1 / 48

My Newbery Year: The Burden and the Boon Jean Hatfield Wichita Public Library

My Newbery Year: The Burden and the Boon Jean Hatfield Wichita Public Library. What to expect from this presentation. Many questions answered and possibly some secrets revealed Why is it a burden? Why is it a boon?. What is the Newbery Medal?. ALA/ALSC Award Since 1922

hea
Download Presentation

My Newbery Year: The Burden and the Boon Jean Hatfield Wichita Public Library

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. My Newbery Year: The Burden and the BoonJean HatfieldWichita Public Library

  2. What to expect from this presentation • Many questions answered and possibly some secrets revealed • Why is it a burden? • Why is it a boon?

  3. What is the Newbery Medal? • ALA/ALSC Award • Since 1922 • Named after John Newbery • Most distinguished book for children ages 0 - 14 • Criteria

  4. Who is on the committee? • 14 members and a chair • 7 members and chair elected by ALSC membership • 7 members appointed by president-elect of ALSC • 2007 committee: 2 retirees, 3 professors, 2 school librarians, 3 heads of youth services, 3 youth services librarians, 1 branch manager, 1 reviewer

  5. 2007 Newbery Committee

  6. How Do You Get on the Committee?

  7. How do you get on the committee? • Be a member of ALSC • Must join ALA first ($110 per year after 3 years) • Join ALSC ($45 per year) • Volunteer to be on ALSC committees • Say “yes” when asked to run • Be willing to lose • Know lots of people, publish, contribute to discussion lists, go to conferences, be on committees

  8. What do you do when you find out you are on the committee? • tell your boss, co-workers, family and friends • clear off your bookshelves • clear your calendar for the coming year • take vacation early in the year and plan on taking off time in December or early January for reading • plan on attending 2 Midwinter and 2 Annual conferences

  9. make sure you can receive boxes at your mailing address • do some research • put away your hobbies • lose 10 pounds • get organized

  10. What I did • Told my boss, co-workers, family and friends • Arranged to have boxes sent to my mother’s house • Planned my vacation for early March • Developed spread sheet for tracking books

  11. Changed jobs (made sure I could attend conferences) • Moved (decided NOT to unpack my books so the bookshelves were cleaned off) • Talked to friends who had been on the committee before and asked their advice • Stopped reading adult books, going to movies, doing crossword puzzles • Gained 10 pounds

  12. Learn the Rules! • Newbery manual • Confidentiality • Committee eligibility • Soliciting books

  13. F.A.Q (You aren’t the only one to wonder…)

  14. What most people ask me How many books did you get and how many did you read? How did you keep track of them? How many times did you meet? What was it like to call the winner?

  15. How many? • Books received – over 600 • Like Christmas! • Duplicate copies • Self-published • Books read, reviewed, looked at once – about 500 • Books read, reviewed, looked at twice (or more) – about 100

  16. Keeping Track

  17. For instance

  18. Other ways to keep track • Notebook • Computer files • Note cards • Post-its in books • Stacks and piles

  19. Other people’s opinions • Reviews • Discussion Lists • Blogs • Mock Newberys

  20. The Meetings

  21. How many times did you meet? • Met once at 2006 Midwinter in San Antonio • Met three times at 2006 Annual in New Orleans • Met 3 days at 2007 Midwinter in Seattle (new member) • Will meet again at Annual conference in Washington DC

  22. The Voting

  23. Voting procedures • Proscribed by Newbery manual • Each suggested book is voted on at least once • Initial votes (by show of hands) are taken to reduce the number of books discussed – once taken “off the table” can no longer be discussed • Nominated books are discussed carefully - everyone has a say • When list is narrowed and members are comfortable a ballot vote is taken

  24. Ballots • Each member selects 3 choices listed by preference • 1st place = 3 pts, 2nd place = 2 pts, 3rd place = 1 pt • Votes tallied and committee looks at totals and number of 1st place votes • Voting continues until one book gets 8 1st place votes • Honor books are those that received the next highest numbers (can be more than one – natural break)

  25. It’s Over - Almost

  26. The Call • VERY EARLY in the morning • Committee goes as a group into a small room to make the conference call and committee chair knows what to say

  27. Are the authors waiting? • Everyone cries and cheers

  28. Committee gets reserved seats at the front of the room for announcement program • Cheers vs. silence

  29. Personal effects

  30. Learned some stuff • Read books and authors I would not normally read • Saw trends in publishing for kids • Able to compare genres and styles • Saw how desperate self-published authors can be

  31. RULE # 1 Keep new friends from the 2007 Newbery Committee. RULE# 2 Revel in what we have accomplished together. RULE # 3 Savor the thoughtful contributions of each committee member.   RULE #4 Chocolate makes most decisions easier.   RULE #5 Treasure the books always. RULE #6 There are no accidents in the universe.   RULE #7 Laughter is very important.   RULE #8 Take a nap! RULE #9 Enjoy becoming friends!   RULE #10 Feel free to break the rules.   New Rules (as developed by the 2007 Newbery Committee)

  32. Some secrets • It takes a lot of snacks to get through the meetings • Choose your room mates carefully • Don’t spill the beans at parties • My secret “top ten” – kept changing • A sense of humor helps, but staying centered helps even more • Remember why you are there

  33. The Burden • BIG responsibility – the whole world is watching and waiting • The medal winner will stay in print for a very long time – means $$$ for author and publisher • Takes a huge chunk of time from your life – have to give up a lot, especially the last two or three months • Can’t reveal what goes on in committee – hard to keep secrets • Sometimes have to compromise • Gained another 10 pounds

  34. What I gave up • Doing crossword puzzles • Doing the crypto-quip • Reading the newspaper • Reading e-mail • Going to movies, plays, concerts, etc • Watching TV (especially basketball) • Christmas shopping • A clean living room • Sleep

  35. The Boon • Part of the history of children’s literature • Get to experience the excitement of letting the winners know • Make new friends • Get LOTS of new books • Get lots of invitations to lunch and dinner at ALA conferences • Learn about children’s literature and discuss it with people who also love it

  36. The 2007 Newbery MedalWinner

  37. 2007 Honor Books

  38. Miscellany • ALSC decisions • My favorites (other than the winners) • School presentations • What happens to all those books? • Scrotum-gate

  39. NY Times article – Feb. 18, 2007 • LM-Net • Blogs and discussion lists • Editorials • News articles • Interviews • Miscellany

  40. Any Questions? Thank you for coming and stick around for the door prize

More Related