Newbery 2008

Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village
Author: Laura Amy Schlitz
Genre: Historical Fiction/Theater
Plot: This book is a series of monologues for different people in a medieval village.
Verdict: Fun!
My rating: 4 stars


Elijah of Buxton
Author: Christopher Paul Curtis
Genre: Historical Fiction
Plot: Elijah goes on a journey into America after a thief
Verdict: The character's voice annoyed me
My rating: 1 star


The Wednesday Wars
Author: Gary D. Schmidt
Genre: Historical Fiction
Plot: Holling Hoodhood is the only student at school on Wednesday afternoons and his teacher has to figure out what to do with him.
Verdict: Surprisingly entertaining
My rating: 4 stars


Feathers
Author: Jacqueline Woodson
Genre: Realistic fiction
Plot: "Hope is the thing with feathers" for Frannie who deals with a new kid in class, her mother and her friend Samantha.
Verdict: Interesting
My rating: 3 stars

Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! is a bit of an unusual choice for the medal as it's basically a collection of monologues.  However, I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book as I found the characters that were speaking to be interesting and all the monologues tied together in the end, giving the book a good measure of coherence.   The author, Laura Amy Schlitz, won another honor in 2013 for one of the creepiest books on the Newbery list, Splendors and Glooms.

I was also surprised by how much I enjoyed The Wednesday Wars, a book about a boy who is the only student in class on Wednesday afternoons (because the Catholics are at Catechism and the Jews are at Synagogue) and the book is about his relationship with his teacher and how she opens his mind to new horizons.

Feathers was okay.  I didn't like it as much as Tupac and we'll see how it stands up to Brown Girl Dreaming.  I did not enjoy Elijah of Buxton at all as I did not like the voice the author used.