Still Chugging Away at My Newbery Marathon

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.

Newbery Marathon Update

• 1958 Rifles for Watie by Harold Keith
• Civil War story about the battles in the war that took place further west. Acting accidentally as a spy, Jeff befriends people on both sides of the war. I was not aware that the Cherokee were involved in fighting the Civil War. The details of their involvement seemed a little unclear, but I might have been reading too fast.
• 1999 Holes by Louis Sachar
• The book followed pretty closely to the movie, but had an even better, more circular ending than the movie. Fast paced and an easy read. The flashbacks might have been confusing, but I'm not sure because I have seen the movie several times and knew where they were headed.
• 1996 Midwife's Apprentice by Karen Cushman
• Boy was I surprised when I looked up the date for the medal, I was thinking decades earlier. My book has a really crappy, dated looking cover and the story was good, but it did not WOW me like other Newberys did. 

 That's 3 more down for a total of 13.

Newbery Marathon

I have read a lot of picture books in my day, but cannot say the same about children's novels. The other day I was poking around on Goodreads and noticed that there was a group called Newbery Marathon.  I am a bit of a list junkie and was intrigued. Oddly enough I do not enjoy making lists, but I love crossing things off of lists. I have not officially joined the group, but reading all of the Newbery winners is something I can definitely do on my own.

Since the Summer of 2011, when I was taking a children's lit class for my MLIS, I have read (so I'm counting these):

• 2013 The One and Only Ivan  by Katherine Applegate (I am so glad this book won, I absolutely loved it)
• 2012 Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos
• 2010 When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
• 2005 Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata
• 1994 The Giver by Lois Lowry
• 1990 Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
• 1963 A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

I started this marathon last Monday and have checked three more off the list:

• 2009 The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
• I did not love this book, or even like it. I have read The Monstrumologist and Rotters which to me had a similar feel, but the characters in Graveyard didn't seem very real and the plot seemed random (to me).
• 2011 Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool
• This book was slow moving, but somehow grabbed me from the beginning. Something about Abeline and her character really struck a chord with me. I loved how all of the elements of the plot came together at the end.
• 2000 Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis
• I liked this book, but still have a melancholy feeling from it. I don't enjoy books where adults are unreasonably mean to kids (even if it is only for one chapter). Happily after the initial abuse he suffers from, Bud experiences kindness from many other people.

I am already almost ten percent of the way finished!