Newbery Honor Books

2007 Honor Books:

• Penny from Heaven by Jennifer L. Holm,
• Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson
• Rules by Cynthia Lord 
  

2006 Honor Books:

• Whittington by Alan Armstrong
• Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler’s Shadow by Susan Campbell Bartoletti 
• Princess Academy by Shannon Hale 
• Show Way by Jacqueline Woodson, illustrated by Hudson Talbott 

2005 Honor Books:

• Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko 
• The Voice that Challenged a Nation: Marian Anderson and the Struggle for Equal Rights” by Russell Freedman 
• Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy by Gary D. Schmidt  

2004 Honor Books:

• Olive’s Ocean by Kevin Henkes 
• An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 by Jim Murphy 

2003 Honor Books:

• The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer 
• Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff 
• Hoot by Carl Hiaasen 
• A Corner of The Universe by Ann M. Martin 
• Surviving the Applewhites by Stephanie S. Tolan 

2002 Honor Books:

• Everything on a Waffle by Polly Horvath 
• Carver: A Life In Poems by Marilyn Nelson 

2001 Honor Books:

• Hope Was Here by Joan Bauer 
• Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo 
• Joey Pigza Loses Control by Jack Gantos 
• The Wanderer by Sharon Creech 

2000 Honor Books:

• Getting Near to Baby by by Audrey Couloumbis 
• Our Only May Amelia by Jennifer L. Holm 
• 26 Fairmount Avenue by Tomie dePaola 

1999 Honor Book:

• A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck 

1998 Honor Books:

• Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine 
• Lily’s Crossing by Patricia Reilly Giff 
• Wringer by Jerry Spinelli 

1997 Honor Books:

• A Girl Named Disaster by Nancy Farmer
• Moorchild by Eloise McGraw
• The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner
• Belle Prater’s Boy by Ruth White 

1996 Honor Books:

• What Jamie Saw by Carolyn Coman 
• The Watsons Go to Birmingham: 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis 
• Yolonda’s Genius by Carol Fenner 
• The Great Fire by Jim Murphy 

1995 Honor Books:

• Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman 
• The Ear, the Eye and the Arm by Nancy Farmer 

1994 Honor Books:

• Crazy Lady by Jane Leslie Conly 
• Dragon’s Gate by Laurence Yep 
• Eleanor Roosevelt: A Life of Discovery by Russell Freedman 

1993 Honor Books:

• What Hearts by Bruce Brooks
• The Dark-thirty: Southern Tales of the Supernatural by Patricia McKissack 
• Somewhere in the Darkness by Walter Dean Myers

1992 Honor Books:

• Nothing But The Truth: a Documentary Novel by Avi 
• The Wright Brothers: How They Invented the Airplane by Russell Freedman 

1991 Honor Book:

• The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi 

1990 Honor Books:

• Afternoon of the Elves by Janet Taylor Lisle 
• Shabanu, Daughter of the Wind by Suzanne Fisher Staples 
• The Winter Room by Gary Paulsen 

1989 Honor Books:

• In The Beginning: Creation Stories from Around the World by Virginia Hamilton 
• Scorpions by Walter Dean Myers 

1988 Honor Books:

• After The Rain by Norma Fox Mazer 
• Hatchet by Gary Paulsen 

1987 Honor Books:

• A Fine White Dust by Cynthia Rylant 
• On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer 
• Volcano: The Eruption and Healing of Mount St. Helens by Patricia Lauber 

1986 Honor Books:

• Commodore Perry In the Land of the Shogun by Rhoda Blumberg
• Dogsong by Gary Paulsen 

1985 Honor Books:

• Like Jake and Me by Mavis Jukes 
• The Moves Make the Man by Bruce Brooks 
• One-Eyed Cat by Paula Fox 

1984 Honor Books:

• The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare 
• A Solitary Blue by Cynthia Voigt 
• Sugaring Time by Kathryn Lasky 
• The Wish Giver: Three Tales of Coven Tree by Bill Brittain 

1983 Honor Books:

• The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley 
• Doctor DeSoto by William Steig 
• Graven Images by Paul Fleischman 
• Homesick: My Own Story by Jean Fritz 
• Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush by Virginia Hamilton 

1982 Honor Books:

• Ramona Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly Cleary 
• Upon the Head of the Goat: A Childhood in Hungary 1939-1944 by Aranka Siegal 

1981 Honor Books:

• The Fledgling by Jane Langton 
• A Ring of Endless Light by Madeleine L’Engle 

1980 Honor Book:

• The Road from Home: The Story of an Armenian Girl by David Kherdian 

1979 Honor Book:

•  
  • The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson 

1978 Honor Books:

•  
  • Ramona and Her Father by Beverly Cleary 
  • Anpao: An American Indian Odyssey by Jamake Highwater 

1977 Honor Books:

•  
  • Abel’s Island by William Steig 
  • A String in the Harp by Nancy Bond 

1976 Honor Books:

•  
  • The Hundred Penny Box by Sharon Bell Mathis 
  • Dragonwings by Laurence Yep 

1975 Honor Books:

•  
  • Figgs & Phantoms by Ellen Raskin 
  • My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier & Christopher Collier 
  • The Perilous Gard by Elizabeth Marie Pope 
  • Philip Hall Likes Me, I Reckon Maybe by Bette Greene 

1974 Honor Book:

•  
  • The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper

1973 Honor Books:

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  • Frog and Toad Together by Arnold Lobel 
  • The Upstairs Room by Johanna Reiss 
  • The Witches of Worm by Zilpha Keatley Snyder 

1972 Honor Books:

•  
  • Incident At Hawk’s Hill by Allan W. Eckert 
  • The Planet of Junior Brown by Virginia Hamilton 
  • The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. LeGuin 
  • Annie and the Old One by Miska Miles 
  • The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Keatley Snyder 

1971 Honor Books:

•  
  • Knee Knock Rise by Natalie Babbitt 
  • Enchantress From the Stars by Sylvia Louise Engdahl 
  • Sing Down the Moon by Scott O’Dell 

1970 Honor Books:

•  
  • Our Eddie by Sulamith Ish-Kishor 
  • The Many Ways of Seeing: An Introduction to the Pleasures of Art by Janet Gaylord Moore
  • Journey Outside by Mary Q. Steele 

1969 Honor Books:

•  
  • To Be a Slave by Julius Lester 
  • When Shlemiel Went to Warsaw and Other Stories by Isaac Bashevis Singer 

1968 Honor Books:

•  
  • Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth by E. L. Konigsburg 
  • The Black Pearl by Scott O’Dell 
  • The Fearsome Inn by Isaac Bashevis Singer 
  • The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder 

1967 Honor Books:

•  
  • The King’s Fifth by Scott O’Dell 
  • Zlateh The Goat and Other Stories by Isaac Bashevis Singer 
  • The Jazz Man by Mary Hays Weik 

1966 Honor Books:

•  
  • The Black Cauldron by Lloyd Alexander 
  • The Animal Family by Randall Jarrell
  • The Noonday Friends by Mary Stolz 

1965 Honor Book:

•  
  • Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt 

1964 Honor Books:

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  • Rascal: A Memoir of a Better Era by Sterling North 
  • The Loner by Ester Wier (McKay)

1963 Honor Books:

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  • Thistle and Thyme: Tales and Legends from Scotland by Sorche Nic Leodhas, pseud.
  • Men of Athens by Olivia Coolidge 

1962 Honor Books:

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  • Frontier Living by Edwin Tunis
  • The Golden Goblet by Eloise Jarvis McGraw
  • Belling The Tiger by Mary Stolz 

1961 Honor Books:

•  
  • America Moves Forward: A History for Peter by Gerald W. Johnson 
  • Old Ramon by Jack Schaefer 
  • The Cricket In Times Square by George Selden, pseud.

1960 Honor Books:

•  
  • My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George 
  • America Is Born: A History for Peter by Gerald W. Johnson 
  • The Gammage Cup by Carol Kendall 

1959 Honor Books:

•  
  • The Family Under The Bridge by Natalie Savage Carlson 
  • Along Came A Dog by Meindert Dejong 
  • Chucaro: Wild Pony of the Pampa by Francis Kalnay 
  • The Perilous Road by William O. Steele 

1958 Honor Books:

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  • The Horsecatcher by Mari Sandoz
  • Gone-Away Lake by Elizabeth Enright 
  • The Great Wheel by Robert Lawson 
  • Tom Paine, Freedom’s Apostle by Leo Gurko

1957 Honor Books:

•  
  • Old Yeller by Fred Gipson 
  • The House of Sixty Fathers by Meindert DeJong 
  • Mr. Justice Holmes by Clara Ingram Judson 
  • The Corn Grows Ripe by Dorothy Rhoads 
  • Black Fox of Lorne by Marguerite de Angeli 

1956 Honor Books:

•  
  • The Secret River by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings 
  • The Golden Name Day by Jennie Lindquist 
  • Men, Microscopes, and Living Things by Katherine Shippen 

1955 Honor Books:

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  • Courage of Sarah Noble by Alice Dalgliesh 
  • Banner In The Sky by James Ullman

1954 Honor Books:

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  • All Alone by Claire Huchet Bishop 
  • Shadrach by Meindert Dejong 
  • Hurry Home, Candy by Meindert Dejong 
  • Theodore Roosevelt, Fighting Patriot by Clara Ingram Judson 
  • Magic Maize by Mary & Conrad Buff 

1953 Honor Books:

•  
  • Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White 
  • Moccasin Trail by Eloise Jarvis McGraw 
  • Red Sails to Capri by Ann Weil 
  • The Bears on Hemlock Mountain by Alice Dalgliesh 
  • Birthdays of Freedom, Vol. 1 by Genevieve Foster 

1952 Honor Books:

•  
  • Americans Before Columbus by Elizabeth Baity 
  • Minn of the Mississippi by Holling C. Holling 
  • The Defender by Nicholas Kalashnikoff 
  • The Light at Tern Rock by Julia Sauer 
  • The Apple and the Arrow by Mary & Conrad Buff 

1951 Honor Books:

•  
  • Better Known as Johnny Appleseed by Mabel Leigh Hunt 
  • Gandhi, Fighter Without a Sword by Jeanette Eaton 
  • Abraham Lincoln, Friend of the People by Clara Ingram Judson 
  • The Story of Appleby Capple by Anne Parrish 

1950 Honor Books:

•  
  • Tree of Freedom by Rebecca Caudill 
  • The Blue Cat of Castle Town by Catherine Coblentz 
  • Kildee House by Rutherford Montgomery 
  • George Washington by Genevieve Foster 
  • Song of The Pines: A Story of Norwegian Lumbering in Wisconsin by Walter & Marion Havighurst 

1949 Honor Books:

•  
  • Seabird by Holling C. Holling 
  • Daughter of the Mountains by Louise Rankin 
  • My Father’s Dragon by Ruth S. Gannett 
  • Story of the Negro by Arna Bontemps 

1948 Honor Books:

•  
  • Pancakes-Paris by Claire Huchet Bishop 
  • Li Lun, Lad of Courage by Carolyn Treffinger 
  • The Quaint and Curious Quest of Johnny Longfoot by Catherine Besterman
  • The Cow-Tail Switch, and Other West African Stories by Harold Courlander 
  • Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry 

1947 Honor Books:

•  
  • Wonderful Year by Nancy Barnes
  • Big Tree by Mary & Conrad Buff 
  • The Heavenly Tenants by William Maxwell 
  • The Avion My Uncle Flew by Cyrus Fisher, pseud.
  • The Hidden Treasure of Glaston by Eleanor Jewett 

1946 Honor Books:

•  
  • Justin Morgan Had a Horse by Marguerite Henry
  • The Moved-Outers by Florence Crannell Means 
  • Bhimsa, the Dancing Bear by Christine Weston 
  • New Found World by Katherine Shippen 

1945 Honor Books:

•  
  • The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes 
  • The Silver Pencil by Alice Dalgliesh 
  • Abraham Lincoln’s World by Genevieve Foster 
  • Lone Journey: The Life of Roger Williams by Jeanetter Eaton 

1944 Honor Books:

•  
  • These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder 
  • Fog Magic by Julia Sauer 
  • Rufus M. by Eleanor Estes 
  • Mountain Born by Elizabeth Yates

1943 Honor Books:

•  
  • The Middle Moffat by Eleanor Estes 
  • Have You Seen Tom Thumb? by Mabel Leigh Hunt 

1942 Honor Books:

•  
  • Little Town on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder 
  • George Washington’s World by Genevieve Foster 
  • Indian Captive: The Story of Mary Jemison by Lois Lenski 
  • Down Ryton Water by Eva Roe Gaggin 

1941 Honor Books:

•  
  • Blue Willow by Doris Gates 
  • Young Mac of Fort Vancouver by Mary Jane Carr 
  • The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder 
  • Nansen by Anna Gertrude Hall 

1940 Honor Books:

•  
  • The Singing Tree by Kate Seredy 
  • Runner of the Mountain Tops: The Life of Louis Agassiz by Mabel Robinson 
  • By the Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder 
  • Boy with a Pack by Stephen W. Meader 

1939 Honor Books:

•  
  • Nino by Valenti Angelo 
  • Mr. Popper’s Penguins by Richard & Florence Atwater 
  • Hello the Boat! by Phyllis Crawford 
  • Leader By Destiny: George Washington, Man and Patriot by Jeanette Eaton 
  • Penn by Elizabeth Janet Gray 

1938 Honor Books:

•  
  • Pecos Bill by James Cloyd Bowman 
  • Bright Island by Mabel Robinson 
  • On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder 

1937 Honor Books:

•  
  • Phebe Fairchild: Her Book by Lois Lenski
  • Whistler’s Van by Idwal Jones 
  • The Golden Basket by Ludwig Bemelmans 
  • Winterbound by Margery Bianco 
  • The Codfish Musket by Agnes Hewes 
  • Audubon by Constance Rourke 

1936 Honor Books:

•  
  • Honk, the Moose by Phil Stong
  • The Good Master by Kate Seredy 
  • Young Walter Scott by Elizabeth Janet Gray 
  • All Sail Set: A Romance of the Flying Cloud by Armstrong Sperry 

1935 Honor Books:

•  
  • Pageant of Chinese History by Elizabeth Seeger 
  • Davy Crockett by Constance Rourke 
  • Day On Skates: The Story of a Dutch Picnic by Hilda Von Stockum 

1934 Honor Books:

•  
  • The Forgotten Daughter by Caroline Snedeker 
  • Swords of Steel by Elsie Singmaster 
  • ABC Bunny by Wanda Gág 
  • Winged Girl of Knossos by Erik Berry, pseud.
  • New Land by Sarah Schmidt (McBride)
  • Big Tree of Bunlahy: Stories of My Own Countryside by Padraic Colum 
  • Glory of the Seas by Agnes Hewes 
  • Apprentice of Florence by Ann Kyle 

1933 Honor Books:

•  
  • Swift Rivers by Cornelia Meigs 
  • The Railroad To Freedom: A Story of the Civil War by Hildegarde Swift 
  • Children of the Soil: A Story of Scandinavia by Nora Burglon 

1932 Honor Books:

•  
  • The Fairy Circus by Dorothy P. Lathrop 
  • Calico Bush by Rachel Field 
  • Boy of the South Seas by Eunice Tietjens
  • Out of the Flame by Eloise Lownsbery 
  • Jane’s Island by Marjorie Allee 
  • Truce of the Wolf and Other Tales of Old Italy by Mary Gould Davis 

1931 Honor Books:

•  
  • Floating Island by Anne Parrish 
  • The Dark Star of Itza: The Story of A Pagan Princess by Alida Malkus 
  • Queer Person by Ralph Hubbard 
  • Mountains are Free by Julie Davis Adams 
  • Spice and the Devil’s Cave by Agnes Hewes 
  • Meggy MacIntosh by Elizabeth Janet Gray 
  • Garram the Hunter: A Boy of the Hill Tribes by Herbert Best 
  • Ood-Le-Uk the Wanderer by Alice Lide & Margaret Johansen 

1930 Honor Books:

•  
  • A Daughter of the Seine: The Life of Madame Roland by Jeanette Eaton 
  • Pran of Albania by Elizabeth Miller 
  • Jumping-Off Place by Marion Hurd McNeely 
  • The Tangle-Coated Horse and Other Tales by Ella Young 
  • Vaino by Julia Davis Adams 
  • Little Blacknose by Hildegarde Swift 

1929 Honor Books:

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  • Pigtail of Ah Lee Ben Loo by John Bennett 
  • Millions of Cats by Wanda Gág
  • The Boy Who Was by Grace Hallock 
  • Clearing Weather by Cornelia Meigs 
  • Runaway Papoose by Grace Moon 
  • Tod of the Fens by Elinor Whitney 

1928 Honor Books:

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  • The Wonder Smith and His Son by Ella Young 
  • Downright Dencey by Caroline Snedeker 

1927 Honor Books:

•  
  • [None recorded]

1926 Honor Book:

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  • The Voyagers: Being Legends and Romances of Atlantic Discovery by Padraic Colum 

1925 Honor Books:

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  • Nicholas: A Manhattan Christmas Story by Annie Carroll Moore 
  • The Dream Coach by Anne Parrish 

1924 Honor Books:

•  
  • [None recorded]

1923 Honor Books:

•  
  • [None recorded]

1922 Honor Books:

•  
  • The Great Quest by Charles Hawes 
  • Cedric the Forester by Bernard Marshall 
  • The Old Tobacco Shop: A True Account of What Befell a Little Boy in Search of Adventure by William Bowen 
  • The Golden Fleece and The Heroes Who Lived Before Achilles by Padraic Colum 
  • The Windy Hill by Cornelia Meigs 

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Lots of Reads This Week

130. Around the World in 80 Dinners by Cheryl & Bill Jamison

 

It is their twentieth wedding anniversary and the Jamisons decide to celebrate by taking a three-month trip around the world, stopping in places known for their excellent cuisine. The Jamisons make stops in Bali, Australia, Thailand, India, China, South Africa, and Brazil and find great food in every country.

 

I had to read this book very slowly so that I could think about all the foods the Jamisons ate, foods I had never heard of, foods I had to look up. Surprising there are so many foods in this world that I’ve never heard of, not even in fifty years.

 

Other than the odd foods, the other strange thing about this book was the way it was told in first person plural. It felt peculiar to hear a story told by two people in first person with off-and-on shifts into third person as one or the other of the Jamisons did something without the other member of the team. A little disconcerting.

 

But, all in all, a nice little trip around the world…of food.

 

 131. The Dark Frigate by Charles Boardman Hawes

 

Philip Marsham signed on to work on a ship. Before he had traveled far, however, pirates on the ship kill the ship’s captain and part of the crew and take the ship over. Philip has no choice but to stay on the ship and help the pirates, as much as he is able, to carry on with their plan to take over other ships. Finally Philip has an opportunity to escape from the ship onto an island, but he cannot survive long there. He finds another ship and has hope to convince the captain of this ship that he was not a willing member of the pirate crew and that he will be allowed to travel on the ship to home.

 

132. The Story of Mankind by Hendrik Willem Van Loon

 

I saved the worst for last. My final Newbery and what a struggle it was to get through it! This is the story of the history of the world through the ages, written for a young audience. It is said to have been amended and updated and added to, but, if that is so, I can only shudder to think of the awful book that this book was originally. It is, in its present form, chock full of cruel opinions and mean asides about various peoples and their actions through the ages. I had considered keeping this book for my library, but, having read it, I cannot do it.

 

133. Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo

 

And now I move on to Newbery Honor books. This was my first and I loved it. The kind of book I want to read again, to share with others. A redemptive book about the amazing power of truth and forgiveness and friendship to make the world a better place.

 

134. Everything on a Waffle by Polly Horvath

 

Based on my previous experience with a Polly Horvath novel, I’d anticipated that this book would be a funny book. Not so, at least not in an uproariously hilarious way. Primrose finds that her parents have been lost at sea, but she never doubts they will return. In the meantime, she is sent to live with a bachelor uncle who wants to transform her town into an economic boom town. The parents do in fact return, against all odds, but most of the other loose ends just seem to drift off.

 

135. The Courage of Sarah Noble by Alice Dalgliesh

 

Sarah and her father travel together to build a new home for their family in early 18^th century America. The house is built and it is time for Sarah’s father to collect the rest of the family and bring them to their new home. Sarah must remain near the new home, with a Native American family. It is a good experience for Sarah as she comes to care for the family almost as much as her own, as she sees the commonalities of the Native American family with her own. There is a general feeling of condescension, but that has to be placed in the context of the time in which this book was written. In addition, the experience of discovering the ways the families are alike makes the book worthy of reading despite the book’s flaws.

 

136. The Corn Grows Ripe by Dorothy Rhoads

 

Tigre’s father is hurt. It is to Tigre that the Mayan family must look to take over the father’s work. Tigre rises to the occasion and successfully helps the family to put in a good corn crop, though a severe drought threatened the family’s crop and their survival.

 

There was no feeling of judgment in this book, no feeling that the people in the story were savages or ignorant. Instead, the story was told from the point of view of a detached observer. The story holds up.

 

137. 26 Fairmount Avenue by Tomie DePaola

 

Tomie DePaola, an accomplished author and illustrator of picture books, told his editor that he would like to try a chapter book. The editor suggested DePaola tell the story of his life. This book is the first of a series DePaola has written about his life. It is light and gentle, told with humor and love.

 

138. An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 by Jim Murphy

 

I knew nothing about yellow fever. I certainly had no idea that yellow fever periodically hit cities and towns along the coast during warm weather every year, killing millions. The epidemic of this book occurs in Philadelphia during the time it served as capitol of the new country of America. I was shocked to learn that it occurs suddenly and kills just as quickly and that we, even today, have no cure.

 

139. A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose by Eckhart Tolle

 

It would be easy to belittle this book, with its sixties feel and its you-can-do-it attitude and its mystical all-religions-are-one philosophy. It is easy to be cynical in the face of such idealism. Let’s hope Tolle doesn’t disappoint us later with tell-all revelations.

 

I found much to like in this book, if one can overlook its flaws. Tolle is just a person, not a prophet, for one. I’d like to take the good parts from this book, just like I take from Socrates, not as if he is Moses carrying the Ten Commandments.

 

And here is what I took away: Ego is killing our world. We must step back and look at the world from a bigger perspective. We must set aside our thoughts of taking everything we can get as what is due to us. We must live in the now, not in the anxiety-filled world of what has already happened or the fear-filled world of what might happen.

 

140. Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis

 

I was told at TLA that Christopher Paul Curtis said this is his favorite book. For a person who loved Bud Not Buddy like me, I couldn’t see how this could be. Having read Elijah, I would say I still like Bud Not Buddy a little more, but this is a worthy sibling.

 

Elijah is the first child born free in Canada to former American slaves. Buxton is a real town in Canada that was founded by a Presbyterian minister in the 1800’s as a refuge for American slaves and as a place to make a brand new, wonderful start.

 

This was a novel of great hope and terrible sadness. One of the last big scenes in the book, the scene that takes place in the barn, is a scene of heart-wrenching sadness and yet beautiful hopefulness.

 

141. The Miracle at Speedy Motors by Alexander McCall Smith

 

The ninth book in the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series. The characters are just as lovely as ever. Precious Ramotswe has reached an age where she is a person of great wisdom. She takes action only after careful reflection, and her actions are taken out of love for her people and her country. She is a person I am happy to know, even if it has to all take place within the pages of a book.

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114. Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze by Elizabeth Foreman Lewis

Fu leaves the country and heads to the city to serve as an apprentice to a coppersmith for seven years. Being in the city is a new experience for him. He must learn how to deal with the cruel remarks of his fellow apprentices and how to handle money, to stop thieves and to avoid those who would take advantage of him in the market.

115. Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis

I loved this book! Top notch characters, especially Bud and his foster parents and Herman E. Calloway.Bud’s mother has died, leaving his with a suitcase full of flyers advertising the amazing band of Herman E. Calloway. When another time in foster care ends up with Bud locked in a shed, Bud decides it is time to seek out Herman E. Calloway, who he feels must be his elusive father. Herman E. Calloway turns out to be one tough cookie and not at all what Bud had hoped for, but, in a roundabout way, everything works out in the end.

116. Thimble Summer by Elizabeth Enright I feel pretty sure I read Thimble Summer when I was a little girl. I have a memory of disappointment; I was always hoping the thimble the main character, Garnet, finds would turn out to be magic. It wasn’t. This book was one of my early attempts with and disappointments with realistic fiction (though I have learned to love it in recent years.)The story is of a girl who discovers a thimble, a thimble that leads to a whole summer of good things. An orphan boy comes to live with Garnet’s family, to help out during a time of drought on their farm. Garnet raises a pig that goes on to win the blue ribbon at the fair. It’s good times for all.

 117. Up a Road Slowly by Irene HuntJulie’s life changes completely when her mother dies and she is sent to live with her cold, school marmish Aunt Cornelia. At first, Julie hates her new life, but, as time passes, she grows to love and respect her aunt and to love her life in the country. Many years pass as Julie grows from a young child into an adult, as her sister marries, leaving Julie despondent for a time, as she develops friendships and romances.A very good coming of age novel, but I will always love Irene Hunt’s Across Five Aprils best.

118. Missing May by Cynthia Rylant  Why is it that I have become such a big Cynthia Rylant fan, especially loving her Mr. Putter and Tabby series, a series of very short chapter books, and yet I found this book too short?  Missing May is the story of a girl, Summer, who lost her parents and thought she’d never find love again. Then she came to live with Aunt May and Uncle Ob. May and Ob were the embodiment of love. Summer was rapturously happy until one day May collapsed and died while working in her garden. 

Ob and Summer were filled with despair. They frantically tried to contact May in the spirit world, but everything they tried failed. It is only with the help from a boy from Summer’s school, Cletus, that Ob and Summer begin to heal and find a way to miss May without falling into despondency.

119. Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Patterson

Louise and Caroline are twins, but they are nowhere near identical. In Louise’s eyes, it is Caroline who is brilliantly talented and it is Caroline who is beautiful; Louise finds it is Caroline who is given special priviledges and treats while Louise is given nothing. The story is told from Louise’s point-of-view so it is hard to tell whether Caroline’s special treatment is real or is just the way it is seen from the eyes of a jealous sister. In some ways, it is obvious that Louise is cast aside; Louise’s grandmother has nothing but disdain for her. Whatever the reality of the preferential treatment, it is very real to Louise. I couldn’t help feeling deep sorrow for Louise as she is continually set aside and set aside for a lovelier and gifted sister.

120. Miss Hickory by Carolyn Sherwin Bailey

Oh, golly, not another book about a doll! This is not the world-traveling china doll of other Newbery books. No, this is the creative Miss Hickory, with a body made of a twig and a head made of a hickory nut. Miss Hickory is able to conquer potential predators like Squirrel using her clever little hickory mind. She visits the barn at Christmastime and sees a glorious sight. She helps the Hen-Pheasants figure out a way to make it through the winter without their husbands. And when she loses her home to Robin and his family she uses her ingenuity to figure out a new place to live.

121. The White Stag by Kate Seredy

 The White Stag is the story of a culture of which I know little, that of the tribes of the Huns and the Magyars. The two tribes were once one, but split to follow two brothers, one adventurous, the other less intent on fighting. Both tribes roamed westward, in search of the white stag, and were eventually reunited under the leadership of Attila.  

This story had a surprising rhythm, a cadence almost like a fairy tale, filled with battles and power struggles and wanderings.

122. Smoky the Cowhorse by Will James

 A story of a great horse. Smoky is taught to be an excellent cowhorse, but even in his training, the cowboy teaching him sees the unusual abilities of this horse. Smoky spends many years as a cowhorse with Clint and the other cowboys, but one year, he is stolen by a renegade. The renegade treats Smoky harshly and turns Smoky into a bucking bronco, the fiercest horse in the West. Smoky spends many years establishing a reputation as a killer bronco, but gradually he grows old and tired and is sent to serve as a horse providing pony rides for children and old people. Somehow Clint finds Smoky again and the story ends happily ever after. 

The most fun part of the story is the way the whole book is written in cowboy dialect. The parts with the renegade have lots of racial slurs and can be difficult for a modern reader to get through.

123. Criss Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins

What a contrast between a contemporary Newbery and an old Newbery! Where the main character in Smokey the Cowhorse has adventure after adventure, facing death over and over, the main characters in Criss Cross do almost nothing. The kids sit around and talk and sunbathe and listen to the radio and think. That’s about it. It’s Perkins’ unique way of looking at the world that gives this book its surprising fun feel. And the pictures are great, too.

124. Waterless Mountain by Laura Adams Armer

This is the coming-of-age novel of a young Navaho boy, Younger Brother, as he learns the world of his people and learns the secrets of his tribe’s wiseman and learns the ways of the larger world. Younger Brother helps a friend, The Big Man, with car problems. He goes on a long quest and finds he can survive on his own. He saves his horse from thieves. All the tales are told with a background of magic and mystery, with the mountains and desert as a magnificent setting.

125. The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

My favorite children’s mystery of all. All the characters of the book are given clues and are told to work together as the terms of the will of a rich dead man. The characters’ lives are all intertwined and the clues often come to nothing. Yet the story twists and turns and all comes together into a perfect and satisfactory ending.

126. The Cat Who Went to Heaven by Elizabeth Coatsworth

This story was a lovely little folk tale that reminded me of all the best of the Newbery books. A young man has been commissioned by the temple to paint a picture of Buddha as he blesses the animals. He slowly adds animals, telling the tale and the strength of each. Then the artist comes to the cat, an animal which had, by tradition, rejected the Buddha and thus was excluded from heaven. But it is the artist’s cat that has inspired him in his work and the artist knows it is the cat’s greatest wish to be included in the painting. At last, the artist makes the difficult decision to include the cat in the painting. The ending is surprising and lovely.

127. A Visit to William Blake’s Inn by Nancy Willard

Am I missing something? Why in the world was this book chosen for the Newbery? What do any of these poems have to do with William Blake? Did he have an inn? If he did not have a real inn, what is meant by his imaginary inn? Tedious. Boring, boring, boring.

I must find someone who loves this book to share what he loves about it.

128. Call It Courage by Armstrong Sperry

Mafatu is afraid. His mother died in the sea and now he fears it. All his people know of his fear. His father is saddened by his fear.

At last, Mafatu decides to face his fears. He sails off into the sea and ends up on a remote island. He must confront sharks, dangerous man-eating people, lack of food and water, an octopus, and a lack of a ship to return home.

129. Sweetness in the Belly by Camilla Gibb

Lilly’s parents, British citizens, lead a life of reckless wanderings. While the family is traveling in Ethiopia, Lilly’s parents are killed and Lilly is sent to stay with the Great Abdal, a teacher and leader of his people. She is taught to be a devout Muslim by Abdal and she learns much about literature and art by visits from a great teacher, Muhammed Bruce. Eventually she is sent to live with a young mother, Nouria. Lilly finds she can supplement the income of Nouria and her children by teaching the children the Koran. Lilly comes to know a handsome doctor, Aziz. As Lilly grows older, she and Aziz become friends and then fall in love.

The story brought together so many unexpected elements—a young British girl who becomes an ardent Muslim…a devout Muslim who risks it all for the sake of being with the man she loves…the complex ancestry of the doctor, with both desirable and undesirable parents—that it felt like a memoir. It has left me thinking about cultural identity and religious belief; thinking about a book even after finishing it is always a sign to me of an excellent read.

  

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What I Finished This Week

 

108. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

 

I’ve heard about this book for years, so I was happy to run across a copy of it in a recent bookbox. In honor of Black History Month, I decided to try it.

 

I would say I liked it. I didn’t love it, but parts of it kept me reading along at a nice clip. It’s the story of a girl who considers herself ugly and is regarded as ugly by others. She is set aside by her mother and father and later her grandmother and uncle. She suffers from abuse by a step-parent when she was a very young girl. She is a member of the black population during the time that her people are tormented by her white peers. Yet she grows up strong and confident.

 

Parts of the book are poetic and beautifully written.

 

109. Joyful Noise by Paul Fleischman

 

I listened to this on audiotape, then I read the poems, and then I listened to the audiotape again. It’s amazing to hear the poems read aloud, in two voices, converging, diverging, making a strong statement by reading a line in unison.

 

The poems are all about insects. The illustrations are lovely pen-and-ink drawings. I want to get the audiobook for my library and find a way to use it with the students.

 

110. Lincoln: A Photobiography by Russell Freedman

 

Lincoln is presented here as I have never seen him, in both text and photographs. The details about him surprised me; I knew, of course, that he was extremely tall and had had a limited formal education, but I had no idea his voice was high pitched and that he had so much trouble finding a good general during the Civil War and that he was shy. I also loved the fact that though he had a total of a year of schooling he was able to read and study himself for two years and pass his bar exam. The Civil War years were a revelation. Poor Lincoln went through general after general who was afraid to act. And Lincoln’s assassination was so unexpected, coming so close to the end of the war. I could really feel Lincoln’s anguish in trying to figure out how to lure back the rebel states without cruelty yet also closing the door forever on slavery.

 

111. Rifles for Watie by Harold Keith

 

I’ve never read a book about a soldier in the middle of a war. Jeff Bussey is just a boy, but he decides to enlist in the Union Army during the Civil War. He longs for fighting. Time after time, he gets whisked away to other duties while the other soldiers fight. Finally, he is set up against the Southern Army and he finds it is not the glorious adventure he thought it would be. He makes an enemy of his commander and has to fight not only the Southern soldiers, but his own commander. Jeff is selected to infiltrate the Southern Army and to bring back information to the Union soldiers. He ends up spending many months with the Southerners and finds they are not so different from his Union friends.

 

My son has raved about this book for years. It was a very powerful book that I am happy to have finally read.

 

 112. Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata

 

Katie is Japanese-American and she adores her older sister, Lynn. Their parents close their Oriental food market in Iowa and must move to Georgia to find work in the chicken-processing plants there. It is a hard life. The family is poor, but “…in the way Japanese people are poor, meaning (they) never borrowed money from anyone, period.” Lynn is Katie’s idol and the two girls are wonderful friends. Lynn teaches Katie all she has learned in life. Then Lynn becomes weak and ill and the family is shaken to the core.

   

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Nothing but Newberys This Week

101. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

How many times have I read this book? Ten? Fifteen? I know only that much of the book I already knew by heart.

Meg is a classic gifted kid, brilliant in certain areas, but without a clue as to how to fit in among regular kids. Her little brother, Charles Wallace, is even more precocious. Meg and Charles meet up with three mysterious creatures, Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Which, and Mrs. Who, and befriend a boy as gifted as they are who has learned to get along, Calvin. Together, they go off in search of Meg and Charles’ father and, in the process, have to find a way to fight the Black Thing and IT.

 

This was the first book I remember wanting to read over and over again when I was a little girl. The sequels somehow didn’t satisfy, but I did reread Wrinkle in Time many times.

N/A Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor (Audio)

Roll of Thunder is a reread (or, to be more exact, a re-listen). I loved it the first time and I loved it this time. It’s the kind of book I now want to push off on everyone I meet.

 

It’s a story of the horrible effects of racism, but it is also much more than that. It’s the story of the struggles of a family to keep their land, to be good citizens and human beings, to have children that are good citizens and good human beings. I marveled at the character of Mama and Papa who never gave up their fight. I was happy to see Mr. Morrison in the story, a white man who dared to flaunt the social norms for the higher principles of justice. I was sad to watch T.J. fall prey to greed and pride.

 

What a great story! I keep wanting to alert Oprah. Wouldn’t it be fun to have an Oprah read that kids could read, too?

102. Dobry by Monica Shannon

Why is this book a forgotten Newbery? I had so much trouble finding a used or new copy that I ended up having to get a copy from my library.

 

Dobry is the story of a boy in Bulgaria who wants to become an artist during a time when most people are farmers. The story is full of details about Bulgarian life during the time, the arrival of storks, a massaging gypsy bear, diving through ice to locate a golden crucifix. Why, then, is this book forgotten? The illustrations were initially not compelling, but I grew to appreciate them as the story progressed. There is mention in the book of both peasants and gypsies; could this be why the book is ignored?

103. Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech

I read this book for the first time when I was doing my training to become a librarian. It was a breathtaking book, full of mysteries and small plots that all come together for a fantastic ending. The story is that of Sal who is traveling with her quirky grandparents across the US, taking the same path as that of Sal’s mother. Sal is on her way to find her mother who left home a year ago and has not returned. During the trip, Sal tells her grandparents the story of her friend, Phoebe, who received mysterious messages, met a “lunatic,” and, like Sal, had a mother who disappeared. The story is thoughtful as well as plotful. I loved this book.

104. Daniel Boone by James Daugherty

And, at last, I dared to read Daniel Boone. It’s a story full of wicked Indians and good-guy white settlers, full of killing and attacking. You can almost see Daniel’s halo and the devil horns of the Indians as you read the story. It is told in the vernacular of Daugherty’s time and it is undoubtedly an interesting and exciting story. Must we pull it from our shelves simply because it is chockfull of opinions and prejudices? Can it not be read as a story without vilifying either the Indians or the white people of the book? What about reading it as a legend, a folk tale, which, of course, it is?

105. The Matchlock Gun by Walter D. Edmonds

Another Newbery tale that was once popular and now is seen as wrong-minded. This is an old family story of a boy who saved his mother and sister from Indian attack in the early years of New York. The boy was able to fire off an ancient family gun and stop the invaders from destroying his family. I understand how a group of people, in this case the Native Americans, can be unilaterally seen as cruel and aggressive from books such as Daniel Boone and The Matchlock Gun, but another part of me sees this book as part of history, albeit a part of history that is no longer recognized as unbiased.

106. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O’Brien

Mrs. Frisby’s son, Timothy, is ill and cannot be moved. But it is time for the family to move. It is time for farmers to start planting their crops and, to do so, they must first till up the land, including the spot where Mrs. Frisby’s house is located. Mrs. Frisby consults a wise owl who introduces her to a brilliant tribe of rats. The rats, Mrs. Frisby learns, are friends of her late husband. She hears their fascinating story and the rats are able to come up with a way to save Timothy and Mrs. Frisby’s home.

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Five More Newbery Books

Onion John by Joseph Krumgold

 

Onion John is Andy’s best friend, but Onion John is not an ordinary kid….Onion John is a man who does things his own way. John has lived in Serenity for many years, scavenging to furnish his home, working a little to buy food and supplies. Then he needs a new hinge for his door and suddenly everyone wants to change Onion John, from his home to his ways of making a living to his ways of thinking. The town gets together and decides to build a brand new house for John; it is not really what John wants and before the second day has passed, the house has burned to the ground.

 

Should we change people? Should we try and make everyone fit in? Can it be done? Or does a world need people who don’t quite fit, people like Onion John?

 

The Voyages of Doctor Doolittle by Hugh Lofting

 

Tommy Stubbins is thrilled to make the acquaintance of the esteemed Doctor Doolittle. Doolittle has the amazing ability to talk to animals and he loves to travel; these two combine to send him off on many adventures. And Tommy is able to come along, a witness to all the adventures of the doctor. They meet up with the world’s greatest naturalist, Long Arrow, on a floating island. The doctor teaches the people of Spain a new way to fight bulls. And the doctor is made king.

 King of the Wind by Marguerite Henry 

This is the story of the founding father of racehorses, Sham, “King of the Wind,” and his friend, the stable boy, Agba. The story begins in Morocco where the sultan sends Sham and Agba off to France as a gift for the king. But the French laugh at the little horse and Sham is sent off to a series of owners, here and there, loved and hated, until he finally ends up in England. It is only in England when the true nature of Sham’s racing abilities are realized through his offspring, three horses who win for their owner prize after prize.

 

Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink

 

The Newbery Award committee members seem to love a strong girl and Caddie is among the strongest. She roams and tarries with her ruffian brothers on the wild plains of Wisconsin around the time of the American Civil War. Caddie plays practical jokes on her cousin, runs to the Indians to warn of a massacre, and proudly displays an Indian scalp belt for all the town to see. Caddie finally begins to see that becoming a lady is not just learning to quilt and say the right words and wear fancy clothes.

 

The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare

 

I certainly never expected to encounter among the Newberys a book of historical fiction where the main character meets Jesus!

 

Daniel is a young man growing up in Israel during the time of the Roman occupation. Daniel wants nothing more than to rid his land of the hated Roman legions. He joins a band of warriors who are preparing an army to go up against the Romans, but, in time, he sees that the hatred of the band against the Romans is not conquering them. He hears about a rabbi who goes from village to village, preaching love not hate, and he comes to meet up with Jesus and sees with his own eyes the power of love.

 

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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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Last Week’s Reads

 68. Last Night at the Lobster by Stewart O’Nan

It’s the last night for the Red Lobster at the edge of an old mall in New England. The night is snowy and there are not many customers. Tomorrow, the restaurant will close forever. A perfect time to listen in as employees talk together and discuss the difficulties of living in 21^st century America on a tight budget with a small circle of acquaintances. The manager relates the minute-by-minute events of the last evening, the snow falling, the troubled staff, the customers who drift in.

69. Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George

An young girl is forced to befriend a pack of Arctic wolves as she attempts to escape from an intolerable marriage. The details of life with the wolves was nothing short of amazing; who would believe before reading this story that a girl could live among wolves and who would, after reading it, not believe it? Julie/Miyax desperately tries to survive and find food as she crosses the frozen world of the Arctic. It is only with the help of the wolves that she is able to find nourishment. In return, she helps them in their time of trouble, helping them avoid the dangers of the human world.

The book left me thinking about it; that, to me, is the measure of a good book. Julie unexpectedly finds her father, but the reunion is not as she thought. Her father has changed and she has changed. How can Julie go forward? Can Julie and her father once again live together?

70. The Summer of the Swans by Betsy Byars

Sara is not enjoying her summer. She feels like she is on the other end of a teeter-totter, with a companion determined to jerk her here and there. Her family is difficult and she can’t seem to get along with them, especially her troubled brother, Charlie. It is only when Charlie gets lost while searching for the beautiful swans on the lake that Sara learns what is really important and how to deal with problems.

The conversations in this book felt tied to their time period and, at first, I didn’t think I was going to like the book. But the search for Charlie completely changed my feelings about the book. The author could have easily turned the book into a movie-of-the-week, but she stayed away from that. Instead, she used the situation to help all her characters grow.

71. The Book of Proper Names by Amelie Nothomb

Plectrude, the main character of this book, knows nothing about her past. She is unaware of the fact that her mother killed her father and then killed herself. She knows nothing about her mother’s dreams that she “not be limited at all.”

There is something special about Plectrude, nevertheless, and all who come to know her discover this about her. She has haunted eyes and an intriguing way. Her aunt and uncle, who raise her, feel this specialness, and allow her to do things her foster siblings are not allowed to do, to experience things her siblings are not allowed to experience. It all ends, as it must, in tragedy, though not in a way the reader might expect.

The story felt very jerky to me, like playing a game of chess with character and moving the pieces suddenly across the board. The ending, though surprising, felt false and silly.

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One Children’s Memoir and Ten Newbery Books (in One Week!)

Sing a Song of Tuna Fish by Esme Raji Codell

 

This is a memoir, but a memoir written for children, written to encourage children to write their own memoirs.

 

I love everything Codell has written. I was happy to finally find a copy of this book. I suspected Codel had had an unconventional childhood; this book confirmed it, with artist parents, a stint at an alternative school, and adventures with a matzoh ball.

 

Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes 

I was familiar with the story, a tale from the American Revolution. A boy, a silversmith apprentice, burns his hand in an accident that occurs while working on a Sunday (illegally) in haste. The boy, Johnny Tremain, is left unable to wrok as a silversmith apprentice. He is filled with despair. He is befriended by a kind boy, Rab, and together they are able to earn money by caring for horses. The job allows the boys to come into contact with British soldiers and to obtain secret information the boys can then pass on to the revolutionaries.

 

I wasn’t as satisfied with the story as I’d thought I’d be. The characters, especially those who were actual people from history, felt flat, one-dimensional. Johnny seemed too prideful, too selfish, too judgmental for a reader to love, to serve as a main character. The words and actions of the characters seemed false, overly heroic, like the words and actions our mighty American forefathers should have used and should have done.

 

I, Juan de Pareja by Elizabeth Borton de Trevino

 

Juan de Pareja was a real-life slave of Diego Velazquez, the famous Spanish painter of the 17^th century. At that time, it was illegal for slaves to paint. Secretly, however, Juan watches Velazquez and experiments with his techniques, painting. Juan is able, in time, to become free and to marry and to set his wife free as well.

 

Slavery, freedom, truth in art—these are the great themes of this book.

 

“I thought Art should be Beauty,” he (an apprentice to Velazquez) muttered.

 

“No, Cristobal,” (replied Velazquez) “Art should be Truth; and Truth, unadorned, unsentimentalized, is Beauty….I would rather paint exactly what I see, even if it is ugly, perfectly, than indifferently paint something superficially lovely.”

 

Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan

 

When Caleb is born, his mother dies. Caleb’s sister, Anna, is angry with Caleb for causing the death of their mother, but she also loves Caleb.

 

The whole story of Sarah, Plain and Tall, is filled with beautiful conflicts like these. When Sarah arrives to answer the ad placed by Anna’s father for a mother for Anna and Caleb, Anna is torn. She loved her mother and she loves Sarah. Is that wrong? Sarah, we discover, loved the ocean, but she is now to live in a world with no ocean, a world covered with the tall grass of the prairie. Can she live without her ocean? Even if Anna and Caleb and their father love Sarah, will the love be enough to keep Sarah with them?

 

A tiny gem of a novel.

 

Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell

 

Karana lives alone on the Island of the Blue Dolphins. The rest of her tribe escaped on a ship, but Karana had to stay behind to care for her little brother. This is short-lived, however; it is not long before the little brother wanders into trouble yet again and this time he is devoured by wild dogs.

 

Karana is now truly alone. Quite unexpectedly, she captures and befriends the leader of the wild dogs. The rest of the book tells the story of her struggles with dangers on the island, including the elements and the arrival of foreigners, and her struggles with loneliness during her many years on the island.

 

For me, it was the moment in the book where Karana befriends her brother’s killer that makes the book leap into excellence, into becoming Newbery-worthy.

 

Holes by Louis Sachar

 

Funny songs, funny movies, funny books…these usually don’t win prizes. Holes is a funny book that won prizes. But Holes is not funny in the way that Sideways Stories is funny; Holes is a quieter, sadder sort of funny.

 

Stanley Yelnats is sent to a camp for delinquent boys. He is said to have stolen a pair of celebrity shoes. All day long, Stanley digs holes as punishment.

 

But is that the real purpose of the digging of holes?

 

I loved this book. Everything comes together at the end in an unexpected way. Stanley grows from being a fat, scared kid into a fit, clever boy able to hold his own against all sorts of bad guys.

 

Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson

 

“New Folks coming…new Folks coming into the Big House!” That’s the cry of every Animal on Rabbit Hill. The Animals are filled with excitement…and fear. Will the new people bring a new prosperity to the house and the hill? Or will they bring danger?

 

Not to give away too much, but the charm of the story is the way the new Folks are everything the Animals could hope for and more, beautiful role models of love.

 

Tales from Silver Lands by Charles J. Finger

 

This is an old Newbery, a book I approached with great trepidation. I soon found my trepidation unjustified, for this is a timeless book of old stories from Central and South America, none of which I’d ever read or heard before. All the themes of folk tales are here: the value of courage, the triumph of virtue, the dangers of power and wealth. Though the themes were often the same of other stories I’ve read, the stories felt fresh, peopled with small tribes living in the forest or “warm lands where spice-laden breezes blow gently soft,” stories filled with llamas and humming-birds and huanacos and calabashes.

 

The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare

 

I’ve avoided this book, thinking it was a rehash of stories about women accused of being witches during the early days of America.

 

It was about women accused of being witches, but it was really about so much more.

 

Kit impulsively hops on a ship to America after the death of her grandfather, leaving behind the beautiful tropical islands where she was so freely raised. She goes to find a home with her only remaining relatives, her mother’s sister and her family. Kit’s aunt, she learns, has been worn down by life in America and by her marriage to a Puritan man. But these characters are not stiff stereotypes; the harshly Puritan uncle loves American freedom, not the English king; the dangerous witch the community fears is really a quiet, lonely Quaker woman; the man who loves Kit fails to step forward to help her when Kit is in trouble. An excellent, thoughtful story of how being different can both threaten a society and build a society.

 

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg

 

A book I’d throw into the categories of “Book With Titles that are Better than the Actual Story” and “Books with Plot Summaries that are Better than the Actual Story”.

 

I grew impatient with this book. Why did Claudia want to run away? If it was her family that was the problem, why did she take one of her brothers along? She picked the Metropolitan Museum of Art as her refuge, but she didn’t seem to enjoy much of the art there. The whole story is written as if Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler is telling it to her lawyer, but we don’t really see Mrs. F well and the lawyer doesn’t seem that interested in the story. The resolution of the story seemed too easy (Mrs. F already had a document that solved the mystery). Claudia and her brother seem oblivious to the pain and fear they have inflicted on their parents. And for what? A rather unsatisfying week spent in a museum? What was it Claudia wanted? To be a celebrity? To be recognized? I honestly can’t believe the document Mrs. F promised Claudia would satisfy her in those ways.

 

Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

 

Poor Jess is pressured everywhere, to find his place at home, at school. Then he meets Leslie and she changes his life. Leslie is able to deal with the pressures of the real world (cruel kids, competition) and is also able to find great joy in the world of the imagination. Ironically, it is on her way into that imaginary world, while she is swinging across a raging river, that Leslie’s rope breaks and she is killed. Instead of being filled with sorrow, however, Jess takes everything Leslie has given him and uses it to help himself and to teach others.

 

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Two More Newbery Books (Audio)

Mary Alice goes to stay with her eccentric grandmother who lives in a small town during the Great Depression. She dreads staying in the small town, but comes to love the town and her grandmother so much that she begs to stay. Grandma is the highlight of the story. She seems like a prickly character, never one for hugging, but through the stories Peck tells about her, we grow to learn the softer side of Grandma, a side she doesn’t really like others to see. Grandma and Mary Alice have a whole series of adventures including Halloween pranks with a privy and middle-of-the-night visits to a pecan tree and a cherry pie social with the DAR.  

Lucky isn’t. That is, Lucky has not had much luck. Her mother died. Her father never wanted a child. Her guardian is Brigitte, her father’s ex-wife sent from France to take care of Lucky, and Lucky fears Brigitte is tired of caring for her. Lucky senses her life needs more and she finds some comfort by listening in to sad stories told by members of an AA group, though she cannot seem to find her own higher power.

 A young neighbor boy, Miles, lives with his grandmother, but spends most of his time with Lucky. Miles learns that his mother is in jail and decides to run away. At the same time, Lucky, decides to run away. They spend a terrible night in the desert but decide to return to their lives and face the truths there. Initially, I didn’t find much to distinguish this story from hundreds of others of sad stories about unhappy children. But it has stayed with me and I’ve found myself continuing to think about the story. A good sign.

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