How Do Books Make it into Adi's Challenge?
There’s a special buzz in the air at the start of every October in Allen-Stevenson’s Library Tech Commons. This is the time of year that we launch our annual reading challenge and do a big reveal of the titles that we are including. A number of years ago we renamed our challenge in honor of our former student, Aditya Srinivasen, who loved participating in the fledgeling challenge before he passed away, and we think he would be amazed by how popular the challenge has become with the boys!
This year marks the tenth year of Adi’s Challenge and while we tinker with the formula a little, the basic components remain the same: pick great books, have conversations with boys about every book they read, offer fun incentives and throw an exciting voting party at the end. The boys know that the point of the challenge is to try to pick the winner of the next Newbery Medal. Along the way, we also consider which books may win other important awards from the American Library Association, such as the Coretta Scott King Award and the Stonewall Book Award. You can find a complete list here.
The absolutely key component to all this, of course, is picking the right books for the challenge. The committee that picks the Newbery Medal and Honor books, famously does not publish a shortlist. That leaves us with thousands of books from which to choose when putting together our challenge. There are a few factors that limit our selection: the books must be written by authors based in the U.S., be published the year preceding the award giving, and be suitable for children up to age fourteen. That still leaves a lot of books!
In many ways choosing the books is both a huge opportunity and a mammoth responsibility. With the right selection, we may turn a non-reader into an avid reader. Conversely, if a boy has a few bad experiences with books in the challenge, he may be turned off, not only from the challenge, but from reading itself. With so much at stake, it’s no wonder that we spend countless hours reading and discussing our options. In a typical year, we will consider approximately 70 titles, of which 30 will make it into the challenge.
The book that wins the Newbery Medal is, in the criteria of the award, ‘marked by eminence and distinction’ and ‘excellence in quality.’ The committee does not take into consideration at all how well received the book is by children. This makes things a little tricky for us. A book may be a real standout in terms of literary quality, but if we believe few boys will enjoy it, do we put it in the challenge? The answer is no. As much as the boys love it when we pick a whole string of winners for the various awards, we will forgo certain front runners if they run the risk of turning the boys off reading. Conversely, do we sometimes slip in a title or two that we believe have no hope in garnering accolades, simply because the boys will love them? Absolutely!
Other things we need to consider is balance and representation among the selection of titles. This year I read two books based on true stories about surviving World War II from within Germany. Both were excellent, but most readers will only have an appetite for one book on the topic within the short time frame of our challenge. We look to include books from all genres, as well as books that provide windows and mirrors into various identities.
At the end of the day, our goal isn’t really about picking award winners, of course. It’s about turning reading, by its nature a solitary pursuit, into a shared experience. It’s about a whole community enjoying the finest new books being published and having conversations about them. It’s about creating social capital around who has read what, who has read the most. Circling the circulation desk, we have spirited discussions with the boys about whether or not we should have included a book. We watch boys surveying the books and issuing recommendations (and sometimes warnings!) to friends. We observe the pride of the boys who have read more than they ever could have imagined, whether it’s the seven books needed to attend the voting party or all twenty-five books in their age group. Running the challenge takes an enormous amount of work. It’s worth every second!