The anticipation of Monday’s announcements is making me giddy and restless. It’s also making me lose my blogging mojo. I wrote about potential Newbery books for a third grade audience, but wasn’t happy with it. Then I wrote about second-guessing the Newbery committee, but decided that wasn’t quite right either.
So I’ll just mention that my top four choices are BOMB, CHICKADEE, NO CRYSTAL STAIR, and TWELVE KINDS OF ICE in no particular order. I don’t know whether any of them will be announced on Monday, but I sure hope so. There are an additional dozen titles that I would also be quite pleased to see.
When we pressed Thom Barthelmess for his Newbery picks earlier in the year, he graciously declined.
If I learned anything from my Newbery experience it’s to trust the process, to believe that the inarguable dilligence of those 15 readers will produce the proper result, more or less by definition. So, rather than suggesting a title, I’ll reaffirm my faith in the 2013 Newbery Committee and promise to openly examine their choices, looking for evidence of excellence.
