Thoughts on Newbery: The Day After

Ten years ago yesterday I received a phone call from my great friend Roxanne Feldman who was on that year's Newbery Committee. She told me to guess the winner. "It was a book you liked!" she said excitedly. After a few poor answers she put me out of misery and told me the winner was A Single Shard.  Having vicariously lived through that year with her (and it was a particularly hard one for both of us New Yorkers because of 9/11) it was easy to convince me to attend my first banquet that...