Children's Books discussion

Hi all, and happy reading:

For September and October, I am going to be featuring as a topic American children's literature authors who have never won either the Newbery or a Newbery Honour award, but who in my opinion probably should have.

So yes, that does mean I am not considering authors who have only won Newbery Honours (such as for example Laura Ingalls Wilder), ONLY those who have won neither (and that no, I am also not considering authors who might have written a Newbery worthy book prior to the establishment of the award).

Now once the thread is opened in September, I am going to start with Maud Hart Lovelace, Sidney Taylor, Judy Blume, Laurie Halse Andesron, Sharon Draper, Paula Danziger, Gordon Korman, and Rick Riordan.

And while you are of course more than welcome to post about other authors, they do have to be American and to not have won either the Newbery Award or Newbery Honours (and I will be checking this).

Here is a link to the main Newbery Award page:

https://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants...

And here is (copied from the Newbery Award page) the terms and the conditions for the Newbery Award:

Terms

1. The Medal shall be awarded annually to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children published by an American publisher in the United States in English during the preceding year. There are no limitations as to the character of the book considered except that it be original work. Honor books may be named. These shall be books that are also truly distinguished.

2. The Award is restricted to authors who are citizens or residents of the United States.

3. The committee in its deliberations is to consider only the books eligible for the award, as specified in the terms.

Definitions

1. “Contribution to American literature” indicates the text of a book. It also implies that the committee shall consider all forms of writing—fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. Reprints, compilations and abridgements are not eligible.

2. A “contribution to American literature for children” shall be a book for which children are an intended potential audience. The book displays respect for children’s understandings, abilities, and appreciations. Children are defined as persons of ages up to and including fourteen, and books for this entire age range are to be considered.

3. “Distinguished” is defined as:

• Marked by eminence and distinction; noted for significant achievement.
• Marked by excellence in quality.
• Marked by conspicuous excellence or eminence.
• Individually distinct.

4. “Author” may include co-authors. The author(s) may be awarded the medal posthumously.

5. The term "original work" may have several meanings. For purposes of these awards,
it is defined as follows:

• "Original work" means that the text was created by this writer and no one else. It may include original retellings of traditional literature, provided the words are the author’s own.
• Further, "original work" means that the text is presented here for the first time and has not been previously published elsewhere in this or any other form. Text reprinted or compiled from other sources are not eligible. Abridgements are not eligible.

6. “In English” means that the committee considers only books written and published in English. This requirement DOES NOT limit the use of words or phrases in another language where appropriate in context.

7. “American literature published in the United States” means that books first published in previous years in other countries are not eligible. Books published simultaneously in the U.S. and another country may be eligible. Books published in a U.S. territory, or U.S. commonwealth are eligible.

8. “Published…in the preceding year” means that the book has a publication date in that year, was available for purchase in that year, and has a copyright date no later than that year. A book might have a copyright date prior to the year under consideration but, for various reasons, was not published until the year under consideration. If a book is published prior to its year of copyright as stated in the book, it shall be considered in its year of copyright as stated in the book. The intent of the definition is that every book be eligible for consideration, but that no book be considered in more than one year.

9. “Resident” specifies that the author has established and maintains a residence in the United States, U.S. territory, or U.S. commonwealth as distinct from being a casual or occasional visitor.

10. The term, “only the books eligible for the award,” specifies that the committee is not to consider the entire body of the work by an author or whether the author has previously won the award. The committee’s decision is to be made following deliberation about the books of the specified calendar year.

Criteria

1. In identifying “distinguished contribution to American literature,” defined as text, in a book for children,

a. Committee members need to consider the following:

Interpretation of the theme or concept

Presentation of information including accuracy, clarity, and organization

Development of a plot

Delineation of characters

Delineation of a setting

Appropriateness of style.

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.

b.Committee members must consider excellence of presentation for a child audience.

2. Each book is to be considered as a contribution to American literature. The committee is to make its decision primarily on the text. Other components of a book, such as illustrations, overall design of the book, etc., may be considered when they make the book less effective.

3. The book must be a self-contained entity, not dependent on other media (i.e., sound or film equipment) for its enjoyment.

Note: The committee should keep in mind that the award is for literary quality and quality presentation for children. The award is not for didactic content or popularity.

Adopted by the ALSC Board, January 1978. Revised, Midwinter 1987. Revised, Annual 2008.

This PDF File has both the Newbery winners and the Newbery Honour books listed

https://www.ala.org/alsc/sites/ala.or...

I am going to start with Judy Blume, who was one of my favourite authors as a tween and a teen (and whom I still really enjoy reading today) and who I also think has been ignored and frankly also for no good reason (well, perhaps that she writes about controversial topics and keeps getting challenged and banned might be part of the reason why).

And yes, Blume's published in 1970 Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret should in my opinion have at the very least been considered for a Newbery Honour in 1971 (and is for me quite a bit better and has certainly aged more successfully than the 1971 winner, than Betsy Briars' The Summer of the Swans, even though The Summer of the Swans is also a childhood favourite) and I will thus start this two month fiction club topic by rereading Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.

From 1984, but this Washington Post article does still make me a bit annoyed and to think that Judy Blume might have even been deliberately targeted and snubbed. And it is not as though other Newbery winners have not been challenged but that Judy Blume has never been considered by the committees annoys me.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archiv...#

https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytim...

And yes, I do think that what young readers enjoy should also be important for the Newbery awards and honours and more so than what adults, what parents, teachers, librarians and critics consider.

Manybooks wrote: "https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytim...

And yes, I do think that what young readers enjoy should also be important for award winning books."

The New York Times article I posted the link in the previous post to claims that Judy Blume not only has never won a Newbery Award (or an honour) but that teachers do not tend to assign her novels and that librarians do not tend to recommend Judy Blume. Well, that might be true in the USA, but when I was at school (Calgary, Alberta, Canada in the late 1970s to the mid 1980s) not only did we get Blume's 1972 Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing read to us in grade five, in grade six, the same teacher read both Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret and It's Not the End of the World with us (and when some parents complained, our principal basically told them off, yay). I guess I was lucky, but honestly, I would say that Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Are You There God, It's me, Margaret and It's Not the End of the World are in my opinion quite superior to many Newbery winners of the same years, such as Julie of the Wolves and The Summer of the Swans and should at least have been considered for a Newbery Honour designation.

I have been rereading and loving Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret and It's Not the End of the World (and am going to reread ALL of the Judy Blume books I have read as well as the few I have not). And no, I actually do not at all think that every novel or chapter book Judy Blume has penned should be deserving of a Newbery or a Newbery Honour, but that for me It's Not the End of the World and Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret do (or at least did when they were published). And I guess for me, the only potential current issue with It's Not the End of the Word is that the online negativity regarding the name Karen (which drives me batty) might be a bit problematic (but I also think that what was problematic for Newbery committees in the 70s regarding Judy Blume might not be an issue now).

And many "adult" critics seem very keen to claim that Judy Blume's writing in general is trivial, too much into realism and thus second-rate. But why should realistic children's and young adult fiction and stories that speak of real problems (and also often offer catharsis and understanding to and for readers perhaps experiencing something similar) be considered problematic and almost unacceptable from certain critics like Michele Landsberg and and Davis Rees from Blume's pen, and especially so since for other authors like Betsy Briars and Bette Greene very similar types of novels have won Newbery designations? I mean why is so called high fantasy automatically better for children's stories for many "critical" adults than stories dealing with actual and real problems? And honestly, for me, the exact opposite has always been the case, that I totally prefer realism (both when I was a child and as an adult), that I want and need novels that are true or at least could be true.

And yes, I do think that Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret deserved some kind of Newbery designation when it was first published and that ANYONE trying to get the novel banned is basically totally and utterly ignorant and moronic. This was one of the my favourite novels as a twelve year old, and I so appreciate that we actually had the novel read aloud to us at school in 1978 (and that both the boys and the girls in my class loved the books and that my teacher was also allowed allowed to tell the one parent who complained to basically zip it).

(view spoiler)[I am with my head shaking and huge consternation reading (or at least trying to peruse without either grumbling angrily or laughing out loud stridently and derisively) some of the more vehemently negative reviews (the tirades) for Judy Blume's incomparable 1970 middle grade novel Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. And ha, ha, ha, and indeed, what many of these virulent ranters and ravers so unilaterally and utterly seem to freak out about and despise regarding Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret is precisely what I have always loved, and what I totally and utterly personally appreciated when I (and my entire grade six class, in fact) read this novel in 1978, namely Blume's detailed description in Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret of how main protagonist and first person narrator Margaret Simon and her "club" of preteen girlfriends (even though some of them like Nancy Wheeler are most definitely rather annoyingly what one would definitely call fair weather friends) deal with the beginning of puberty (including their developing breasts) and in particular the start of what we euphemistically tend to call our monthly visitor. I mean, we did have all girls school sessions during physical education classes in grade six about what to expect regarding our period, but this was incredibly basic at best (with questions not at all encouraged) and in no way ever as enlightening (as preparatory) and also as personal an account as Judy Blume's words in Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret? (and yes, when the "big event" did finally happen to and for me, Blume's account of how Margaret Simon, Nancy Wheeler, Gretchen Potter et al deal with their menses really did help me tremendously, for when I asked my own mother, she simply handed me a package of sanitary napkins and told me that one does not really discuss menstruation, even privately, even with one's mother).

And while, of course, Margaret and her friends' emerging puberty is but one (and perhaps even to a certain extent a minor major aspect) of Are You There God? It's Me Margaret (with Margaret's religious questions, issues with potential family dysfunction, moving, and especially that new "best" friend Nancy often lies, always needs to be the leader, the star of the party so to speak and is obviously also someone who loves to repeat and spread nasty gossip being of equal importance and significance), for me personally, what has always been my most lasting and yes, my most positive girlhood, young teenager-hood memory of Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret? is indeed how starting one's period is described, is meticulously explained and depicted by Judy Blume, and in such a delightfully personable and positive manner that is both readable and approachable, that is totally relatable to and for the intended audience, to and for preteen and young teenaged girls from about the age of nine to fifteen (and yes, sometimes girls do in fact start menstruating at the age of eight or nine). And thus, solidly and glowingly five stars for Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret, absolutely and forever on my favourite shelf, and also my favourite Judy Blume novel. (hide spoiler)]

Another novel that is a personal favourite I am looking forward to rereading is Paula Danziger's 1974 novel The Cat Ate My Gymsuit (which I unfortunately never managed to read as a younger reader but which I do definitely consider much much better than and superior to at least one of the Newbery Honour books for 1975, than Bette Greene's Philip Hall Likes Me. I Reckon Maybe.).

For I do remember signing Philip Hall Likes Me. I Reckon Maybe. out of the school library in 1979 after I had totally adored Bette Greene's Summer of My German Soldier (but I never got all that far into Philip Hall Likes Me. I Reckon Maybe. and definitely and personally speaking consider Greene's story inferior to The Cat Ate My Gymsuit, as while with Paula Danziger's text regarding Marcy Lewis and her family, school and body weight issues I felt immersed into the story and that I was Marcy and vice versa, all I can remember from Philip Hall Likes Me. I Reckon Maybe. was that the story felt uncomfortable as Bette Greene was writing a story of an African American schoolgirl from the point of view of an outsider (and that is certainly not ever the case with the immediacy, reality and also seemingly semi-biographical feel and scope of what Paula Danziger pens with The Cat Ate My Gymsuit).

And no, I personally also do not find either Marcy's father or her principal as they are textually shown by Paula Danziger in The Cat Ate My Gymsuit as all that exaggerated, as all that extreme and on the surface, since for me personally, my father was pretty much the same as how Danziger depicts Marcy's father with in particular my body weight issues (when I was a teenager and later, and had ALL of the family rather following suite and even forcing me to attend a type of fat farm that consisted of not being allowed to eat anything at all for weeks, where all one got was water and herbal tea and two glassed of juice and a small bowl of clear vegetable broth very day).

(view spoiler)[Ever since I first read Paula Danziger's delightful and personally captivating 1974 middle grade novel The Cat Ate my Gymsuit in early 2007 (as I never did manage to read The Cat Ate my Gymsuit as a tween or teen, but did textually encounter Danziger's The Pistachio Prescription in 1978, in the year it was first published), I have absolutely both loved The Cat Ate my Gymsuit and have also felt totally connected both physically and spiritually with and to main character, main protagonist Marcy Lewis (regarding her weight issues, Marcy's father basically being for all intents and purposes a verbally abusive nasty hatefully misogynist jerk, her mother's annoying and ridiculous passivity at the beginning of The Cat Ate my Gymsuit and indeed also sometimes and even often at least in my opinion wanting to cast blame at Marcy for the father's, for her husband's tantrums in so far that the mother actually often seems to suggests that if Marcy were skinnier and not as sensitive to her father's words, her father would perhaps not be as likely to yell and scream, to constantly verbally assault his daughter).

Now I do well realise that there are actually quite a large number of rather majorly negative reviews of The Cat Ate my Gymsuit, reviews that often and sometimes rather vehemently strive to suggest that for example Marcy's teacher (Ms Finney) being fired for exercising her basic human rights of freedom of thought and expression (including refusing to pledge allegiance to the flag every day at school, being categorically against both the Vietnam War and USA foreign policies in general) is somehow not only totally justified but that Ms Finney should not have been made into a hero and martyr by Paula Danziger but shown as somehow both traitorous and anti-American (and yes, as a person of German background, I do consider such attitudes, no matter from which country and culture/religion they hail, totally unacceptable if not even ridiculously Nazi and Stalinist like in scope). And of course, the individuals faulting Paula Danziger for having penned Ms Finney as a positive role model, they also then generally complain and rant regarding how negatively in The Cat Ate my Gymsuit Macy Lewis' father been depicted as a hugely problematic pater familias, how Paula Danziger has shown him as being an abusive and nasty all encompassing bully (and also, sadly, with both Marcy and later also Marcy's mother when she finds her strength and voice and joins her daughter fighting back, that they both should not be rocking the proverbial boat and should therefore also know their assigned and seemingly sacred cow places in American life and society).

But really, for ANYONE who would in The Cat Ate my Gymsuit consider Marcy Lewis as obnoxious, bratty and problematic, well sorry, but she, but Marcy is not nearly as much of a sad and naively thoughtless lowlife as either that silly (male) principal who fires Ms Finney (for simply attempting to actually teach her students, for opening their collective eyes and minds to critical thinking and not automatically and without insight supporting any given country, government, even their own) or Marcy's at best constantly verbally ranting and raving father, who obviously expects what he says and demands to be followed to the letter without comment and criticism and who verbally chastises, condemns and nastily reams out as he wants, and obviously considers this to be his God-given and preordained family right (and major kudos to Pauls Danziger for in The Cat Ate my Gymsuit having Marcy Lewis NOT conform, for portraying her as not only standing up to both of the above mentioned bullies but also for helping her mother come out of her shell and do pretty much the the same).

Now finally, The Cat Ate my Gymsuit also deals with something that is due to my own personal experiences very close to my heart, namely Marcy Lewis' weight and body image issues. And indeed, as someone who has always struggled with this and who especially as a teenager was constantly being told by "well meaning" family members, teachers etc. that I needed to lose weight, that I would be considerably more physically attractive and contented if I were skinny, that losing weight was just a matter of will power, that I was simply being lazy (and also physically ugly and disgusting), yes indeed, I do really wish that I had known about The Cat Ate my Gymsuit during my own teenager-hood (when The Cat Ate my Gymsuit was first published). For what Marcy experiences with regard to her personal body weight issues and how in particular her mother at the beginning of The Cat Ate my Gymsuit often tries to unsuccessfully encourage her daughter to lose weight (and yes indeed shown by Paula Danziger as absolutely unhelpful if not unintentionally nastily), these words would have been a tremendous help and comfort in the late 1970s and early 1980s when I as a teenager was experiencing precisely the same type of "though love" (and finding all of this like Marcy does in The Cat Ate my Gymsuit).

And yes, the above is indeed why I (although I have totally both loved and appreciated reading Paula Danziger's The Cat Ate my Gymsuit and am therefore ranking it with five glowing stars because of this) also totally HATE AND DESPISE the 2006 cover image for The Cat Ate my Gymsuit with every fibre of my being. For if Marcy Lewis is supposed to have a weight problem, why is the 2006 book cover for The Cat Ate my Gymsuit basically showing and depicting a generally slender girl with skinny arms? And honestly, I actually do find this both a major insult to author Paula Danziger's memory, to her literary creation Marcy Lewis and yes to all of us who struggle and have struggled with body image and weight problems (as the publisher obviously seems to be of the impression and opinion that while an author might be allowed and even encouraged to write about weight issues and such, books covers should seemingly not be permitted to depict individuals who are physically heavy-set and potentially obese). (hide spoiler)]

Manybooks wrote: "I mean why is so called high fantasy automatically better for children's stories for many "critical" adults than stories dealing with actual and real problems? ..."

I haven't done an actual count, but I believe there are many more realistic stories (contemporary and historical) that have won Newbery awards or honors than high fantasy.
I don't know why Judy Blume was overlooked by the various Newbery committees, but her Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement is nothing to sneeze at.

Beverly wrote: "Manybooks wrote: "I mean why is so called high fantasy automatically better for children's stories for many "critical" adults than stories dealing with actual and real problems? ..."

I haven't don..."

I agree, but I also wonder with both Judy Blume and Paula Danziger that if they had written their best and most famous novels not in the 1970s and early 1980s but later, if they might have been considered for the Newberys.

From the responses to the Margaret movie, most women of Gen. X grew up reading the novel and loved it. It's a seminal work and every girl learns everything she needs to know about growing up from Judy Blume. Grown women show up at her bookstore in Miami just to see her and are tearful when they meet her. However they try to push the book on their daughters, it's not so popular anymore.

Gymsuit was OK but not in the same league. I read it once and that was enough. Margaret I wanted to share with my friends and NOT tell the parents what we were reading!

QNPoohBear wrote: "From the responses to the Margaret movie, most women of Gen. X grew up reading the novel and loved it. It's a seminal work and every girl learns everything she needs to know about growing up from J..."

I've read both Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret and The Cat Ate My Gymsuit. And while I agree that The Cat Ate My Gymsuit is not as brilliant as Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, I did like both novels quite a bit more than a number of the Newbery novels (both awards and honours) of that time (1970s).

After now having completed my rereading of Judy Blume's 1972 novel It's Not the End of the World, I will say that although this book is not quite as good as Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret (which I probably think is Blume's best and also totally should have won a Newbery Award), I do think that It's Not the End of the World with its 1972 publication date (and as the novel would then of course have been considered for the 1973 Newberies) both It's Not the End of the World and also the equally from 1972 Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing are (for me and in my opinion at least) much better than the Newbery winner for 1973, than Jean Craighead George's Julie of the Wolves (and both certainly not as problematic and as potentially culturally insensitive).

And actually, in my opinion, for 1973, Julie of the Wolves should not have been designated as the Newbery winner, as I do think that Zilpha Keatley Snyder's The Witches of Worm is considerably better and with no culturally insensitive baggage (and that Blume's It's Not the End of the World should probably have been considered for a Newbery Honour, although I do not consider it as good as The Witches of Worm).

(view spoiler)[Although I read (or rather reread) Judy Blume's 1972 novel It's Not the End of the World on my Kindle, I am going to be posting my review with this here older book cover (for this was how I first experienced It's Not the End of the World in 1982). And yes indeed, while It's not the End of the World is not my absolute favourite Judy Blume novel by any stretch of the imagination (as I do believe that both Forever and Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret likely would take that coveted prize), It's not the End of the World does remain amongst my most treasured and pleasurable reading experiences of my teenager-hood, mostly solidly and gladly appreciated because of its realism and brutally honest no holds barred depiction and description of divorce and how it in particular impacts and can devastate children (both young and not so young). As indeed, even though Karen Newman's experiences in It's Not the End of the World with her parents' divorce are actually not in any manner my own and personal experiences, schoolmates, friends whose parents had in fact divorced (or were in the process of doing so) told me that basically It's Not the End of the World is not only a pretty spot-on and honest portrayal of a marriage and a family totally disintegrating and falling apart, but also and furthermore and just like Judy Blume what writes, that while certainly and definitely devastating and horrible, divorce and a broken home are sadly often just a true and unavoidable fact of modern life and therefore also not like the book title so clearly states the so-called end of the world (even though of course it might well and indeed feel and seem like that especially for and to children, and particularly if like in It's Not the End of the World, the parents are immature and sometimes even profoundly more childish, annoying and selfish than their poor offspring could likely ever manage to be). Four very much solidly shining stars and glowingly, highly recommended, and yes, the only minor little caveat that I do leave with regard to It's Not the End of the World is that the novel is simply and mostly a tableau of the Newman family falling apart and how Karen, her older brother and younger sister are (and mostly negatively) affected (read upset and distressed) by their parents' divorcing (and selfish childishness) and basically no longer able to even be in the same room together without fighting, screaming, wildly throwing objects etc., that Judy Blume has not in any way meant for It's Not the End of the World to be a guidebook or a divorce self-help tome, but simply that It's Not the End of the Word presents a realistic depiction and account of extreme family dysfunction, and yes, that it is usually the children who end up suffering and being the most negatively impacted by divorce but also have no input and no actual voices (that they basically often do come last).

And also, and finally, with regard to 2023 and how KAREN as a name has unfortunately and disgustingly (at least in my opinion) become synonymous especially online with regard to nasty and in particular for some reason female entitlement (in an often exceedingly and extremely sexist manner), I guess I should point out that Karen Newman as a characters does not at all reflect this and that in 1972 and also in the 1982 (when I originally read It's Not the End of the World), there was absolutely nothing problematic about the main protagonist's name (and that there also really should not be today). (hide spoiler)]

Well, even though I totally love (and fondly remember) Judy Blume's 1974 novel Forever... and think that ALL of the book banners are at best hugely ignorant, I must admit that after rereading Forever, I do not consider Blume's text to be Newbery Award or Honour worthy, and not because of thematics or contents, but because the part in Forever regarding Artie's attempted suicide feels tacked on and not really all that well developed and well incorporated into the text and that with regard to her presented characters, all of the males Judy Blume features in Forever are a bit too flat and too stereotypical and not nuanced (and which is not the case with the female characters for Forever).

(view spoiler)[ But yes, when I was recently rereading Forever for something like the tenth time or so, I immediately did notice that while I am still absolutely loving and engaging with Katherine as a character, I do tend to now find Michael (and actually many if not even most of the presented teenaged male characters, including Michael's friend Artie) more than a bit lacklustre, basically stock-like, stereotypical, rather flatly conceptualised, less nuanced and developed, and thus also much less interesting and intriguing than particularly Katherine and her best friend friend Erica (and indeed, even Erica's cousin Sybil appears more fleshed out in Forever, and no pun is intended here). And I am not sure if this is a relevant or even a correct (and acceptable) observation, but I have actually always had somewhat of a feeling that Judy Blume often seems to do a better job depicting, writing about female characters than male characters, that her literary girls (such as Katherine, Margaret, Deenie, Karen etc.) are on the whole more nuanced and wholly believable than the majority of her male characters. And even as much as I have always enjoyed reading about Peter Hatcher and his annoying little brother Fudge in Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, I actually do tend to now think that Peter's nemesis Sheila Tubman is a much more interesting, more nuanced, albeit I agree, also massively and painfully annoying and infuriating character (and one I really do love to hate). Therefore, in Forever, both Michael and by extension his often depressed and lonely friend Artie are not nearly as complex and interestingly depicted, presented as Katherine, Erica, and even Katherine's kid sister Jamie. And then, when a basically flat and cardboard like character such as Artie is described by Judy Blume as having tried to commit suicide, you do end up with a bit of a potential problem. For Artie is simply not developed enough as a character; there is just not enough to him (and not enough of a backstory), and Artie’s suicide attempt in Forever, it thus does have the unfortunate tendency to feel a bit as being at least somewhat a tacked-on afterthought (which I actually find more potentially problematic and unnerving in and of itself than ANY of the scenarios in Forever dealing with sexuality and love making, and which I also only realised recently and not when I read Forever as a teenager). (hide spoiler)]

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

We loved Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing but in spite of owning Julie of the Wolves, I don't think I ever read it. My sister was Julie for book character day at school but I'm certain she never read the book either.

QNPoohBear wrote: "We loved Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing but in spite of owning Julie of the Wolves, I don't think I ever read it. My sister was Julie for book character day at school but I'm certain she never rea..."

I adored Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing as a ten year old (when it was read aloud by my teacher in our grade four class), but I did not enjoy my reread as much and did not actually like ANY of the sequels nor Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great (and which I only read recently). The Fudge sequels (Superfudge, Double Fudge and Fudge-a-Mania are (in my opinion) tedious and often artificial feeling and Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great is well written but I really despise Sheila Tubman and her family as characters.

I did try to read Julie of the Wolves in the late 1070s, but it was another novel I signed out of the school library but never managed to finish.

I have always been annoyed that I decided to not try Judy Blume's 1973 novel Deenie when my physical education teacher suggested it to me in grade ten (in 1982) after I had a scoliosis scare during a routine school examination. Now it turned out not to be scoliosis but rather just bad posture and that one of my legs was slightly longer than the other, but I was so scared of perhaps needing a brace that I would have to wear to school (and I was already considered a major nerd) that I just did not dare to read Deenie (and which I certainly do majorly regret, as the book definitely would have helped me cope and also deal with a demanding mother who a bit like Deenie's mother wanted a popular daughter). I thus definitely regret waiting until 2007 to finally read Deenie, and yes, I do think that for one the book banners freaking out about Deenie is supposedly masturbating are ridiculous (as I certainly do not consider what Deenie does to calm herself and to relax as being masturbation) and for two that I also think Deenie should have at least been considered for a Newbery Honour and is in my opinion definitely superior to Paula Fox's The Slave Dancer (which might have won the 1974 Newbery Award but which I did not at all enjoy reading).

(view spoiler)[I remember when I was reading Judy Blume's Deenie in 2007 (as I never actually did manage to read this novel as a child or a young adult), wondering with rather angry consternation and almost a bit of rage at what ALL the frigging online and offline fuss has been about with regard to the book supposedly describing masturbation. Yes, there is I believe a question posed in Deenie that "might" perhaps be about the latter and which main protagonist Deenie asks at school and indeed, there are also a couple of scenes where she is described as touching herself on a special spot in order to calm her nerves, in order to destress herself mostly whilst she is lying in bed (and why indeed should she not, considering that she has just been diagnosed with scoliosis of the spine and that she also is having to deal with her mother and her mother's best friend who had only ever thought of Deenie as a model, as some kind of fashion queen and who now, after Deenie is being forced to wear a large brace day in and day out for years, have basically and sadly pretty well dropped her like a proverbially hot potato).

And at lesst in my humble opinion, these above mentioned bone of contention scenes in Deenie are absolutely NOT in any manner scenarios that describe sexual perversion or masturbation (for if one actually and with intelligence and an open mind reads these scenes, they are basically simply examples of Deenie using hands on relaxation techniques to self-soothe, to basically with and by physical contact therapy try to take some of her stresses away). And truly, the only individuals who are seeing this as sexual and are wanting Deenie banned for this, are to and for me either reading something, seeing something in the novel that is not even there to begin with or have problematic sexual issues THEMSELVES so that they see anything that is remotely about someone touching themselves in any manner as inappropriate and sexually charged, which is at best really and problematically sad and depressing (not to mention that ANYONE who wants to ban and censor children's and yound adult books and remove them from libraries or classrooms is in my opinion at best a Fascist, a Stalinist, an entitled, undemocratic and dangerously dictatorial ignoramus, for even if Deenie did actually contain scenes of sexuality and gasp, masturbation, it should NOT ever be censored or banned in any manner.

Now is Judy Blume's Deenie a perfect novel about challenges and special needs? No, it is not, but it does very well and with much understanding display how Deenie's entire world seems to fall apart for a while after her scoliosis diagnosis, especially since she really cannot in any way count on her mother for support (who only ever saw and approached her "beautiful" daughter as a potential fashion model and thus really cannot handle what has happened and behaves in a truly selfish and nastily unsupportive manner much of the time), although thankfully Deenie's father is a bit more down-to-earth and understanding towards his daughter, albeit with tough love and a demand that Deenie absolutely follow the doctor's orders with regard to the wearing of her brace (but yes, as much as I have in fact enjoyed Deenie, I do think that at least the mother and her girlfriend, the two individuals most adamantly into categorising Deenie as simply a pretty fashion plate and an opportunity for making money and attending beauty pageants and then freaking out at the fact that Deenie is no longer "perfect" now that she has a curved spine that needs a long and arduous recovery period, have in my opinion been a bit too negatively and onesidedly typecast by the author, have been made by Judy Blume rather too much into arch-villain and arch-ignoramus like entities, although I have to also agree that such individuals actually do in fact and sadly exist). Three and a half stars for Judy Blume's Deenie (rounded up to four stars)! And to and for potential banners and censurers, do grow up a bit and have children and young adults read what they want, as it is profoundly undemocratic (and that is being very much kind) to try to force your attitudes on others (for while you might well have the right to censor your own children's reading choices, you do NOT and legally should absolutely NOT in any way have the right to do this with regard to others). (hide spoiler)]

So yes, I actually do think that Paula Danziger's 1974 novel The Cat Ate My Gymsuit has been a much more positive and uplifting novel for me (emotionally and personally speaking) than the equally from 1974 Judy Blume novel Blubber is definitely more realistic and a bit better written (and that even though my rating for The Cat Ate my Gymsuit is five stars and for Blubber only three, that with regard to a possible Newbery Honour designation, Blubber should probably rank above The Cat Ate my Gymsuit but that in my opinion, both novels are definitely better and as such at least for me more worthy than at least two of the 1975 Newbery Honour books I have read, than James Lincoln Collier's My Brother Sam Is Dead and Bette Greene's Philip Hall Likes Me. I Reckon Maybe.).

(view spoiler)[While I most certainly have NEVER found Judy Blume's 1974 novel Blubber all that enjoyable as a personal reading experience (and really, as someone who did experience much nasty bullying at school also more than a trifle too close to home so to speak to be in any way comforting, cheering and uplifting) I have indeed always considered (both then and now, both in the early 1980s and during my more recent rereads) that Judy Blume has with Blubber most definitely and painfully realistically captured not only bullying, but also that the tormenters can and do sometimes become the tormented (such as first person protagonist and narrator Jill Brenner, who only and still rather mildly at best finally realises that her nasty attitude towards classmate Linda Fischer might be wrong when she herself somehow crosses arch class bully Wendy and finds the situation reversed, finds herself being viciously targeted by Wendy and her nasty, horrid acolytes).

But while when I read Blubber as a teenager, Jill was someone I found rather annoying, most of my anger was indeed at that time squarely directed towards Wendy and her main sidekick Caroline, at the arch nasties, whom everyone seems to follow with regard to how poor Linda Fischer is constantly being ostracised and sometimes even viciously attacked (and mostly simply because she had boy weight issues). However, upon rereading Blubber and as an older adult, I have to admit and proclaim that I actually do now very much consider Jill Brenner in every way quite as massively unlikable as Wendy and Caroline (as for one, Jill only changes her attitude and her bullying behaviour and actions towards Linda when she herself is targeted by Wendy et al, understandable and realistic perhaps, but really not all that laudable, and for two, while Wendy might in fact be the instigator and the ringleader with regard to all that in-class bullying and nastiness, it is the sad and ugly truth of the matter that Jill as well as the rest of the class like good little goose stepping soldiers readily fall into line and both condone, carry out and seemingly even much enjoy tormenting and terrorising the unfortunate Linda, which sure does enable Wendy and keeps her status as arch nasty intact, powerful and flourishing).

And also, and very much furthermore, what about Jill Brenner's so-called teacher, Mrs. Minish? Throughout Blubber she is narrationally, she is textually described by Judy Blume as being at best completely oblivious and clueless, doing NOTHING AT ALL with regard to either stopping or at least somewhat mitigating the horrendous bullying and abuse Linda Fischer constantly must endure. Thus while I certainly do applaud Blume for tackling with Blubber the real and present issues and problems stemming from such teacher apathy, it is certainly not all that much of a solace to read about an instructor like Mrs. Minish, to realise that Linda really has NO ONE at all to support or stand up for her, as obviously, even her teacher really could care less (realistic perhaps, but oh so very much sad and frustrating). And therefore only three stars for Blubber, as while I do think that Judy Blume has penned an important novel, with painful but nevertheless necessary and essential messages, I also cannot really ever consider Blubber a favourite novel or one that I would consider turning to for comfort and/or ease, as the subject matter is just a bit too personally close for me. And well, I also simply do not believe that Jill Brenner really has all that much learned a lesson by the end of Blubber either, and which I do kind of want and need (for sure, Jill might now consider twice before bullying someone, but I still do not really think she has become all that increasingly empathetic, that Jill is still mostly coming from her own selfish and personal discomfort at having now also and personally experienced being harassed and tormented by Wendy, a good start perhaps, but merely that, and not in my opinion going nearly far enough). (hide spoiler)]

The Fudge books hold up for kids though. My nephew found them hysterically funny a year or two ago when he was 8ish. We liked them at that age too. I liked Deenie and the censors are actually right. I'm pretty sure that's what Blume intended or she says she did anyway. Some of the Newberry books are so forgettable my state doesn't even have them in the system. Others I only read in school and some not at all. Judy Blume, however, stands the test of time.

QNPoohBear wrote: "The Fudge books hold up for kids though. My nephew found them hysterically funny a year or two ago when he was 8ish. We liked them at that age too. I liked Deenie and the censors are actually right..."

I would definitely agree that quite a lot of the Newbery books are pretty forgettable and not all that popular (and that Judy Blume definitely does stand the test of time).

Jennifer L. Holm should win but hasn't, yet. I loved Turtle in Paradise (audio book is funny) and did not like Moon Over Manifest. I LOVE LOVE LOVED Penny from Heaven. It's deeply personal to her and to my own family and made me cry. Kirby Larson is another honoree who should have won for Hattie Big Sky. I love most everything she writes, especially Hattie. I have an autographed copy!

Shannon Hale should be honored for anything she writes and for standing up to the censors. I loved Princess Academy!

Patricia Reilly Giff also should have won for ANYTHING! Lily's Crossing was my first and favorite. She was one of the best historical fiction writers when I was a tween/teen. I think the only one of her books I didn't read was Pictures of Hollis Woods!

QNPoohBear wrote: "Jennifer L. Holm should win but hasn't, yet. I loved Turtle in Paradise (audio book is funny) and did not like Moon Over Manifest. I LOVE LOVE LOVED [b..."

I have to admit that for most of the Patricia Reilly Griff's novels I have read I did not personally enjoy her writing style all that much, like R My Name Is Rachel (link does not work) and A House of Tailors I did not at all like, and the German parts of A House of Tailors do not really make a lots of sense even though this was all supposed to be based on her own family history.

QNPoohBear wrote: "Jennifer L. Holm should win but hasn't, yet. I loved Turtle in Paradise (audio book is funny) and did not like Moon Over Manifest. I LOVE LOVE LOVED [b..."

Well, I am actually featuring authors who have not won either the Newbery Award or a Newbery Honour (and Jennifer L. Holm, Kirby Larson, Shannon Hale and Patricia Reilly Griff have all won Newbery Honours, same as Laura Ingall's Wilder for that matter).

I am glad you enjoyed Turtle in Paradise (I actually did not although I also cannot really actively recall why not).

https://heavymedal.slj.com/2021/10/22...

Trying to find suggestions, and came up with the 'survey' linked above. It did remind me that Tuck Everlasting is one I always have to remind myself was never recognized by the Newbery committee. But the author was honored, at least, for Kneeknock Rise. *I* opine that Natalie Babbitt should have earned more accolades.

More sources:

https://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/...

https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bes...

(I've not yet investigated these but they look promising.)

Cheryl wrote: "https://heavymedal.slj.com/2021/10/22...

Trying to find suggestions, and came up with the 'survey' linked above. It di..."

I would definitely agree with that statement and I definitely think Tuck Everlasting should have been recognized.

I kind of grudgingly wonder about Louise Fitzhugh's Harriet the Spy although that personally I really cannot stand the novel.

Manybooks wrote: "I have to admit that for most of the Patricia Reilly Griff's novels I have read I did not personally enjoy her writing style all that much, like R My Name Is Rachel (link does not work) and A House of Tailors I did not at all like,

Nory Ryan's Song is the best!

Lily's Crossing is her second best, Willow Run is not as good. I also really liked All the Way Home. Back when Common Core didn't exist and historical fiction didn't have to align with a set of standards.

I have a few other childhood favorite authors who were never nominated but I'm not sure their books would be worthy. I'll have to check.

How could they ignore Laurie Halse Anderson? If Speak is too controversial they should have awarded her at least an honor for all three Seeds of America books Chains, Forge, Ashes. Personally I think Chains is the best and it was a bit shocking to see slavery from my own state even though I KNEW that!

Louise Erdrich gets all kinds of accolades for her adult books but her The Birchbark House series hasn't been Newbery worthy!

Also should have won
All-of-a-Kind Family though fortunately Sydney Taylor got her own award.

Maud Hart Lovelace. The
Betsy-Tacy series holds up, especially the one with the Syrian refugee!

Lemony Snicket and yes Jo J.K. Rowling have contributed so much to children's literature and gotten reluctant readers reading! Also Tamora Pierce's Alanna series is highly influential on teen fantasy being the first fantasy series to feature a female protagonist. And Judy Blume influenced everyone and truly should be honored. She's retired now so they need to create an award in her honor for contributions to realistic teen literature.

I really really (and as mentioned already) do not at all like the 1973 Newbery winner, Jean Craighead George's Julie of the Wolves and to the point that for me personally, most published in 1972 novels I have read so far I tend to find of superior quality, the honour book The Witches of Worm by Zilpha Keatley Snyder, Judy Blume's It's Not the End of the World and also the teenage pregnancy and a bit autobiographical The Girls of Huntington House by Blossom Elfman (although I do kind of understand why a book about a school for pregnant teenagers might not be acceptable in the 1970s, and heck, probably and likely even today in many cases, although The Girls of Huntington House is excellent and I totally loved this story as a teenager in the early 1980s).

(view spoiler)[Author Blossom Elfman (who is the mother of Hollywood composer Danny Elfman) had actually taught in several boarding school like establishments that catered specifically to unwed, pregnant girls, and thus many of the specific scenarios shown and presented in her 1972 young adult novel The Girls of Huntington House (which was also adapted into a 1973 movie of the same title starring Sissy Spacek, which though I have not watched) always do seem to very much have a decidedly strong and palpable feel and ring of truth and reality to them. And although considering that The Girls of Huntington House was published in 1972, and therefore of course some if not many of the novel's specifics, the minutae so to speak are by nature and necessity often more than a bit dated, it must and should equally be stated that indeed the nitty-gritty deep downs of The Girls of Huntington House are and unfortunately so still often massively relevant and sadly universal with regard to the plight and struggles of many unmarried pregnant teenagers (abandonment issues, questions of possible sexual interference and abuse, viciously nasty, opinionated and sometimes downright horribly abusive and vindictively judgmental parents, although I do very much hope that the despicable electroshock treatments to which Gail's mother subjected her poor daughter are a thing of the past and also not something that a parent could nowadays simply insist on for his or her offspring).

Readable, full of life, love, hope, sadness, even occasional despair (and at times also humorous and delightfully entertaining) Blossom Elfman's thinly disguised memoirs of her own teaching experiences are highly recommended and yes indeed, much of the poignancy and the often stark reality of The Girls of Huntington House have not really been all that much diminished and made any less important, less painfully frustrating since its publication date. And certainly for 1972, The Girls of Huntington House is at least in my humble opinion rather majorly modern-thinking and truly avant-guarde, groundbreaking on a multitude of levels and therefore also likely for many parental types probably both outrageous and a bit too much to handle and accept without possible reservations (and I personally do very well recollect that when I first perused The Girls of Huntington House in 1981 at the age of fifteen, my mass market paperback copy which I had purchased with my weekly allowance and with this very cover image suddenly ended up disappearing after I had mistakenly left it in our Family Room and my mother found both it and the often quite verbosely condemning notes that I was jotting down on especially Gail's mother, Sara's parents and Shana's rage and hate-filled father). (hide spoiler)]

QNPoohBear wrote: "Manybooks wrote: "I have to admit that for most of the Patricia Reilly Griff's novels I have read I did not personally enjoy her writing style all that much, like R My Name Is Rachel (link does not..."

I would definitely agree that Laurie Halse Anderson and Louise Erdrich are definitely Newbery Award (or at least Honour) worthy, same with Maud Hart Lovelace and Sydney Taylor.

I think it might be a neat idea for a future Fiction Club topic to comparatively read Loiuse Erdrich's Birchbark House alongside of Laura Ingalls Wilder Little House on the Prairie series.

Manybooks wrote: "I think it might be a neat idea for a future Fiction Club topic to comparatively read Loiuse Erdrich's Birchbark House alongside of Laura Ingalls Wilder Little House on the Prairie series."

That would be a good idea. That's the way LHOTP should be taught and also in context so kids know why the characters say the things they say. The teacher can also assign Prairie Lotus even though I found it problematic because it's over corrected.

I didn't finish Erdrich's series but I don't understand why critics rave about her adult books and ignore her kids' series. It would make sense to honor her especially because there are so few Native authors who write for that age group. I've read a few books about Metis girls in Canada or along the border but every book about "Indian" women like Sacagewea have been by white authors.

QNPoohBear wrote: "Manybooks wrote: "I think it might be a neat idea for a future Fiction Club topic to comparatively read Loiuse Erdrich's Birchbark House alongside of Laura Ingalls Wilder Little House on the Prairi..."

Yeah, I find how Louise Erdrich's Birchbark House series has been ignored really weird (but I guess, with the current boo banning frenzy, her books could likely be on hit lists simply because she writes about Native Americans and is partially Native American).

I just happened to read an early Korman, The Twinkie Squad. It's pretty silly, mostly, but by the end I was moved. Korman really cares about kids, always has.

Cheryl wrote: "I just happened to read an early Korman, The Twinkie Squad. It's pretty silly, mostly, but by the end I was moved. Korman really cares about kids, always has."

Yeah, Korman does have a real feel for children (and with that he kind of reminds me a bit of German children's author Erich Kästner who always had a children first attitude that really appealed to me and still does).

One further thing about Judy Blume! She has also been verbally lambasted by certain so called literary critics and accused of being tone deaf regarding racial issues etc. since does not have all that much ethnic diversity in her novels (that the majority of Blume's protagonists are European background based and are often either Christian or Jewish). But the one time Judy Blume did feature an African American family as primary characters (in Iggie's House) she was denigrated for writing about an African American family although she is Jewish, so this is obviously a huge case of damned if Judy Blume does try for more ethnic diversity and also damned if she does not, and that I for one really do appreciate that Judy Blume generally writes about scenarios she knows and about cultures and ethnicities familiar to her (and that this is actually one of my favourite parts of Blume's penmanship, for it makes her stories relatable and realistic and with a true slice of life authenticity).

Indeed, damned if you do, damned if you don't. That's why I'm so grateful that more #OwnVoices works are getting written and published. Libraries now can stock a range of diversity, instead of relying on popular authors to carry the weight themselves.

Cheryl wrote: "Indeed, damned if you do, damned if you don't. That's why I'm so grateful that more #OwnVoices works are getting written and published. Libraries now can stock a range of diversity, instead of rely..."

I definitely agree with you regarding that, but I do find it a bit ironic at best that many of the most critical voices in the past regarding Judy Blume for the most part writing about her own cultures and such, about what she knows and has herself experienced were indeed African American themselves (so yes, there is definitely something off and a bit of a dual standard also present, and I would assume that African American literary critics would and should be happy that after Iggie's House, Judy Blume tended to write about the cultures she was herself familiar with).

Well, I just reread and once more absolutely loved Sydney Taylor's All-of-a-Kind Family (which was published in 1951 and I guess that would have made it on the proverbial books for the 1952 Newberies).

And I do absolutely think that All-of-a-Kind Family does deserve to have been chosen for at the very least a Newbery Honour and Sydney Taylor's story is in my opinion totally superior to many of the accoladed books for 1952 except perhaps The Light at Tern Rock (which I loved almost as much as All-of-a-Kind Family) and that in particular Americans Before Columbus and The Apple and the Arrow rate totally and utterly below All-of-a-Kind Family and have both aged not at all well, whilst All-of-a-Kind Family is still a wonderful read today.

I have been rereading with nostalgic glee the early Gordon Korman MacDonald Hall books (but no, I stay far away from the later updated versions with their email technology etc. superimposed onto texts that are clearly later 70s and early 80s and with The War With Mr. Wizzle also decidedly anti computer and that I do not like the later novels at all as they are just too modern to work with the earlier ones). But yeah, while books one to four of the MacDonald Hall series in particular my inner teenager who read these books when they were first published totally loves, I also do realise that this series is not really Newbery material (and since the first novels were also written and published while Gordon Korean was still attending high school in Canada, they would probably also not even have been considered for the Newberies anyhow).

Am trying to get my hands on Restart, Schooled and No More Dead Dogs (but right now totally loving rereading MacDonald Hall novels one to four on Open Library and am happy that the original non updated texts are available).

I wonder which other authors should be included in this theme. If I ever get over this cold (or whatever the heck it is) I'll try again to do a little research. But meanwhile...?

Cheryl wrote: "I wonder which other authors should be included in this theme. If I ever get over this cold (or whatever the heck it is) I'll try again to do a little research. But meanwhile...?"

Judy Blume for sure, and I also think Maud Hart Lovelace, Sydney Taylor, Laurie Halse Anderson and Louise Erdrich.

I mean, ones that haven't already been mentioned upthread. :)

Cheryl wrote: "I mean, ones that haven't already been mentioned upthread. :)"

I have only read (but totally loved) one of Ellen Conford's novels, but her 1974 Me and the Terrible Two I do like this much better than most of the Newbery considerations for 1975 (and the novel would definitely fit better and be less controversial than Forever...).

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I have not actually read any of Rick Riordan's Greek and Norse mythology adaptations, but I do wonder why even though his novels seem very popular and have also won many awards, they have not been considered for even Newbery Honour designations.

Good catch. They're probably seen as too fun, too frivolous. I read the first and it wasn't my cup of tea, but I see the appeal and recognize some value.

Cheryl wrote: "Good catch. They're probably seen as too fun, too frivolous. I read the first and it wasn't my cup of tea, but I see the appeal and recognize some value."

I have to admit that because the entrance to Hades etc. in the Olympus stories are supposedly not in Ancient Greece but in the USA, I was not all that interested, but I do wonder why "fun" stories seem to often run afoul of award committees.

Cheryl wrote: "Good catch. They're probably seen as too fun, too frivolous. I read the first and it wasn't my cup of tea, but I see the appeal and recognize some value."

That's what I was thinking too but I know kids LOVE Percy Jackson.

Tamora Pierce. Her Alanna books were groundbreaking fantasy at the time and she even wrote about the Taliban's treatment of women long before 2001.