February 9, 2021
An FCPL librarian shares her experience on the esteemed book award’s selection committee.
Recognizing Excellence in Children’s Literature
Last month When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller joined the ranks of renowned American children’s books when it was announced as the 2021 Newbery Medal winner — making it the 100th winner of the prestigious award. The Newbery Medal, named for eighteenth-century British bookseller John Newbery and introduced in 1922, is awarded annually “to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children” by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA).
Revealing the Selection Process
If you think deciding which is the year’s “most distinguished” children’s book sounds like a tremendous task, you are absolutely right. Anita Toth, youth services assistant at Burke Centre Library, talked to a fellow Fairfax County Public Library (FCPL) staff member who knows firsthand what it takes to help choose a winner. Sondra Eklund, youth services manager at City of Fairfax Regional Library and 2019 Newbery Award Selection Committee member, shares her experience in the following interview.
Read the Interview
Anita: How did you get started as a librarian and become interested in being on the Newbery Award Selection Committee?
Sondra: I have a master's degree in math from UCLA from 1987; I taught college math for 10 years. But my husband got transferred to Germany, and I got a job in the base library. I loved it! After we got divorced and left Germany in 2006, I decided to get my Master's in Library Science (MLS). I studied hard and completed my MLS at the end of 2007.
Meanwhile, the American Library Association (ALA) 2007 Annual Conference was held in Washington, D.C., and I went to the Newbery Banquet and heard [author] Susan Patron speak about her book The Higher Power of Lucky [winner of the 2007 Newbery Medal]. I realized I was listening to the group that chose the Newbery winner, and I was amazed at their stories. I wanted to do that.
After three tries, I was accepted in 2012 to attend the William Morris Seminar, which teaches you about being on book evaluation committees like the Newbery committee. After that it took me only two tries to get on the Newbery committee itself [for which the ALSC membership elects eight members each year].
It is a very time-consuming process, and everyone is so anxious to know if they have been chosen. You put your name in to be considered in March and you don’t hear anything until September when you find out if you are on the ballot. The first time I was very close to being elected to the committee, but I wasn't chosen. I did not give up, though, and in March of 2016 I put my name in for consideration again.
That September I received a message that I was on the ballot. I was so excited and bursting to tell someone, but I couldn’t say anything until the ballot was officially announced. The day the announcement was made, I posted the news on my blog, Sonderbooks right away! I realized I needed to get my name out there, so I attended ALA Midwinter Meeting to campaign [for my election to the committee]. I handed out business cards and talked to as many people as possible. Having done all I could, I then awaited the results. Voting ran from March to April, and in April 2017 I found out I had made the cut [to be on selection committee for the 2019 Newbery Medal]!
Anita: What’s the evaluation process like? Give me a run-down of the events.
Sondra: The reading year was all of 2018, during which I received more than 600 books mailed to me from publishers. But I had wanted to get a head start on reading, so one of FCPL’s Collections Department selectors, Bethany Richardson, gave me some Advance Reader copies of 2018 books. I was able to start my Newbery reading early thanks to her.
The committee met in January, and we read and read. I kept notes on all the books, and a spreadsheet that listed the title, type of book, genre, short notes on each one, and how many pages I read. I would annotate my top choices. Meanwhile, we sent suggestions of standout titles with detailed notes to the committee members, all the while keeping these suggestions secret from everyone else. I couldn’t even blog about the titles I was reading and my favorite picks. Sometimes, I struggled with certain books and whether they should be considered children’s or young adult literature, and the committee would hash that out. I would have nightmares that I had not found out about some wonderful book that should be considered. I didn’t want to leave anyone out.
Anita: How many books did you read?
Sondra: I read almost 1,000 books. I read 281 middle grade books, 79 young adult books, and 594 picture books — for a total of 954 books. I also kept track of pages; I read more than 100,000 pages.
Anita: How did you read that many books and still work full time?
Sondra: When I had a few minutes at work, I'd read picture books. I would read on any day off, on weekends, and at nights until well into the morning. I had no time for family or friends. Thankfully, that year I became an “empty nester.” Also, just before I had been nominated, I heard of something called “silent book clubs.” I started a silent book club that met every week at my church. We would share for a few minutes about what we were reading, and then we silently read our books. Those were my only outings. I wanted to make sure I got all the reading done, so when the committee met again, I would be familiar with all the titles. I even read some books multiple times.
We kept reading and suggesting titles each month throughout the year, and we made sure to read the books the other members suggested. In June 2018 the committee met at ALA [Annual Conference] to practice and go over the discussion process. In October, November and December we officially nominated books, but we did not discuss them yet. Each of the 15 members nominated seven books — three in October, two in November, and two in December — and wrote a few paragraphs for each one explaining why we thought that book was worthy of discussion.
Anita: What happened next?
Sondra: Then the debating began in January 2019, when we all met together in Seattle at ALA Midwinter Meeting. We met in a locked room for three days. We looked only at the books that had been nominated. The ALSC mailed a copy of all the nominated books to Seattle in a locked trunk and only the committee chair had the key.
Anita: It seems so secretive.
Sondra: Yes, we were reminded constantly that we were not allowed to share any information with any one not on the committee.
Anita: Alright. Let’s get down to the voting.
Sondra: During that meeting in Seattle, we debated the merits of each nominated title. We had to be ready to talk about specific excerpts or events from a book to defend why we felt it was a strong competitor, according to the criteria in the Newbery manual. The debate sometimes got heated, but the committee chair would rein us back in or we would break for a few minutes to get some air. We even passed around a stuffed giraffe to hug when we got sad because a particular favorite got voted out! On the first day we discussed all nominees and then voted on which ones would get more serious consideration the second day. When we finished voting, we did a Marie Kondo-style sort and thanked the unchosen books for their service before we put them back in the trunk.
On the final day it was especially hard to narrow things down even more. We not only had to choose just one Medal winner, but we also had to decide which and how many books to name as Honor books. Our committee only chose two Honor Books — which was challenging, since we had read so many wonderful books. We stayed in the room Saturday night until we made the final decision around 10 p.m.
On Sunday we met again to write up the annotations and a press release. We took these to the ALA office, so they would be ready for release after the announcement on Monday. We put the first Newbery Medal and Honor stickers on the chosen books. This was so cool! Then we packed them in a large bag so no one could tell how many books had been chosen and took them to the ALA office.
On Monday, early in the morning, we called the winners. It was so fun to hear the joy in the winning authors’ voices. At 8 a.m. that same day, we announced the winners to the public. Then, in June, there was a banquet at ALA Annual Conference in Washington, D.C., which was a wonderful time to honor our Medal winner and Honor winners. The publishers also hosted dinners for the committee, one with the Honor-winning authors and one with the Medal-winning author, Meg Medina. She asked us about the process, and we got to hear how winning the Newbery Medal had changed her life. It was a wonderful time celebrating together after all our hard work.
Anita: Did anything unique or interesting happen while you were on the Newberry committee?
Sondra: One of the [other committee] members had a baby five days before we went into deliberation. She left the baby with family and joined us. So, while we were arguing about books, she was pumping milk for her baby. We got to meet him at the banquet in June — “our” Newbery baby. Also, during deliberation we all brought snacks from our region of the country, and the committee chair brought fidget toys. So, a lot of snacking and fidgeting happened in that room!
Anita: Would you do it again?
Sondra: I am not allowed to apply again for four years, but maybe one day. It was a lot of work, and I needed to take a break.
Anita: Would you be interested in serving on any of the other book award committees?
Sondra: The short as is “Yes!” Longer answer is that I judge for the Cybils Awards (book blogger awards) most years, and I'm also a member of Capitol Choices, which is a D.C.-area group of librarians who choose the 100 best children’s and young adult books each year. I would really have to figure out if I had the time to devote to another committee. But yes, once you’re part of a book selection committee, it’s hard to not want to do it again. The Mathical Book Prize, which celebrates children’s and young adult books that include math concepts, is one I would love to be part of selecting. This year's winners are actually announced today, February 9! I’m doing a little campaigning to try to be part of that committee, but no official word yet.
Anita: All-in-all, how would you describe your time on the Newbery committee?
Sondra: It was one of the most fantastic and rewarding experiences of my life.
Learn more about the selection process, discover who the current committee members are and see a complete list of past winners and honors winners here.
For more about Sondra's experience with the Newbery Award Selection Committee, listen to her interview on Fairfax County's County Conversations podcast.
