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What Does all This Stuff Mean Anyway?

Newbery Award Criteria - or what does all this stuff mean, anyway? 1. In identifying distinguished writing in a book for children: “Distinguished writing” means writing which is better than most of what you read. A good example of this would be the difference between an R.L. Stine book, which many people enjoy (but writing of lesser quality), and the more distinguished Stargirl, (which hopefully, you enjoyed also!). a. Committee members need to consider: Interpretation of the theme or concept. What is the main theme of the book? How well does the author write about this theme? How does the author tie it all together? Presentation of information including accuracy, clarity and organization. Does the book make sense? Is it easy to understand? Are the facts in the book true? Development of plot. Does the plot make sense? Does the plot move quickly or slowly? Does the plot move too quickly, or too slowly? Does the ending feel right? Or is the ending too “neat,” or too abrupt? Does the ending leave too many unanswered questions? Or is it sometimes good to leave some questions unanswered (see question above about being too neat)? Delineation of characters. How real are the characters? Are they believable? How much do you know about them? How does the author reveal what the characters are like? Are the characters three-dimensional or flat? Delineation of setting. Where does the book take place? Is the setting important to the story or not? If the setting is important to the story, how does the author create the feeling of place? Examples of important settings would be: The Old West, outer space, Tanzania, the inner city, etc. Does the author make you feel that the place is real to you? Appropriateness of style. How does the style of writing contribute to the book? Does the style of writing make the book better, or does it distract you from the story? Note: Because the literary qualities to be considered will vary depending on content, the committee need not expect to find excellence in each of the named elements. The book should, however, have distinguished qualities in all of the elements pertinent to it. This means that not ALL the above criteria have to be applied to each book. You have to decide which criteria are important to the book you are currently evaluating. An example of this is if the setting is not really important to the story, you wouldn’t criticize the author for not writing much about it. b. Committee members must consider excellence of presentation for a child audience. We can only consider books which are written for kids fourteen years old and younger. We have to eliminate any books which feel more like “older teen” books. Sometimes books fall in the “gray” area on this, so we might have some discussions about this. 2. Each book is to be considered as a contribution to literature. The committee is to make its decision primarily on the text. Other aspects of a book are to be considered only if they distract from the text. Such other aspects might include illustrations, overall design of the book, etc. Even if a book has a lot of fabulous illustrations, we are judging these books on the just the story, and not the pictures. Books which have great illustrations can be nominated for the Caldecott award (and that’s another club for another year…) Note: The committee should keep in mind that the award is for literary quality and quality of presentation for children. The award is not for didactic intent or for popularity. Books whose main purpose is to “teach” something to kids are not what we are looking for (so nonfiction books are eligible, but only if they are for us to read for enjoyment). Also, we should not choose a book just because “everyone is reading it” and it is really popular (like Harry Potter). The preceding is adapted from the official Newbery terms and criteria from ALSC NUTS AND BOLTS: The book must have been published this year. This means if a 2011 paperback has been already published in hardback before 2011, it is not eligible! It cannot be a translation, so originally published in English. Both fiction and non-fiction are eligible. This includes poetry. Only books written for people fourteen years old and under are eligible. You may nominate books not on the list! Speak to Ms. W. about this.