Web Extras

Before she was a member of this year's Newbery committee, executive editor Martha Parravano raised some questions about "what a Newbery book should be" in this well-reasoned 1999 article.

Brian Selznick

In addition to reviews of Caldecott medalist Brian Selznick’s work, read Roger Sutton’s editorial about Hugo Cabret. Also, relive the excitement of the award announcement with our Caldecott podcast.

This year's winner expanded our view of what a picture book is. In a 1986 editorial, Anita Silvey posed the thought-provoking query: Could Randolph Caldecott Win the Caldecott?

Sweet Valley High

Amy Pattee’s second look at the Sweet Valley High series brings back past debate about series fiction. In an editorial from 1982, Ethel Heins took aim at the notion that the Nancy Drew books were great literature. Five years later, however, scholar Anne Scott MacLeod wrote a two-part article for the Horn Book comparing Nancy Drew and her many imitators. Part I explains how the imitators came up short, and Part II concerns what made Nancy Drew so special.

More recently, learn why Philip Crawford thinks these books are valuable for resistant readers and why John Green hates the Hardy Boys (but loves the Baby-sitters Club).

Pictures for Older Readers

Jonathan Hunt discusses the trend of picture books for older readers, a topic former Horn Booker Karen Jameyson brought to our attention over ten years ago in her "News from Down Under" column. For more on storytelling through pictures, browse our graphic novels primer with articles, websites, and suggested further reading.

More articles by Jonathan Hunt: Redefining the Young Adult Novel (March/April 2007) and Epic Fantasy Meets Sequel Prejudice (November/December 2007).

Web Extras archive