Coos Bay children's librarian serves on Newbery Medal committee

COOS BAY, Ore. – We caught up with the children’s librarian who was part of a national award committee this year. Jennifer Knight is the youth services librarian at Coos Bay Public Library and has been involved with the American Library Association since 2009.

The organization honors books and other outstanding materials for kids and teens, one of the honors being the prestigious Newbery Medal. The Newbery Committee seeks to select the most distinguished book in children’s literature for the preceding year.

Knight served on the Newbery Committee for 2023, along with 14 others, reading hundreds of books over the course of the year to choose winners.

“We were very blessed this year in that we had an extremely strong year of children’s literature, so it was a super difficult decision,” Knight said.

This year’s medal was awarded to author Dave Eggers for his book “The Eyes and the Impossible.” Five other authors also received special honors.

Knight said that she hopes people continue to find magic at the library and that people will come visit her at the Coos Bay Library.