Newbery Medal | Reading Teacher Writes

February 7, 2022
by Jennifer Sniadecki 2 Comments

IMWAYR: Award-Winning Reading, Plus Some!

IMWAYR is a weekly blog hop with kid lit co-hosts Jennifer from Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee and Ricki from Unleashing Readers. The original IMWAYR, with an adult literature focus, was started by Sheila at Book Journeys and is now hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date. It’s a great way to share what you’re reading and get recommendations from others. We encourage you to write your own post sharing what you’re reading, link up, leave a comment, and support other IMWAYR bloggers by visiting and commenting on at least three of the other linked blogs each week.

After days of snow, I’m reading again instead of shoveling. I am grateful for the heat in my home and the love of my family. We took care of each other during the storm and subsequent freeze. I’m still reading…

Physical Books: The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera. The Newbery Medalist this year actually started a little slowly for me. I’m not much into this genre, but I know I have to continue and I know I’m going to love it as I read on!

Listening (audio): My friend, Kwame Alexander, is reading aloud this week — Bedtime Stories for Black History Month — on Instagram Live, every night at 7:30 pm EST. I love listening to Kwame read! Today’s book was Wutaryoo by Nilah Magruder. What a lovely message – find yourself; find your own story!

NetGalley: I’m so bad about NetGalley! Sorry! I LOVE Consider the Octopus by Nora Raleigh Baskin and Gae Polisner! The characters, Jeremy JB (@gaepol) and Sidney (@MillySidner), have their own Twitter handles to make this experience even more fun!

It’s Monday! What are YOU reading?

January 31, 2022
by Jennifer Sniadecki 5 Comments

IMWAYR: Ready for Snow-Day Reading?

It sounds like a winter storm is heading our way, so I’ll have some time to read for fun this week. I am ready!

Physical Books: I have a stack of picture books to read – some I never got to in 2021, and I picked up The Last Cuentista (the Newbery Medal Winner by Donna Barba Higuera!) last weekend at Brain Lair Books.

Libro.fm: I’m listening to Frankie & Bug by Gayle Forman and I love it! Stockard Channing narrates, and I picture her sitting in the room with me, reading aloud.

NetGalley: It’s so exciting when your friends create something new and you get a sneak peek. It happened to me again. Gae Polisner and Nora Raleigh Baskin have collaborated to create Consider the Octopus, which stars two 12-year-olds on a research ship at the edge of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. I love that this friendship story includes a deeper “consideration” of our earth, its animals, and natural resources. I have hope that we can count on our current middle schoolers to save the planet in the future. Reading about topics like the Great Pacific Garbage Patch will help kids to become aware and advocate for a better world. (Due April 2022 from Macmillan)

It’s Monday! What are YOU reading?

May 10, 2021
by Jennifer Sniadecki 2 Comments

IMWAYR: Trying to Get Back in the Game

I’m trying to get back in the game…the READING game. I haven’t had a lot of time to read lately, but today I picked up some books and started to read. Now I’m looking forward to more!

Picture Books are Perfect! You know me. I read The Lost Package by Richard Ho and Jessica Lanan and Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre by Carole Boston Weatherford and Floyd Cooper today. Both of these books are barcoded and ready for students to read tomorrow.

I’m embarrassed to say that I haven’t read the latest Newbery Medal winner, When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller. I don’t know why I haven’t read it. No excuses. I picked it up with the intention to talk about it this Friday for First Chapter Friday.

It’s Monday! What are YOU reading?

January 25, 2021
by Jennifer Sniadecki Leave a comment

IMWAYR: Congratulations to the #ALAYMA21 Book Award Winners

I think it’s part luck that I chose Everything Sad is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri to read this week, because today the book won the Michael L. Printz Award! I spent most of the day reviewing the complete list of ALA’s Youth Media Awards and celebrating as each book was named during the live webcast. (For the list of #alayma winners, click here.)

I chose correctly! My top pick for the Caldecott Medal was We Are Water Protectors, and it won! Congratulations to @MichaelaGoade for this well-deserved win! Thank you for writing this important book, @CaroleLindstrom.

I chose incorrectly. Whoa! I wasn’t even close on the Newbery Medal! Congratulations to @taekeller for winning this most distinguished award! I still have When You Trap a Tiger on my TBR list. I guess I’d better pull it out next.

It’s MONDAY! What are YOU reading?

January 23, 2021
by Jennifer Sniadecki Leave a comment

My Newbery and Caldecott Predictions – 2021

It’s the most exciting time of the year for #kidlit readers — the ALA Youth Media Awards, including Newbery and Caldecott, will be announced on Monday, January 25th, and I AM READY! Honestly, with the 2020 pandemic and virtual school, I wasn’t able to share books with students like I had in previous years, and I don’t have students’ insights into the picks this year. I have been thinking about which books I want to win medals and honors, though. Best wishes to ALL the creators who gave us books in 2020 — I’m sorry it was such a weird year in publishing, but you all deserve to be recognized anyway. Here are my final picks, just 2 days before the big day:

My choice for the Newbery Medal: King and the Dragonflies by Kacen Callender (Scholastic Press, 2020).

Talk about “distinguished!” I read this book back in February 2020 when it was published, and then listened to the audio version on Libro.fm. It won the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, and I’m sure it will come away with at least one more award by Monday. Hopefully it’s the Newbery Medal.

My choices for Newbery Honors: Show Me a Sign, by Ann Clare LeZotte (Scholastic Press, 2020) and When Stars are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed (Dial Books for Young Readers).

Both of these titles scored at the top of my “distinguished” list, as well. Either one could grab a medal, but I think they will come away with honors. I can’t wait to hear the announcements!

My choice for Caldecott Medal: We Are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom and Michaela Goade (Roaring Brook Press, 2020).

In my opinion, this gorgeous picture book is special in many ways, and I hope that Michaela Goade wins the medal. The illustrations add to the text in such a way that children understand the significance of the message AND enjoy the book AND appreciate the art — this title has “Caldecott Award” written all over it.

My choice for Caldecott Honors: I have a whole list here. I cannot decide! I’m glad I don’t have to — the Caldecott committee had their hands full of excellent choices this year. I’ll just wait to see the outcome…

All Because You Matter by Tami Charles and Bryan Collier (Orchard Books, 2020), Honeybee: The Busy Life of Apis Mellifera by Candace Fleming and Eric Rohmann (Neal Porter Books, 2020), and I Am Every Good Thing by Derrick Barnes and Gordon C. James (Nancy Paulsen Books, 2020).

Now we wait. What are YOUR choices for book awards this year? Tune into the Youth Media Awards (ALA Youth Media Awards) live webcast on Monday morning (8 am CT). Visit ALA’s streaming platform at http://ala.unikron.com or follow on social media.

October 26, 2020
by Jennifer Sniadecki Leave a comment

IMWAYR: Chilly Evenings Call for Chilling Books

It’s getting darker earlier. It’s cold outside. The end of October is here. This is a good week for some chilling tales (and more).

Chilling Tales…

Long Way Down: The Graphic Novel by Jason Reynolds, brought to life by Danica Novgorodoff, literally gave me chills. The graphic novel is so much more haunting than the original!

Scary Stories for Young Foxes by Christian McKay Heidicker was a Newbery Honor Book and I’ve saved it especially for this week — “The haunted season has arrived in the Antler Wood. No Fox Kit Is Safe.” Eek! I’d better have my blanket for when I need to cover my face.

And More…

Class Act, by Jerry Craft — I don’t know what to say, except…WOW! This companion novel focuses on Drew, Jordan’s friend from (Newbery Award Winner) New Kid, and his story is everything I expected and more.

It’s Monday! What are YOU reading? IMWAYR is a weekly blog hop with kid lit co-hosts Jennifer from Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee and Ricki from Unleashing Readers. The original IMWAYR, with an adult literature focus, was started by Sheila at Book Journeys and is now hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date.

It’s a great way to share what you’re reading and get recommendations from others. We encourage you to write your own post sharing what you’re reading, link up, leave a comment, and support other IMWAYR bloggers by visiting and commenting on at least three of the other linked blogs each week.

October 26, 2020
by Jennifer Sniadecki Leave a comment

IMWAYR: Chilly Evenings Call for Chilling Books

It’s getting darker earlier. It’s cold outside. The end of October is here. This is a good week for some chilling tales (and more).

Chilling Tales…

Long Way Down: The Graphic Novel by Jason Reynolds, brought to life by Danica Novgorodoff, literally gave me chills. The graphic novel is so much more haunting than the original!

And More…

January 27, 2020
by Jennifer Sniadecki Leave a comment

Youth Media Awards – I Was WRONG!

Full disclosure: I’m usually wrong about these book awards. I pore over the criteria, talk to students and friends, read all the predictions, and still…I don’t chose the medal winners.

Today, I was WRONG, and that’s fine with me. I am so happy for Jerry Craft, Kwame Alexander, Kadir Nelson, and all the other winners of medals and honors today during the Youth Media Awards announcements. Congratulations! It was fun to watch and cheer on all our favorite books.

The Newbery Medal for 2020 went to Jerry Craft for NEW KID.

The Caldecott Medal went to Kadir Nelson for THE UNDEFEATED, written by Kwame Alexander.

Congratulations to ALL the winners of book awards this year. We will keep reading and sharing!

January 26, 2020
by Jennifer Sniadecki Leave a comment

Youth Media Awards Announcements Are TOMORROW!

I am excited to see what the committees chose for the Youth Media Awards medals this year. From the http://www.ala.org website:

The 2020 Youth Media Award announcements will take place on Monday, Jan. 27, 2020, at 8 a.m. ET from the Pennsylvania Convention Center, in Philadelphia. Fans can follow the action live at http://ala.unikron.com , @AmericanLibraryAssociation or by following #ALAyma20 .

As I read others’ picks, I think this is the first year I’ve seen so many different titles crop up as front-runners in the conversation. Who will win? We will find out…tomorrow!

I reviewed the criteria for Newbery and Caldecott awards (the two “big ones” followed by school librarians), and I have chosen my favorites:

For the Newbery Medal (tough call), I chose…

The Bridge Home by Padma Venkatraman. I loved this story of the kids who live on the bridge (and their dog, of course), their entrepreneurial spirit, their problem-solving skills, and their love for each other.

For the Caldecott Medal (really tough call), I chose…

My Papi Has a Motorcycle, illustrated by Zeke Peña.

I think the artist’s perspective of the city’s changes over time reflect the Caldecott criteria perfectly.

These statements reflect my opinions. You may or may not agree, but please join me in watching the awards announcements tomorrow. Best wishes to all the authors and illustrators who worked so hard to publish the best books for children.

January 25, 2019
by Jennifer Sniadecki 1 Comment

My Newbery and Caldecott Predictions – 2019 Awards Season

Only a weekend away now — THE book awards season is upon us, and I’m eagerly waiting for the live webcast of the Youth Media Awards on Monday, January 28th (live from Seattle, 8:00 am PT, during the ALA Midwinter Conference). I’m so sorry I will miss the live event, but I’m so happy that I will get to follow along and watch from my school library.

Here are my predictions for the two most popular awards, Newbery Medal and Honors, and Caldecott Medal and Honors, 2019:

Newbery Medal: The Journey of Little Charlie, by Christopher Paul Curtis