Newbery Books discussion

Discuss June 1 = 1964 - It's Like This Cat
Discuss July 1 = 2007 - Higher Power of Lucky
Discuss Aug 1 = 1963 - A Wrinkle in Time
Discuss Sep 1 = 2006 - Criss Cross
Discuss Oct 1 = 1962 - The Bronze Bow
Discuss Nov 1 = 2005 - Kira-Kira
Discuss Dec 1 = 1961 - Island of Blue Dolphins

I'm confused, I thought that we were discussing the Higher Power of Lucky on July 1.

thanks, now I see why it was confusing . . . I fixed it! :-)

Okay, I've put "It's Like This Cat" on reserve at my local library ... now what?

LIZ from MA

I have that on reserve too! Hoping I get the June selection before the month ends ... it's worth a try!

I read Higher Power of Lucky last summer. I suppose I should re-read it.

I see no posts about "Wrink'e". Are we discussing today?

I loved this book as a kid and teen, and have still found new things to appreciate as I've read it as an adult. I like the family of scientists (I would never be a scientist), I liked the feeling of a chaotic, but loving household. I liked the adventure and magic and sci fi aspects combined. I sort of grasped the social commentary when I first read it, and understood the horror of the world where Meg found Charles Wallace. The religious aspects went over my head, and still mostly do.

Guess I might reread this tonight!

Is anyone interested in keeping up the book of the month for 2009? and if so, should we keep the same pattern?

Yes I have been enjoying what people write even if I don't always write about the books.

Maybe we should include honor books. What do you think?

I have almost all the books and plan to keep reading them one a month anyway. I enjoy other people's comments. So I hope the group will continue.

Since I've read them all pretty recently it's no trouble for me to participate, so I'm happy to continue... I wouldn't want to include the Honor books, though; I think too often the Honor books are given the exact same status, and some people don't even know the difference (like, teachers assign kids to read a Newbery book, either Medalist or Honor--what, because there aren't enough Medalists to choose from?).

The pattern we're doing is fun and I'd be happy to continue with that, but I also think some of the books aren't as interesting for reading/discussion as others; so I would also be interested in a schedule where we take nominations for books to discuss.

I would also like to keep doing one Newbury Medal a month. Honor books are also good, but if we add them I think the list will get too huge and too confusing. We have enough Medal winners to cover first! I haven't posted on the last two books, sorry, but I've read all the others this year and I have enjoyed participating in the discussions. I learn a lot from all of you--thanks! So let's keep it up in the new year!

I like the idea of (everyone who would like to) choosing a month and then they get to choose a favorite to nominate. We can do that for the next 6 months and see how it goes?

I too enjoy reading other people's comments even though I haven't been very good at keeping up with the reading. I tend to be about a month or two behind everyone else. I like Kristine's idea of letting everyone choose a month to nominate a book. I'm looking forward to it and I'll try to keep up a little better in the future.

I think having different people choose what to read next will get way too complicated. First you have to choose the people, then you choose the book. Why not just continue what we have been doing?

That wasn't quite what I had in mind, Kathy--more like, the first six people to write in with a suggestion get to choose, and those books are assigned to a month--so that again we have a whole list ahead of time. I think discussion might be more interesting if at least SOMEONE has a strong feeling about the book.

I volunteer for a month. I'm going to pick an Honor book. ;)

I think most people are more attached to the newbery medal's from the last 20ish years. How about we just do the newest ones to oldest (in order) it will likely get more discussion that way . . . and we'll be on our own for the older ones . . . which is a few years down the road anyway . . .

I guess it's just my OCD setting in but it makes my skin itch to not have an order to follow . . . I know, I'm dumb.

I like Kristine's suggestion of going backwards starting with newest. We'll have to skip a few we've already done, but that's not a problem. I also like Wendy's suggestion of picking favorites. Since she has already read them all, I can see why she'd want that. And it would foster good discussion. But for most of us who haven't read all the Newbery's, part of the reason for this book club is to read them all. So to keep track of that, I prefer order, too. I imagine that we'll get more discussion with the newer ones, as well. So I vote to go with Kristine's order.

Yup, order is fine with me too. I just know that some of them are not that good and many of you will be annoyed that you're reading them... but I guess it's all part of the experience, right?

(So, Kristine, I guess your OCD would have hated the way I decided which Newbery to read next... it involved going to the library, standing in front of a random shelf in the children's section, and scanning spines until I saw a gold medal. That worked pretty well for me until I got to the last twenty or so, which I had to look for specifically because they weren't anywhere on the shelves.)

If we start with the newest the schedule will be:

Discuss:
Jan 1 - 2004 Tale of Despereaux
Feb 1 - 2003 Crispin
Mar 1 - 2002 A Single Shard
Apr 1 - 2001 A Year Down Yonder
May 1 - 2000 Bud, Not Buddy
Jun 1 - 1999 Holes

Aye? Nay? We can revisit the schedule again after 6 months??

Well I notice that I've already read all of those, but we could still have good discussions. Since the Christmas season is very busy, might we want skip December reading? We could read Despereaux in January and discuss it Feb 1? Either way is fine with me.