ADAM GIDWITZ on JUNE 12

You can thank me if the next time you see Adam Gidwitz he dates your book. Just sayin.' And I'll say that many of the kids in the Maple Hill High School class of 2024, 25 and 26 will probably remember June 12, 2018, for a long time.

I have been a fan of Adam's since the first Grimm book.  Fast forward a few years to winter 2016-17 and we are all behind The Inquisitor's Tale. In fact, it won our Newbery Consensus Club and needless to say we were more than thrilled when it won Newbery Honor in 2017 that I lost my voice that morning.

Now 17 months later, Adam ran through our Castleton red carpet.

And even though he was only at school for two hours, it was worth every second. Students and faculty were all still buzzing about it today.  Which brings me to this post by Evan who chose to spend his lunch with me so he could dictate a mash up of The Inquisitor's Tale review and a recap of Adam's visit.  Enjoy...

"I have to say the Inquisitor's Tale is really good. I never read the author's note but I had to read the author's note because I had to read about how he came up with this book and the research he did.  And the author's note was really good.  He spent a year in Europe and he went to Paris and other parts of France.  Adam was at our school yesterday and I saw him in the hallway signing the posters we have up because it was Adam Gidwitz mania in our school and I saw him with my Newborn [2018] book group leader, Mrs. Warland, and I told Adam that he responded to my blog post.  He said he remembered me but just didn't know my name.  I thought that was so cool that a Newbery Honor author remembered me and responded to me.  

"He was just so nice and so good.  He was up. He was active and was happy to see all of us. He was happy to see all the kids.  He was happy to see all the sixth graders from last year.  You could tell from his expression on his face that he was just "wow."  And I think he really liked the atmosphere of our school. He seemed really excited to be here. I don't even know how many authors we have had our school, but I loved Adam Gidwitz.  He had to be my favorite author to come to my school yet.

"Give some credit, too, to Hatem Aly.  Because it said in the author's note that they would draw in the margins just random drawings and the most popular one they would draw is a guy getting shot in the butt with an arrow.  Pretty interesting, right?

"At the presentation, Adam told us that he actually went to one of the monasteries called Mont-Saint Michel and he had a guide with him because there is quicksand. That's included in The Inquisitor's Tale (read it to find out).  And there was quicksand and Adam had pull himself out of it, which would take a lot of strength! You are sinking and you are trying to pull yourself out.

"I read some of the Newbery books from last year and I think The Inquisitor's Tale should have won THE Newbery award, not just the honor. Whoever has not read this book, please do.  Just please.  It was SOOOOO good. And that's a wrap!"

And then it was time for recess....I'm cool, I know, but just not enough to miss recess....I understand.

Adam with Evan!

It's so intuitive of Evan--As you can see, Adam really does love the kids.

And you really can't leave Castleton without leaping...

And for your reading pleasure, previous blog posts featuring Adam's Inquisitor's Tale:
2017 Consensus Club

The review of 2017 ALA YMA

The Unicorn Rescue Society: The Creature of the Pines

I've been a fan of Adam Gidwitz for a while, even after a fifth grader (she's now in 9th) abandoned A Tale Dark and Grim because it was keeping her up at night. Oops.  But last year was when we clinched our fandom for him.

There was a small, but strong, Inquisitor's Tale Newbery book group.  We even scored a Skype with Adam before he was crowned with the Newbery honor.  We could say "we knew him when."  Incidentally, during that Skype he mentioned the new series he was working on about some unicorn society something or other....

Well, wait no more!  Finally, it's here and I can actually tell you the correct title:  The Unicorn Rescue Society: The Creature of the Pines. Yay!  So...Grab your gooey almond bars (no raisins, please) and a mason jar of sassafras tea and get ready for a fun, laugh out loud adventure with the new kid, Elliot, his friend, Uchenna and the weird teacher, Professor Fauna.

The first chapter had me hooked and will definitely get the attention of any middle grade reader.  Farting and nose picking?  Perfect. I'd bet Las Vegas that none of my students returning it before it's finished.

It's Elliot's first day at his new school, a few weeks into the new year.  Poor guy. Who starts a new school after the first day?  And to top it all off, they are going on a field trip to the Pine Barrens in New Jersey. The Pine Barrens, home to exotic animals, and truthfully an unusual landscape.  I know from experience, as I camped out at "Scrubby Pines" (outside of Manahawkin) a few times when we couldn't afford a place on Long Beach Island.

After being warned NOT to leave the group, Uchenna does (and Elliot follows).  They end up getting pretty close to this blue creature (part deer, part bird with claws and hooves) later aptly named "The Jersey Devil."

"Danger is the greatest teacher." (Professor Fauna)  If this is the case, Elliot and Uchenna are armed to learn a lot! Not only do they need to keep their new found creature safe but they also have to fight off the Schmoke (which conveniently seems to rhyme with Koch???) brothers who are hoping to make the Jersey Devil the latest addition to their exotic collection.

This is a winner.  A winner for your Inquisitor's Tale fans.  A winner for your Tale, Dark and Grim fans (Oh! I've currently got one of those at school, who happens to wear a unicorn hoodie all the time!).  A winner for your Magic Tree House adventure fans. Even a winner for anyone (what?!) who hasn't heard of Adam Gidwitz. YET. And bonus? It's illustrated by the illuminator from Inquisitor's, Hatem Aly.

Just one question, well maybe, two: When's Book 2 coming out?  Book 3? And, where do I find a recipe for the almond bars? Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye.

The Castleton Elementary Tribute to Adam Gidwitz

I hope I get to meet Adam again! This is from ALA 2015.  He's going to be at TLA! I hope I see him there!

That's Mr. Chevrier, my former principal, now our Superintendent, 

with his small but strong book group!

Skyping with Adam last January before he won!

Right after The Inquisitor's Tale won the 2017 Newbery honor!

2017 Newbery Consensus Club

Check it out.  Fourteen kids read at least 10 books in 10 weeks so they could get an invite to this closed door meeting.  One went running around to local libraries last night so he could squeeze in the final book. Another one spent over three hours after school reading a whole book from start to finish. Someone else had five chapters left and was going home to read them with his Mom.  Another one had her Mom bake special "book related" cookies from her favorite book just for our meeting. This is what you call passion about reading and boy is it contagious.

There was buzzing about books for weeks and this was the place you wanted to be at 2:30 if you were in fifth grade at Castleton Elementary School.

Consensus Club Committee Members with their Top Choices

The HOUR OF THE BEES cookies!

We definitely had lots of nourishment!  Notice the Starbucks hot cocoa?  That's my little homage to the real Newbery Committee.  What's a Newbery Committee without Starbucks?  So I go out and get a box that I fill with hot water, add Trader Joe's hot cocoa and presto--"Starbucks!"

First Step

We looked at all of our books and started eliminating ones that just may not be the most distinguished.  Even this first step was tough. We also went around and talked about our favorite books, why we loved them so much and why it deserves a Newbery medal.

There's Mr. Reischer, our fearless leader!

Discussing the Books

The passion. The energy. The enthusiasm.  I wish you could have been in the room where it happened.  We had a deep discussion about Ghost by Jason Reynolds. Afterwards, the three kids who were totally into it, got up and just high fived each other.  Kids debated whether Sharon Creech's Moo had a slow start or not. The many themes in The Wild Robot by Peter Brown and how they were addressed made for another meaningful discussion. We could have talked books for hours.

And the winners are...

After serious debating and voting, fingers crossing and screaming, we came to a decision.  Drum roll please:

Gold Medal

The Inquisitor's Tale: Or, The Three Magical Children and Their Holy Dog 

by Adam Gidwitz

Honor

Ghost 

by Jason Reynolds

Honor

Hour of the Bees 

by Lindsay Eager

Kids were happy that their book won something.  Others were disappointed that their book didn't win the gold. All of the books are winners in my mind.  In the words of The Inquisitor's Tale "each book is a lot of lives. Dozens and dozens of them....And each life a whole world." All of these books, works of art with their many lives, touch the lives of the dozens and dozens of our students, get them excited about reading and for that I am grateful.

Now the waiting begins...

Three more days!  If you haven't bookmarked the live webcast yet, here it is:

ALA YOUTH MEDIA AWARDS

ps-Lucky us! We Skyped with two of the three of our winners.  Exciting!

Our gold medal winner, Adam Gidwitz

Lindsay Eager with her biggest fans!