One child’s Newbery goal

As I’ve already written, I was a member of the 2010 Newbery Selection Committee. This award has been given annually since 1922 (opens in a new window) to the “most distinguished American children’s book published the previous year.”

Anyway, because I was one of the 15 Newbery Committee members, this Spring I will have the honor of meeting a very special reader.

Laura is 4th grader from Indiana who has set a goal for herself: to read all of the Newbery Medalists. By my math, there have been 88 winners since the start. Not only is that a lot of books, a lot of them are very long and quite different than books written more recently.

Times change, tastes change, and some say children change (I’m not so sure about that but that’s another conversation). It is true, however, that while there is a lot more competing for young people’s time and attention, adults remain influential.

Laura is reading all of the Newbery books because her mom read them all when she was in middle school. But, as Laura says, (pardon me Laura’s mom!) that was a long time ago and the list is now longer — and back then, middle school started in 7th grade!

I didn’t touch some of the Newbery winning books until I was an adult (way past 7th grade!) and still struggled with some, but loved others. Laura’s insight (noted on her blog (opens in a new window)) has inspired me reread and rethink some of the earlier winners.

I hope that Laura will revisit some of these books in a few years to decide if she thinks they hold up, if they’re still gripping adventures, and if she’d continue to recommend them — if she thinks that they are indeed “distinguished.”

But as a member of the 2010 Newbery Committee, I’m pleased that she likes When You Reach Me (opens in a new window) by Rebecca Stead (Wendy Lamb/Random). That distinguishes the committee’s work.