Neil Gaiman has won America's most prestigious children's fiction prize, the Newbery medal, for his novel The Graveyard Book. The Newbery is an award to "the most distinguished American children's book published the previous year". The Award has been criticised in the pas for being out of touch with its readers, only recognising authors of books with a limited appeal. With the selection of Gaiman, a very popular author, they have answered that criticism.The award, which was founded in 1922, is named in honour of 18th-century British bookseller John Newbery. Previous winners include Hugh Lofting's The Voyages of Dr Dolittle, Madeline L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time and Lloyd Alexander's The High King.
The Graveyard Book is the story of a boy who lives in a graveyard and is raised by ghosts.
The Guardian
Ironic considering that The Graveyard Book is really a reinvented version of Kipling's Jungle Book. It's not entirely unjustified, as Gaiman's retelling is far more accessible to the children of today than the original was. Besides, Disney's adaptation also received acclaim. But I can't help feeling that accolades these days are all too often given out to blatant derivations while more original (or at least more subtle) work is overlooked. Says something about modern times...
ReplyDelete