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March 17, 2014 by Betsy Bird

Newbery / Caldecott 2015: Spring Prediction Edition

March 17, 2014 by Betsy Bird   18 comments

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!  Yes, folks, it’s that time of year again.  Just when you had a spare moment to catch your breath after all that award craziness, I come in with my wheelbarrow of 2015 predictions ready to dump them on your proverbial lap whether you want them or not.  And on a holiday that has NOTHING to do with children’s books at that!  How’s that for gall?  If I were to take a guess I’d say you weren’t crazy about the prospect of having to consider what is and is not “distinguished” so early in the year.  Well, I feel your pain but I just can’t restrain myself.  For evidence of my inability to restrain myself in other years see my lamentable predictions including:

2008 spring predictions: I get one Caldecott right (How I Learned Geography)

2009 spring predictions: I get two Newberys right (The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate and The (Mostly) True Adventures of Homer P Figg)

2010 spring predictions: I get one Newbery right (One Crazy Summer)

2011 spring predictions: I get one Newbery right (Inside Out and Back Again)

2012 spring predictions: I get two Newberys right (The One and Only Ivan and Splendors and Glooms), and one Caldecott right (Green).  I’m getting better in my old age!  Woot!

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2013 spring predictions: I get two Newberys right (Doll Bones and One Came Home) and one Caldecott right (Mr. Wuffles).  That ties me with my previous year of three successes.  As you can see, I’m better on Newberys than Caldecotts.

And I know I say this every year, but this year is REALLY strong in terms of Newbery contenders.  I swear I haven’t seen this many potential Newbery books this early in the season in quite a while.  The Caldecott, in contrast, is a little more up in the air.  I have no idea where it’s going.  In any case, here’s what I suggest you might want to read sometime soon:

2015 Newbery Predictions

The Night Gardener by Jonathan Auxier

If Doll Bones taught us anything it’s that horror has a real shot at a major award when it’s paired with a larger, all-encompassing theme.  In this case, the relationship between lies and stories and how people use both as crutches with dealing with their own personal traumas.  Heavy stuff?  Not under Auxier’s hand.  I expect a fair amount of buzz to surround Auxier’s second title, and serious discussion at that.  There’s a lot to pick apart here.

 

Curiosity by Gary L. Blackwood

Back in 1998, Blackwood captured hearts and minds with The Shakespeare Stealer.  To this day it remains his best known work, and the title that has proved to have enough legs to keep it on countless summer reading lists every single year.  It’s been a long time, but I think we’ve finally found a Blackwood book that surpasses Shakespeare in quality and excitement.  Throwing everything and the kitchen sink into his narrative (phrenology, P.T. Barnum, automatons, Edgar Allan Poe, and a kid hunchback, just for starters) this is a fabulous historical fiction read that will keep readers turning page after page after page.  Definitely one to keep a very sharp eye on.

 

Upside Down in the Middle of Nowhere by Julie T. Lamana

A debut author, no less!  This may just be optimism on my part, but I recently finished Lamana’s book and I was quite taken with it.  I’ve read a LOT of Hurricane Katrina middle grade novels.  Almost all of them (though not the I Survived series title set there).  With the sole exception of Ninth Ward, almost all of them involve a boy and a dog.  Seriously.  Look at Zane and the Hurricane, Buddy, and Saint Louis Armstrong Beach if you don’t believe me.  So it was with great relief that I read one where the doggie presence was mercifully brief.  Lamana tackles the Hurricane from the perspective of a kid with a large family and the result is a book that slices you from throat to sternum, removes your heart, and throws it out the nearest 251th floor window.  Let’s just say my fellow subway riders weren’t quite prepared for the crazy pregnant woman sobbing (repeatedly) over this.  It’s not flawless, but I think it’ll make for some grand conversations.

 

The Nightingale’s Nest by Nikki Loftin

We are definitely going to have a conversation about this book.  Maybe multiple conversations.  Maybe multiple conversations over the course of several months whereupon we pick apart, dissect, and generally go to town on what Loftin has accomplished here.  It’s a tough book but an interesting one, particularly when you take into consideration its magical realism elements.  I’m going to watch how others feel about it with great interest.  Honestly, it’s like nothing else I’ve seen in quite a while.

 

Boys of Blur by N.D. Wilson

Beowulf for kids.  Do I have your attention?  Because I should probably clarify that while what I just said is 100% accurate, this is just as clearly a zombie novel set in a Floridian swamp.  Wilson has always flirted with big subjects and his remarkable Leepike Ridge went inexplicably unnoticed for all that it was Odysseus modernized.  Boys of Blur is a tidbit more obvious with its references (it actually comes out and talks about Beowulf from time to time) but also unafraid to tie big ideas into exciting premises.  There’s as much internal strife in our young hero as he deals with his abusive father’s hometown as there are flesh-eating Grens.  Your eyes should be closely trained on this one.

 

2015 Caldecott Predictions

Hi, Koo! A Year of Seasons by Jon J. Muth

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Muth is back and he went all adorable on us when we weren’t looking.  Sometimes the safest way to try and predict something as elusive as the Caldecott Award is to look at previous winners.  Certainly Muth did well back in the day with his 2006 Caldecott Honor winner Zen Shorts.  In this book he puts a clever twist on the only haiku format, favoring feeling over form (with understandable reasons behind both).  I could easily see this one getting an Honor this time around.

 

Three Bears in a Boat by David Soman

My own personal favorite, I confess.  For all the hundreds of picture books I’ve already read this year (lunch time is picture book reading time where I work) few take my breath away.  This is one of the few.  Soman’s ability to hone water to his liking will leave you dumbstruck.  A good story and killer art make this one of my top picks.

 

Grandfather Gandhi by Arun Gandhi and Bethany Hegedus, illustrated by Evan Turk

You know what I was chanting to myself as I looked up the information about this one?  I believe it was something along the lines of “Please let Evan Turk live in America.  Please please please let him live in America.”  This is because I desperately wanted him to be eligible for the award.  And guess what?  Not only does he live in the U.S. but he’s a local!  A New York City resident (more info here, in case you’re curious).  We’re already seeing some marvelous picture book biographies and works of nonfiction this year, Turk’s art elevates what was already a pretty cool story.  It’s not just the fact that it’s hugely accomplished.  Turk manages to weave in materials and elements that bring to mind books like When Sophie Gets Angry . . . Really Really Angry (not something you’d usually say about a nonfiction text).  Hugely rewarding to read, this one’s a keeper.  Bear it in mind.

 

Firefly July and Other Very Short Poems selected by Paul B. Janeczko, illustrated by Melissa Sweet

If the Caldecott Honor win of Red Sings From Treetops is any indication, Caldecott committees love them their seasonal poetry.  Add in the artistry of Melissa Sweet and you’ve got yourself a winner.  Sweet made a surprise Caldecott Honor win a couple years ago when she illustrated the William Carlos Williams book A River of Words for Eerdmans.  Since that time she’s been snatched up by all the big publishers, but her books (while always beautiful and well done) haven’t quite had the oomph to push her back into Caldecott territory.  Perhaps it’s poetry that makes for her finest fits.  Whatever the case, if you want to see Sweet at her best, this is the book to watch.

So cough it up.  You may have some favorites of your own, this early in the game.  Anything I should be reading that I haven’t gotten to yet?

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2015 Caldecott contender2015 Newbery contenderNewbery/Caldecott predictions

About Betsy Bird

Betsy Bird is currently the Collection Development Manager of the Evanston Public Library system and a former Materials Specialist for New York Public Library. She has served on Newbery, written for Horn Book, and has done other lovely little things that she'd love to tell you about but that she's sure you'd find more interesting to hear of in person. Her opinions are her own and do not reflect those of EPL, SLJ, or any of the other acronyms you might be able to name. Follow her on Twitter: @fuseeight.

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About Betsy Bird

Betsy Bird is currently the Collection Development Manager of the Evanston Public Library system and a former Materials Specialist for New York Public Library. She has served on Newbery, written for Horn Book, and has done other lovely little things that she'd love to tell you about but that she's sure you'd find more interesting to hear of in person. Her opinions are her own and do not reflect those of EPL, SLJ, or any of the other acronyms you might be able to name. Follow her on Twitter: @fuseeight.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Kelly Light says

    March 17, 2014 at 8:59 am

    I have everything crossed for Beekle by Dan Santat

  2. Jennifer Schultz says

    March 18, 2014 at 9:29 am

    Holy smokes–I’m nearly at the end of reading all the ALSC medal/honor books and just about to go through the YALSA award winning books! I’m not ready to think about 2015 since I’m still catching up from 2014, but I do love a good predictions post. I just ordered several of these books (I tend not to order several months in advance unless circumstances such as upcoming holidays or a greatly anticipated book is coming out), so the only one I’ve seen is Hi, Koo ! (which I loved).

    An early 2014 favorite is Here Comes the Easter Cat by Deborah Underwood. Caldecott? I don’t know, but I think it’s hilarious, and can’t wait for the sequel in the fall. I reviewed Zane and the Hurricane for SLJ, and I’m sure it will be on my list. I also really liked The Blossoming Universe of Violet Diamond and hope it isn’t forgotten among the “Best Of” lists or in the ALSC awards/lists. I have a bunch of titles that I’m really eager to add to our collection, but I just haven’t ordered them yet.

  3. Jennifer Schultz says

    March 18, 2014 at 9:35 am

    Oh! I do love Baby Bear by Kadir Nelson.

  4. jules says

    March 18, 2014 at 12:30 pm

    Illustrations that make me swoon right now: Jonathan Bean’s BAD BYE, GOOD BYE, written by Deborah Underwood.

    • Elizabeth Bird says

      March 18, 2014 at 2:50 pm

      Oh! That’s a good point. Bean really shook up his style for this one and it’s subtly good. Thanks for the reminder.

  5. Anne Ursu says

    March 18, 2014 at 5:25 pm

    I’m a huge fan of NIGHTINGALE’S NEST. I think it’s brave and extraordinary. I know some people will think it leaves too much unexplained, but this seems to be a lot more about the reader and what they think kids’ books “should be” than the book itself. I think the magic is one of the things that makes it so special, and Loftin’s language earns that magic and makes it possible within the world of the story. I’d be thrilled if this book earned something shiny.

    (I got sent this book for a a blurb, and I’d never met Nikki before, but I’m a big fan now.)

  6. Sharon Thackston says

    March 20, 2014 at 1:48 pm

    The more time I have to ruminate over “Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy”, the more I absolutely love it. it’s atmospheric, exciting, a little scary (those portraits…eek!) and beautifully written. Is it “distinguished”? I don’t know. But it’s marvelous.

    • Jennifer Schultz says

      March 21, 2014 at 8:52 am

      Sharon–I’ve heard great things about this book, and can’t wait to read it. I believe the author is Australian.

  7. Sam Juliano says

    March 21, 2014 at 1:26 pm

    I will get my copy of Melissa Sweet’s book pronto! How wonderful to have such an early crystal ball here to ponder and excite one as spring approaches! I already have my copy of GRANDFATHER GANDHI and admit it’s absolutely magnificent. Am VERY excited to hit my libraries for copies of HI KOO (always loved Muth and ZEN SHORTS, which had no business coming in second to HELLO GOODBYE WINDOW, but this is only personal opinion) and THREE BEARS IN A BOAT.

    You ask about potential 2014 picture book winners that I have acquired or seen?

    Here goes:

    Maple (Lori Nichols)
    A Dance Like Starlight (Kristy Dempsey & Floyd Cooper)
    Baby Bear (Kadir Nelson)
    Monday, Wednesday and Every Other Weekend (Karen Stanton)
    Nest (Jorey Hurley)
    Anna Carries Water (Olive Senior; Laura James) I know you are now a huge fan!
    Don’t Play With Your Food (Bob Shea)

    Not eligible for the Caldecott, but a magnificent book still is the Italian THE RIVER by Allesandro Sanna.

  8. Sam Juliano says

    March 21, 2014 at 1:32 pm

    And another book I am really dying to get hold of is the Australian picture book MIDNIGHT by Mark Greenwood and Frane Lessac. Lessac graduated the same year as I did in the same high school, and am proud of a local making it good. Her first book MY LITTLE ISLAND from 1984 is a classic for sure.

    http://booksellersnz.wordpress.com/2014/01/31/book-review-midnight-by-mark-greenwood-frane-lessac/

    • Elizabeth Bird says

      March 22, 2014 at 2:28 pm

      Huh! Looks absolutely lovely. Do let me know if it gets published here in the States at any time. I’d love to take a closer gander.

  9. Karen Maurer says

    March 21, 2014 at 8:45 pm

    How do I love thee – and your predictions? Let me count the ways. Actually, no counting. Thank you for keeping me on task here. And for giving me new titles to love.

  10. Shoshana says

    March 22, 2014 at 8:02 pm

    Newbery: Nest, by Esther Ehrlich. I’m on the last paragraph right now and don’t want it to be over. I really, really hope this wins something because its content is going to make it hard to handsell to parents, but it’s SO GOOD. One of the most honest books with the realest characters I’ve read in a long, long time.

    • Elizabeth Bird says

      March 22, 2014 at 9:46 pm

      Oo! Got this one recently but hadn’t heard any buzz yet. And to the top of the To Be Read pile it goes.

  11. Crystal says

    March 23, 2014 at 11:59 am

    Seven Stories Up has been my favorite middle grade book so far this year. I would second Hi, Koo. Beautiful. I realize I haven’t read many 2014 titles yet. Must get on that.

  12. Kim B. says

    March 23, 2014 at 5:54 pm

    Oh yes! I’ve been waiting for a while for this list to come out, and I’m happy to see Nightingale’s Nest on here– I adored the book immensely and I’m surprised it hasn’t picked up as much buzz as it deserves. (Only ONE starred review?) Hopefully the committee takes notice; I see why the ending COULD be off-putting to some people, but I loved it. It’s my #1 so far.

Trackbacks

  1. KidLit Good News! « Conferences « VonnaCarter.com says:
    March 18, 2014 at 11:07 am

    […] Read about both of these nominations as well as the books Betsy Bird thinks will be their main competition so far on Fuse Eight’s Newbery / Caldecott 2015: Spring Prediction Edition. […]

  2. Newbery / Caldecott 2015: Spring Prediction Edition — @fuseeight A Fuse #8 Production | The law of news 2 says:
    March 21, 2014 at 2:52 pm

    […] on blogs.slj.com Share this:TwitterFacebookLike this:Like […]

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