Newbery 1983

Dicey's Song
Author: Cynthia Voigt
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Plot: Dicey and her siblings adjust to life with their grandmother.
Verdict: A book of struggles
My rating: 4 stars


The Blue Sword
Author: Robin McKinley
Genre: Fantasy
Plot: Harry is kidnapped by the Hillfolk and taught to wield the Blue Sword.
Verdict: Great fantasy
My rating: 3 stars


Doctor De Soto
Author: William Steig
Genre: Fantasy
Plot: A dentist mouse outwits a fox.
Verdict: Mice are clever
My rating: 3 stars


Graven Images
Author: Paul Fleischman
Genre: Folk
Plot: Three short stories involving statues.
Verdict: He didn't nail the endings
My rating: 2 stars


Homesick: My Own Story
Author: Jean Fritz
Genre: Historical Fiction
Plot: Based on the author's experience of being raised in China, to American parents and then moving to America.
Verdict: Rides the nonfiction/fiction line
My rating: 3 stars


Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush
Author: Virginia Hamilton
Genre: Fantasy
Plot: Tree is in love with a ghost.
Verdict: Interesting ghost story
My rating: 3 stars

Dicey's Song is the second book in the Tillerman Cycle.  I would definitely read the first book, Homecoming, before reading this book.  The third book, A Solitary Blue, is also a Newbery Honor book.  I enjoyed all three of these books.  The series chronicles Dicey and her siblings who are abandoned by their mother and must fend for themselves while trying to find a relative to take them in.  Eventually, by the second book, they end up with their grandmother and each faces a particular challenged in adjusting to his or her new life. 

Robin McKinley is one of my favorite authors.  She is known for her retellings of fairy tales but her two Newbery books The Blue Sword and The Hero and the Crown take place in the land of Damar, a place of her own imagining.  The Blue Sword was written first takes place after the events of The Hero and the Crown however, the books can be read in either order.  This book starts a little slow before launching into epic fantasy. 

William Steig is one of the few authors who shows up on both the Newbery and Caldecott lists.  One of his most popular books is Shrek! which was eventually turned into a movie loosely based on the book.  Doctor De Soto is a regular illustrated picture book featuring his signature art. 

Having enjoyed Fleischman's Joyful Noise poetry collection, I had high hopes for this book.  It is a collection of three folk-esque stories.  But the endings just didn't seem to fit with the rest of the story, in my opinion.  The stories were a bit muddled and didn't quite build to fit his interesting plot twists.  Having read other traditional folk stories, I appreciated his effort.  On another interesting note, his father, Sid Fleischman, won the Newbery for The Whipping Boy making it the only father-son pair to win on the list.

Homesick really rides the line between fiction and nonfiction.  The author based the book on her own experience as an American girl growing up in China, but she added fictional details.  It would make for an interesting discussion about when a book crosses that imaginary line (in other words, how much embellishment can you add to a biography before it ceases to be nonfiction).

The last book on the list is by the very famous African American author Virginia Hamilton.  I admit, I've struggled with her other books.  She is true to her African American roots and that can make her writing hard to understand for readers who are not African American.  I found her characters very interesting.