Mock Newbery 2026 discussion

The Center of Everything by Linda Urban has been getting a lot of Newbery buzz. It's mentioned multiple times on our Newbery contender’s thread. What did you think of it?

Here's what I wrote about what remains one of my contenders:

"Some say it was destiny. A brave sea captain, a freak storm, and a platter of puffy dough balls.”
"Across the street, there are people sitting on the milk crates now: a family of redheads are eating donuts and fanning themselves with parade programs. Beyond them, Ruby can see Nero at the Delish tent. He is tall and skinny, with knobby shoulders that make it look like his T-shirt still has a clothes hanger in it. His dark bangs are tucked up under a Delish cap, and he is clacking a pair of metal tongs like castanets, filling waxed bags with old-fashioneds and crullers and éclairs.
"Somewhere near the parade check-in area, Lucy is still fuming -- Ruby's pretty sure about that. But Nero doesn't seem upset. He is wearing the same carefree smile that all the DeNiros wear, watching Mr. DeNiro juggle five cider donuts in his plastic-gloved hands.
"Maybe Nero's forgotten about yesterday. Maybe he isn't mad after all.
"Ruby watches as Mr. DeNiro tosses the donuts one-two-three-four-five high in the air, one after another, and Niro catches them one-two-three-four in a white waxed bag, each donut landing exactly where it is destined to be.
"Until, that is, Nero glances in Ruby's direction, and his DeNiro smile slides away. Donut number five drops not into the white waxed bag but at his feet.
"Destiny: squirrel food."

On one hand, twelve year-old Ruby Pepperdine is the star of the show today. Her speech about the town's founder, brave Captain Bunning, was selected, making her this year's Bunning Day Essay Girl. In a few minutes, when the tail-end of the parade approaches, she will step up to a microphone with her index cards and have her moment in the spotlight.

But everything is so wrong with Ruby and with this year's parade because her grandmother Gigi, the center of her world, and a force in town, is dead, and there is nothing Ruby can do about their last conversation together. On top of that, her best friend Lucy, and a very cool and quirky classmate, Nero, who has recently begun conversing with her, are both upset with her.

And I can still recall how sixth grade was the year when things got so weird as if some of the kids in the class seemed to have been provided a code that no one was sharing with me. This is what seems to be behind so much of what is going on with Ruby here.

In this small-town America story that takes place over the course of a single day in fictitious Bunning, New Hampshire, what I especially like about THE CENTER OF EVERYTHING is the real-ness of these three sixth-grade characters and their struggles with friendship.

I also need to point to the cover of this book and note that it features a photograph of a girl who really looks twelve -- in contrast to far too many cover photos I saw last year where twelve year-old characters inside books were depicted unrealistically on covers as sex symbols. Kudos to the art director.

Richie Partington, MLIS
Richie's Picks http://richiespicks.com
BudNotBuddy@aol.com
Moderator http://groups.yahoo.com/group/middle_...
http://slisweb.sjsu.edu/people/facult...

I loved this book and think it's a strong contender. Linda Urban so perfectly captures the emotions of her characters. I appreciated the uniqueness and diversity of characters as well as all the quirky elements within the story.

Passed it to my first student this week- we will see what she thinks!

It's waiting for me at my local library. I'll be starting this one today!

I sure wish I liked this one better. The characters are interesting and the idea has potential, but it is just too slow and too lyrical for me. And you can discount this review, because I read only the first half of the book and then skimmed the rest. I am sorry.

I finished the book quickly and enjoyed it very much. I think it will be popular with my upper grade girls in elementary. However, I don't think it will be a strong Newbery contender. It is too sweet, simplistic and easy to read. I think it will do well, but I don't see Newbery it the future of this book.

@LauraW I'm so glad to hear I'm not the only one! I read it all, but felt the same way - and then felt like maybe I had missed something when I keep reading how much everyone else likes it! Just didn't pull me in.

I found the book to be a little slow at times, but still very enjoyable. The narrator feels authentic--she sounds so much like a preteen girl! My upper grade girls are really, really loving this book. I think some of their delight may still be from their lingering love of A Crooked Kind of Perfect, but Urban's voice also seems to resonate with the girls.

This is a great read for the same kids that love books by Wendy Mass, or the girls who love The Mother-Daughter Book Club series.

Ruby is such an genuine character, and I think it's Urban's ability to create such an authentic tween voice that distinguishes this work.

See my full review:
http://tinyurl.com/chato6t

I like that analysis. I did like the characters.

I wanted this book to be greater than it actually was. Laura, you got it right--the premise of the book has some serious potential but it felt like it never quite took off. For me, something was missing. I think I may have simply been hoping, like Ruby, for everything to come together.

That being said, I can certainly see young girls enjoying this book. It's a short novel and the characters are realistic enough to be believable.

I mostly liked this book but I think it's a book that adults will like better than kids. The ending is too vague for me. Maybe it's supposed to be? I left it it feeling a little frustrated.

The two female Grade 5 girls who read it at my school both liked it, but felt it needed more - they felt there were unresolved elements. I always get feedback from the target audience, because even if I like a book,it doesn't always hit the target with my junior readers.

Carol wrote: "I mostly liked this book but I think it's a book that adults will like better than kids. The ending is too vague for me. Maybe it's supposed to be? I left it it feeling a little frustrated."

I would have to agree. I loved the writing style and the characters. My favorite chapters were those that involved people not really in the main plot: the librarian choosing the winning essay, the woman who organizes the order for the parade route, the boy playing Hansel for the theater group... These were where the book really shined and connected with readers. Still, the ending was lacking for me.

This one took me a while to get into, but once I did I finished it up rather quickly. I thought Urban did a really nice job with her characters. Ruby (quiet and thoughtful), but also Lucy (spunky and dramatic) and Nero (observant and curious), and even the tertiary characters who never felt just plopped in for no reason at all, even though they never came back into play in the story.
I also thought the theme (or even themes) was wonderful. To me, this is a nice little piece exploring existentialism. There is a lot of discuss in this book, especially the ending, but I think it is interesting enough on it's own to just enjoy without putting a lot of thought into it.
I also enjoyed the setting, which felt like a real place to me. Having grown up in small towns half of my life, I can appreciate a small town parade where the one car dealership is the hub of it all. The excitement of getting to drive the mayor, or local "queen" (may it be dairy, or donut, or blueberry), the eagerness of the kids waiting for candy to be thrown, the chaos of the marching preschool group as it nears the end. I could hear the bands and smell the donuts, feel the excitement.

This book reminded me of Criss Cross, a Newbery Medal winner (which I adored) whose strength came in voice and characterization - but in which very little happens in plot. The ability to catch the changes of growing up in those tween years is hard to do. The feeling of sharing a chair with a boy now that you are twelve is different. And Urban captures some of the magic that worked so well in Criss Cross.

I have a particular dislike for the dead grandmother genre, as it just happens too often for my liking. I think the book would have worked better for me without it. I think the book could have had enough of conflict / coming of age without it.

I can also see it winning an award and people not being very happy about it. A lot of people don't like vague, unresolved endings that leave things unsaid and untied up. But I think it rather mirrors life. Where the book ends is where I think we all are in life. Not with what is supposed to happen, but just at the moment of possibilities.

I don't think this book is a strong contender. Too discursive. Characters not very well worked out and a weak storyline for the target reader. Limp resolution of the plot (such as it is).

I always pay attention to Linda Urban, because I really liked her first book A Crooked Kind of Perfect, with its wonderfully developed main character and real-life but affecting story line. I was disappointed in this one.

I'm not sure how this would appeal to young readers. Probably a narrow subset of them that would like it (? maybe?). I think if we are talking about what has appeal to a young reader, that discussion would be had in a mock group for the Cybils award. But as the Newbery doesn't take kid appeal into account . . . it makes for an interesting mish-mash of winners.

Kristine wrote: "I'm not sure how this would appeal to young readers. Probably a narrow subset of them that would like it (? maybe?). I think if we are talking about what has appeal to a young reader, that discus..."

sorry Kristine, I thought about my comment, realized that young reader appeal would be mostly irrelevant to a Newbery discussion, and modified my comment to make it more Newbery-oriented - and you responded before I posted my edit!

Mary, I agree with you about Urban's work. I enjoyed Crooked Kind of Perfect so much more and for the same reasons. It felt like this story was going i that direction and we would learn more about the characters, but that just didn't happen. It seemed to be a light read after all even though the topics were deep and thoughtful. The Center of Everything is nice, but not particularly noteworthy.

I love how Urban crafted this book. I love the pacing of the plot, taking place in a single day, and flashing back to moments leading up to it. I loved the chapters on side characters, and seeing how they figured into Ruby's world. There were vague elements of the book, and I'm not sure how that will play with the middle grade audience. To me, it worked. I'm not one who likes a book to tie up neatly at the ending, because, realistically, life doesn't tie up neatly. I felt closure enough with Ruby's interpretation of Gigi's final words and that that interpretation was fitting with Ruby's character.
If I found a flaw in this book, it would be with the characterization of Ruby's family. From the dynamic of the family business (family members all belonging to the same family business) and the cohesiveness of the family support system (Ruby being watched by her aunt, helping with her cousins, the family cookout, etc) I expected more of a relationship between Ruby and her parents. I found myself disliking them for not making more of an effort to see her big essay (let someone else drive the car!) or check in with her about her grandmother's passing, when they were obviously so close. I'm sure the great Linda Urban does everything for a reason though, and perhaps this parental disassociation laid the foundation for Ruby's strong relationship to Gigi.

There are so many pieces of this book that I adored, most notably, Ruby. I think the most challenging aspect for adult writers of children's literature is creating characters that truly capture the uncertainty of childhood. I also adored the world Linda created out of this small New Hampshire town, the superstitions alone gave it such an authentic feel.

How do people feel about the Wrinkle in Time/When You Reach Me references? It's pretty clear that Stead's winner couldn't have succeeded without wrapping Wrinkle in. Did you guys feel the same way about CoE? On one hand, it ended up serving nicely as a form of misdirection. Along with Ruby, I kept expecting something magical to happen and the mentions of those two books only enhanced that feel. In the end, I was pleasantly surprised to discover, again- along with Ruby, that the answers are a lot more straight forward than maybe we'd like.

I thought this was a lovely and well paced story exploring the perils of pre-teen friendship. If I were discussing it in terms of Newbury caliber distinction, I have two concerns. First, the secondary characters (the name of her best friend has already escaped me). She's outraged at Ruby throughout the entire novel but her penchant for drama wasn't quite enough to justify revolving almost the entirety of the story around. I had a better sense of "the garden club ladies" in Three Times Lucky from the way they ordered their food at the cafe and a better sense of Stella's mother in Summer of the Gypsy Moths based on one phone call.

The second is a concern a friend brought up about wrapping other, familiar work into a story. I'd be interested to get folks opinions. Is there an ethical component to using books that already have an established readership? After reading CoE, it would certainly be easy enough to recommend it to kids who liked WYRM and Wrinkle, simply because the author established that connection for me.

Those issues aside, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this one to emerging 3rd/4th/5th grade girls. While the changes in time and perspective should provide them with a fun challenge, the beautiful rhythm of the writing will keep the story completely attainable.

Mike wrote: "How do people feel about the Wrinkle in Time/When You Reach Me references?"

The references to WiT and WYRM were a little weird to me, mostly because before they appeared in the book the thought kept popping into my head that "I feel like Linda Urban is trying to be Rebecca Stead..". So then when WYRM was referenced I had a little chuckle to myself. For me, this book probably would have been more enjoyable without the references thrown in.

I agree, the WYRM shout out was a little too much for me. I can see the tie in with WIT and the donut shape/time space continuum . . . The WYRM comes off as trying too hard (IMHO)

I do think we have a growing trend with books mentioning previous works by other authors. I'm seeing it more and more. After Stead won a Newbery with her story mentioning A Wrinkle in Time, I don't blame other authors for following suit. Then again maybe it was more common before and I just didn't notice it...

Mike wrote: "There are so many pieces of this book that I adored, most notably, Ruby. I think the most challenging aspect for adult writers of children's literature is creating characters that truly capture the..."
I felt that the distraction was effective also (if it was even intended to distract). I kept waiting for an element of fantasy to make an appearance, and it kept the book from being too easily predictable for me. In terms of readership, I think we recommend books to children based on their past preferences all the time, so I feel that it's reasonable for an author to make that same recommendation by way of in-text mention. Is it in the best interest of the book? I think not in this case. The WIT mention felt plausible enough given the science research aspect, but WYRM felt like a bit of a reach to me (forgive the pun :))

Mike wrote: "How do people feel about the Wrinkle in Time/When You Reach Me references?"

I'm so glad someone brought this up, because it's been bugging me since Katherine Paterson's name came up.

I don't like when authors mention other authors or titles. It feels like name dropping or an attempt to make their work more credible because they can work in a popular author or a classic piece of literature. Especially the mention of Katherine Paterson since it did nothing to serve the plot.

At least others felt that the use of WiT or WYRM might move the plot in a more magical direction. I confess that that never occurred to me.

Overall, this book left me feeling "meh." I would personally not consider this a contender.

Oh,dear. Oh, dear. Such lovely writing that teachers and other adults will love BUT it will take some very mature young readers and thinkers to really enjoy this book. The writing style is not plot driven enough and is also confusing, especially at the end. In all not the gem that is A Crooked Kind of Perfect.

Carol, I completely agree with your opinion. I particularly agree that this book is not plot driven. I just don't see this one being a contender for Newbery, but it is a good "teaching" book.

I appreciated this book most for the spot on characters and underlying exploration of friendship. I consider it still a contender; there is a lot of time left for other titles to be considered.

I read this book in 24 hours and thoroughly enjoyed it. Urban wrote a very believable and relatable character in Ruby. There were some really nice, almost poetic moments in the writing. To me, this book has a lot of potential as a Newbery, probably an honor.

On a side note, I love when authors "name drop" other authors and titles. Just as I am excited to meet a real-life person who enjoys the same books I do, finding the same connection to a character makes me happy, too.

On pages 179 and 184, Lucy mentions her dads, maybe a reference to a gay family? I liked the subtlety of this as it is just an everyday thing. Would that sway the Newbery committee away from this book. It was so sweet and I loved the voice.