Readers frequently ask where E. L. Konigsburg, my mother, gets her ideas. I’ll tell. Although Mom can detect the most subtle nuance in painting or prose, she never developed a musical ear. Knowing that, my brother Paul purchased several classical records and proceeded to give her a course in music appreciation. It is not surprising [...]
Newbery Award Acceptance by Elaine L. Konigsburg
April 23, 2013 By Leave a Comment
You see before you today a grateful convert from chemistry. Grateful that I converted and grateful that you have labeled the change successful. The world of chemistry, too, is thankful; it is a neater and safer place since I left. This conversion was not so difficult as some others I have gone through. The transformation [...]
Go visit Nina and Jonathan
September 13, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Sequelitis
July 6, 2012 By 4 Comments
I was out for a run the morning of the 4th when a squadron of Blue Angels came zooming across the sky in formation. The contrast between the Olmsted-ordered beauty of my surroundings (see above, near Ward’s Pond in Jamaica Plain) and the high-tech menace above made me feel like I was in The Giver. [...]
Newbery 2012: The Year in Words
July 5, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Newbery speculation is alive and healthy, with even the mock awards receiving national news coverage (and with the USA Today reporter who interviewed me also confiding that his fifth-grade son was participating in one). Happily, the growing din of the buzz doesn’t seem to affect the pleasure of the surprise at the award press conference. [...]
2012 ALA Round-Up
June 29, 2012 By Leave a Comment
For those suffering from ALA withdrawal—or envy!—here’s the Horn Book’s take on this year’s events. For even more, check out the July/August 2012 issue of The Horn Book Magazine. Roger Sutton’s Live Five interviews and blog posts about them—videos coming soon! (We’ll let you know when they’re up.) Profile of Newbery Award winner Jack Gantos [...]
Jack Gantos: Seriously Funny
June 28, 2012 By 2 Comments
Jack Gantos knocks people out with his comedy. Literally. I know of two speaking gigs where he has done so. In each instance, Jack was riffing away in the spotlight at the front of a school auditorium, wowing the crowd with a spoken rendition of his short story “Purple” from Jack’s New Power: Stories from [...]
The Search for Distinguished
June 18, 2012 By 2 Comments
In a much talked about opinion piece published in School Library Journal in 2008, former Horn Book editor Anita Silvey asked, “Has the Newbery lost its way?” She made it clear that she thought it had, after interviewing “more than 100 people—including media specialists, children’s librarians, teachers, and booksellers—in 15 states across the country.” A [...]
Well, this bites
April 1, 2012 By 15 Comments
Here at the Horn Book we’ve gotten used to publishers sending us off-the-wall books. But this week even we were taken aback when we lifted the flap of a box and found this volume sitting on top of the stack: As Bertha [...]
