vs 

Team Sweet Grass:

We met, we discussed, mics were dropped, gauntlets were thrown but in the end our vote goes to Field Guide to the North American Teenager over New Kid.  

What we learned is that we, as a group, are not fans of the graphic novel and not growing up with them we struggled with a lack of character and story development. We also know that most of us just read the words and moved over the pics quickly.  Until Jon talked about some of the symbolism in the books and how profound it was, most of us missed it.  And while we are not the “new generation” we wonder how many of our kids are missing it, too.  Was it a book we could put in our elementary library and is a book we want kids to read? Yes, and it’s in the library and the kids are reading it. 

Was it the better of the two books...depends on what you are looking for.  Some of us were reading to find books we could use in class, some were reading just to get personal enjoyment, some were reading to find books for our own kids.  Jon said Field Guide was better but then went on to defend NK  (almost to the death) as the book to move on because he felt it had more purpose.  

While we all acknowledged that FG was predictable, and had characters we loved and hated equally, there was a John Hughes movie appeal to it.  We knew what was going to happen but the ride along the way was still interesting and engaging.  Emily flat out despised Norris but wanted to know more about the supporting cast.  Jon, who is from the States, assured us that Norris would, in fact, be called “Canada” by his peers.  Predictable? Yes, delightful..also yes. Could it go in an elementary library? No.  So there you have it - the elementary school chooses the book that could not be used with it’s students.  As Mel says, it really was choosing apples over oranges so just depends on the fruit you prefer.