Newbery Honor Author Derrick Barnes
Click here to watch the 2018 ALA Youth Media Awards press conference. |
I asked Erin Entrada Kelly, Derrick Barnes, Jason Reynolds, and Renée Watson to answer two questions and to finish two sentence starters.
Congratulations,
Derrick! Everyone loves hearing about THE CALL. What ran through your head
when the phone rang? What were you thinking about when the Newbery committee
was clapping and cheering for you?
Derrick Barnes: I had never seen
that area code before, but I knew that there was a chance that at least one of
the committees would be calling. There was just no way of me knowing which one.
I was hoping and praying that at least one of them would call. When the chair
of the committee said that she represented the Newbery, I almost passed out. It
just blew me away. Newbery!? What!? It's every children's book author's dream
to win a Newbery or at least receive an honor. When I heard the committee on
the other end of the phone clapping I just thought about all of my other
friends who had won big literary awards and now it was my turn. It was so
surreal. My name was finally being called.
What
does the Newbery mean to you?
Derrick Barnes: It means that my
name and my work will forever be a part of this exclusive lineage of fine
American contributions to literature. That can never be erased. I take my body
of work very seriously. I want to leave behind a legacy of books that were
actually trying to say something. Books that will live with children forever as
a source of inspiration.
Please finish these sentence starters:
Reading
is essential for the
development of a child's social skills. It broadens their vocabulary. It allows
one to experience the world without moving one step. It allows you the
opportunity to converse with people from different walks of life and equips
them with the verbal and intellectual skills to master whatever career they
choose to embark upon. Reading feeds a hungry imagination.
School libraries smell good. Books upon books upon books, filled
with entire worlds and characters that we wish were real. The amount of
information between those pages is limitless. A comfortable, well furnished
school library feels like home.
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