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Jan 6, 2025 | 
slj.com | Lori Henderson |Amanda MacGregor |Steven Engelfried |Emily Mroczek-Bayci
As librarians prepare to celebrate Black History Month this February, the events of the last few years underscore the significance of this occasion. Educators are working hard to close the racially aligned achievement gaps that increased during the global pandemic. Honoring the achievements of Black Americans throughout the nation’s history bolsters the self-esteem of Black youth and can empower them to excel in school.
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Dec 6, 2024 | 
slj.com | Steven Engelfried |Amanda MacGregor |Travis Jonker |Betsy Bird
For more than 40 years, book supplier Children’s Plus, Inc. has been helping librarians do their jobs more effectively by providing personal touches such as shelf-ready processing and complimentary collection development services—and its customers have appreciated this extra attention. Now, Children’s Plus has rebranded as Libraria and launched a new website that will make getting the right books into the hands of readers even easier.
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Dec 2, 2024 | 
heavymedal.slj.com | Steven Engelfried
December is a busy month on Heavy Medal. Soon we’ll have our final list of 15 (or so) titles that make up our official Heavy Medal Book List. We will also assemble our Heavy Medal Award Committee (HMAC)…the call for volunteers happens later this week. Near the end of the month we’ll kick off our in-depth discussion of every book on the HMBL, led by the members of the HMAC. We’re not there yet, though. First, we have to complete our nominations process, and that starts today.
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Nov 25, 2024 | 
heavymedal.slj.com | Steven Engelfried
We’re just a week away from our last round of nominations. Through the first two rounds 162 nominations have been made, spread out among 45 books. But they haven’t been spread out equally, of course. About 60% of the nominations have gone to the top 11 books on the list. At the other end, 19 titles have received just one nomination so far. That’s 42% of the titles. We don’t want to ignore those single-nomination books, though.
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Nov 18, 2024 | 
slj.com | Beth McIntyre |Steven Engelfried |Hilary Tufo |Abby Bussen
Unsung heroes from the past and today's most popular personalities populate this diverse collection of biographies. Pop stars and athletes are among those featured in this season’s biographies. As this is an Olympic year, readers will appreciate reading about some Olympians from the past. Also represented are some notable achievers who were overshadowed by those who became more famous for similar successes. Finally, perennially popular topics such as inventors and activists are included.
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Nov 15, 2024 | 
heavymedal.slj.com | Steven Engelfried
Now we’ve made it through two of our three nomination rounds, we should have a clearer picture of what Heavy Medal readers are seeing as the strongest Newbery contenders. But we don’t. Looking at the list, we have a leader (HANK HOOPERMAN with 15 nominations), but after that, there’s kind of a logjam. 19 different titles have between three and ten nominations. Last year that number was just ten. So over 20 books with solid to strong support, and not much to differentiate them in terms of nominations.
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Nov 13, 2024 | 
heavymedal.slj.com | Steven Engelfried
Every year on Heavy Medal we announce a list of 15 (or so) Mock Newbery finalists: the Heavy Medal Book List (HBML). We’ll discuss those books in exhausting detail in late December and early to mid-January, then Heavy Medal readers and our Heavy Medal Award Committee will vote for winners. But we’re a month or so away from all of that. In preparation, we always identify six titles that will be on that list of 15 (or so) for sure.
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Nov 8, 2024 | 
heavymedal.slj.com | Steven Engelfried
When you look at the “literary qualities” listed in the Newbery Terms and Criteria, “delineation of a setting” can seem like the most straightforward (description of place and time) and the least exciting, compared to characters the jump of the page, twisty-turny plots, or innovative styles. Last year Emily called it “the most underrated criteria,” and I think that’s accurate. Because setting can be really important.
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Nov 1, 2024 | 
heavymedal.slj.com | Steven Engelfried
In a Newbery year, every book published from January through December has an equal chance at winning the Medal. On a Mock Newbery like ours, though, we can’t help but pay a bit more attention to books published earlier in the year. It’s a logistical thing. And the numbers so far back it up:Of the ten books with the most Heavy Medal suggestions, eight were published between January and April. (We gather suggestions between March and the end of August).
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Oct 30, 2024 | 
heavymedal.slj.com | Steven Engelfried
If I had to pick one phrase from the Newbery Terms and Criteria that gets discussed more than any other on blogs like ours (and in the real Committee too, I’d guess), it would be this one: Children are defined as persons of ages up to and including fourteen, and books for this entire age range are to be considered. We tend to think of Newbery books being for grades 4-7 or so, but they can potentially go much younger…or much higher.
