AS IN THE LONG AGO

 It might say something about Katya Balen's 2022 Carnegie winner  October, October  that I've spent more time thinking about the parents in the story than about October herself, the protagonist and narrator. Or, more likely, it says something about me. But it occurs to me that the way parents are depicted in the procession of Carnegie winners over more than 80 years is interesting in itself. Great cover by Angela Harding Before I get to that though I should say that I did enjoy  October, October.  The book is written in an intense and often poetic style, especially at the beginning. A kind of stream-of-conciousness pours out of October, and you have to give the author a bit of leeway here, as she's trying to convey the heightened emotional state of the young narrator in language that it's hard to believe an eleven-year-old, even a precocious one, would have at her command.  Eleven-year-old October lives off-grid in the woods with her father. Her mother wasn...

  A dozen Carnegie winners. Look Both Ways  by Jason Reynolds won in 2021 On his website Jason Reynolds has a film,  Dear Dreamer , (there's a link lower down) which was produced 'in collaboration with the hardworking students, educators and dreamers of Atlanta.' In the film he says 'I think I just want to create work which makes young people feel cared for.' This reminded me of Elizabeth Acevedo's statement that 'I hold young people more tenderly,' (than adult readers). She was suggesting, I think, that in her adult work she is more honest—things are less likely to turn out well there. She allows more hope to younger readers.  Jason Reynolds means something different, or maybe something extra, because he does show great tenderness towards his characters. Bad things happen but people make it through by caring for each other. The extra thing he's saying is that by writing about the lives of people just like his readers he is caring for them. 'I wa...