Talk:The Second Mrs. Giaconda

ALA Best Books for Young Adults

"The American Library Association named the novel the Best Book of the Year for Young Adults for 1975."

I have removed that from the article (and omitted such information elsewhere). There are many annual Best Books, more than ten. We need a source to say even that this book was on the short list of ten Best Books for Young Adults. At wikipedia I find no information about this annual list; at ALA no weblication of the list earlier than 1996. For some more information with external links see Talk:Young Adult Library Services Association#ALA Best Books for Young Adults. --P64 (talk) 20:50, 13 December 2011 (UTC)

It should be phrased as a Best Book rather than the Best Book, but it's verifiable. (Sorry for the search link, snippet was uncooperative.) –Roscelese (talk ⋅ contribs) 21:01, 13 December 2011 (UTC)

Thanks. Ideally, what link should be provided? what cooperation by snippet expected? This url is much shorter and is equivalent at the moment. http://books.google.com/books?ei=Rk3qTsWNNqbh0QG36ti6CQ&id=PngYAAAAIAAJ&dq=%22best+book+for+young+adults%22 --P64 (talk) 19:55, 15 December 2011 (UTC)

Yeah, I figured out how to use a shorter URL in the article. –Roscelese (talk ⋅ contribs) 01:42, 16 December 2011 (UTC)

The main question remains open because this may have been one of the "Top 10 Best Books for Young Adults" and, if so, the article should say so. http://www.ala.org/yalsa/booklists/bbya

I won't qualify the so-called award in the article, unless I find pertinent discussion elsewhere --and I have no ideas except wikiproject Children's literature, or a parent project, where I don't expect to find it. Maybe I will ask there a question or two myself: (how) should we say that BBYA should not be confused with Top 10 BBYA? (BBYA is barely notable and the potential confusion is a big one by 1996, the earliest year whose list is now published online by YALSA. There were 80 "Best Books" for 1996, 34 non-fiction and 46 fiction, iicc.)

For zillions of articles on children's books, we may need the print reference.

Best Books for Young Adults, 3rd Edition. 2007. 376p. ISBN 978-0-8389-3569-9

--P64 (talk) 20:25, 15 December 2011 (UTC)

Unfortunately I don't know how to find out if it was one of the top 10 best or just vaguely one of the best. :( –Roscelese (talk ⋅ contribs) 01:42, 16 December 2011 (UTC)

Thanks. Now I have not only decided, but taken the time!, to ask WP Children's literature about these two BBYA lists. Wikipedia talk: WikiProject Children's literature#Best Books for Young Adults --P64 (talk) 21:59, 19 December 2011 (UTC)

YALSA, ALA has published three editions of Best Books for Young Adults by Betty Carter, eds. 2 and 3 with co-authors. I have examined the second edition (1999).

The "Top Ten Best BYA" date from 1997 so YALSA.org (lists begin 1996) is complete. See [[Talk:Talk:Young Adult Library Services Association#ALA Best Books for Young Adults]] for more general information that I learned.

The second edition lists purportedly all 1966 to 1999 winners, both by author and by year. Konigsburg is credited with only one, Father's Arcane Daughter (1976 list). I checked the list by author and the annual lists 1975 (Mrs. Giaconda) and 1976. --P64 (talk) 21:10, 14 January 2012 (UTC)

Scholastic interview

E. L. Konigsburg, Interview Transcript. No date. Scholastic Teachers. scholastic.com.
—(interjection 2012-01-05) date evidently between 1996 month?? publication of her The View From Saturday and 2000 March 30 death of her "forever editor" Jean E. Karl.

These five exchanges quoted from the interview direclty concern history and her two historical novels, A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver (1973) and The Second Mrs. Giaconda (1975).

Do you use real-life people as the basis of the characters in your books?

That's true of all my books. The characters begin their lives as people that I may know, but they end up their lives as characters! Even the historical figures I've written about - Eleanor of Aquitaine and Leonardo da Vinci - are outgrowths of my imagination. The incidents are true, but I make up conversations and personalities. I do that to emphasize that every character in those two historical novels lived, and every incident happened - I just embroidered it.

...

If you could invite any six people to dinner, who would you choose?

I think Albert Einstein would be at the top of my list. Eleanor of Aquitaine would be there. Michelangelo. I think I would like to have dinner with Oscar Wilde. And I would like the interplay between Wilde and William Shakespeare. And I think I would like to speak with Eleanor Roosevelt.

Whom, of all the characters you've written about, would you most like to meet?

Eleanor of Aquitaine, definitely. I'd like to have dinner with her to see how close I came!

Who are your favorite artists?

My favorite artists - well, I love the work of Michelangelo. And I have to tell you that I think he reached a pinnacle from which everyone had to move down. He just creates such an emotional impact. A person cannot look at his work without a visceral feeling of satisfaction. It's a real "gotcha." I also like the work of Georges de la Tour. He's a hard-edged painter, but he does a lot of work with light and shade. And after Michelangelo would be Caravaggio, an emotional and wonderful painter, but a terrible painter. Egon Schiele, also. He's a very, very disturbed man. He had an exhibit at the MOMA (Museum of Modern Art) last year, and I flew up to New York to see it.

...

What was your favorite book to work on?

A Proud Taste of Scarlet and Miniver. We went through Europe, tracking down Eleanor of Aquitaine. And that was fun.

--P64 (talk) 18:06, 5 January 2012 (UTC)