Kathleen Odean’s Newbery Banquet Comments
Linda Sue Park
(photo by Sonya Sones)
Good evening. Welcome to the presentation of the 2002 John Newbery Medal, awarded for excellence in literature for children. Whenever I attend this banquet, I feel something magical in a room where so many people present — librarians, authors, illustra tors, booksellers, editors and others in publishing — spend their lives trying to get good books into the hands of children. Many of us are here because books changed our lives, and we want to pass that gift on to children through our work.
The year 2001 was a tragic one for our country and the world, and we will feel its effects for a long time to come. After September 11th, I was struck by how quickly parents, teachers, and journalists turned to librarians for books to help children. And we could indeed respond because of the great selection of children’s books we have to draw from. Books that give children courage and hope, books with heartwarming stories and heroes. Books that can make a difference in their lives, even when life is at its most difficult.
In our year of extensive reading, the Newbery Committee found a wealth of wonderful books that we read and thought about and re-read and discussed (and re-read) in our daunting but rewarding pursuit of the best. I want to say thank you to the fourteen other members of the 2002 Newbery committee for your dedication and lively discussions. You were surely the best committee a chair could have, and I am grateful for your hard work, insight, consideration, camaraderie, and–of course–your wonderful sense of humor. I will never forget our experience together. Please stand as I call your names. Please hold your applause until I have named the entire committee:
Patty Carleton, St. Louis Public Library, Missouri;
Lisa Falk, Los Angeles Public Library, California;
Roxanne Feldman, The Dalton School, New York City;
Sharon Harvey, Hilton Head Elementary School, South Carolina ;
JoAnn Jonas, Chula Vista Public Library, California;
Jeri Kladder, Columbus Metropolitan Library, Ohio;
Vaunda Nelson, Rio Rancho Public Library, New Mexico;
Gail Nordstrom, Stillwater Public Library, Minnesota;
Elizabeth Overmyer, Berkeley Public Library, California;
Ken Setterington, Toronto Public Library, Ontario, Canada;
Louise Sherman, Leonia, New Jersey;
Vicky Smith, MacArthur Library, South Portland, Maine;
Deborah Taylor, Enoch Pratt Free Library, Baltimore, MD;
Junko Yokota, National-Louis University, Evanston, Illinois.
Thank you.
We were fortunate to get support from outside the committee throughout the year. Priority chair Jan Moltzan and ALSC President Carole Fiore helped us to determine eligibility questions. Previous chairs Ellen Fader, and K.T. Horning started us out on the right foot. The ever-helpful staff at the ALSC office answered our calls and kept us on target. Thanks to all of you.
The Newbery Medal is awarded by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the author of the most distinguished contribution to literature for children published in the United States during the previous year. There are no limitations other than that the book be an original work by a citizen or resident of the United States.
In addition to selecting the Newbery winner, the committee may also cite other distinguished books as Honor Books. These books are not runners-up. They are recognized for their excellence and contribution to children’s literature. This year the committee selected two Honor books. In alphabetical order by author, they are:
Everything on a Waffle
by Polly Horvath. Published by Farrar Straus Giroux. Margaret Ferguson, Editor.
When Primrose Squarp’s parents are lost at sea, her faith in their return defies all adult logic. “Haven’t you ever just known something deep in your heart without reason?” she asks more than once in the months that follow. The eleven-year-old chronicles her new living situations with a sharp, but sympathetic, eye as she moves from the care of one quirky adult to another. She finds refuge at The Girl on the Red Swing, a restaurant in her small Canadian town where everything is served on a waffle, and she collects recipes, recorded in a tongue-in-cheek style at the end of each chapter. Surprising plot twists combine with laugh-aloud humor to create a tru ly memorable novel.
Polly Horvath, for a wise and witty story with a cast of original characters, and especially for giving us the fresh voice of Primrose Squarp, please stand and accept a 2002 Newbery Honor citation for Everything on a Waffle.
Carver: A Life in Poems
by Marilyn Nelson. Published by Front Street, Steven Roxburgh, editor.
This creative collection of 59 poems celebrates the life and work of George Washington Carver, revealing him to be far more complex and remarkable than many of us knew. With sophistication and beauty, the biography goes beyond Carver’s brilliant scientific accomplishments to reveal the essence of a great man. The poems, told from shifting perspectives, weave together images from botany, astronomy, religion, art, and other strands of Carver’s multi-faceted life. His fascination with learning and teaching, his deep faith, and his belief in the possibilities of humanity emerge as the forces that shaped him and with which he helped to shape the world around him. At the same time, the poems address issues of racism with power and poignancy that cannot fail to move its readers.
Marilyn Nelson, for breathtakingly beautiful poems shaped into a unique biography, please stand and accept a 2002 Newbery Honor citation for Carver: A Life in Poems.
The winner of the 2002 Newbery Medal is Linda Sue Park for her book, A Single Shard. Published by Clarion Books. Dinah Stevenson, editor.
In a 12th-century Korean village, twelve-year-old Tree-Ear, a homeless orphan, counts the days blessed when he and his kind friend Crane-Man have enough to eat. Yet even in the midst of his daily struggle to survive, Tree-Ear cannot resist the pull of beauty and art. When he admires a piece of pottery and breaks it by mistake, the boy unknowingly sets himself on the path to becoming a potter, apprenticed to the impatient master potter, Min. After months of drudgery and discouraging setbacks as he painstakingly learns each step in his chosen craft, Tree-Ear embarks on a journey to take Min’s pottery to the Royal Court, a journey which takes him far from home to a dramatic moment of decision that will change his future. Lyrical passages describe the process of turning rough clay into exquisite pottery, while precise language with perfectly chosen imagery draws us into Tree-Ear\rquote s compelling coming-of-age story.
Linda Sue Park, for giving us an extraordinary story of courage and hope, and for so beautifully celebrating the power of transformation in art and in the life of a child, it is my great privilege and pleasure to present you with the 2002 Newbery Medal for A Single Shard.
In the green forest
A sparkling, bright blue pond hides.
And animals drink.
—Trailblazer magazine, Winter 1969
For this poem she was paid one whole dollar. She gave the check to her dad for Christmas. About a year later the company wrote to her asking her to cash the check! Linda Sue wrote back explaining that it was now framed and hung above her dad’s desk and was it okay if he kept it? The magazine said it was fine, and her dad still has that check.
During elementary school and high school, Linda Sue had several more poems published in magazines for children and young people. She went to Stanford University, competed for the gymnastics team, and graduated with a degree in English. Then she took a job as a public-relations writer for a major oil company. This was not exactly the kind of writing she wanted to do, but it did teach her to present her work professionally and that an interested writer can make any subject fascinating (well, almost any subject …).
In 1983, after two years with the oil company, Linda Sue left her job and moved to Dublin when a handsome Irishman swept her off her feet. She studied literature, moved to London, worked for an advertising agency, married that Irishman, had a baby, taught English as a second language to college students, worked as a food journalist, and had another baby. It was a busy time, and she never even thought about writing children’s books.
In 1990, she and her family moved back to the U.S. because of her husband’s job. Linda Sue continued teaching English to foreign students. It took her quite a while, but she finally realized that what she really wanted to do was to write books for children. In 1997, she started writing her first book, Seesaw Girl. It was accepted that same year and published in 1999.
Since then, Linda Sue has published many other books for young people, including A Single Shard, which was awarded the 2002 Newbery Medal.
She now lives in western New York with the same Irishman; their son lives nearby, and their daughter lives in Brooklyn. Besides reading and writing, Linda Sue likes to cook, travel, watch movies, and do the New York Times crossword puzzle. She also loves dogs, watching sports on television and playing board and video games. When she grows up, she would like to be an elephant scientist.
Kathleen Odean’s Newbery Banquet Comments
Photo by Sonya Sones
Good evening. Welcome to the presentation of the 2002 John Newbery Medal, awarded for excellence in literature for children. Whenever I attend this banquet, I feel something magical in a room where so many people present — librarians, authors, illustra tors, booksellers, editors and others in publishing — spend their lives trying to get good books into the hands of children. Many of us are here because books changed our lives, and we want to pass that gift on to children through our work.
The year 2001 was a tragic one for our country and the world, and we will feel its effects for a long time to come. After September 11th, I was struck by how quickly parents, teachers, and journalists turned to librarians for books to help children. And we could indeed respond because of the great selection of children’s books we have to draw from. Books that give children courage and hope, books with heartwarming stories and heroes. Books that can make a difference in their lives, even when life is at its most difficult.
In our year of extensive reading, the Newbery Committee found a wealth of wonderful books that we read and thought about and re-read and discussed (and re-read) in our daunting but rewarding pursuit of the best. I want to say thank you to the fourteen other members of the 2002 Newbery committee for your dedication and lively discussions. You were surely the best committee a chair could have, and I am grateful for your hard work, insight, consideration, camaraderie, and–of course–your wonderful sense of humor. I will never forget our experience together. Please stand as I call your names. Please hold your applause until I have named the entire committee:
Patty Carleton, St. Louis Public Library, Missouri;
Lisa Falk, Los Angeles Public Library, California;
Roxanne Feldman, The Dalton School, New York City;
Sharon Harvey, Hilton Head Elementary School, South Carolina ;
JoAnn Jonas, Chula Vista Public Library, California;
Jeri Kladder, Columbus Metropolitan Library, Ohio;
Vaunda Nelson, Rio Rancho Public Library, New Mexico;
Gail Nordstrom, Stillwater Public Library, Minnesota;
Elizabeth Overmyer, Berkeley Public Library, California;
Ken Setterington, Toronto Public Library, Ontario, Canada;
Louise Sherman, Leonia, New Jersey;
Vicky Smith, MacArthur Library, South Portland, Maine;
Deborah Taylor, Enoch Pratt Free Library, Baltimore, MD;
Junko Yokota, National-Louis University, Evanston, Illinois.
Thank you.
We were fortunate to get support from outside the committee throughout the year. Priority chair Jan Moltzan and ALSC President Carole Fiore helped us to determine eligibility questions. Previous chairs Ellen Fader, and K.T. Horning started us out on the right foot. The ever-helpful staff at the ALSC office answered our calls and kept us on target. Thanks to all of you.
The Newbery Medal is awarded by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the author of the most distinguished contribution to literature for children published in the United States during the previous year. There are no limitations other than that the book be an original work by a citizen or resident of the United States.
In addition to selecting the Newbery winner, the committee may also cite other distinguished books as Honor Books. These books are not runners-up. They are recognized for their excellence and contribution to children’s literature. This year the committee selected two Honor books. In alphabetical order by author, they are:
Everything on a Waffle
by Polly Horvath. Published by Farrar Straus Giroux. Margaret Ferguson, Editor.
When Primrose Squarp’s parents are lost at sea, her faith in their return defies all adult logic. “Haven’t you ever just known something deep in your heart without reason?” she asks more than once in the months that follow. The eleven-year-old chronicles her new living situations with a sharp, but sympathetic, eye as she moves from the care of one quirky adult to another. She finds refuge at The Girl on the Red Swing, a restaurant in her small Canadian town where everything is served on a waffle, and she collects recipes, recorded in a tongue-in-cheek style at the end of each chapter. Surprising plot twists combine with laugh-aloud humor to create a tru ly memorable novel.
Polly Horvath, for a wise and witty story with a cast of original characters, and especially for giving us the fresh voice of Primrose Squarp, please stand and accept a 2002 Newbery Honor citation for Everything on a Waffle.
Carver: A Life in Poems
by Marilyn Nelson. Published by Front Street, Steven Roxburgh, editor.
This creative collection of 59 poems celebrates the life and work of George Washington Carver, revealing him to be far more complex and remarkable than many of us knew. With sophistication and beauty, the biography goes beyond Carver’s brilliant scientific accomplishments to reveal the essence of a great man. The poems, told from shifting perspectives, weave together images from botany, astronomy, religion, art, and other strands of Carver’s multi-faceted life. His fascination with learning and teaching, his deep faith, and his belief in the possibilities of humanity emerge as the forces that shaped him and with which he helped to shape the world around him. At the same time, the poems address issues of racism with power and poignancy that cannot fail to move its readers.
Marilyn Nelson, for breathtakingly beautiful poems shaped into a unique biography, please stand and accept a 2002 Newbery Honor citation for Carver: A Life in Poems.
The winner of the 2002 Newbery Medal is Linda Sue Park for her book, A Single Shard. Published by Clarion Books. Dinah Stevenson, editor.
In a 12th-century Korean village, twelve-year-old Tree-Ear, a homeless orphan, counts the days blessed when he and his kind friend Crane-Man have enough to eat. Yet even in the midst of his daily struggle to survive, Tree-Ear cannot resist the pull of beauty and art. When he admires a piece of pottery and breaks it by mistake, the boy unknowingly sets himself on the path to becoming a potter, apprenticed to the impatient master potter, Min. After months of drudgery and discouraging setbacks as he painstakingly learns each step in his chosen craft, Tree-Ear embarks on a journey to take Min’s pottery to the Royal Court, a journey which takes him far from home to a dramatic moment of decision that will change his future. Lyrical passages describe the process of turning rough clay into exquisite pottery, while precise language with perfectly chosen imagery draws us into Tree-Ear\rquote s compelling coming-of-age story.
Linda Sue Park, for giving us an extraordinary story of courage and hope, and for so beautifully celebrating the power of transformation in art and in the life of a child, it is my great privilege and pleasure to present you with the 2002 Newbery Medal for A Single Shard.