rate NotesHolm, Jennifer

Penny from Heaven

Random Mar.

For instanceAuthor Title Pub. Rcd. Red List Rat Notes

Redford, Robt

The Sting Random

Mar. X June

4 Liked the mystery – two con men

Karloff, Boris

Frankenstein

FSG Sept. X 3 Old-fashioned feel, no color, story plodding

Wahlberg, Donnie

Saw II Scholas.

Aug May

Sequel – icky cover

Smith, Suzy

My Summer Vacation

Suzy’s House

Nov. X 1 Who is she kidding? Not worth the time.

Other ways to keep track

NotebookComputer filesNote cardsPost-its in booksStacks and piles

Other people’s opinions

ReviewsDiscussion ListsBlogsMock Newberys

The Meetings

How many times did you meet?

Met once at 2006 Midwinter in San Antonio

Met three times at 2006 Annual in New Orleans

Met 3 days at 2007 Midwinter in Seattle (new member)

Will meet again at Annual conference in Washington DC

The Voting

Voting procedures

Proscribed by Newbery manualEach suggested book is voted on at

least onceInitial votes (by show of hands) are

taken to reduce the number of books discussed – once taken “off the table” can no longer be discussed

Nominated books are discussed carefully - everyone has a say

When list is narrowed and members are comfortable a ballot vote is taken

Ballots

Each member selects 3 choices listed by preference

1st place = 3 pts, 2nd place = 2 pts, 3rd place = 1 pt

Votes tallied and committee looks at totals and number of 1st place votes

Voting continues until one book gets 8 1st place votes

Honor books are those that received the next highest numbers (can be more than one – natural break)

It’s Over - Almost

The Call

VERY EARLY in the morning

Committee goes as a group into a small room to make the conference call and committee chair knows what to say

Are the authors waiting?

Everyone cries and cheers

Committee gets reserved seats at the front of the room for announcement program

Cheers vs. silence

Personal effects

Learned some stuff

Read books and authors I would not normally read

Saw trends in publishing for kidsAble to compare genres and stylesSaw how desperate self-published

authors can be

New Rules (as developed by the 2007 Newbery Committee)

RULE # 1 Keep new friends from the 2007 Newbery Committee.

RULE# 2 Revel in what we have accomplished together.

RULE # 3 Savor the thoughtful contributions of each committee member.  

RULE #4 Chocolate makes most decisions easier.  

RULE #5 Treasure the books always.

RULE #6 There are no accidents in the universe.  

RULE #7 Laughter is very important.  

RULE #8 Take a nap! RULE #9 Enjoy

becoming friends!   RULE #10 Feel free to

break the rules.  

Some secrets

It takes a lot of snacks to get through the meetings

Choose your room mates carefullyDon’t spill the beans at partiesMy secret “top ten” – kept changingA sense of humor helps, but staying

centered helps even moreRemember why you are there

The Burden

BIG responsibility – the whole world is watching and waiting

The medal winner will stay in print for a very long time – means $$$ for author and publisher

Takes a huge chunk of time from your life – have to give up a lot, especially the last two or three months

Can’t reveal what goes on in committee – hard to keep secrets

Sometimes have to compromiseGained another 10 pounds

What I gave up

Doing crossword puzzlesDoing the crypto-quipReading the newspaperReading e-mailGoing to movies, plays, concerts, etcWatching TV (especially basketball)Christmas shoppingA clean living roomSleep

The Boon

Part of the history of children’s literatureGet to experience the excitement of

letting the winners knowMake new friendsGet LOTS of new booksGet lots of invitations to lunch and

dinner at ALA conferencesLearn about children’s literature and

discuss it with people who also love it

The 2007 Newbery Medal Winner

2007 Honor Books

Miscellany

ALSC decisionsMy favorites (other than the

winners)School presentationsWhat happens to all those books?Scrotum-gate

NY Times article – Feb. 18, 2007

LM-NetBlogs and

discussion listsEditorialsNews articlesInterviewsMiscellany

Any Questions?

Thank you for coming and stick around for the door prize