I just realized that we haven’t sufficiently noted that the most coveted award in American children’s books was won by Mr. Neil Gaiman who lives somewhere in or around the Twin Cities. Given his rockstar status, I have mixed feelings. As I was saying to a Booklist reviewer just before we went in to the awards announcements… Oh, did I mention I was there when they announced it? Yep, I was… as I said to a Booklist reviewer before we went into the room, the Newbery and Caldecott awards can make careers but not really break them, but while other long toiling and unappreciated children’s book authors would have been unbelievably happy to win, Gaiman seems to have barely known he was up for the thing.
Discussion lists among writers are already speculating that the award committee is tired of being told that they are out of touch, that they pick boring stuffy books that nobody wants to read, and so went with a bestseller to prove they’re, you know, cool. I myself haven’t read it, but think the guy is incredibly talented and probably deserves it, even if he doesn’t need it.
11 Reader Comments
1:33 pm
Which reminds me, I want to do MnRead again once I get through a little thick patch here… like maybe in March… and this would be a nice short/fun one to do. Let me know if you’re interested. I also still want to do House on Sugar Beach, but will wait for it to be out in paperback.
2:23 pm
But where does he live? We must know! Is it a mansion in Kenwood? A loft in the warehouse district? A decrepit grand house near the MIA? These are things we (me) need to know! I am not a stalker.
4:41 pm
I like for that to be part of the mystery. Maybe one day I’ll just walk into my neighborhood butcher shop and he’ll be there, eyeing the shanks.
9:26 pm
We were lucky enough to have a quick chat with Neil about his social media success story yesterday, following his Newbery win.
You can listen to it here:
http://tinyurl.com/c6syjm
5:58 am
They don’t announce nominees, do they? So it kinda makes sense that he didn’t know he was up for it. Especially as it’s an american award and there were some questions as to whether he was eligible that he mentioned a while back on his blog.
6:04 am
@kurtis
We have a neighborhood butcher shop?
6:30 am
There shouldn’t have been any question about eligibility since Susan Cooper and Hugh Lofting have already won it.
6:32 am
No, they don’t announce a short list. He might not have known his book was considered a likely choice for at least a Newbery Honor.
6:34 am
Bix, the butcher shop is on Dickens Avenue right between the bakery and the sweet shop, across the street from the fishmongers. I’m surprised you haven’t seen it.
11:41 am
The Newbery Medal is given to “the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.”
No the author who deserves it because no one knows about them. The award should be given out based on quality alone and should be blind to success or obscurity.
11:44 am
BTW: the interesting thing is Neil is now the second current Minneapolis resident to have a Newbery, Kate DiCamillo also lives in Minneapolis.