Newbery 2009

The Graveyard Book
Author: Neil Gaiman
Genre: Fantasy
Plot: After his whole family is murdered, an infant boy is adopted by a graveyard and protected from the killer and raised by the ghosts residing there.
Verdict: Simply amazing!
My rating: 5 stars


The Underneath
Author: Kathi Appelt
Genre: Fantasy
Plot: An abandoned calico cat and her kittens live underneath the house of the horrible Gar Face with his dog   Ranger in a bayou.  Meanwhile, Grandmother, an ancient lamia prepares to wake from her thousand year imprisonment and seek revenge.
Verdict: I couldn't put it down
My rating: 4 stars


The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba's Struggle for Freedom
Author: Margarita Engle
Genre: Nonfiction/Poetry
Plot: The story of Cuba's wars for independence told in poetry, highlighting the work of Rosa and Jose, two nurses who tended the wounded while hiding from the enemy
Verdict: Great way to learn about history
My rating: 3 stars


Savvy
Author: Ingrid Law
Genre: Fantasy
Plot: Everyone in the Beaumont family has a "savvy" or special ability.  Mississippi is approaching her 13th birthday where she should discover her savvy but her father is in a major accident and she tries to travel to him.
My verdict: Wild ride on a pink bus
My rating: 3 stars


After Tupac & D Foster
Author: Jacqueline Woodson
Genre: Historical Fiction
Plot: Neeka and her best friend become friends with D and listen to Tupac's music.
Verdict: Deep social commentary
My rating: 3 stars

The winner this year really shocked me.  In a good way.  Neil Gaiman writes awesome stuff but most of it is too off the wall or mature to be considered for Newbery.  When I found out that The Graveyard Book  had won, I almost flipped.  I hadn't read the book yet but it went to the top of my too read list.  Another book this year that surprised me was The Underneath.  Animal fantasy can get really old but this was actually well written with wonderfully fleshed out characters.  I also found The Surrender Tree interesting because I did not know that Cuba had a long war to independence, nor that there were concentration camps involved.  After Tupac had some really deep commentary.  It was the third book I'd read by Woodson and even her children's picture book was deep.  All around, the books were good this year.

Newbery 2012

Dead End in Norvelt
Author: Jack Gantos
Genre: Historical Fiction
Plot: Jack is growing up in Post-WW2 Norvelt, PA but he gets grounded for the summer after he accidentally fires his father's Japanese rifle.  The only thing he's allowed to do is help one of the old ladies in town write obituaries.
Verdict: Wild and crazy
My rating: 3 stars


Inside Out & Back Again
Author: Thanhha Lai
Genre: Poetry/Historical Fiction
Plot: Ha is a Vietnamese girl who escapes from South Vietnam right before the fall of Saigon.  Her family is relocated to Alabama as refugees and they try to fit in a strange new country.
Verdict: Great story
My rating: 3 stars


Breaking Stalin's Nose
Author: Eugene Yelchin
Genre: Historical Fiction
Plot: Sasha's father is taken in for being a traitor the day before he is supposed to be initiated into the Young Pioneers but he goes to school anyway.
Verdict: Wow.  Just Wow.  Chilling.
My rating: 5 stars

Interestingly enough, this entire year is historical fiction, although two of the books are based on some actual events.  My favorite of the bunch is Breaking Stalin's Nose.  Dead End in Norvelt was fine in my opinion but I find it drags a bit in parts.

Jack Gantos is known for his Joey Pigza series, but Dead End in Norvelt is loosely based on his life.  There are some interesting sequences with his nosebleeds and also with Hell's Angels. 

Inside Out and Back Again is an interesting poetic novel which is technically fiction but is also based on the author's actual experiences.  I think it may find a kindred spirit with English Language Learners who can relate to the author's experience of not knowing any English and going to school.  I would contrast this book with Grace Lin's The Year of the Dog which has some similar themes about fitting into a school as an Asian American.

Breaking Stalin's Nose is extremely chilling.  I read it shortly after reading Hitler Youth and I saw a lot of parallels between the Hitler Youth and the Young Pioneers.  The book is a very quick read and takes place in the span of less than 24 hours.

Newbery 2006

Criss Cross
Author: Lynne Rae Perkins
Genre: Contemporary Realistic Fiction
Plot: Debbie wants something to happen.  Hector wants to learn guitar.  Lenny fixes things. 
Verdit: A hodgepodge of stories criss crossing together
My Rating: 3 stars


Whittington
Author: Alan Armstrong
Genre: Fantasy
Plot: Whittington is a cat who finds a home in Bernie's barnyard of old and misfit animals.  Bernie's grandson, Ben, has dyslexia and can't read so his sister is teaching him in the barn with the animals in exchange for hearing the history of Whittington and his cat.
Verdict: Charlotte's Web meets Whittington's cat
My Rating: 3 stars


Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow
Author: Susan Campbell Bartoletti
Genre: Non fiction
Plot: This is the story of the Hitler Youth, an organization that started as a political campaign for the Nazi party and grew into a mandatory training group for young children to be indoctrinated into Nazi thinking during Hilter's regime and World War II.  It includes the experiences and outcomes of actual children involved with the Hitler Youth.
Verdict:  Chilling to the core
My Rating: 5 stars


Princess Academy
Author: Shannon Hale
Genre: Fantasy
Plot: In the kingdom of Danland, the girls of Mount Eskel, a remote mountain territory, find out that the future wife of the royal prince will come from their territory.  All the eligible girls are rounded up for "Princess Academy" to make them suitable matches for the prince.  They struggle to learn to read under the demands of their tutor, Olana. 
Verdict: Surprisingly good
My Rating: 4 stars


Show Way
Author: Jacqueline Woodson
Genre: Biography
Plot:  The story of the female ancestors of the author, many of whom were slaves and made "show way" quilts, showing the way to freedom for escaping slaves.
Verdict: Made me smile
My Rating: 3 stars

This is another year with a wide variety of books.  I was pleasantly surprised by Princess Academy, which has a deceptively "fluffy" title that made me think it would be akin to The Princess Diaries (it's not). 

Hitler Youth was an extremely interesting book.  I think I liked it the best out of the books this year.  I read it about the same time as Breaking Stalin's Nose and the two merged together in my head to give me a chilling picture of children turning their parents in and the death of free speech.

Criss Cross does not really have a cut and dried plot.  I have read several books like that and I am often disappointed because I feel "unfulfilled" when I reach the end.  This one did not disappoint me, fortunately. 

Newbery 2004

The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup and a Spool of Thread
Author: Kate DiCamillo
Genre: Fantasy
Plot: Despereaux is a mouse who is exiled from the mouse community and is also in love with the princess. 
Verdict: The cover has a cute mouse with a needle for a sword!  So cute!  Oh yeah, the book is great too.
My rating: 5 stars


Olive's Ocean
Author: Kevin Henkes
Genre: Contemporary Realistic Fiction
Plot: Martha and her family go to visit her grandmother in Florida but Martha is haunted by the death of her classmate, Olive.
Verdict: Boys are jerks.
My rating: 3 stars


An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793
Author: Jim Murphy
Genre: Non-Fiction
Plot: Philadelphia had a huge Yellow Fever Epidemic in 1793.  Thousands died.  This is the story of how it all started and how the doctors tried to treat it and in the end, an explanation of what Yellow Fever is really all about
Verdict: I'm never going near a mosquito again!
My rating: 3 stars

This year, I can definitely say that The Tale of Despereaux was the clear winner.  I remember ordering the hardcover from my book order the fall of 2004 and being enchanted as soon as I started reading it. My children's lit professor personally knows Kate DiCamillo, who is actually a really nice lady. I love almost everything that I have read by her.

Olive's Ocean is written by Kevin Henkes, who is the author of many children's books with mice like Lily's Purple Plastic Purse.  This was change of pace for him but it was good.  I found out that this book is on the challenged list but I had no issues with it.

Newbery 1998

Out of the Dust
Author: Karen Hesse
Genre: Poetry/Historical Fiction
Plot: Billie Jo is a girl living in 1934 Oklahoma in the middle of the Dust Bowl.  She tells about living with all the dust, her father's failing crops and a terrible accident that leaves her motherless and severely injured herself.
Verdict: Gritty reality
My rating: 4 stars


Ella Enchanted
Author: Gail Carson Levine
Genre: Fantasy
Plot: A retelling of Cinderella.  Ella has been cursed with the gift of obedience since birth.  After her mother dies, she is sent to a boarding school with two horrible girls, Olive and Hattie.  To make matters worse, his father marries Olive's and Hattie's mother and Hattie uses Ella's obedience against her.
Verdict:  A fresh take on the fairy tale.
My rating: 3 stars


Lily's Crossing
Author: Patricia Reilly Giff
Genre: Historical Fiction
Plot: Lily and her Gran move into Gran's house when her father has to go to fight in World War II.  Lily's friend Margaret moves so her father can take a factory job but leaves Lily the house key.  A Hungarian refugee named Albert lives next store and Lily becomes friends with him.
Verdict: Lots of fluff and slow plot
My rating: 2 stars


Wringer
Author: Jerry Spinelli
Genre: Contemporary Realistic Fiction
Plot: Palmer lives in a town with a pigeon shoot every year.  When he turns nine, he joins the gang of Beans, Mutto and Henry who are all psyched to be wringers at the next pigeon shoot (ie, wring the pigeons' necks after they've been winged).  But Palmer has a pet pigeon he doesn't want them to know about.
Verdict: The cover looks like a horror novel but it's really about peer pressure
My rating: 3 stars

Out of the Dust is skillfully told by Karen Hesse in poetic form.  It is easy to see why it won the medal.  I'm not sure how Lily's Crossing even got nominated as I wasn't impressed.  That's actually really sad because I enjoyed Pictures of Hollis Woods by the same author.  Gail Carson Levine retells fairy tales and Ella Enchanted is a retelling of Cinderella with a bit of a twist.  It is quite different from the movie.  I was unfamiliar with Wringer before I started my Newbery quest and I was a little afraid when I cracked it open because the cover looks so much like it should be a horror novel.  I wasn't sure how I felt about the pigeons in the book.

How I rate books

I've been on Goodreads for several years now and if you notice, everyone rates differently.  For the record, here's how I rate:

When I start a book, it automatically starts at 3 stars.  If I finish the book and like it, it stays at 3 stars.  3 stars means it's a nice readable book.  You'll notice that a lot of my books are rated 3 stars.

If I was really impressed by the book, I add stars.  4 stars are books that really impressed me.  5 stars are books that I could read over and over.

If I don't enjoy the book, it loses stars off the 3 original stars.  2 stars are books that I didn't like but I didn't hate enough to give one star.  1 star books are books I despised (unfortunately, many of these are books I was forced to read in school, sorry).  If I can't finish a book it also automatically gets set to 1 as well.

Newbery 1995

Walk Two Moons
Author: Sharon Creech
Genre: Contemporary Realistic Fiction
Plot: Sal's grandparents are taking her on a journey to see her mother who she has not seen in years.  On the way, Sal tells the story of Pheobe, another girl who no longer has a mother as well.
Verdict: Grab lots and lots of tissues.
My rating: 4 stars



Catherine, Called Birdy
Author: Karen Cushman
Genre: Historical Fiction
Plot: Catherine is a girl growing up in the Middle Ages.  She absolutely hates embroidering and wants to run away with her brother the monk.  She minds out that she is getting married off to "Shaggy Beard," an old disgusting man which makes her want to run away even more.
Verdict: Grab a pillow to stifle your giggles.
My rating: 5 stars



The Ear, the Eye and the Arm
Author: Nancy Farmer
Genre: Sci fi/fantasy
Plot: Set in futuristic Zimbabwe, General Mitzika's children are never allowed to go anywhere.  They want to earn their scout badges and sneak out, only to be kidnapped.  Their parents hire the Ear, the Eye and the Arm, a group of detectives with various superhuman abilities to find and rescue the children.
Verdict:  Thrill ride with scattered giggles
My rating: 4 stars

I love all three of these novels.  If I had to choose between the three of them, I would have a very hard time choosing.  Personally, my favorite is Catherine but I understand why Walk Two Moons ultimately won the medal that year as it's the most serious of the three.  Incidentally, all three of these authors have had the Newbery Honor or medal multiple times (which is probably why all three are excellent). 

My Quest

My junior year of college I took a Children's Literature course as one of my required course.  I really enjoyed it for the most part.  When I graduated with my B.S in Elementary Education but ended up not teaching, I had this wild idea to read all the Newbery books.  I checked out a few from my local library but I didn't get very far.  I put the idea out of my head.

Fast forward to 5 years later.  I was married and about to start a Masters of Arts in Teaching to finally actually teach.  The idea came to me again and this time I got a little serious about it.

Of course, this will be a neverending project as a new set of Newbery books come out every year.

My goal with this blog is to post the Newbery Medal and Honor books by year as I read them.  I'm not necessarily reading the books in order.

Also included on this blog may be different book series as well that are not Newbery related.