Newbery Awards Announced--Shannon Hale's Included!

[Parker]

Shannon Hale won a Newbery Honor this morning.  Very big news.  For those of you who don't know her, she's a local--got her BA at the U, then went to get her MFA at . . . Montana?  That's what I want to say, but it might be wrong.  Some place with an "M" name.  Anyway, she's written about 4 YA novels, I believe.  Goose Girl was her most well known one thus far, and it's the only one I've read as of yet, but I enjoyed it immensely.  Shannon comes to local cons, as well--she was at CONduit last year, and she's going to a writing conference at Westminster in the summer.  Check out her webpage here--I especially liked the blog entry for today.

http://www.squeetus.com

And if you're interested in the rest of the ALA winners, go to the link here:

http://news.ala.org/releases/announce.html

[stacer]

Her MFA was in Montana, yes. And she's going to be at CONduit again this year, and was at LTUE last year, too.

[Shrain]

Very neat! I met her--briefly--at LTUE.

I really liked her blog. Imagine such a call at 5am. I'd get all choked up too. I especially liked this detail: "They clapped for me on the phone, on speaker phone, as I sat in bed in my flannel pajamas at 5-something in the morning. That was perhaps one of the most magical and strange and ethereal moments of my life." Wow.

[Chimera]

My favorite blog quote was this:

Deb called, my friend and publicity director at Bloomsbury, and we laughed and shook together, and she told me people would be calling me (they haven't yet. Who will they be? And how will they get my number?).

When I heard about this I was ecstatic. I love Shannon Hale's books, and winning a Newbery--even an honor--is huge in the Children's/YA world. This means that Princess Academy will NEVER go out of print, and all her other books will most likely stay in print as well, because once you get a Newbery it really is like you are a celebrity. All the libraries pick it up and teacher's are more likely to use your book in class or recommend it. Your place in print is assured.

And this couldn't have happened to a nicer person (I've also met Shannon at cons--she's great), or a better writer. All three of her books are fantastic--she deserves this. So, yay Shannon!

[Chimera]

Sorry to post twice, but I wanted to add some stuff about Princess Academy.

It's hard for me to pick a favorite Shannon Hale book. All three--Goose Girl, Enna Burning, and The Princess Academy--are great. They each have different strengths and weaknesses (though, admittedly, I like them so much I'd be hard-pressed to find weaknesses). That said, Princess Academy reminds me of Holes by Louis Sachar. After I read Holes I declared, "This is a perfect novel." By "perfect" I do not mean that it was the best book I'd ever read (although it is one of my favorites), I meant that it was so tightly written and came together perfectly. Nothing was superflous. Everything had meaning. Everything tied together--there were no loose ends. It was perfectly plotted and perfectly executed. And The Princess Academy is like that.

Princes Academy is MG (middle-grade) instead of YA like her previous two books--the protagonist is 14, so that means it is geared at readers the age of 10-12. And it is also perfectly plotted and executed. Again, as in Holes, everything has meaning. There are no loose ends--the plot is tight. Even the magic system is done right--it arises from the characters and setting and is used correctly to facilitate the plot and resolution without being a deus ex machina. And, like in all her books, the characters are well-drawn. So I highly recommend this book. Read it! Buy it! Support Shannon!  

[stacer]

This means that Princess Academy will NEVER go out of print...

Not necessarily. A number of earlier Newbery winners have gone out of print, but I'll say that they went out of print because they were boring. Irene Hunt's Up A Road Slowly, for example. I remember loving it as a kid. Couldn't find it as an adult (though her Across Five Aprils is still in print and used in classrooms for Civil War units, as it should, because it is a great book). I complained, I tried to find it through the library, and finally found a copy, only to discover that it's preachy and boring. No wonder people lost interest in it.

So, you're right: Princess Academy will never go out of print because both that it's a Newbery Honor and that it's a good book.