Newbery 1968

From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
Author: E. L. Konigsburg
Genre: Contemporary Realistic Fiction
Plot: Claudia and Jame run away from home and decide to live in the Metropolitan Museum of Art where they try to unravel the mystery of a statue believed to be the work of Michaelangelo.
Verdict: It's ok
My rating: 3 stars


Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley and Me, Elizabeth
Author: E.L. Konigsburg
Genre: Contemporary Realistic Fiction
Plot: Elizabeth meets Jennifer and becomes a witch in training.
Verdict: Good friend story
My rating: 4 stars


The Black Pearl
Author: Scott O'Dell
Genre: Historical Fiction
Plot: A pearl diver finds a huge black pearl that is supposedly cursed.
Verdict: A bit disappointing
My rating: 2 stars


The Fearsome Inn
Author: Isaac Bashevis Singer
Genre: Folk Tale
Plot: Three students end up at a cursed inn run by a witch and her half-devil husband.
Verdict: Pretty good
My rating: 3 stars


The Egypt Game
Author: Zilpha Keatey Snyder
Genre: Contemporary Realistic Fiction
Plot: April moves into an apartment complex and makes friends with several other children who pretend to have adventures in ancient Egypt.
My rating: 2 stars

All four authors from this year have won multiple Newbery awards or honors.  E.L. Konigsburg, who won the medal this year, also won an honor for this year (the first and only time that this has happened that I know of) and, years later, would win the Newbery medal again (in 1997 for The View From Saturday which is an awesome book).  Both of her books are very different.  From the Mixed-up Files is a mystery, with the two main characters trying to get information about a mysterious statue while Jennifer is about friendship. I actually enjoyed Jennifer more.  Some people might be put off by the "witchcraft" in the book, however, I would encourage you to read the book through to the end to find out what is actually going on.

Scott O'Dell is well known for The Island of the Blue Dolphins but I did not find this book nearly as good.  The book seemed to drag on as the characters tried to figure out what to do with their giant black pearl.

I also found that The Egypt Game dragged a bit in the middle as well but I have not read any of Snyder's other books for comparison.

The Fearsome Inn was a different animal entirely.  The author, Isaac Bashevis Singer, translates and writes Yiddish folk tales.  This tale was more of a serious nature and it was a short story rather than a novel.  I was unable to locate a stand alone copy of this, but I was able to get the text out of a collection of Singer's stories Stories for Children.  This collection contains two of his other Newbery honor stories "Zlateh the Goat" and "When Shlemiel Went to Warsaw" which were also very good.