Newbery Medalist Podcast Alert!

Apologies for the recent silence. I’m hard at work redesigning my web site. It’s going to be great for me, because even though my present site if very cool and sparkly, it’s all in Flash, which means I can’t update it.


For those of you who have been following my book recommendations for a while, you know I started yowling about Rebecca Stead‘s When You Reach Me early last summer, when I first read the Advanced Reader’s copy. I even took that as-yet-unpublished ARC onto WTNH for my monthly segment! I was so thrilled that it won the Newbery, and now Rebecca will be on my online radio show* today. We will also have the pleasure of Linda Sue Park’s company. Linda Sue was awarded the Newbery for her 2002 novel, A Single Shard. 


As usual, we will also have an exclusive audio review by Betsy Bird, of A Fuse #8 production. This week she reviews A Nest for Celeste by Henry Cole.
























Here are blurbs about each of their medal-wearing books:




When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
Four mysterious letters
change Miranda’s world forever.


By sixth grade, Miranda and her best friend, Sal, know how to navigate their New York City neighborhood. They know where it’s safe to go, like the local grocery store, and they know whom to avoid, like the crazy guy on the corner.

But things start to unravel. Sal gets punched by a new kid for what seems like no reason, and he shuts Miranda out of his life. The apartment key that Miranda’s mom keeps hidden for emergencies is stolen. And then Miranda finds a mysterious note scrawled on a tiny slip of paper: 

I am coming to save your friend’s life, and my own.
I must ask two favors. First, you must write me a letter.
The notes keep coming, and Miranda slowly realizes that whoever is leaving them knows all about her, including things that haven’t even happened yet.  Each message brings her closer to believing that only she can prevent a tragic death. Until the final note makes her think she’s too late.


Reading level: Ages 9-12
Paperback: 192 pages
Publisher: Yearling (February 11, 2003)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0440418518
ISBN-13: 978-0440418511
Tree-ear is an orphan boy in a 12th-century Korean potters? village. For a long time he is content living with Crane-man under a bridge barely surviving on scraps of food. All that changes when he sees master potter Min making his beautiful pottery. Tree-ear sneaks back to Min?s workplace and dreams of creating his own pots someday. When he accidentally breaks a pot, he must work for the master to pay for the damage. Though the work is long and hard, Tree-ear is eager to learn. Then he is sent to the King?s Court to show the master?s pottery. Little does Tree-ear know that this difficult and dangerous journey will change his life forever


*Why have I been calling it that? Because I signed up with BlogTalkRadio.com and that’s what they called it. But I have issues with the site. More on that later, but for now just take my word for it that I am in the midst of upgrading my sound quality. I hope you’ll suffer through the next one or three weeks (hopefully only one!) and stick by the show, which I will, for clarity sake, just call a podcast.

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