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!

Our last "Hour of the Bees" book group meeting

My fifth grade all-girls book group just finished Lindsay Eager's Hour of the Bees.  We celebrated with punch, suncakes (pancakes), chips, salsa and snowcones.  Here's what they had to say about the book.  Needless to say, it's a winner for them!

"I'm speechless.  The contract says '10' but this book went to '11'."

"There are so many words to describe this book.  It's beyond amazing.  I wanted to keep reading but it was like, 9:30 at night."

"I like how it started the stories 'Once upon a time...'and then at the end of the story it would say 'Once upon a time...' again.'"

"The ending was really sad and a shock to me."

"The book is amazing. It is above the stars."

Kate and her "suncakes"

"I really wanted to be in this book group and am so glad I got in!  I love this book so much!"

The girls have some questions for Lindsay:

• What inspired you to write the book?
• If the stories are real, how old is Raul?
• Were you like Carol when you were little?
• Where did the names in the book come from?
• What's your recipe for suncakes?
• Will there be a sequel?  If so, you have five girls who will be standing in line the day it comes out to read it!
• Did you ever live in Albuquerque?
• Where did you get the inspiration for the settings like the ranch and the city development that Carol lives in with her family?

To wrap up, they said "Lindsay Eager's book is going to win the 2017 Newbery Award and it is the best book we ever read!"  You gotta love kids who totally fall for a book!  I know I do!  The biggest question they have now is "What should I read next?"  Suggestions?

Leaping for Lindsay!

Hour of the Bees

Before I finished "Hour of the Bees" I received this text from my extraordinary volunteer, Mrs. Warland: 

She couldn't be more right. Right about the wow-factor and so right about the tissues. 

Rising 6th grader, Carol and her family go to the desert from Albuquerque for the summer with the intent to pack up and move her grandfather, Serge, "a crotchety, demented, thousand-year old man" off the family ranch to an assisted living home. While  Serge suffers from dementia, Carol struggles to figure out so much more. There in the openness of the ranch, Carol discovers that she is "...nothing...less than a smudge on the pages of the world's history, tiny on the number line of forever. The lost sheep, Alta, Serge's dementia, even junior high -- everything seems laughably small." 

The language in this book is incredibly rich and as beautiful as a New Mexico sunrise. I cannot believe that this is Lindsay Eager's first book. I can't even imagine what other "Once upon a times" are in her future. 

"Death hangs on Serge like a wet towel, tangled in his salty-white hair, dripping down his shoulders..." 

"Stories don't end," Serge says. "They just turn into new beginnings." And this book, my friends, is one story you will not want to end. Beware also to those around you, for if they don't give you time and space to relish in this novel tell them it will become "the witching hour."

This is one of those books that is not strong in just one story element. Not only is the setting vividly described and plot riveting, there is strong character development--a supportive and hard working mom, a dad who is trying to come to terms with his past in the present, an older teenage sister, Alta (need I say more?), an adorable baby brother, an adventurous grandmother and Grandpa Serge. Carol grows so much in this one summer that what she feared in June just doesn't seem important any more. "I don't think I've gotten braver; I think I've just found other things to be scared of than tripping in the lunchroom or walking down the wrong hallway."

The magic in this book seems so real that I almost forgot to mention it. It's there alright but weaved in so well that this book could define the magical realism genre. 

We had a great book group last night. The sun was setting. We were four people in a vast open parking lot munching on chips and salsa. Close your eyes and you could almost believe we were having a snack on the ranch while waiting for Mom's delicious Mexican themed dinner to be ready. And yes, Mrs. Warland joined us!

Three kids, three favorite characters: 

"Rosa because she is adventurous."

"Serge because he has great stories."

And Carol "because no matter what she'll never give up on Serge."

Mrs. Warland chimed in on how much she admired Mom.

And finally, I asked for words to describe the book:

Emotional 

Heart warming

Informative 

Breath taking 

Magical

Unforgettable 

Tear jerker

...with two strong themes: "Live life to the fullest and be grateful for what you have." Personally, I can't even tell you how I truly learned those lessons this summer. Thank you, Lindsay Eager, for the beautiful reminder.