5 Stars
4 Stars
4 Stars
4 Stars
...and the winner? Did it stack up? I gave Flora and Ulysses a very solid 3 stars. That's right, the winner was my least favorite from the crop. I saw Kate DiCamillo was the author an got very excited; I love everything else of hers that I've ever read. But this book? Meh.
You heard that right. Meh. The characters were overly quirky. Come on, I need someone to be non-quirky normal person. Before anyone gets up in arms about normal being an illusion, I understand and agree to a point. But these were not people with quirks... these were quirks with a body, it got real old. The idea of a super-powered squirrel that has a love for poetry might have worked really well if we didn't have to keep up with a veritable cast of cloud cuckoo-landers.
In the end I can see why it was chosen. The Association is trying to avoid the sentiment that they are out of touch and don't understand what kids will really read. They took the kid appeal road. I've always felt that the Newbery strives to award books that struck a balance between kid appeal and Literature-with-a-capital-L. Some years they do better than others, but I find that it is the books with a perfect mixture of these factors that best stand the test of time.
Which would I have selected as the winner? For me it is a toss-up. Not Paperboy (too much capital L), not Billy Miller (not enough capital L), so there is Doll Bones (which I enjoyed start to finish), and One Came Home (that ending...).
Personally Doll Bones more cohesive and very, very enjoyable it deserved a win. One Came Home probably has less kid appeal and an ending that made me tired, but if it had won I'd be okay with it because the journey was so much fun. Sorry committee, you got it wrong.
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