The Cat Who Went to Heaven, Newbery Winner 1931

This was a sweet, simple story. I am a cat person so the name of the story greatly appealed to me. I believe that children would enjoy this book, but an adult with some knowledge of Buddhism will need to be on standby. I really don't know more than basic tenures of Buddhism but I found the story easy enough to follow. It is a really short tale and there is no plot, but you come to really love the little cat, Good Fortune. It would be interesting to hear more of the old Buddhist folktales, they were new to me and I found it quite interesting to hear how there was a story about all the different animals in the painting. The ending was very satisfying, though some may find it sudden.

Second Round-Up

Well, it's that time again! (Actually, it's past that time, I've read 11 books instead of 10!) Time for me to line 'em up against the wall. Order them, if you will. This was occasionally a difficult batch to get through, so difficult that I actually avoided a couple of books like the plague. There are some here I'm glad to tick off my list and there are some here that I can't wait to read again. Alright, from the top!

1. Crispin: Cross of Lead - This entry wins this section hands down. An amazing adventure story with great characters, not only the best award-winner I read this summer, but the best book period. I cannot wait to delve into the sequels and Avi's other works.

2. Caddie Woodlawn - Like Little House lite, this book is good old-fashioned fun. I'm always a sucker for good frontier literature though, giving this book a head-start on the list.

3. Kira-Kira - Without a doubt the most deeply emotional book of the lot, I enjoyed the simple, realistic and modern story. A was a refreshingly different sort of novel for me.

4. Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!: Voices from a Medieval Village: A wonderful collection of monologues. This is a literary style that is often overlooked, but I'm pleased that this collection was chosen, you get several little stories, plus one overarching tale of simple living.

5. Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices - That's right, I rated a book of bug poems higher than some of the 'great classics of children's literature'. This book is short, which kids like, and funny, which kids love.

6. Onion John - Oh Onion... You're too slow to absolutely love, but too good to hate! To the middle of the pack you'll have to go.

7. Missing May - A wonderful tale that explores the emotions surrounding grief. As a bonus I just figured out that the author also wrote one of my favorite picture books, The Dreamer.

8. A Visit to William Blake's Inn - Thinking over these poems for a couple of days helps nothing. The book is still trying to hard to be great. I do like the illustrations though, and a couple of the poems merit re-reading.

9. Johnny Tremain - Goodness, I hated this book. It took all my will power to sit down and finish it. It commits the crime of ruining what should be a good story. I'll never know how Forbes did it, but somehow she made the American Revolution boring. Only gets this high on the list for managing to stay in print, which brings us to...

10. Dobry - For a book in which absolutely nothing occurs (and takes its own sweet time doing it) the only bright spot was that it was set in Eastern Europe and we got a Christmas chapter.

11. Daniel Boone - Forget the crime of offensiveness, few will ever make it that far in the book. It was like wading through mud to retrieve a bucket of dirt. Ultimately, you saw no reason to continue. The only reason I finished is because I'm stubborn (save one page that had been removed by library, parent, or reader for which I'm am grateful to them for shortening the book).

There, I know it is difficult seeing Missing May next to William Blake but I strenuously apologize. A countdown from the beginning!

1. Number the Stars
2. Crispin: Cross of Lead
3. Julie of the Wolves
4. Bud, Not Buddy
5. King of the Wind
6. Out of the Dust
7. Caddie Woodlawn
8. Kira-Kira
9. Sounder
10. Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!: Voices from a Medieval Village
11. Bridge to Terabithia
12. Sarah, Plain and Tall
13. Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices
14. Call It Courage
15. Onion John
16. Missing May
17. The Whipping Boy
18. A Visit to William Blake's Inn
19. Johnny Tremain
20. Dobry
21. Daniel Boone

Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!: Voices from a Midieval Village, Newbery Winner 2008

I'd been led to believe that this book would be a real snore by the stories citing it as an example that the Newbery committee was out of touch and choosing books that children would never read. For what it is worth I loved it. This book lets you take a highly personal look at several children. None are incidental, I also found them to be telling a larger story that spans a long period of time. I always found it interesting when one monologue would refer back to another. There were also several stories where I would like to know what eventually happened, but, alas, I cannot. Perhaps for the best, since undoubtedly the hopes and dreams of the lower class would never be fulfilled, such was life for them.
Each monologue is written in a slightly different style, giving a wide variety of tastes something to chose from. I think that this would be a fun work to use in a classroom, like Shakespeare for the younger crowd. In any case, I'm sure that many readers will like the short 'story' format offered by each monologue, and there is something here for everyone romance, action, thievery, kindness, and more!

Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices, Newbery Winner 1989

The committee in the 80s must have loved poetry! All I can say is that, as skeptical as I was regarding this book (every poem is about bugs?), I found it to be immensely enjoyable.
I stumbled through the first poem several times, it is almost impossible to read poems for two voices by yourself I discovered. If you are also struggling with these poems I assure you they really are beautiful. Paul Fleischman has even managed to make me care about a wasp, an animal I never thought of as remotely emotional. The secret is sound, these poems must be heard to be enjoyed, you can't just read them yourself, there must be another.
Watch this video to hear for yourself, even though the poems are in a different order than the book.

 

Amazing, isn't it? You just listened to poetry about bugs. I enjoyed this so much more than William Blake's Inn. It was far more aware, and dare I say, emotional. Emotion is the foundation of poetry, something that really came through in this collection. I was pleased to have such a wonderful book to pass the minutes away with, it seems I've been in a bit of a rut with the books being outside of my interest range.

A Visit to William Blake's Inn, Newbery Winner 1982

Ummm... Well it was short. I don't know, when I think of poetry for children this isn't what really comes to mind. There is more than the usual amount of deep thinking that might be associated with a picture book. That isn't to say that I think all kids' poetry should be rhymed couplets with fanciful drawings, actually my favorite children's poets are Stevenson and Kipling.

Maybe if I had been familiar with William Blake's poetry I'd have enjoyed this more. Then again, maybe I was expecting something completely different from what I got. While the poems aren't bad, I really loved a couple of them, they just weren't outstanding. However, I feel the book has it's usefulness, it might work well in a unit about reading fluency. You really have to nail these poems for them to sound right, it took me a couple of tries on some of them.