{"id":27904,"date":"2015-07-02T15:32:54","date_gmt":"2015-07-02T19:32:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=27904"},"modified":"2015-07-02T15:32:54","modified_gmt":"2015-07-02T19:32:54","slug":"newberycaldecottwilder-banquet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=27904","title":{"rendered":"Newbery\/Caldecott\/Wilder Banquet"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Newbery1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Notes from the Caldecott\/Newbery\/Wilder Banquet<\/p>\n

Dan Santat Caldecott Winner
\nHe’s 40, but he feels like a kid pretending to be an adult.
\nStill feels like he’s pretending to know what he’s doing.
\n11 years in publishing, over 60 books.
\nSantat is alphabetically next to Seuss, Sendak, and Silverstein.
\nAlways wanted to believe hard work could mask any shortcomings.
\nAlways worried he’d be discovered as an imposter.
\nSlow and steady career rise.
\nNavigated the process by reading reviews.
\nHe reads every single review. To search for answers. What does it take to make a great book?
\nHad an opportunity to work at Google making google doodles. Would have provided financial security.
\nWas hoping his friends would tell him to keep it real and making books is what he’s meant to do.
\nFinally turned it down, because he knew he’d always wonder what he could have done.
\nPublished 13 books in 2014. Terribly tired. Felt like he had nothing left to give. Learned he’s only human. Was angry at himself for being weak. Feeling that he’d peaked. And he couldn’t push himself any more.
\nHe wants far more than he’s capable of. Keeps wanting to work harder.
\nJust before getting the call, he’d reminded himself he wasn’t good enough.
\nMaybe is a dangerous place to be.
\nMagic only happens in fairy tales and feel-good movies.
\nYou just experienced the unimaginable becoming a reality.
\nAfter 10 years of working like a dog, he realizes this is a prize that can’t be earned, but he will always try to be worthy of it.
\nLet him feel he’s good enough. And not invisible.
\nOther authors and illustrators make it look effortless.
\nYou are the stars in the sky.
\nThank you for allowing me to shine with you.
\nThanks his wife who supported the decision to decline the job offer from Google.
\nI’m still a kid pretending to be an adult. His agent tells him what he needs to hear.
\nThank to bloggers — Betsy Bird, John Schu, Travis Jonker, Colby Sharp, Nerdy Book Club
\nA month before Beekle was published, he was worried about the ambiguity of the ending.
\nTo his kids: “Beekle” was his kids’ word for Bicycle. How it feels to be loved unconditionally.
\nDespite our insecurities, it’s our nature to work our hardest.
\nYou are my proof that I am able to produce something perfect in this world.<\/p>\n

Newbery
\nKwame Alexander, The Crossover<\/p>\n

When I was a child, I wanted to be a fireman and a doctor and a king.
\nTonight I feel like a king.
\nNewbery trance is not kind to clarity and conciseness.
\nMy first librarians were my parents.
\nBooks lined the walls and floors of our home.
\nLibrarian: All about joy and about books.<\/p>\n

Honored to be in this room with so many pulchritudinous librarians.
\n“The most distinguished literature for children” — that sounds perfect.
\nWent to Key West to write the speech. Went to the Mel Fisher museum — a treasure hunter who found gold.
\nAfter 20+ rejections, he finally discovered gold.
\nAbout a family — not about his family but from his own familial experiences.
\nEditor: “Brightly shining yes in a sea of no.”
\n“How do you win the Newbery?”
\nLearn words, love words. “Your son intimidates the other children with his words.”<\/p>\n

How do you win the Newbery? Be interesting.
\nFather always hosts a book fair the day after Thanksgiving.
\nBooks are doors to a life of sustainability and success.
\nWas going to be a doctor.
\n— Took Organic Chemistry
\n— Took a course on poetry with Nikki Giovanni
\n“She smiles like your grandma used to do when you thought you said something profound, but you didn’t.”
\n“I can teach you to write poetry, but I can’t teach you to be interesting.”<\/p>\n

Wrote his wife a poem a day for a year.
\nPoetry found him.
\nUse your words. Be interesting. Be eloquent.
\nHis story of becoming a poet.
\nLiving an authentic life, so you’ll have something authentic to write about.
\nYou have to answer the call.
\nWrite a poem that dances. That looks good.
\nWrite a poem that is contagious!<\/p>\n

Now that’s a speech!<\/p>\n

Wilder Award: Donald Crews
\nWithout his late wife, Ann Jonas, he wouldn’t have gotten on this journey.
\nThey took the fork in the road.
\nHe used to read to his grandma, Big Mama. She said he would go somewhere.
\nHe developed a tendency to doodle in the margins more than work on the problem at hand.
\nFork in the road: Applied to and was accepted to an Arts high school.
\nTeacher asked him about his plans — told him he would apply to Cooper Union.
\nFailure was impossible.
\nFork in the road: Cooper Union.
\nGraphics teacher told him he didn’t have much talent, but he had the determination to figure out what to do.
\nFork in the road: Ann Jonas followed him to Germany and they got married.
\nIncluded a book for children in his portfolio. — A to Z
\nFirst rejections were in German
\nFork in the road: Freelance work.
\nFailure was impossible.
\nFork in the road: Find something only you can do.
\nFork in the road: Began to think about his picture books. Freight Train
\nFirst book as a full-time children’s book creator.
\nParade has a cameo of himself.
\nLed to Big Mama’s, and now black people fundamental to the books.
\nAlso encouraged Ann to try children’s books.
\nShe supplied the courage to try to be successful artists in New York.
\nHe unreservedly shares any honor with her.<\/p>\n

Afterward, a highlight is going through the Receiving Line and getting to congratulate all the Award Winners in person.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Notes from the Caldecott\/Newbery\/Wilder Banquet Dan Santat Caldecott Winner He’s 40, but he feels like a kid pretending to be an adult. Still feels like he’s pretending to know what he’s doing. 11 years in publishing, over 60 books. Santat is alphabetically next to Seuss, Sendak, and Silverstein. Always wanted to believe hard work could […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66,207],"tags":[357,125,124,126],"class_list":["post-27904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-award-winners","category-conference-corner","tag-alaac15","tag-caldecott","tag-newbery","tag-wilder"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27904"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27904\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}