Styling Librarian: Newbery Book Club- Adult Edition Part 1

I have been part in an adult Newbery Club for numerous years and additionally run a student Newbery club for years. What a treasure this experience has been. I enjoyed chatting every few months with library colleagues, both retired and present librarians, about new books from April through October and then running my student Newbery club from October through February. *This picture has only a portion of our book club.

I met recently for the last time, in person, with my my wonderful friends in the adult Newbery club and we had wonderful conversations about life, books and our futures. We had fun talking about books specifically about treasures we’ve read recently, heard about through reviews and additionally chatted about YA books since one of the colleagues in the group was adding that age level into her repertoire for the first time.

Professional connections in my  career are invaluable. I appreciate the colleagues at my school, around my district, friends throughout the state, on Twitter and Facebook inspiring me in addition to Diigo groups and all the amazing bloggers I follow. I read a blog the other day that got me quite excited. It was about a Newbery club that is continuing over the summer with a number of suggested titles. What fun it was to read about her blog and see the suggested book lists- most of the books I’ve read and treasured- and some are actually mentioned below as well!: http://hollymueller.blogspot.com/2012/06/summertime-mock-newbery-club-2013.html

I am inspired and excited when I meet with my friends since I hear about new innovative ideas, new books, and additionally always get new teaching and collaborative ideas every single conversation. I will thoroughly miss these colleagues and hope to keep up with them through this blog-Twitter-Facebook-email… (thank goodness for technology to connect you globally!) and so, I dedicate the rest of this blog post to the books our adult Newbery Club chatted about during our lunch. (Normally after our lunch, we plan another meeting in August/September– I might Skype in depending on the time!! — and we narrow down our favorite Newbery Award possibilities to 16 or so. Then we run the Newbery book club with our students. The students narrow down the books to a smaller number that they agree to read, discuss, review as a group and eventually vote right before the Newbery Award is announced. I usually create a slideshow and movie to promote the books we select, but this year… I’m blogging. Just in case I cannot run a Newbery Award book club with my new students in Hong Kong. Plus, here’s my blog with book trailers, etc.!)

Newbery Book Club favorites presently, we’re hoping these are recognized and acknowledged:

Wonder by R. J. Palacio - We discussed this book, almost all of us raved about the book and one dear wise yet sometimes cynical friend in the group said that she just could not accept the ending. I presently am reading this to my son. He loves it, is enjoying the soundtrack that I have to accompany it, AND has asked to see the book trailer a few times. Personally, I feel like I’ve stepped back into the most beautiful, friendly book. Loving every minute of reading it aloud to him. I purchased a copy for my new school in Hong Kong and also actually invested in the eBook as well. I am reading the book with my son on my iPad and tonight he asked me to make the words really big so that he could read along. I loved accommodating that wish and so there’s one thing for moving and using an eBook reader I suppose, text size adjustment as per request. (I hardly ever buy actual eBooks, I love book apps though!)

 

The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate – I cannot wait to read this to students this coming year! I think it will provide us with some amazing discussions. I was quite excited to see that this book was just selected (accompanied by Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White) for Global Read Aloud Selections for the coming year- such wonderful books! http://www.globalreadaloud.com/2012/07/and-official-books-for-2012-are.html

Same Sun Here by Silas House - I’ve seen some reviews about this book, now on my TBR pile since a few wonderful book advisor friends spoke highly of it!

One for the Murphys by Lynda Mullaly Hunt – How I adore this book. I would love to create some time to revisit the home, characters, and reread this beautiful story. I cannot wait to share this book with students this fall. I blogged about it already here:  http://thestylinglibrarian.com/2012/07/09/styling-librarian-what-are-you-reading-7912/

See You At Harry’s by Jo Knowles - I adored this book, even when I felt like I was punched in the stomach partway through, it lifted me back up on and off throughout the story and I feel like this book helped me grow as a person. Beautiful. Blogged about it more on my Realistic Fiction books that touched my heart post: http://thestylinglibrarian.com/2012/07/07/styling-librarian-top-10-realistic-fiction-favorites-that-touched-my-heart/

Chuck Close Face Book by Chuck Close – I was so excited to pick up this book from the library right after the Newbery club meeting, felt like perfect timing. Pouring over the book was quite gratifying as well since it contains utter brilliance in addition to quite the uplifting story. Talk about perseverance from an amazingly talented person! I also appreciated how Chuck Close answered questions, explained his artistic process, provided candid ideas on creation, and overall made an appealing book that I know many readers will thoroughly enjoy. This book is a notable one!

Capture the Flag by Kate Messner – I CANNOT WAIT to read this book. Only heard wonderful things for months with people who had advanced readers copies, ARCs, of the book… I’m in anticipation since I adored other books by Kate Messner recently. Kate Messner has a fantastic blog that I believe all literature focused educators should visit and have fun reading, she inspires me with her writing book club this summer for teachers and librarians… with my Hong Kong move, I’ve realized I just have to prioritize soon but not presently my personal writing goals (writing this blog is getting me in shape!) http://www.katemessner.com/capture-the-flag/

*Picture, and title- forthcoming…

Gary D. Schmidt has a new book release coming this fall. We are excited. We all agreed that we think he is full of brilliance. We adored Okay for Now this past year. We never have a meeting without talking about him. (No complaints).

Liar and Spy by Rebecca Stead – We are quite excited about this book and dream of getting a copy of the ARC.

The Great Unexpected by Sharon Creech – We are also quite excited about this book and cannot wait to read it!

Starry River of the Sky by Grace Lin – Two of us had the luck of reading ARCs of this brilliant beautiful treasure of a book and cannot wait to promote it this fall (and purchase the copy with complete illustrations throughout). We adore Grace Lin. One of the librarians was able to coordinate a visit with Grace Lin this year, I was quite jealous and almost left school for an hour to run over to my friend’s school to listen to one of Grace Lin’s class presentations… but alas, work refocused me. I always have the wonderful Skype visit my student Newbery Club organized a few years ago (along with visiting via Skype with a number of other schools from my Adult Newbery Club), Grace Lin was so generous with her time, RIGHT AFTER she won the Newbery Honor for Where the Mountain Meets the Moon!

Glory Be by Augusta Scattergood – I already blogged about this book. A number of us all agreed that this was one fantastic Historical Fiction book. We agreed it was powerful to hand to readers. http://thestylinglibrarian.com/2012/03/07/styling-librarian-favorite-books-for-march-2012/

Favorites that we don’t think will win a Newbery Award but we want to acknowledge and had fun chatting about:

When Life Gives You O.J. by Erica S. Perl - I’ve blogged about this book numerous times and just want to say, I adore this book. Blogged about here: http://thestylinglibrarian.com/2012/07/07/styling-librarian-top-10-realistic-fiction-favorites-that-touched-my-heart/

Fake Mustache by Tom Angleberger – Ready for hilarity? Fabulous characters? A FANTASTIC read aloud? Pick up this book! I blogged about the fantastic author Tom Angelberger a few months ago - http://thestylinglibrarian.com/2012/04/11/styling-librarian-amazing-sharing-from-authors-part-2/

The Mighty Miss Malone by Christopher Paul Curtis - We all agreed that this was a powerful book. A few of us agreed that we wanted to go read Bud, Not Buddy again after reading The Mighty Miss Malone!

Thanks for visiting books with us, I will post soon about the YA titles we chatted about!

Want more book ideas and reviews? – Yes, I’m quite brief, but a prolific reader!  Please visit me at Goodreads:

http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1941055-the-styling-librarian

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