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Gennifer says

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Q: Looking back, how did it feel to get the phone call?

The weeks leading up to the 2005 Newbery announcement were nerve-wracking for me.  Every day I would get an email from someone I knew saying “Did you know Al Capone Does My Shirts just won our Mock Newbery award?” Or “Wow we’re so excited for you. We think you have a chance to win the Newbery this year!” Since there are no early indicators of whether a book is up for consideration for a Newbery medal, I knew that none of these people had any real idea if my book had even a rat’s chance of winning. But knowing something in your head and trying to convince your heart not to get your hopes up are two different things entirely. It was a full-time job trying to keep myself in check.

I wasn’t the only person having difficulty with this either. My editor, who was at ALA, had had so many people approach her saying: “Good Luck! We think it will be you this year,” that the night before the announcement she went to bed at eleven pm and got up at eleven-thirty p.m. and that was it for sleep for her for the whole night.

I, on the other hand, had a great night’s sleep. All of my life I’ve been a dreamer. I couldn’t even get a novel accepted for publication and I was driving around in my car practicing my Newbery acceptance speech. In my head I have won every award in the world, I’ve been the only female President of the United States, I’ve been a network news anchor and I’ve sung with Tina Turner too. I’m used to dreaming big dreams. What I’m not used to is having them come true.

When the phone rang at 4:15 a.m. in the morning, it was the biggest shock I’ve ever had in my life. Because a good friend of mine was the author of a Caldecott Honor Book, I knew awards phone calls came early, but when the phone rang, I literally could not believe it. I lay in bed giving myself a little talking to. “Now you’re imagining the phone ringing. You are really going around the bend, girl.”

Eventually the phone stopped ringing. A minute later it began again. Whoever it was would not give up.

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