Down on Ninth Street
6.29.2006
2004 Book Awards.
2004 Book Awards. I've looked very carefully over the lists of books for 204 and handed out the following awards. To keep the awards from getting repetative, the rule is that no book can win twice. For example, JM Barrie and the Lost Boys really should have won for Best Overall, but it had already won for Best Barrie Biography and couldn't win again. I wrote comments for those I felt like commenting on.
Overall Best Book of 2004: Peter and Wendy, by J.M. Barrie. There was no contest. From the day I saw PJ Hogan's Peter Pan in a movie theater on January 2, to the day I celebrated Peter Pan's 100th birthday on December 27 -- the play premiered in London on December 27, 1904 -- the boy who wouldn't grow up was an important part of 2004. I learned more about Peter and the beautiful, bizarre story behind his creation than I had ever expected to, and this book -- the prose version of the play, published by Barrie in 1911 -- was the one that started it all.
Overall Worst Book of 2004: Kissing Doorknobs, by Terry Spencer Hesser. This was one of the last books I read in 2004, and it was phenomenally bad that I couldn't stop reading it. A severe case of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder makes life unbearably tedious for the narrator Tara, just as Terry Spencer Hesser's severe lack of talent makes the book unbearably tedious for her audience. This book is full of undeveloped cardboard characters and really boring narration, as well as a plot that moves at a snail's pace and a serious disorder that deserves a much better book.
Best Newberry: The View From Saturday, by E.L. Konigsburg. This book, which won the Newberry in 1997, tells the story of four misfit sixth-graders -- Noah, Nadia, Ethan, and Julian, who call themselves "The Souls" -- who are all chosen for the quiz bowl team by their paraplegic teacher. Their championship quiz bowl match is interspersed with glimpses into the kids's daily lives, which include lessons about the importance of afternoon tea, the life cycles of sea turtles, the appeal of operas and English accents, and learning to accept things like divorce, death, and disability. The only fault I could find in this book was the instant connection and unity between The Souls, which felt a little unrealistic.
Best Newberry Runner-Up: Crispin: The Cross of Lead, by Avi. This fast-paced book, which won the Newberry in 2003, tells the story of a young boy who is falsely accused of murder after his mother dies and must run for his life from the tiny feudal village where he's always lived. As he flees across Medeival Europe, he makes his first real friend (a gentle giant juggler named Bear) learns sweet and sobering lessons about life and the world around him, and discovers his true identity.
Worst Newberry: Missing May, by Cynthia Rylant.
Worst Newberry Runner-Up: Sounder, by William H. Armstrong.
Best School-Required Book: A Yellow Raft in Blue Water, by Michael Dorris.
Best School-Required Book Runner-Up: Anything You Say Can and Will be Used Against You, by Laurie Lynn Drummond. When one of the students in my English class asked our professor if she would be teaching it again next year, she said, "Well, of course. Did anybody not like that book?"
Worst School-Required Book: The Wailing Wind, by Tony Hillerman.
Worst School-Required Book Runner-Up: A Window Facing West, by John S. Tarlton.
Best Barrie Biography: J.M. Barrie and the Lost Boys, by Andrew Birkin. Words simply cannot describe how beautifully and brilliantly this book chronicles the lives of JM Barrie and his adopted children, the Llewelyn Davies brothers. Mr. Birkin's truly honest and dedicated research -- including hours of interviews with the youngest brother, Nicholas Llewelyn Davies, and countless letters to other friends and family -- and it shows on every captivating and beautifully illustrated page. I will always be grateful to Mr. Birkin for sharing Barrie's story, and for sharing his own (his deeply touching story about his son Anno in the introduction). This book continues to teach me so much about learning to accept growing up and growing old.
Best Barrie Biography Runner-Up: J.M. Barrie: The Man Behind the Image, by Janet Dunbar. This biography isn't as touching or as well-written as Andrew Birkin's, but it is more informative in some respects. Birkin's biography stops rather suddenly at Michael Llewelyn Davies's death in 1921, but Dunbar's continues until Barrie's death in 1937. (Barrie's relationships with Cynthia Asquith and Elizabeth Berger, for example, are almost completely absent from Birkin's book because Barrie didn't meet them until after Michael died.) Dunbar also portrays Barrie in a more negative light than Birkin: whereas he downplays Barrie's faults, she emphasizes them, particularly his heroin use in his old age.
Worst Barrie Biography: J.M. Barrie, by Roger Lancelyn Green. Green is a popular children's author, and I've heard wonderful things about his book Fifty Years of Peter Pan (although I have yet to read it myself, unfortunately), but he shouldn't have bothered to write this little pamphlet on Barrie.
Worst Barrie Biography Runner-Up: James M. Barrie, by Harry M. Geduld. This one lost me when the author claimed that the cold window glass between Peter Pan and the Darling nursery was symbolic of the frozen lake that killed 13-year-old David Barrie (the author's breath) when he fell while ice-skating.
Best Nonfiction: The Cajuns: Americanization of a People, by Shane K. Bernard.
Worst Nonfiction: The Revolutionary Age of Andrew Jackson, by Robert V. Remini.
Strangest Nonfiction: Running with Scissors, by Augusten Burroughs.
Most Boring: Edgar Allan, by John Neufeld. This book's potentially sensitive plot is lost in 12-year-old Michael's narration of the botched adoption of toddler Edgar Allan, who is about as real as a cardboard cutout kid. Despite the misleading title, Edgar Allan isn't the focus of this book; that would be Michael and his father. As his father is a minister, Christian values should play a bigger part than vague references like "something to do with church work." There is very little real action or dialogue, and that is sandwiched between Michael's endlessly boring descriptions of his family.
Most Boring Runner-Up: The Color Purple, by Alice Walker.
Most Suspenseful: Tomorrow, When the War Began, by John Marsden.
Most Suspenseful Runner-Up: What Happened to Lani Garver, by Carol Plum-Ucci.
Best Book Involving Onions: Holes, by Louis Sachar.
Worst Book Involving Onions: Onion John, by Joseph Krumgold.
Most Anticipated Book of 2004: J.M. Barrie and the Lost Boys, by Andrew Birkin. I know it is my rule that no book can win more than two awards, but this one touched my life so much that I simply have to make an exception for it. I immediately began coming across praise for it when I began researching Barrie's life in January, and I still remember how thrilled I was when I finally found a library copy in March, and when Sara gave me my own copy for my birthday in October, shortly after Dad died. This book brought me so much comfort throughout 2004 (I read a brief excerpt from it at Carolyn's funeral in September).
Breakout Author of 2004: J.M. Barrie.
Breakout Author Runner-Up: Carol Plum-Ucci.
Overall Best Book of 2004: Peter and Wendy, by J.M. Barrie. There was no contest. From the day I saw PJ Hogan's Peter Pan in a movie theater on January 2, to the day I celebrated Peter Pan's 100th birthday on December 27 -- the play premiered in London on December 27, 1904 -- the boy who wouldn't grow up was an important part of 2004. I learned more about Peter and the beautiful, bizarre story behind his creation than I had ever expected to, and this book -- the prose version of the play, published by Barrie in 1911 -- was the one that started it all.
Overall Worst Book of 2004: Kissing Doorknobs, by Terry Spencer Hesser. This was one of the last books I read in 2004, and it was phenomenally bad that I couldn't stop reading it. A severe case of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder makes life unbearably tedious for the narrator Tara, just as Terry Spencer Hesser's severe lack of talent makes the book unbearably tedious for her audience. This book is full of undeveloped cardboard characters and really boring narration, as well as a plot that moves at a snail's pace and a serious disorder that deserves a much better book.
Best Newberry: The View From Saturday, by E.L. Konigsburg. This book, which won the Newberry in 1997, tells the story of four misfit sixth-graders -- Noah, Nadia, Ethan, and Julian, who call themselves "The Souls" -- who are all chosen for the quiz bowl team by their paraplegic teacher. Their championship quiz bowl match is interspersed with glimpses into the kids's daily lives, which include lessons about the importance of afternoon tea, the life cycles of sea turtles, the appeal of operas and English accents, and learning to accept things like divorce, death, and disability. The only fault I could find in this book was the instant connection and unity between The Souls, which felt a little unrealistic.
Best Newberry Runner-Up: Crispin: The Cross of Lead, by Avi. This fast-paced book, which won the Newberry in 2003, tells the story of a young boy who is falsely accused of murder after his mother dies and must run for his life from the tiny feudal village where he's always lived. As he flees across Medeival Europe, he makes his first real friend (a gentle giant juggler named Bear) learns sweet and sobering lessons about life and the world around him, and discovers his true identity.
Worst Newberry: Missing May, by Cynthia Rylant.
Worst Newberry Runner-Up: Sounder, by William H. Armstrong.
Best School-Required Book: A Yellow Raft in Blue Water, by Michael Dorris.
Best School-Required Book Runner-Up: Anything You Say Can and Will be Used Against You, by Laurie Lynn Drummond. When one of the students in my English class asked our professor if she would be teaching it again next year, she said, "Well, of course. Did anybody not like that book?"
Worst School-Required Book: The Wailing Wind, by Tony Hillerman.
Worst School-Required Book Runner-Up: A Window Facing West, by John S. Tarlton.
Best Barrie Biography: J.M. Barrie and the Lost Boys, by Andrew Birkin. Words simply cannot describe how beautifully and brilliantly this book chronicles the lives of JM Barrie and his adopted children, the Llewelyn Davies brothers. Mr. Birkin's truly honest and dedicated research -- including hours of interviews with the youngest brother, Nicholas Llewelyn Davies, and countless letters to other friends and family -- and it shows on every captivating and beautifully illustrated page. I will always be grateful to Mr. Birkin for sharing Barrie's story, and for sharing his own (his deeply touching story about his son Anno in the introduction). This book continues to teach me so much about learning to accept growing up and growing old.
Best Barrie Biography Runner-Up: J.M. Barrie: The Man Behind the Image, by Janet Dunbar. This biography isn't as touching or as well-written as Andrew Birkin's, but it is more informative in some respects. Birkin's biography stops rather suddenly at Michael Llewelyn Davies's death in 1921, but Dunbar's continues until Barrie's death in 1937. (Barrie's relationships with Cynthia Asquith and Elizabeth Berger, for example, are almost completely absent from Birkin's book because Barrie didn't meet them until after Michael died.) Dunbar also portrays Barrie in a more negative light than Birkin: whereas he downplays Barrie's faults, she emphasizes them, particularly his heroin use in his old age.
Worst Barrie Biography: J.M. Barrie, by Roger Lancelyn Green. Green is a popular children's author, and I've heard wonderful things about his book Fifty Years of Peter Pan (although I have yet to read it myself, unfortunately), but he shouldn't have bothered to write this little pamphlet on Barrie.
Worst Barrie Biography Runner-Up: James M. Barrie, by Harry M. Geduld. This one lost me when the author claimed that the cold window glass between Peter Pan and the Darling nursery was symbolic of the frozen lake that killed 13-year-old David Barrie (the author's breath) when he fell while ice-skating.
Best Nonfiction: The Cajuns: Americanization of a People, by Shane K. Bernard.
Worst Nonfiction: The Revolutionary Age of Andrew Jackson, by Robert V. Remini.
Strangest Nonfiction: Running with Scissors, by Augusten Burroughs.
Most Boring: Edgar Allan, by John Neufeld. This book's potentially sensitive plot is lost in 12-year-old Michael's narration of the botched adoption of toddler Edgar Allan, who is about as real as a cardboard cutout kid. Despite the misleading title, Edgar Allan isn't the focus of this book; that would be Michael and his father. As his father is a minister, Christian values should play a bigger part than vague references like "something to do with church work." There is very little real action or dialogue, and that is sandwiched between Michael's endlessly boring descriptions of his family.
Most Boring Runner-Up: The Color Purple, by Alice Walker.
Most Suspenseful: Tomorrow, When the War Began, by John Marsden.
Most Suspenseful Runner-Up: What Happened to Lani Garver, by Carol Plum-Ucci.
Best Book Involving Onions: Holes, by Louis Sachar.
Worst Book Involving Onions: Onion John, by Joseph Krumgold.
Most Anticipated Book of 2004: J.M. Barrie and the Lost Boys, by Andrew Birkin. I know it is my rule that no book can win more than two awards, but this one touched my life so much that I simply have to make an exception for it. I immediately began coming across praise for it when I began researching Barrie's life in January, and I still remember how thrilled I was when I finally found a library copy in March, and when Sara gave me my own copy for my birthday in October, shortly after Dad died. This book brought me so much comfort throughout 2004 (I read a brief excerpt from it at Carolyn's funeral in September).
Breakout Author of 2004: J.M. Barrie.
Breakout Author Runner-Up: Carol Plum-Ucci.
Labels: books
posted by RebeccaHarrison # 20:03 
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