| From
the March/April 2001 issue of The Horn Book Magazine
Editorial
And Baby Makes Three
 n
this occasion of the fifth anniversary of my first Horn Book
editorial, I ask readers’ indulgence for returning to the
same topic. That editorial, “News and the Newbery” (March/April
1996 Horn Book), defended the right of the press and the
public to query the various book award committees (Newbery, etc.)
and their governing bodies (ALA’s Association for Library
Services to Children, etc.) on their choices, standards, and rules.
Following is a question about all three.
Have a look at Kitty Flynn’s review of Emily
Jenkins and Tomek Bogacki’s Five Creatures (page
197), and you’ll get a feel for the quandary that ALSC presents.
Sparked by a Venn diagram, Five Creatures explores the
similarities and distinctions among a mom, a dad, a kid, and their
two cats. ALSC, for its part, presents us with three creatures:
the Newbery Medal, the Caldecott Medal, and the newly established
Sibert Medal, established in order to recognize annually the U.S.
author of “the most distinguished informational book”
published for children. Given the Newbery’s spotty track record
in recognizing nonfiction, the Sibert was welcomed, but Venn-diagramming
the situation is giving me a headache. All Sibert contenders are
also eligible for the Newbery. Some New-bery contenders are eligible
for the Sibert, and/or the Caldecott. This situation is complicated
by the fact that ALSC gives these awards to the authors of these
books — the illustrator(s) in the case of the Caldecott —
rather than to the book itself. So we have the rather interesting
possibility that So You Want to Be President?, which won
the Caldecott Medal this year for illustrator David Small, could
have also snared the Sibert for author Judith St. George.
The Caldecott has been lambasted thoroughly enough
for not giving equal honor to author and illustrator that I don’t
feel the need to do so again here; let’s just say that I feel
the same should hold true for the Sibert. More troubling to me is
the complete lack of overlap between the three lists of winners
and honor books, particularly between Newbery and Sibert, because
they both purport to honor authors of the “most distinguished”
books for children. However inadvertently it was decided, what does
it mean when ALSC sends the message that Marc Aronson’s Sir
Walter Ralegh is the best informational book for children published
in 2001, but doesn’t find the book good enough to find a place
among the Newbery honors (all realistic fiction this year)?
Where do all the prizes go?, Milton Meltzer famously
asked twenty-five years ago in these pages. I’m pleased to
see Mr. Meltzer receiving his due as this year’s Laura Ingalls
Wilder medalist, but I’m not sure his call for more respect
for nonfiction is answered by the addition of the Sibert Medal to
the ALSC family of award-winners. It’s nice to see fourteen
different titles afforded the publicity a medal or honor citation
brings. But unless we see some overlap among the honorees, the significance
of each medal is diminished, particularly when the distinction made
between them is akin to that between best in breed and best in show.
This is not a dilemma that can be resolved by mandates from on high
or collusion among committees. It is instead a matter of each award
jury embracing the breadth of its charge and an ecumenical understanding
of the word distinguished.
• • •
As fuel for the perennial medal debates, the Horn
Book, Inc., is very pleased to announce the publication of The
Newbery & Caldecott Medal Books 1986–2000: A Comprehensive
Guide to the Winners. A continuation of the Horn Book’s
series (some volumes of which are still available from us), this
latest volume is coauthored by the Horn Book and ALSC and published
by the American Library Association. It includes the speeches and
profiles as originally published in The Horn Book Magazine,
our reviews of the winners as well as Booklist’s,
and essays by Kathleen T. Horning (on the Newbery), Maria B. Salvadore
(on the Caldecott), and Roger Sutton (on the also-rans). Go to www.ala.org/editions
for ordering information.
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