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.