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I took a trip up to the Bay Area last weekend. It’s a 5.5 hour drive (without traffic) from LA, and I settled into the driver’s seat, automatically reaching for a familiar audiobook: Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt, read by Lincoln Hoppe. It’s a trip I’ve made several times and a story I’ve listened to several times more since its publication in 2011, yet it has never failed to elicit the same depth of emotion each time. It draws me back to a place I’d never visited and a time I’d never experienced: a small town in upstate New York in 1968, the peak of the Vietnam War era.
Fourteen year old Doug Swieteck is starting eighth grade in a new school in a new town, where his father has just secured a new job after being fired for a poor attitude and a questionable work ethic. The Dump, his family’s latest residence, is small and dingy. His father is spiteful. His older brother is a menace. His gentle mother rarely smiles anymore. And Doug can’t think of a single good thing about the stupid town they've just moved to.
You can easily envision the trajectory for a kid like that: he’ll grow up to be a bully, a thief, a liar, a victim and a victimizer. And everyone else in town thinks so too-- including Doug himself.
Until he finds unexpected solace in a public library and purpose in a rare copy of John James Audubon's Birds of America. There’s something mesmerizing about the paintings in Audubon’s book, even for Doug, who would be the first to tell you he’s no artist. Soon he’s drawn into the stories he sees in each carefully crafted bird, which become the metaphor by which he interprets his world. His spirit soars and dives throughout the novel as he faces a deluge of circumstances that test his resolve to sketch a different future for himself.
Another librarian (whose name I unfortunately cannot recall) wrote in her review of the book that it had broken her heart and put it back together a thousand times. I can certainly relate to that feeling. There’s a lot to mull over here: the tangible and intangible effects of the war on returned veterans and their families, the dichotomy of wealth and poverty, the cyclical nature of abuse, and the problematic prejudices of adults. At the same time there’s the thrilling freedom of art, the unexpected kindness of others, the gentle glow of first love, the healing found in offering compassion even when it seems undeserved, and a long lingering note of Possibility. It’s a tale of resilience and redemption.
I highly recommend listening to the audio version of book (which still counts as reading, in case you’re wondering!) Lincoln Hoppe’s reading of Okay for Now received an American Library Association Odyssey Honor in 2012 as one of the best audiobooks produced for children and young adults, available in English in the United States.
A truly rewarding read for grades 6 and up.
The Book Award Season that is. Here's a list of the 2016 medal winners and honors, some of which we have in the system so be sure to put holds on them and check out these amazing books, authors and illustrators. The favorite of the Children's Room is the multiple award winner, Last Stop on Market Street by the first Latino author to win the Newbery medal, Matt de la Pena.
John Newbery Medal, which goes to the most distinguished book in American literature for children the previous year, went to Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Peña. The book was illustrated by Christian Robinson. Newbery Honor Books:
Randolph Caldecott Medal for best picture book is Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World's Most Famous Bear, illustrated by Sophie Blackall and written by Lindsay Mattick.
Caldecott Honor Books:
Coretta Scott King awards for an African-American author and illustrator:
Author award: Rita Williams-Garcia for Gone Crazy in Alabama. Illustrator award: Bryan Collier for Trombone Shorty written by Troy Andrews and Bill Taylor.
- Illustrator Honor Book: Last Stop on Market Street illustrated by Christian Robinson, written by Matt de la Pena.
Pura Belpré awards for a Latino writer and illustrator whose children's books best portray, affirm and celebrate the Latino cultural experience.
Illustrator award: Rafael López for The Drum Dream Girl.
Stonewall Book Award, the Mike Morgan and Larry Romans Children's and Young Adult Literature Award for books of exceptional merit relating to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender experience.
George written by Alex Gino
Schneider Family Book Award for books that embody an artistic expression of the disability experience.
Young children's book: Emmanuel's Dream: The True Story of Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah written by Laurie Ann Thompson and illustrated by Sean Qualls.Middle grade book: Fish in a Tree written by Lynda Mullaly Hunt, and The War that Saved My Life written by Kimberly Brubaker Bradle.
Theodor Seuss Geisel Award for beginning reader book.
Don't Throw It to Mo! written by David A. Adler and illustrated by Sam Ricks.
Odyssey Award for best audiobook for children and young adults.
The War that Saved My Life written by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley and narrated by Jayne Entwistle.
Odyssey Honor Recording:
- Echo written by Pam Munoz Ryan and narrated by Mark Bramhall, David de Vries, MacLeod Andrews and Rebecca Soler.
Children's Book Week, May 12-18, 2014, is all about celebrating your favorite books, authors, and illustrators! From comics to mysteries, magic to history...you can find anything between the pages of a book!
Download an ebook or audiobook onto your device.
