It was a dark and stormy night...

It was a dark and stormy night -- probably the most famous opening line in a novel since, well, ever.  It was written by Edward Bulwer-Lytton as the opening phrase to his book Paul Clifford in 1830.  The only reason I stumbled across this fact is because my amazing husband loves to read some amazingly obscure and boring (please don't strike me down) books.

The first time I remember reading this line was in Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle In Time (1963 Winner).  It was in sixth grade and the words didn't strike me as anything exceptional, but then again neither did the book (it has since been added to my top twenty favorite books). 

This phrase has metamorphosed over the years from the opening of Paul Clifford into the quintessential example of purple prose and not only graces the pages of the two books I mentioned above, but numerous others.  It is this metamorphosis that got me thinking.  If these seven words can transcend dozens of different novels of varying genres and reading levels (very successfully I might add) then can whole books do the same thing?

This is a daunting question with an overwhelming number of answers. 

Take L'Engle's A Wrinkle In Time for example.  L'Engle took almost three years to write it, it was rejected by OVER 26 publishers and even L'Engle asks the question "...was it a children's or an adults' book, anyhow?"  But despite all of this, it ended up winning the Newbery Award (the ALA's award for the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children that year)

Is that what the Newbery is trying to do? Bridge the gap between the adult and children's literary world. Or is it solely there to pick "the best"? Is it an award picked by adults for children? Or is it an award picked by adults for what they see as the ideal child?  

Some of the greatest children's books have been chosen for this award -- Charlotte's Web (1953 Honor) by E.B. White, Old Yeller (1957 Honor) by Fred Gipson, Number the Stars (1990 Winner) by Lois Lowry -- but many classic Children's books have been overlooked.  And who has heard of, or for that matter read, some more of the obscure titles -- The Dream Coach (1925 Honor) by Anne Parrish, The Animal Family (1966 Honor) by Randall Jarrell, and the list goes on. 

These questions about the Newbery have been bouncing around in my head for the past few years.  Well I'm sure a lot of ideas have, but this one has stuck with me and I think now is the time to bring it out into the world.  

The Newbery Award is one of the most prominent book awards given out in the US.  Every year qualified adults read through all the age appropriate novels published in the United States and chose the best of the best.  One winner and an indeterminate number of Honor books are chosen.  This seal of approval catapults those books directly into the annals of our education system (and history).  

But what history is the Newbery Award leaving our children? Is it one we should support or one of a past better left, well, in the past?  Do these books really portray what children experienced during the time it was published?  Or are the books just supposed to be books...ways for people to escape reality for a while and become engrossed in different worlds apart from our own? In choosing these books, were the Newbery committees of the past choosing the best or trying to leave a literary legacy for the ages? 

The only way I have figured out to answer these questions is to read...and read a lot.  So my mission is to read ALL the Newbery winning and honor books, before the Newbery Century has ended. 

And so with that, my journey begins...