Homeschooling parents and the leaders of any educational program always desire edifying curriculum for their students, and often choose literature material based on awards and popularity. Parents reading aloud to their kids or letting their little bookworms wander through the library to pick out books on their own assume anything that managed to get awarded is fairly good. But are all literary awards really a mark of quality?
No. Heck no.
A Newberry award is not a clear, objective guarantee of a book’s quality.
Many books on school curriculum lists are stamped with the golden Newberry seal, and the award winners are commonly displayed in a place of prominence at local libraries or online bookstores. However, this is not necessarily fitting.
How do they pick Newberry winners?
Newberries are distributed based on the whims of a random panel of librarians, selected out of the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, every year. The ALA, by the way, is getting extremely woke — check out their DEI statement for more. According to the ALA’s website, the criteria that panel members must keep in mind are as follows: Interpretation of the theme or concept, Presentation of information including accuracy, clarity, and organization, Development of a plot, Delineation of characters, Delineation of a setting, and Appropriateness of style. This is all the information to be found, see for yourself, and is decidedly open-ended, allowing for what Christian and Conservative readers may find unpleasant or unacceptable. Literally almost anything that got traditionally published has plot, characters, setting, and something resembling organization — *cough cough phantom tollbooth cough cough*
The criteria for picking a winner, while perhaps vague and ambiguous enough to suit the preferences of an increasingly woke population, are not defined enough to ensure that the book promotes any sort of laudable morals or themes, nor do they require any strong sort of objective worth, such as a strong plot (not just a plot) or well-done character development, easily enough judged by anyone with a background in literature, english, or fiction writing.
Which objectionable books have won Newberries?
As a result of these criteria, Newberry award winners have become increasingly political and existential over the past years. For example, Flora and Ulysses – a fractured family and a precocious young girl — annoying but not yet woke. But it gets worse. The One and Only Ivan – animal rights and conservation; The Story of Mankind – the first ever Newberry, and it’s on evolution! From books like Too Bright to See, featuring a transgender hero and New Kid – promoting critical race theory, it’s clear that Newberries are not a symbol of quality – in fact, quite the opposite! More and more, the distributors of the award are being pressured to select more ‘diverse’ books and ‘redress historical misrepresentations.’ Even now, older Newberries that contain these ‘misrepresentations,’ and that offend the ‘racial sensibilities,’ are being ‘rebranded’ by publishers, now including forewords that address any offensive topics, from colonialism to white authorship. It’s clear that left-wing policies are dictating the material being force-fed to our children.
Furthermore, there are certain stories that are just downright odd, morbid, or utter garbage in terms of proper storytelling. The Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, The Bridge to Terebinthia, A Wrinkle in Time, and The Phantom Tollbooth are just a few examples. Children readers are left confused and disoriented, and don’t walk away from the book retaining any wholesome lessons. Parent readers are left with a migraine — just ask my dad.
Other chosen books include inappropriate content, such as Lois Lowry’s The Giver, which discusses erotic subject matter not appropriate for the Newberry’s intended age range, 0-14 years. Or, there’s The Inquisitor’s Tale, which features plentiful curse words and blasphemy, The Crossover, including mentions of sex and female body parts, and Piecing Me Together, with mentions of sex, rape, and nasty inappropriate plays. From strippers to slurs, it’s clear that the Newberry award ignores, and in cases even encourages, immoral subject matter.
The Exceptions
Now, there is no denying that some earlier recipients of the award were deserving such as Carry on, Mr. Bowditch, The Witch of Blackbird Pond, or The Bronze Bow.
Johnny Tremain, for example, was an upright, wholesome book that supported patriotism, sacrifice, overcoming bitterness, loyalty to one’s country, and others, and is an old personal favorite. Some award winners truly do deserve notability for their content, execution, and educational value. However, in these ever-sinful days, standards are decreasing, and so it is worthwhile to be cautious and understand that awards distributed on whim may end up falling on less than deserving receivers.
It can also not be denied that certain people wholeheartedly love books like The Wrinkle in Time or The Phantom Tollbooth, claiming that the books are ‘timeless’ and give them ‘warm and fuzzy feelings.’ Certain aspects of the more morbid pieces of literature may resonate for those with specific tastes and backgrounds. Others believe that there is a need for ‘reform’ in literature and hold the lies propagated in these books to be true. Some people are even okay with exposing their children to certain content. People also have different tolerances for what they will condone in a book and of course all choices regarding a child’s upbringing and what they are exposed to belong with the parents. Ultimately, there can be no flawless argument either way, that all Newberry prize winners are bad, or that they are all good. Parents should choose for themselves what they are willing to let their child read and what messages and contents they deem appropriate.
In conclusion, a Newberry award is not an objective guarantee of a book’s quality, and Christian and Conservative parents should think twice before selecting a gold-stamped title for their child.
Alrighty, folks, that’s all for today. Any other raunchy Newberries I should avoid? Any good ones I should check out? Let me know. See ya’ll later! Ciao!
I’ve long had my suspicions that that the Newberry awards were not necessarily a mark of good and were probably going woke- of course this confirmed it for me. I can think of so many other books that would deserving of award, any of Chuck Black’s among them. But I have read The Bronze Bow and enjoyed it!
Yeah, there’s some good ones out there — like the Bronze Bow. Ah yes, I am also a fan of Chuck Black.