Wednesday, April 1, 2009

GRAVEYARD BOOK TO BE STRIPPED OF NEWBERY?

For the first time in history, a title selected for the highest honor in children’s literature, the John Newbery Medal, may be stripped of the prize. This past weekend, a committee of concerned librarians convened in Chicago with a petition demanding the American Library Association revoke the medal given to Neil Gaiman’s THE GRAVEYARD BOOK at the recent midwinter conference. At issue is the book’s eligibility for the award.


“The terms for the Newbery Medal are crystal clear,” states Carol Barbour of the Topeka Public Library, who is leading the anti-GRAVEYARD effort. “In order for a book to be eligible, it must be an original work published during the preceding year. If a book -- or even a portion of a book -- has been previously published it is considered out of contention.”

Ms. Barbour is referring to the fourth chapter of THE GRAVEYARD BOOK, titled “The Witch’s Gravestone,” which was previously published in at least two 2007 anthologies, WIZARDS : MAGICAL TALES FROM THE MASTERS OF MODERN FANTASY (Berkley) and M IS FOR MAGIC (HarperCollins.)

“Carol Barbour has no case,” says an ALA member, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Before a book can be considered for the Newbery, it must be thoroughly vetted by the Association for Library Service to Children. I’m quite sure that THE GRAVEYARD BOOK was deemed completely eligible in every regard. I can’t believe that anyone is taking this sideshow seriously.”

But the American Library Association apparently is taking Barbour’s complaint very seriously, even holding a rare closed-door meeting with her committee this past Sunday afternoon.

“It was insane,” said one ALA member in attendance. “Carol started the meeting by dramatically ripping the gold foil sticker off her copy of THE GRAVEYARD BOOK, then said that every librarian in the nation would soon be following suit when the award is revoked.”

Referring to Sunday’s closed-door session as “productive,” Barbour said, “I certainly wouldn’t be pressing this issue if Gaiman’s book contained just a few previously-published paragraphs, or even a short chapter. But “The Witch’s Headstone” is -- hello? -- forty-five pages in length and takes up nearly fifteen percent of the novel! When it was published in the WIZARDS anthology it won a Locus Award as the year’s ‘best novelette.’ Readers may approach THE GRAVEYARD BOOK expecting the literary equivalent of a gourmet meal, but what they’re really getting is Gaiman’s leftovers.”

Some ALA members have referred to Ms. Barbour as a “children’s book gadfly” who has tried to nominate herself for the Newbery, Caldecott, and other award committees many times in the past but has never received enough votes to serve on these juries. Some recall her aborted attempt to revoke the 2007 Newbery winner, THE HIGHER POWER OF LUCKY, because of its “unwholesome language.” Last year she protested Brian Selznick’s THE INVENTION OF HUGO CABRET winning the Caldecott because she considered it “too heavy for wee hands to hold.” But this year she seems to have found some major-league support in her attempt to bring down THE GRAVEYARD BOOK. The picture on the left shows a triumphant Barbour (in blue, holding Gaiman's book) after last Sunday’s meeting, posing with Shirley Sach of Ball State University, who served on the Newbery Committee that selected THE HIGHER POWER OF LUCKY and Lotta Shoppe of the Van Pelt Public Library, who was a member of the jury that awarded KIRA-KIRA the prize in 2005.

The American Library Association has issued a press release stating that the Association for Library Service to Children is “seriously” considering Barbour’s petition. If it takes the unprecedented move of revoking Gaiman’s award, they must decide whether a new winner will be selected -- possibly chosen from one of this year’s four Honor Books -- or whether 2009 will just go down in the record books as the first and only year in which no official winner was named.

Upon learning that his book may be stripped of the Newbery, author Neil Gaiman twittered, “@$#&! I might lose the @$#&ING NEWBERY! THIS IS SO @$#&ING AWFUL!”

When told of Gaiman’s comments, Carol Barbour rolled her eyes and said, “Isn’t that almost word-for-vulgar-word what he said when he thought he won the award? Hello? Even his tweets are repeats.”

The American Library Association has said they will make a ruling in this case very soon -- possibly as early as today, April 1, 2009.

63 comments:

Monica Edinger said...

Well done indeed! (Got me for a second:)

Monica Edinger said...

From my class (to whom I just read this)--- YOU GOT US!!! You should have seen their faces! I wasn't going to read your last line, but decided I couldn't torture them all day! They love the book too much.

Anonymous said...

I can not believe that you dragged the reputation of the two committees that brought us such outstanding Newbery winners as Higher Power of Lucky and Kira-Kira into your low-down, sadistic practical joke.

That was GREAT.

And I loved the picture, too.

yabooklady said...

Brilliant!!!!
Well done indeed!

Anonymous said...

You had me up until the third "hello?"

Maureen Brunner said...

Good stuff, ahh, good stuff!

Vasilly said...

Brilliant!

Anonymous said...

I feel so gullible... I didn't realize till the third or so comment! >.<

Neil Gaiman said...

Hilarious!

Anonymous said...

Hah! I knew you'd do something amusing, so I wasn't fooled for a minute. Still, well done!
Jeanne K.

Sherry said...

HA

Anonymous said...

This has to be my favourite so far today!!

Denise said...

Fantastic prank -- I got sucked into it too for a minute. Excellent!

Jessica Leader said...

I love the part about the dramatic ripping of the gold foil sticker. Well done! How lucky to live in the age when even a stay-at-home writer can participate in AF yucks!

Heather said...

Nicely done! Better than Google's joke this year, IMHO!

Anonymous said...

You got me!!! I am sooooo guillible!!!

gliovampire said...

A good one.I preferred the one about the eligibility for Sainthood at the Vatican. I had a hysterical laughter, I sincerely believe that it was one of the best jokes I saw this year.
Thanks for making my day!

CSInman said...

This is AWESOME. It would have gotten me (until the photo, at least) IF I hadn't followed a link from Gaiman's blog.

Bravo!

Anonymous said...

You got me entirely, although I did put on my glasses to take a close look at the photo.

Sally Apokedak said...

that was hysterical!

sally apokedak said...

I just have to add that his bit:

When told of Gaiman’s comments, Carol Barbour rolled her eyes and said, “Isn’t that almost word-for-vulgar-word what he said when he thought he won the award? Hello? Even his tweets are repeats.”

is still cracking me up a half an hour later. Funny stuff.

shortyfanfiction said...

"too heavy for wee hands to hold" is where i completely lost it. well done indeed.

Anonymous said...

Good one. You totally got me last year (I practically had steam coming out my ears last year!), so today I came prepared. You didn't disappoint. Love the image of the dramatic ripping off of the gold seal. Hilarious.

Jen - Devourer of Books said...

That was great, you had me going in the comment on my blog yesterday. I sort of forgot about the whole April Fools Day thing and didn't realize it was a joke until Natasha told me...

Anonymous said...

You really got me. I was cooking a mighty rage when I got to the last line.

web said...

I'm so annoyed that I already knew this was a joke coming in. I'm dying to know at what point I would have got it. Definitely by the picture! great job at letting it grow veeeery slowly over the top.

Di said...

You had me until "@$#&!"

Unknown said...

I didn't catch on to it being an April Fools joke until I read the comments. I was all ready to post my rage at anyone denigrating this wonderful book. Google also got me with their April Fool's gag. I must be really easy!

P. J. Grath said...

I fell for it completely. Gullible me!

Anonymous said...

The permanence of the internet makes this kind of joke even more amusing. I just saw this today, and it wasn't until the photo was MENTIONED in the post that I looked at it closely and scrolled back up to the date to see if it was an AF.

*smile*

Well Played.

Anonymous said...

Too bad it's not true. Gaiman is a lying, wackjob Scientologist.

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It litreture awards are serious considerations. You can not give it and take it back. It is really not much use to the guy who has come second in the first place to be named the winner. It just does not do the same trick as if he had won in the first place.

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I can not believe that you dragged the reputation of the two committees that brought us such outstanding Newbery winners as Higher Power of Lucky and Kira-Kira into your low-down, sadistic practical joke.