Bridge to Terabithia
Author: Katherine Paterson
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Plot: Jess and Leslie create the imaginary land of Terabithia.
Verdict: Bring Kleenix
My rating: 3 stars
Ramona and her Father
Author: Beverly Cleary
Genre: Realistic fiction
Plot: Ramona's father loses his job and the Quimby family must downsize.
Verdict: Not dated
My rating: 3 stars
Anpao: An American Indian Odessey
Author: Jamake Hightower
Genre: Folk tale
Plot: Anpao goes on a quest to find the Sun and ask him for the hand of the girl he loves.
Verdict: Interesting read
My rating: 3 stars
The Newbery Medal winner for this year is Bridge to Terabithia which is quite a popular book and is also on the banned list. The author, Katherine Paterson, is a two-time medal winner (her other book is Jacob Have I Loved). I remember reading this in sixth grade and having to build Terabithia as our book project (I did it with my best friend and of course, ours had a real moat). Among the reasons for this book being "banned" is the fact that someone dies, saying "lord" outside of prayer and the fact that Leslie and her parents don't go to church. The grade school I attended was a very conservative Christian school, yet we still read it and no one raised a fuss. To this day, I still don't understand why people go above and beyond to "ban" certain books. Overall, it's a great book.
The next book is Ramona and her Father by Beverly Cleary out of her popular Ramona series. This time the family is in financial trouble causing some humorous stories as the girls try to get their father to quit smoking and the cat protests his cheap food.
Anpao was an interesting read. It takes a bunch of Native American folk stories and weaves them into one big story. I thought it was interesting and it was easy to understand. However, there is a bit of controversy with the author. He has authored several Native American books and claimed to be Native American, however, there is some controversy over whether or not he is actually Native American.
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