#ALAYMA20
I am surprised I slept so well last night.
I am surprised I slept so well last night.
While dozens of librarians are coming to final decisions this weekend, I am holding my breath that the books my students have read, critiqued, passionately debated and genuinely loved are the same books as those of the committees. Considering the spinning going through my brain right now, I may not be as well rested tomorrow morning.
When I first started my months-long award predicting projects many years ago, I would be disappointed when our favorites would not align with those of the committees. How could they not make the same decisions for Newbery as my fifth graders? After my students booed one year because the winner was not at the top of any of their lists, we had to have a full on lesson on sportsmanship. These days, I remind myself and my students that each committee is made up of a set number of librarians and those gold and silver decisions are based solely on who is "in the room where it happens." Were different people in the room, the outcome could be entirely different. Some years we may agree wholeheartedly and unanimously (ie 2015 for Newbery, 2018 for Caldecott); some years not so much. As I write this, I wonder what kind of year 2020 will be.
But does it really matter if we agree? For months my students have fallen in love with reading "Newbery books" after checking in and out what I deem to be distinguished literature. They have boisterously entered the library searching for yet another "Newbery" book, perhaps the winner or perhaps not. They have kindly argued on behalf of their book deserving a gold medal in the classroom, the hallway, and at home. My fourth grade nonfiction fans have hugged their books and designed t-shirts with the hopes that on Monday they will be wearing a winner. First graders and their teachers have consistently given 4-5 stars to the beautiful Caldecott contenders we have read aloud this month of "Caldec-ary." If we were committee members, we might have to award ten or more honors across the board.
If you, like me, may not be able to sleep tonight, and you don't want to start another episode of ____ on Neflix, you can scroll down for some Sibert contender recommendations and 2019 middle grade/Newbery contender book trailers. Maybe, just maybe, there's a winner or two or three in there.
If you, like me, may not be able to sleep tonight, and you don't want to start another episode of ____ on Neflix, you can scroll down for some Sibert contender recommendations and 2019 middle grade/Newbery contender book trailers. Maybe, just maybe, there's a winner or two or three in there.
SIBERT SMACKDOWN
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| Sibert Smackdown Day 1: November 4, 2020 |
Newbery
Need more distractions? Check out some of these awesome book trailers:
The Year We Fell from Space by Amy Sarig King
The Year We Fell from Space by Amy Sarig King
Ruby in the Sky by Jeanne Zulick Ferruolo
Born to Fly by Steve Sheinkin (We love this for Newbery and Sibert)
The Bridge Home by Padma Venkatraman (This book won our Consensus Club.)
My Jasper June by Laurel Snyder
Beverly Right Here by Kate DiCamillo (So awesome that Jess got to meet Kate this fall!)
A Time Traveler's Theory of Relativity by Nicole Valentine
Just a few other books we had lots of love for this season:
Here's the link for the awards: http://ala.unikron.com/ As I hit "publish" there are 11 hours to go. See you on the upside!
