Wednesday, December 3, 2008

It's almost time for the last reading list!

The year is drawing to a close, and it is almost time to post our 4th and final reading list for the ACPL Mock Newbery 2009. I'm looking for YOUR suggestions, help, and guidance! What have you read that you think is a strong Newbery contender this year? Which books do you think would be great fun to discuss at our Mock Newbery discussion in January 2009? Which books are missing from our list that you thought were spectacularly good this year?

If you have suggestions of titles to add for our final list, please email the title or post your suggestion in the comments section here. I am hoping to post the final reading list next week.

If you have something to say about a title already on this blog, just add your comments to the blog post for that title. A complete list of all the titles under discussion should be over there on the right; just click on the title and comment to your heart's content!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I nominate THE ADVENTUROUS DEEDS OF DEADWOOD JONES by Helen Hemphill! High adventure for boys and chocked full of historically accurate details about cattle drives, multi-ethnic relations for cowboys and how African-Americans escaped the South after the Civil War and built a new life by going West. Well written and well researched.

Mary said...

Thanks for the suggestion, Julie! We've been trying to make sure that all books on our final list have multiple copies in our Library system so all participants could at least have a chance at reading them before our discussion in January.

I've put up a post about this book to begin online discussion, and will try to see if I can get more copies before the final list is published later this week.

Mary said...

Received via email from Martha S.:

Masterpiece by Elise Broach - I don't know why this didn't make your final list. This book is getting HUGE buzz from CT librarians and many think this is the best book of the year.

The Unnameables by Ellen Booraem has been getting some Newbery buzz, but I thought the fancy-old-fashioned language and Puritan-type settingwould put a lot of kids off reading it.

Gods of Manhattan by Scott Mebus - I really liked this fantasy, but I don't think it's on anyone's radar.

Highway Cats by Janet Taylor Lisle has had some buzz. It's a good story but I don't think it's strong enough to win although it's interesting to compare it with The Underneath.