Mock Newbery 2026 discussion

Summer of the Gypsy Moths by Sara Pennypacker won our July Poll.

Is it worthy of a Newbery?

Yay! My library just got it in because I requested it and I am first to read it!

I think this is at least a Newbery Honor. I read it in two days. I couldn't wait to find out what happens to Aunt Louise. The characters were so believable. I think I have met George somewhere.

I'm reading it now! Wow! I can't believe the events so far. (p.114). I do love the writing! Have to finish it tonight!

Just finished! Wow! Maybe a little unbelieveable but you just want Stella and Angel to succeed after all they have been through. Loved Stella's voice and her Hints from Heloise. As far as Newbery material I am not sure but I do believe it could be an honor title.

I was surprised about how much I enjoyed this book! Although I don’t think two 12 year olds could keep their secret as long as they did without an adult noticing, I did appreciate some of the other “real” details that were in the book – the fact that the girls had trouble getting enough food, for example. I felt that Stella’s character developed well, and I loved seeing the relationship between the girls develop. I must admit that I laughed out loud during the burying scene. Macabre, but funny. Newbery worthy? It is well written with good characters. I am not sure how to judge. Very different than The One and Only Ivan and Wonder.

I enjoyed this book, too! I wondered also how their secret stays a secret so long, but I still thought it was a very good book. I need a few more days to think about Newbery or not. I loved Stella!

I could not get past the premise of this book at all. Too much of a stretch of imagination that two 12 year old girls would think to do such an awful thing, no matter how desperate they were to stay out of the system.

I also didn't find any of the characters except Angel to be believable. George, especially - how can an adult be so naive? And I understand why Stella is such a neat freak (she needs order in her life), I was more worried that her cleanliness was bordering on obssessive compulsive rather than a quirk.

***spoiler alert***
The one part that I was grateful for was that Angel's aunt was real, and did come to take care of her. I worried through the whole book that Angel was delusional and no aunt really existed and she was going to end up back in foster care.

I have not read this book yet, but am committing to being more active in these monthly conversations. Really enjoy following everyone's thinking.

Just finished reading it and I loved it! I was pleasantly surprised at the ending. I thought the author was going to have Stella's mom come back sane and happy to be a mother AND that Angel would get the money to go to her aunt, fix the guitar, and miraculously find a home for them to live in. I loved George's answer to Stella about what might happen if her mother came: They would wait and see. That's reality. I was glad the ending wasn't so tidy. As for the girls keeping a secret: I don't think it was more than a week or two, was it?
Overall, I couldn't put it down. I hope it will be in the running for a Newbery or at least an honor.

I very much enjoyed this book. Although I agree it might be a bit hard to think that two girls would bury someone in the garden, and not have anyone figure that out... but over all loved the book. I could relate to two kids who are tired of being booted around by the adults in their lives and trying to find a way around that. Newbery? Hmmm.... I have a hard time figuring out how they decide....

I really loved this story. Hope it gets a nod for a prize.

I am still reading Summer of...I am finding it hard to juxtapose the very real and difficult life situations of the girls, with the unbelievable story line and George's naivete. It's interesting, but as far as a story with depth and character development I have liked Wonder best.

I'm reading it now. My first thought was "Weekend at Bernie's." I hope it gets better because right now I"m not loving it.

I enjoyed the book, but not sure if it is worthy of Newbery. It was quirky, original and I liked the dark humor. I think will appeal to kids even with a gruesome story line because most daydream about being on their own. I liked the details such as adding the Hints from Heloise although Stella is almost too good to be true.

Not my favorite. I found it implausible.

I didn't care for it much. I thought it was okay but I'll be disappointed if it wins the Newbery.

The book must be considered for its theme, presentation (clarity, accuracy and organization), plot, characters, setting, and style.

Setting: I thought the setting was very well done. As a resident of Cape Cod myself, I recognized a lot of things, both physical (beaches, tiny little cottages, out-of-nowhere rain) and more intangible (tourists who are simultaneously kind and completely pre-occupied with their own vacation).

Style: I thought the writing style was solidly good. My mind was not blown by the line-by-line writing, but that takes a lot. I'd give it four out of five stars, better than average but not one where I'd have to stop and savor each line.

Characters: I thought the characters were very well done. Unlike Annette, I saw Stella's obsession with Heloise as a means of steadying herself, not an OCD problem. She wants things to be clean and orderly, but she doesn't NEED them to be, such as when she purposefully goes out into the water in the dark, or even just burying Louise. Angel was very well drawn. The small children they babysit acted just like small children, and so did their parents. I loved Katie's orange food and her mother's obvious exasperation, despite the fact that she had lovingly created it for her. George was in some ways a little too perfectly understanding of Stella. Unlike some other readers, I actually do believe that George could have been fooled by the girls, since he had no reason to think they were lying, plenty of evidence to think they weren't (the chili, Katie's comments, etc) and was not around very much. It's a tad hard to believe that he didn't push harder to visit when Louise was "sick", but he was always busy and just dropping by for a few hours to do the most necessary work. What I found harder to believe was the ending when SPOILER he gives up his life as a fisherman. Part of what made him not notice what the girls were up to was that he was so distracted by his own life, to suddenly give all that up is odd. END SPOILER. I loved Stella's characterization of her mother, and her own slow realization that her mother is never going to change.

Plot: Okay, there is a lot of suspension of disbelief in that the girls would really go through with this. But if you can accept the basic premise of the book, then the plot works. It seems strange that no one notices what the girls are up to, even Stella mentions that someone should have noticed, but it doesn't surprise me. All of the tourists are only there for a week or two, none of them appear to be repeat customers who might miss Louise, and they are intent on their own lives and vacations. As long as everything seems to be running smoothly there is no reason for them to demand to see Louise in person. With the exception of George, no other adults see the girls for more than a few minutes. Even the social worker can be excused for not noticing that the girls are thinner than they should be. These are girls living next to a thriving beach at an age when looking good is starting to become important. When the social worker shows up they have food in the house, so it's not terribly suspicious, and my social worker friends say that having people forget to meet them or show up late is more common than they'd like. I do think everything wraps up a little too neatly at the end (and totally saw who Stella would end up with from the very beginning), but it also doesn't end perfectly either, which is good.

Theme: I'm terrible at identifying themes. I guess this one is about connections and the ways in which we make our own connections with people in unexpected ways. If so, then the theme was well-developed.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It definitely was written in a way that would appeal to kids. My gripe with it though, was Stella's character. She seemed a little too sensible and responsible to be realistic and that, to me, distracted from the story.

Agree with Amanda here in that the writing was sometimes so beautifully eloquent that it didn't ring true as the voice of a 12 yr old. I kept thinking third person perspective would have worked better for me. Still a great story. Engaging plot.

Here's my review of Summer of the Gypsy Moths: I'm going to give this 4 stars until I give it to a student to read. I really want to hear what he/she would say about the premise. If a student ends up loving it, then I'm giving it 5! I thought it so strange at first, but I LOVED the writing and I ended up LOVING the story! It's certaily a memorable book, and it can be used for a lot of discussion. Favorite lines: "I like to imagine the ties between us as strands of spider silk: practically invisible, maybe, but strong as steel." page 1, and "No, I don't mind any of the broken things. I like to figure out their stories." page 39, and there's a description of a librarian on page 96 that's priceless. Finally, on page 106, "I looked up and down the beach and wondered if maybe everyone could be hiding some big secret. I sank into the warm sand, smiling at the idea of a beach full of people, tied together by their secret-hiding." I love the idea of connectedness that keeps coming up throughout the novel. I loved George, too, as well as both girls. I'm going to add it to my blog post on books about death and loss. I don't think it will win the Newbery because too many people will have trouble with the premise.

What a great review. I am retired so I don't get the feedback from students anymore. I am curious as to how studens react to this book. I loved it, even better than Wonder and The Lions of Little Rock.

This wasn't my favorite so far. I felt like the tone of the book didn't fit the premise and that it could have been the exact same story without the aunt being buried in the back yard or even dying for that matter. I just felt like the author was trying to write a tragic story with a happy ending, but the tragic part just felt forced and unrealistic. Never once did I worry about those girls starving to death, and I wanted to be worried!! I was much more worried about the bills not being paid. I guess I'm more like Stella then Angel...

My daughter and I really liked this one. True it isn't plausible, but so many wonderful books aren't. The part I felt was rather random was Stella tending Katie. I kept thinking that Katie's family would play a bigger role in the story but they were there and gone. In the end I just felt like this part of the story was filler-fluff.

I didn't think that Katie's family was filler. Stella had several meaningful interactions with the family, including feeling like she was competent and in control of her life after getting the gum out of Katie's hair and getting her back from the rainstorm. I don't have the book in front of me, isn't rescuing Katie one of the things that prompts her to go swimming in the dark?

Also, I felt like their very transitoriness added to the story, as if, had they been neighbors or otherwise permanent, then the family would have noticed something was wrong. Part of the reason the girls manage to pull off their ruse is that everyone around them that should/could have figured out that something was off was only around very briefly and entirely wrapped up in their own affairs. I think, sadly, that it is more realistic for the family to have enjoyed Stella's company and services without thinking to inquire further. When I see teens hanging out in the local park day after day, I assume that they're just bored and hanging around, not that they're runaways or have been locked out of the house for the day, or that their home situation is such that they're desperate to be outside and away. It's human nature.

I agree with Ann...I think that Stella's observing Katie and her mother's natural mother/daughter relationship helped her to see that her own relationship with her mother was not normal. In the beginning it seemed that she always felt the need to be her mother's caretaker, but I think that her experiences with Katie's family helped her to realize that she wanted and needed to be taken care of herself. Do you think she would have came to this realization had Katie's family been missing from the story?

Excellent arguments. Thank you both, for helping me to appreciate this part of the story more. I love to get another point of view and really enjoy all the wonderful discussions that we have been having about our monthly books.

I really loved this fun quirky story. The fact that the girls decided to put the body in the garden is part of the charm. Yes, it is a bit unbelievable, but it also bonds the girls and begins their friendship. I was willing to go along because the characters are so likable and somehow I am rooting for them right from the start. Lovely writing.

I thought this was a great book! I'd read a lot of these comments before starting it, and I expected to find the premise unbelievable. But you know, as I was reading the girls' thought process - their slow path to a decision to hide Louise's death - I completely bought it. If they'd decided immediately to hide her body and run the cottages, I wouldn't have believed it.

I agree with others about the importance of Stella observing Katie's family - I think it was a definite step towards Stella realizing that her relationship with her mother wasn't normal.

Apart from that, I found the story lovely in an understated way and think it deserves a solid look by the Newbery committee.

I don't see any reason why it couldn't at least win an honor. I think it is a lot better than Dead End in Norvelt. I didn't really have to suspend belief, either. You knew they would get found out, eventually, and they did. It just took a little while.

Finally, a novel that I can say I loved! I'd read the comments that were posted before I started and was prepared to think it was going to be a bit outlandish. But I found the story believable and totally charming. I need to recheck, but I think the main part of the story takes place over four weeks. In the set up that the author constructed, I found it quite likely that no one would suspect that anything was wrong. Stella is mature because she's had to be. Her descriptive language might seem unusual for a kid her age, but just read a sampling of the letters that are written by readers and published in CRICKET magazine, and you'll be convinced that she's the same kind of kid.

The book is beautifully constructed, has unique characters, and an honest ending. I got the impression early on that George was fairly old and ready to retire, so his part in the ending made sense to me.

But I can understand how some people might not get into this book. However, I'm hoping the Newbery people will appreciate it and give it a chance.