Six Newberys and Nineteen Bluebonnets

72. Hitty: Her First Hundred Years by Rachel Field

Copyright date: 1929…Odd to think that my mother might have run across this book as a little girl and read it….I remember reading it myself as a little girl.  Like many of the older Newbery books, it is a vision into the past, a little trip into life for kids before tv and computers and Ipods.

Hitty is a wooden doll made in the early 1800’s. Her underpants are embroidered with her name and along the way she becomes the most literate of dolls. One girl after another owns her, though her painted features fade and her various dresses come and go. She has a series of exciting adventures: she lands in a tree, in a shipwrecked, on a deserted island worshipped as an idol (!), on a steamship, under the cushion of an old couch, in an exhibition, and, finally, in an antique store. She manages to survive all her adventures with her dignity intact, finding a way to take pleasure in even the least interesting of her situations.

72. The View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg

This book kinda sorta was about a team of young middle school kids who work together and go to the Academic Bowl.

If this was a linear world, and this book was a documentary, that’s what you’d say this book was about.

Instead, Konigsburg tells a circuitous story, of four misfits and their misfit teacher, who develop a friendship amid a hostile world. In the process, they not only create their own, kinder world, but they gentle the world around them.

73. A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park

I read this a couple of years ago at the urging of some of my students. It was a magnificent read, all the more so because it had been students who encouraged me to read it.

It was even better this time. That is one of the marks of an outstanding book for me, a book that bears up under the pressure of a reread.

The story is that of Tree-ear, an orphan, living in twelfth-century Korea. He lives under a bridge with a fellow outcast, Crane-man, a man who is only able to hobble about with the help of a cane. The two survive by scavenging. Then Tree-ear accidentally breaks a pot of one of his village’s greatest potters, Min, and, to compensate for his carelessness, he goes to work for Min. Tree-ear dreams of learning Min’s trade, but Min is an angry man who feels only a son should learn a father’s trade and he regards Tree-ear as no son of his. Min and his wife are childless, having lost their son earlier in life. Min’s wife gradually comes to love Tree-ear and, even more slowly, Min does, too. When a representative of the king visits the village in search of a new potter for the royal family, Min’s work is found to be worthy of a closer look. To show his work to the king, Tree-ear offers to take Min’s pottery on a long journey to the royal city. It is a trip fraught with danger. Along the way, Tree-ear is besieged by robbers and, in the process, all of Min’s work is destroyed. Tree-ear, though discouraged, does not give up. He takes an intact shard of Min’s pottery to the king and the tiny piece of Min’s work is enough to give Min a commission to the king. Tree-ear loses his friend, Crane-man, but acquires for the first time both a family and a vocation with Min and his wife.

N/A  Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli

I listened to Maniac Magee on CD. I know I have read this book in the past, but I did not remember much about it; I read it after Stargirl and found Maniac Magee less compelling.

I liked it a lot more this time. Maniac is an orphan with superhero-like athletic abilities. He settles in with an aunt and uncle but soon wanders away to find a new home with a black family. At the time of this story, a white boy living with a black family is a difficult situation. Maniac becomes the target of both blacks and whites who find the situation intolerable. Finally, Maniac gives into pressure and wanders away from the black family to live with an old black man. Maniac teaches the old man to read and the man helps Maniac hone his baseball skills. Maniac is finally able to find a way to come home to live with the black family who had so warmly received him.

74. How to Steal a Dog by Barbara O’Connor

It was eating me up that a group of third graders had decided to start reading next year’s Bluebonnet books….I succumbed to pressure and decided to take a break from Newbery books and read the nineteen Bluebonnets I had not yet read. I started with this one, the one the third grades seemed to love the most.

Georgina’s father has left and now she and her mother and little brother are homeless. Her mother ekes out a precarious living working two jobs, but it is not enough to get an apartment. Georgina is desperate to find a way to get enough money to move out of their car and comes upon the idea of stealing a dog and turning the dog into the owner for the reward money. She carefully plots a plan to steal a dog. Of course nothing goes as she has planned. The dog’s owner is not the wildly affluent woman Georgina has thought her to be and the owner is distraught at the loss of her dog. Georgina has to decide to carry out her original plan or to find a way to return the dog to her owner.

75. The Middle of Somewhere by J.B. Cheaney

Ronnie and her hyperactive brother are pawned off on their grandfather while their mother recuperates from an injury incurred from chasing a squirrel. Their grandfather, Pop, is off on an adventure in a camper, seeking a way to get rich using the wind. Ronnie’s brother, Gee, is a handful and Ronnie spends most of her time keeping him from killing himself or destroying the world. Just when Pop is ready to turn around and return the two kids to their mother, Gee disappears and the search for Gee helps Pop and Ronnie become friends.

76. Tall Tales by Karen Day

Meg’s family moves constantly, trying to accommodate Meg’s alcoholic father’s desire for a fresh start. Meg is tired of moving and is embarrassed about her family. To compensate, Meg tells outrageous stories about her family. For the first time, Meg makes a friend, a very tolerant girl named Grace. Gradually, Grace and others learn the truth about Meg and her family, but Grace turns out to be more than a fair weather friend.

77. Just Grace by Charise Mericle Harper

There are four Graces in the same class and each one, out of necessity, acquires a nickname. Grace becomes “Just Grace,” but it is not a nickname she likes. Her greatest ability is empathy. Just Grace uses her powers to help a neighbor cope with a lost cat with mixed results.

Note: There is a sequel I should try to acquire for the library.

78. The Thing About Georgie by Lisa Graff

Georgie is a dwarf. His life, overall, is a happy one. But then he learns that his parents are going to have another child. Georgie is overwhelmed with feeling of jealousy for his new sibling who he anticipates will be a normal child, able to do many things Georgie cannot do, including play music like his parents. Georgie’s jealousy also jeopardizes his friendship with his best friend and he suffers through a developing relationship with the cruelest girl in school, Jeanie the Meanie.

79. One-Handed Catch by Mary Jane Auch

My seventh Bluebonnet and my seventh book of realistic fiction, with sad, sad characters living sad, sad lives. I thought Bluebonnets were supposed to be a nice crosssection of genres….

One-Handed Catch is my favorite Bluebonnet, nevertheless. Norm wants to be either an artist or a baseball player, but his hopes are dashed when he cuts off his hand in a meat-grinder accident. Norm’s mother doesn’t let his handicap serve as a crutch, however, and Norm learns to do everything he once did easily with two hands using his one hand.

Norm struggled not only with relearning tasks, but he also had to deal with people’s stares and rude comments. I liked Norm’s gumption. A good story.

80. Toys Go Out by Emily Jenkins

There’s always a book that looks like it will be the best; Toys Go Out was the book I thought I’d like best. Actually, I wasn’t taken with the story. A group of toys have little adventures. Perhaps it was too close to reading the book about the adventurous wooden doll from the 1920’s. Or maybe the story just didn’t hold up to the wonderful movie Toy Story.

81. Gabriel’s Horses by Alison Hart

Gabriel’s father is free, but his mother is a slave, making Gabriel a slave, too. All three work on a horse farm, training and caring for horses that will one day race. It is the time of the Civil War and Gabriel’s father is given an opportunity to join the Union Army and earn enough money to buy his family’s freedom. This leaves Gabriel to care for the horses and protect them from Confederate raiders and a new cruel horse trainer.

I liked the story a lot, but the characters and the plot felt a little too pat, a little less nuanced than I might wish for.

82. Lawn Boy by Gary Paulsen

His grandmother gives him an old lawn mower and, before he knows it, he is Lawn Boy. A stockbroker begins to manage his money and suddenly Lawn Boy is rich.

With a little more push, this could have been a wildly funny story. I found it so-so.

83. The Winner’s Walk by Nancy Ruth Patterson

Case is the only one in his family who has no special talent, but Case has plans to change that. He enters a talent show, a science fair, and a horse show, but fails to make a mark in any events. He is about to give up when he finds a dog, a remarkable dog, and the dog helps Case find his own special talents as a dog trainer as well as his special talent of sharing.

84. Way Down Deep by Ruth White

Way Down Deep is just quirky enough to edge outside the realm of realistic fiction. Ruby is a toddler found outside the courthouse in 1944 and taken in by the owner of a boarding house, Miss Arbutus. Ruby has a rich, full life in Way Down Deep, but she has always been curious about her people. An inept bank robber comes to town and is befriended in his troubles with the townspeople. The robber knows of Ruby and helps lead her back to her roots. But it is not the happy world of Way Down Deep; instead, Ruby goes to live with a deeply unhappy grandmother, caring for her even though the grandmother is as mean to her as a grass snake. Finally, Ruby cannot take any more and decides to leave. Faced with yet another person leaving her, the grandmother resolves to change and to find a way to go with Ruby to Way Down Deep.

85. Atherton: House of Power by Patrick Carman

Have I just out-and-out read too many fantasy books to find any of them fresh and new? Edgar lives in Atherton, a planet divided into three distinct parts: The Highlands, Tabletop, and The Flatlands. Suddenly, the three parts begin to move together, which shakes both the world and all the societies on the world.

I kept reading, but I wasn’t strongly taken with the book. Another so-so Bluebonnet.

86. One Potato, Two Potato by Cynthia DeFelice

I’m predicting this will be next year’s winning book. Mr. and Mrs. O’Grady are terribly poor, so poor they must share everything, even their blanket, their coat, and, each day, a single potato. Then Mr. O’Grady digs up a black pot with the mysterious power to double everything put into it. The O’Gradys are now magnificently rich. Then Mrs. O’Grady falls into the pot and Mr. O’Grady jumps in. The two have everything they need in life, including friendship.

I especially liked how the O’Gradys, after coming into such wealth, took the pot back and buried it again, for someone else to find and use.

87. What You Never Knew about Beds, Bedrooms, and Pajamas by Patricia Lauber

I loved this little book with facts and stories about beds and bedrooms and pajamas of the past and present.Who knew beds and bedrooms and pajamas could be so entertaining? I need to seek out other books in this series by the same author for the library. A fun and browsable book.

88. Comets, Stars, the Moon, and Mars by Douglas Florian

Bluebonnet committees love Florian. His books of poetry have been nominated over and over again. And why not? At least the book isn’t just another sad book of realistic fiction. The little poems are short and powerful in their own way. That, combined with the facts included in each poem, makes this a worthwhile read.

89. This is Just to Say by Joyce Sidman

At first, I was shocked to see the Bluebonnet committee had nominated two books of poetry this year. Two books of poetry! Then I reconsidered this idea…Why not? If you can have almost half your choices be realistic fiction, why not have two books of poetry? I was moderately interested in the idea behind this book, stories told using a poem of apology and a response poem.

90. Marvelous Mattie by Emily Arnold McCully

The word “marvelous” seems entirely too strong to use about Margaret Knight. Knight was an early inventor, most well known for making square bottomed paper bags. Other than her diligence and persistence, Knight seemed to be a perfectly ordinary person. Must we write a book about every woman who takes out a patent or otherwise enters her name into history? I wish the author had shown me more about why she considered this person to be so marvelous.

91. Team Moon by Catherine Thimmesh

President John F. Kennedy set the goal:  put a man on the moon by the end of the decade.  America met the goal.  But it was with the efforts of hundreds of thousands of people that this goal was met. Team Moon looks behind the act of a man walking on the moon to the work of all the people who got him there and then got him safely back home.

92. Crossing Bok Chitto by Tim Tingle

A wonderful story of people helping people, based on old Choctaw legends.  Bok Chitto is a river; on one side are Choctaw lands and on the other are the lands of plantation owners and slaves. When a group of slaves learn their family is to be sold to another plantation, the slaves use their friendship with the Choctaw people to find a way to escape across Bok Chitto and into freedom on Choctaw land.

93. The Wheel on the School by Meindert DeJong

This is truly an odd story. A village in Holland is sad because no storks come to nest in their town. The children and their teacher decide to change things by making a project of it; they will find an old wagon wheel and put it on top of the school for storks to nest in.

Pretty soon, the whole town is involved in the project. Everyone is out looking for wagon wheels. Everyone is figuring out how to put the wheel on the school. Everyone is helping put the wagon wheel on the roof of the school. There are plenty of difficulties in the task, including finding the wagon wheel in the first place. The project creates unexpected side benefits of a strong community spirit and new friendships.

94. Shen of the Sea by Arthur Bowie Chrisman

This kind of book, a collection of old folk tales, was probably my favorite kind of book to read as a child. I like this book as an adult, too.

The stories all feel vaguely familiar as if they’ve been told many times in many places. And yet they are also fresh and reveal little hidden aspects of human nature.

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