Caddie Woodlawn (1936) I needed to keep reminding myself that this was written in the 30's and was probably considered ahead of its time. A very Little House feeling to it, Caddie was a fun character, but the whole book felt off somehow to me, probably because of when it was written.
Ginger Pye (1952) Finally (spoiler alert) a dog book with a happy ending. Someone mysteriously kidnaps a boy's dog and he and his sister set out to find him. The culprit seemed a little obvious but the feelings the siblings had were heartfelt.
Higher Power of Lucky (2007) What? Scrotum, scrotum, scrotum. Seriously? The guy probably would have said balls. I found this whole chapter weird and out of place. Is that why it was distinguished? I just don't get it. She still seemed like a brat at the end of the book.
Walk Two Moons (1995) Hope upon hope that this one would be good, and I wasn't disappointed. Fabulous book about interpersonal relationships and loss. Wow! Sal was a fabulous character. I felt a kinship with Sal that easily sucked me in. This was one of my favorites so far.
The Summer of the Swans (1971) Short and sweet, a very powerful story about the bond of siblings.
A Single Shard (2002) Another good read. I liked this one because Tree-ear was a pathetic little orphan who worked extremely hard for everything he had. Good hard working little guy who was just looking for a little love and acceptance and wanted to learn a craft to better himself. Not very action packed, but still some suspense.
Island of the Blue Dolphin (1961) I was not expecting this to be a Castaway type story. Very strong female character for a book set in the 60's. Survival combined with a little loneliness makes this a sad story.
That puts me at 20!
Some of these books are tedious to say the least, why am I still doing this I've asked myself. First, these were all decided by a number of people to be great books. Second, I'm getting a great feel for the history of what has been considered great in children's literature over the years.
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