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Keir Graff and editors from Booklist's adult and youth departments write candidly about books, book reviewing, and the publishing industry
Friday, January 27, 2012 9:25 am Sneak Preview—The Booklist Printz Interview Posted by: Sarah Hunter
[Here’s an early look at Ilene Cooper’s interview with John Corey Whaley, winner of both the 2012 Michael L. Printz and William C. Morris awards, announced earlier this week at ALA’s Midwinter Meeting. The full interview will appear in the March 1, 2012, issue of Booklist.]
On January 23, 2012, at the Youth Media Awards announcements at ALA’s Midwinter Meeting in Dallas, John Corey Whaley was named the winner of the William C. Morris YA Debut Award. A few moments later, the audience heard his name again; his first novel, Where Things Come Back, had won the Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in young adult literature. This was the first time in the awards’ history that the same title had been selected for both prizes. When I introduced myself to Whaley later that day, he had the look of someone who suspected that he might be in a dream. How was he doing a few days after all the excitement? We caught up with him to find out.
BKL:I’ll start with the obvious. This is a heady time for you. What’s it been like?
WHALEY: The last couple of days have definitely been a whirlwind. I’m not quite sure the initial shock has worn off yet, but I have, finally, had some sleep. I think I’ve been afraid I’d wake up and find it was all make-believe. I’m still just so surprised and honored. I keep repeating to myself, I won the Morris. Cory, you won the Printz. It’s mind blowing.
BKL:Can you tell us a little about how the calls came in? And what was it like to keep all that news to yourself?
WHALEY: I got the Morris call on Saturday—I was at a friend’s house and missed it, so I had to call back. The committee was yelling on a speakerphone that I’d won, and I was so overwhelmed I think I told them I wanted to hug them all. It was just so crazy! Then, the marketing director at Simon & Schuster called and asked me to come to Dallas to accept the Morris in person. So I left on Sunday morning to drive the 259 miles to Dallas from my home in Louisiana. I was told to hide out, because if anyone recognized me, they might suspect I was there because I’d won something. While I was driving, I was speaking on the phone with my father about who might have won the Printz, and I got a call from a strange number. I exited the interstate to stop at a convenience store, and spoke to the chair of the Printz committee, who said that they wanted to give me a great birthday present (my birthday is January 19) and informed me that I was the winner of the 2012 Printz Award. That’s when I really started shaking. I said, “No way, are you pranking me?” I’m not really sure how I managed to avoid driving into that store.
BKL:Let’s talk about your book. The plot of Where Things Come Back is looped and multilayered. Can you take us into your writing process for this book? Did it start as a more linear story? Which came first, a brother lost or a woodpecker found?
WHALEY: I first heard about the ivory-billed woodpecker’s possible reappearance in 2006 when I was a senior at Louisiana Tech. I knew after hearing interviews with the townspeople of Brinkley, Arkansas, that I wanted to set a novel in a place like that. So, the original idea was to write about about a boy who sees the bird in his town and causes a media storm. Then, as I began writing, I realized that the idea of a multilayered story, of things coming back, of second chances, could be developed into a much more meaningful story. That’s when I got the idea that the main character had to be searching for something more important to him than a bird. Cullen’s brother had to go missing. My original intent was to have Cullen tell the entire story, just one narrative. Then, about10 chapters in, I realized I needed something to tie in the religious symbols and themes I’d already brushed over to make them more visible to the the reader.
BKL: I thought you did a terrific job of bringing in the religious material. Can you tell me more about how that came to find its way into the story?
WHALEY: I friend suggested I read The Book of Enoch, an apocryphal text found in the Ethiopian Orthodox bibles. As soon as I read it, I knew I had to use it. I saw so many allusions and possibilities for my story. For one thing, it had the angel Gabriel in it—which was already the name of the narrator’s missing brother. Then I read how Gabriel the angel was sent to destroy monsters created by fallen angels breeding with humans, and I immediately thought, zombies! I had already written many of Cullen’s zombie daydreams into the other narrative, and this just seemed crazy and wild enough to work. I can’t believe it did, looking back on it.
BKL:The religious aspect really becomes its own story.
WHALEY: Yes, I decided to make it a separate narrative in the novel, one involving a young missionary, also searching for something (faith), who stumbles upon this odd, little-known text and whose journey coincidentally ends up affecting someone else and starting a chain of events that ultimately ties the entire story together. Did I know it would work when I stopped writing about Arkansas and put a new character in Ethiopia? Heck no. But, somehow, it all fit.
BKL:How much of the book is autobiographical?
WHALEY: There aren’t many specific events or scenes in the novel that are autobiographical, but the town of Lily is definitely a reflection of my hometown of Springhill, Louisiana. The most autobiographical aspect of the novel is the attitude that the narrator, Cullen Witter, has toward his town —he is cynical by nature and feels out of place, but he also has a slight, almost subconscious pity and concern for everyone around him. A lot of his views of the world and people are definitely the same as I had as a teenager, and some of those views are still present in my mind today, I’m sure.
Thursday, January 26, 2012 3:20 pm Maurice Sendak on the Colbert Report Posted by: Keir Graff
I don’t have anything to add to this, but if you haven’t seen Stephen Colbert’s two-part interview with Maurice Sendak (Bumble-Ardy, 2011; Where the Wild Things Are, 1963), you’re missing out. Some side-splittingly funny moments here. Quoth Sendak: “I didn’t set out to make children happy.”
Thursday, January 26, 2012 11:45 am Book Trailer Thursday: Taft 2012 Posted by: Annie Bostrom
Proving that campaign advertising and election season could be infinitely more interesting if only time travel were involved, here’s the trailer to accompany Jason Heller’s Taft 2012, out this month. Vanessa Bush makes the premise sound downright simple: President William H. Taft returns to the scene “100 years after the end of his presidency to appeal to common sense and nonpartisanship.” So, who is Taft?
Are there any time-capsule candidates who could capture your votes in a 60-second video pitch?
Tuesday, January 24, 2012 5:38 pm 2012 Oscar Nominations and Their Literary Antecedents Posted by: Keir Graff
This isn’t the first blog post to note the many literary antecedents of this morning’s Oscar nominations, but it may be the most comprehensive. I’ve linked the movie titles to the Booklist reviews (when available) of the books and stories that inspired them. Read on, and let me know if you see anything I’ve missed.
The Adventures of Tintin (Original Score)
Based on the books by Hergé
Albert Nobbs (Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Make-up)
Based on the short story by George Moore
The Descendants (Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Film Editing)
Hugo (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Costumes, Film Editing, Original Score, Sound Editing, Visual Effects)
Based on The Invention of Hugo Cabret, by Brian Selznick
Based on “Steel,” a short story by Richard Matheson
Rise of the Planet of the Apes (Visual Effects)
Based on Planet of the Apes, by Pierre Boulle
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (Best Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, Original Score)
Based on the book by John le Carré
War Horse (Best Picture, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Original Score, Sound Editing)
Based on the book by Michael Morpurgo
Finally, while I don’t believe it’s based on any one book in particular, “The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore” (Best Animated Short Film) deserves a special mention for general bookishness.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012 3:08 pm National Book Critics Circle Award Finalists Posted by: Sarah Hunter
This weekend, the National Book Critics Circle announced the finalists for this year’s award. The winner of each category will be announced on March 8th. In the meantime, read the finalists and choose your favorite!
Tuesday, January 24, 2012 12:24 pm 2012 RUSA Awards Posted by: Sarah Hunter
Let’s not forget about RUSA in the midst of all the YMA excitement! The RUSA awards were announced on Sunday night at ALA Midwinter. Here are the lists . We’ll post lists with links to Booklist reviews soon.
Monday, January 23, 2012 10:48 am 2012 ALA Youth Media Awards Posted by: Sarah Hunter
In case you missed the hubbub on twitter this morning, today was the big announcement of this year’s ALA Youth Media Awards. In an awards ceremony that clipped by at just over an hour, nearly 20 awards were announced — that’s about 1 every 3 minutes! Here’s a list of selected winners:
Monday, January 23, 2012 9:25 am 2012 Alex Award Winners Announced! Posted by: Sarah Hunter
ALA Midwinter is atwitter with excitement over this year’s Youth Media Awards (literally: my twitter feed is moving at lightning speed)! First up, the Alex Awards. Here are the 10 winners:
Thursday, January 19, 2012 4:32 pm Book Trailer Thursday: The Flame Alphabet Posted by: Annie Bostrom
Today we have a creepy, artist-created trailer for Ben Marcus’ The Flame Alphabet, a novel which Donna Seaman writes in her starred review “[offers] incandescent insights into ancient alphabets and mysticism, ostracism and exodus, incarceration with Holocaust echoes, and Kafkaesque behavioral science.”
Too brainy for a Thursday? Not brainy enough? You tell us. To find out more about the trailer and its creator Erin Cosgrove, read the full story here.
On January 23, 2012, at the Youth Media Awards announcements at ALA’s Midwinter Meeting in Dallas, John Corey Whaley was named the winner of the William C. Morris YA Debut Award. A few moments later, the audience heard his name again; his first novel, Where Things Come Back, had won the Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in young adult literature. This was the first time in the awards’ history that the same title had been selected for both prizes. When I introduced myself to Whaley later that day, he had the look of someone who suspected that he might be in a dream. How was he doing a few days after all the excitement? We caught up with him to find out.
This isn’t the first blog post to note the many literary antecedents of 
