Newbery 2014

Flora and Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures
Author: Kate DiCamillo
Genre: Fantasy
Plot: Ulysses the squirrel becomes a superhero after being vacuumed up and teams up with Flora.
Verdict: Insanely cute with great illustrations
My rating: 4 stars


Doll Bones
Author: Holly Black
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Plot: Three friends travel to bury a doll they believe is made from the bones of a dead girl.
Verdict: Creepy but not too creepy
My rating: 3 stars 


The Year of Billy Miller
Author: Kevin Henkes
Genre: Contemporary Realistic Fiction
Plot: We follow Billy Miller through his second grade year.
Verdict: Ok
My rating: 3 stars 


One Came Home
Author: Amy Timberlake
Genre: Historical Fiction
Plot: Georgie goes on a quest to prove that the body that was found was not her sister's
Verdict: Quite the mystery
My rating: 3 stars 


Paperboy
Author: Vince Vawter
Genre: Historical Fiction
Plot: A boy who stutters takes over his friend's paper route for the summer.
Verdict: Excellent story
My rating: 4 stars

I was very excited to see Kate DiCamillo win her second Newbery award this year.  I had actually picked up Flora and Ulysses at a local bookstore simply because it was DiCamillo's book without knowing it had won.  I absolutely loved the book and I loved how the graphic novel elements of it enhanced the book.  I doubt this is the last we will see of DiCamillo's brilliant mind on the Newbery list.

A book I was not looking forward to reading was Holly Black's Doll Bones.  It was the last book I read to complete the year.  I had tried to start it earlier but I'm not one for creepy books, especially after 2013's Splendors and Glooms.  I was pleasantly surprised at the book.  It was not horribly creepy and actually readable and while some people may not like the ending, it was something I could live with.

Of the remaining three books, I really enjoyed Paperboy.  I do not always go for books written in first person but the author's voice was excellent.  The ending and the author's note cemented my enjoyment of this book.  One Came Home  was a good mystery that will keep you guessing.  I was a bit disappointed by The Year of Billy Miller as I thought it was a little lackluster. 

Grow Your Blog 2015

Welcome to my blog, especially to my visitors from Grow Your Blog!

A Bit of Background

My first love has always been reading.  I learned to read at a very young age (between age 3 and 4) and ever since I have devoured books.  My love for reading was rekindled in college when I took a children's literature course as part of my undergraduate degree.  The book we used for the class had a list in the back of all the Newbery Medal and Honor books and I thought at the time that it would be cool to try to read all the books on the list. 

The book is Literature and the Child and is actually a good reference guide for children's lit.

After college, life happened and I never thought about it again until 2012 when I was laid off from my job and found myself at home with a lot of time on my hands with two small children.  I decided to actually set the goal to read all the Newbery Medal and Honor books.

Educationally, I have a B.S. in Education and an M.A. in Teaching.  I am considering doing my doctorate in reading but I want to wait a few years before starting that enormous project.

Why Newbery?

The Newbery list appealed to me because it is one of the oldest awards for American children's literature.  I found that as a reader, I tended to stick to my favorite genre (sci fi/fantasy) and as a pre-service teacher, I decided that I needed a way to "expand my horizons." The Newbery list was a way to do that as it covers many different genres including nonfiction.  It is essentially a "cross-section" of literature.

Where Do I Get the Books?

I have been able to order most of the books I have read from my library's consortium.  I also own some books myself.  The 1922 and 1923 books are public domain and can be downloaded legally for free from the Gutenburg Project.  There are several books from the 1920s and 30s that are public domain because their copyrights were not renewed and you can find them in various places online to read legally.  I have also read several off Kindle Unlimited and Oyster.  Oyster has many books I would like to read, however, they do not have a Windows Phone app yet and I found it tedious to read off my laptop so I'm waiting for them to make an app.  Oyster gives you a 14 day trial and Kindle Unlimited does 30 days.

Many of the older books, especially the older honor books, are out of print and extremely hard to find.  Hopefully, many of them will become available digitally as they approach their public domain status. 

What Have I Found So Far?

So far, I have found the books that I have read to be high quality and enjoyable literature, with a few exceptions.  I have been especially impressed with the nonfiction books, considering I don't read a lot of nonfiction independently as I find it dry and boring much of the time.  The older books read a lot differently and it is interesting to see how writing styles and plots have evolved over 90 something years.

About This Blog

Once I have read all the medal and honor books for a year, I write a blog post.  For each book I list: the title, the author, the genre, a brief description, my verdict and my rating off Goodreads.  I then write a brief review of what I thought of the year.  I also post about certain book series and authors of note.

Because I wait until I have read all the books in a year, I do not post very regularly.  If you want a more instant way to follow what I read, I suggest following me on Goodreads.  You can reach my shelf through the Goodreads feed in the sidebar.

Obviously, more Newbery books come out every year, therefore, this blog is an ongoing project as the list grows with each passing year.

Thanks for stopping by!

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.

Newbery 1923

The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle
Author: Hugh Lofting
Genre: Animal Fantasy
Plot: Dr. Dolittle is a doctor who can talk to animals and goes on an adventure to return several to their native Africa.
Verdict: Cute
My rating: 3 stars

I am assuming that 1923 and 1924 were lean years for children's books as there are no honor book in either year.

I thought that Doctor Dolittle is very cute.  However, there is a bit of racism in the book when Dr. Dolittle meets the prince in Africa.  For that reason, I would recommend screening the book before reading it with your children so you can decide if you are comfortable reading the book with them.

Newbery 2002

A Single Shard
Author: Linda Sue Park
Genre: Historical Fiction
Plot: Tree-ear works with a famous potter named Min.
Verdict: Excellent story
My rating: 4 stars


Everything on a Waffle
Author: Polly Horvath
Genre: Historical Fiction
Plot: Primrose's parents go missing during a storm and she starts living with her uncle.
Verdict: The title is better than the book but it has a happy ending
My rating: 3 stars


Carver: A Life in Poems
Author: Marilyn Nelson
Genre: Poetry
Plot: The story of George Washington Carver told in poetry
Verdict: Interesting poetical biography
My rating: 3 stars

I definitely enjoyed A Single Shard.  When I picked it up from the library, one of the people in my knitting circle (which is held at the library) told me that it was excellent and I was surprised to find that she was right.  It was the clear winner in my opinion.

I had high hopes for Everything on a Waffle but I am afraid the plot did not lure me in.  It wasn't horrible, so I gave it three stars, but I'm afraid it was a case of "judging a book by its title" and then being disappointed.

100 Books!

Today, I hit my first Newbery milestone: I have read 100 books off the list.  I have ordered several books from the local library so I hope to be posting more completed Newbery years soon.

Notable Authors: Nancy Farmer

I discovered Nancy Farmer in my Children's Literature college course.  The Ear, The Eye and the Arm was on the book list for the course so I picked it up after hearing how great it was from one of my classmate's book talks.

I encourage you to go to Nancy Farmer's website and read her bio.  She spent a great deal of time in Africa so many of her early books are set there.  She also has dyslexia.  Her first book published in the United States, Do You Know Me, won her $20,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts.  She has also won Newbery Honors for The Ear, The Eye and the Arm (1995), A Girl Named Disaster (1997), and The House of the Scorpion (2003).  I feel she was a bit "robbed" in the Newbery category because I feel all three books are deserving of the medal.  Oh, well.

One of the things I love about this author is that each of her books is uniquely different.  You can also tell that she has researched the subjects that she writes about because she uses a lot of details and often has a list of sources that she used for the book.


Do You Know Me
Plot: Uncle Zeka comes to live with Tapiwa and her family after his village is destroyed and has a strange way of doing things.
My rating: 4 stars


The Ear, The Eye and the Arm
1995 Newbery Honor Book
Plot: In futuristic Zimbabwe, General Mitzika's children are kidnapped by She Elephant when the leave the house and The Ear, The Eye and the Arm are hired to find them.
My rating: 4 stars


The Warm Place


A Girl Named Disaster
1997 Newbery Honor Book
Plot: Nhamo runs away from home to escape a forced marriage.
My rating: 4 stars


The House of the Scorpion
2003 Newbery Honor Book
Series: Matteo Alacran #1
Plot: Matteo is the clone of El Patron, a powerful drug lord.  When he is discovered by the other children, he is sent to live in the big mansion with El Patron.
My rating: 5 stars


The Lord of Opium
Series: Matteo Alacran #2


The Sea of Trolls
Series: Sea of Trolls #1
Plot: Jack and his sister Lucy are kidnapped by Vikings in post-Roman Britian.
My rating: 3 stars


The Land of Silver Apples
Series: Sea of Trolls #2
Plot: Jack goes on a journey with several companions after the Need Fire ceremony goes wrong.
My rating: 4 stars


The Islands of the Blessed
Series: Sea of Trolls #3
Plot: Jack, Thorgil, the Bard and the Tanners return to Bebba's Town
My rating: 4 stars