In case you’re wondering, BOB contenders fared pretty well at the YMAs. I’m sure some of you think we may have had the inside track on the Newbery with Roxanne being on the committee and all, but I can assure you that was not the case.
BOMB . . . This title now becomes the most decorated book of the year with the Sibert Medal, Nonfiction Award, and Newbery Honor in addition to being a National Book Award finalist.
CODE NAME VERITY . . . This one got a Printz Honor. Many were surprised that it didn’t win the Award outright, but SERAPHINA and THE FAULT IN OUR STARS which both also got six starred reviews were shut out of the Printz line-up entirely.
THE FAULT IN OUR STARS . . . This one got the Odyssey Award. Not the award most people were predicting for this book, but it gets a second chance here.
MOONBIRD and TITANIC . . . This pair joined BOMB in being recognized by both the Sibert and Nonfiction committees.
NO CRYSTAL STAIR . . . I had it penciled in as the Coretta Scott King Award, but an Honor is almost quite as good–and it did win the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award.
THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN . . . Can this one escape the dreaded Newbery curse here at BOB?
SERAPHINA . . . I think this is the strongest book to ever win the Morris Award–and I thought there was a legitimate chance to repeat the Morris/Printz win of WHERE THINGS COME BACK.
SPLENDORS AND GLOOMS and THREE TIMES LUCKY . . . This pair of Newbery Honor books play to specific audiences–and if the judges happen to be fans of these books–either one could go quite far.
The following BOB contenders got no YMA love bombs: ENDANGERED, LIAR & SPY, WONDER, STARRY RIVER OF THE SKY, TEMPLE GRANDIN, and JEPP, WHO DEFIED THE STARS. But maybe they should have?
–Commentator Jonathan Hunt
