Catch Up Post (3 Books For the Blog of One)

I have failed on the updating front, so this post is going to cover three winners: Dicey's Song (1983), The Dark Frigate (1924), and The Trumpeter of Krakow (1929).

First, Dicey's Song by Cynthia Voigt. I listened to this one a loooooong time ago and.... I honestly was pretty neutral on it. It is the second book in the series about the Tillermans - following Homecoming. My assessment of Homecoming was that it was a darker and edgier Boxcar Children. Dicey's Song picks right up where the first left off with the Tillerman kids adjusting to life with their grandmother. It is much more introspective as Dicey tries to decide what to do next. She feels that they will be asked to leave soon and tries to prepare for that while struggling to make several school decisions for her two youngest siblings. Both the books I listened to from this series seemed to be bogged down. I liked the gist if the story, but there was far too much filler.

The Dark Frigate by Charles Hawes is, to my knowledge, the only author to receive the Newbery posthumously. He was well respected for his tales of adventure on the high seas, often being compared to R.L. Stevenson. Ummm... I'm not entirely sure what happened in this book. There were pirates, a trial, and an inn. I remember hearing this book, but apparently I wasn't listening, it was simply too boring for me to really care.

Finally, The Trumpeter of Krakow by Eric Kelly. I loved this book, in no small part I'm sure due to the fact that I was in Krakow when I listened to it!!!! Being able to see areas described in this book was absolutely thrilling. I started the audio book on the train leaving Bratislava (which was totally the wrong train but that story is for a different time and place) and finished it halfway through my visit. Krakow was probably my favorite city in Europe (neck in neck with Salzburg) and the old town is put on brilliant display in this book.

I totally believed that there had been a trumpeter in Krakow during the past ages - I never doubted that, but on my fist day visiting the Market Square I was delighted to hear the sounds of a trumpeter somewhere in the bustle. I came around a corner and saw glorious Saint Mary's tower where the sharp notes of music were coming from. From there I discovered the old town of Krakow both physically and through the text. Sometimes I went and found locations I had heard in the book first and sometimes I was surprised to hear the book mention a place I had visited just before. I've never experienced a book or new place in this way before and it was one of the highlights of my time in Europe! Now just for fun here are some pictures of locales mentioned in the book:

The mighty Vistula River, which features prominently in the very end of the book.

Florian's Gate, the only remaining piece of the walls that once surrounded the old town.

Street between Florian's Gate and the Market Square.

Cloth Hall, which houses a museum and arcade style shops.

View of the Market Square. The church on the right is Saint Mary's and the tallest spire is where the trumpeter plays from each hour. I waited several minutes one day to listen to him play out each window, it was so exciting!

Inside the oldest university building in Poland! The Collegium Maius was a key location in The Trumpeter of Krakow. It has seen famous students ranging from St. John Paul II to Copernicus.

The Wawel Cathedral, which is mentioned in the book but I don't recall it being of much importance.

Inside the Wawel Courtyard - looking back I see I don't have any spectacular photos of the Wawel, it is perched on a hill and all the buildings up there are so close together that getting a good shot was too difficult and I just enjoyed myself.

Another bit of the Wawel Cathedral.

Amos Fortune: Free Man, Newbery Winner 1951

Amos Fortune: Free Man by Elizabeth Yates is a slim book. Actually, I've avoided it because it was the final entry on the only complete ranking of Newbery Winners that I was able to find a couple years ago (with only 90 entries you can see that it hasn't been updated).
To be fair, I'm a little conflicted on what to say about this book... Is it my least favorite? Far from it; reading the book was easy enough and I found the main character quite pleasant. But this is American history through decidedly rose colored lenses. While history has shown us that there were indeed men such as At-mun, whose name was changed to Amos Fortune I think that they were few and far between. And even those slaves which led decent lives were still slaves. This is a horror which is glancingly addressed in the text; this would not be an appropriate introduction to slavery for young pupils, lest they believe that being enslaved is more of a sad inconvenience than anything.
The years when Amos has paid for his freedom and that of four others are the most interesting parts of the book to read (and thankfully the bulk of the book) but even then the segregation he experienced is only passingly mentioned.
I don't think this is the worst Newbery. I don't even think it is a bad book. What it is a certainly a product of when it was written, a book that never ventures too far into the historical realities of slavery. Should children read this book? Perhaps, but only after they have seen the ugly, ugly side of slavery in America and have come to understand that just because someone (such as Amos) had a good life here, doesn't make that right.

The Sixth Round-Up

The sixth roundup! These things just keep getting farther and farther apart don't they? This round-up is special in a way that none of the others can be ever again. It has the oldest and the newest winners both! We're now about 2/3 of the way through this road-show so I'm going to see if I can keep it up. Because I'm an adult that sets myself a reading goal!

Crossover

This was quite easily the best book in this batch. Not only did I feel compelled to keep reading it once I'd started I felt compelled to share it with others once I had finished. It still seems a bit incomprehensible that this was a book about basketball written in verse. I have pre-order the author's next offering already and can't wait till it comes.

The Wheel on the School

I really enjoyed this simple little tale. After having recently complained at a book having no significant plot I find it amusing that I liked this one so much. Just children doing children things, but in a thoroughly enjoyable fashion. And of course project-based student-led learning.

Shiloh
I thought this book worked better as a moral quandary analysis than as a boy and his dog story. But, you know, it worked fairly well as the dog story too. I love animal books and this is a great addition to all the spectacular offerings in children's literature.

Last Stop on Market Street
A sweet little story that I really like as a book. I'm still not sold on the fact that it beat a couple of other books, but that's life.

The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle
A rousing adventure story. Though it shows its age sometimes it remains (with help) a fun story that I think children will still enjoy. I'm quite over the censoring that has been placed on this book because I really do believe that it makes it more appropriate for the intended audience of today.

The White Stag
A miniature epic. This short book has all the elements of the giant classic tomes that sit leather-bound on library shelves across the world. An interesting look at history, folklore, romance, and war, this book is sure to find many interested readers for quite some time.

Miss Hickory

Golly this book was weird. Still probably the weirdest thing I've read for this challenge and honestly the weirdness doesn't kick it into high gear until the very end. Pretty sure this is the only book I've ever read where the title character's head get eaten.

Thimble Summer

A simple story about simple times. But this book has little in the way of an overarching plot. Meh.

The Secret of the Andes

Free at last, free at last! Sorry but this little book has been taunting me for far too long.

The Story of Mankind
The oldest in the group whole shebang. This history tries to be comprehensive and fails but it was an interesting idea.

The entire countdown!

1.  A Wrinkle in Time
2. Number the Stars
3. Crispin: Cross of Lead
4. Island of the Blue Dolphins
5. Julie of the Wolves
6. Maniac Magee 
7. Bud, Not Buddy
8. King of the Wind
9. Out of the Dust
10. When You Reach Me
11. Crossover
12. The Tale of Despereaux
13. The Door in the Wall
14. Holes
15. Caddie Woodlawn
16. Kira-Kira
17. Sounder
18. Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!: Voices from a Medieval Village
19. The Giver
20. The Westing Game
21. Bridge to Terabithia
22. The View from Saturday
23. Sarah, Plain and Tall
24. Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices
25. Call It Courage
26. The Wheel on the School27. The Cat Who Went to Heaven
28. The One and Only Ivan
29. The Midwife's Apprentice
30. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
31. The Twenty-One Balloons
32. Onion John
33. Shiloh34. The Graveyard Book
35. The Summer of the Swans
36. Dear Mr. Henshaw
37. Missing May
38. Tales from Silver Lands
39. Last Stop on Market Street
40. Voyages of Doctor Dolittle
41. A Gathering of Days
42. The Whipping Boy
43. Shen of the Sea
44. Shadow of a Bull
45. The White Stag46. Rabbit Hill
47. Strawberry Girl
48. Flora and Ulysses
49. Miss Hickory
50. The Matchlock Gun
51. A Visit to William Blake's Inn
52. Thimble Summer
53. Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze
54. It's Like This, Cat
55. The Secret of the Andes
56. Up a Road Slowly
57. The Story of Mankind
58. Johnny Tremain
59. Dobry
60. Daniel Boone

Secret of the Andes, Newbery Winner 1953

This book probably counts as my literary nemesis. It's only 138 stinkin' pages, yet I kept getting halfway through and WALKING AWAY. And I'm not talking about walking away for a week or two - no, try months or years. This was going to be the third ever book I reviewed for this blog because it was bite-sized and about Latin America - my favorite. But here we are at book number 60 - four years later.

Definitely my nemesis.

There's not really much I can say about this book outside of the fact that nothing really happens and it takes its own sweet time not happening. I like the setting described, from the mountains to the salt mines. The people are interesting (and the llamas too!). The themes of family and home are timeless and handled surprisingly well. Internal conflict is handled well....

Wait! It sounds like a good book! I know it does - but stories need five things: plot, character, conflict, theme, and setting. This story has very little in the way of plot. Characters visit salt mines (uneventfully), characters return home, character learns things (OFF PAGE), character goes to Cuzco, character returns to the mountains, and then well that's it.

Way too much of the 'action' in this book is told to us after the fact. I want to like this book but unfortunately it is just boring.

The Complete 2016 Newbery Read-Through

It is my ambition to one day read the Newbery winner before it is announced... this was not that year. Though I did manage to get two of the three honors.

Roller Girl by Victoria Jamieson

Once more we get a graphic novel. Probably not one I would have picked up, but quite good all the same. When was the last time you read a book about roller derby? I would venture sometime between never and never ever for most of you - yet this book provides an introduction to that tough sport. More than that it is an interesting look at what happens as we grow older and perhaps move apart from the people who had been our best friends. It also explores the phenomenon that hits in the early teens where you feel so many things that you end up not knowing what they mean. It explores our relationships with family, the importance of trust (and second chances), the need for acceptance, the power of hard work, and the joys of friendships. The ending is satisfying in not catering to a need for the perfect solution but rather mirroring life and that it can be confusing and difficult, but ultimately worth living.

Echo by Pam Muñoz Ryan

I adored Echo I read it several months ago and was very excited that it received an Honor. This book looks very intimidating but it is tempered by the fact that there are really four stories in here - three of which take up the bulk of the book. The story revolves around a harmonica with extraordinary tone and the various people that own it. In the first story, sometime centuries ago, we meet a young German boy lost in the forest, he discovers three sisters who have been trapped by a curse but by saving three lives they will be freed, they imbue a harmonica with their breath and the boy goes on his way.
The next story is about another young German boy - this time just before WWII - who has a large and very noticeable birthmark. His father and uncle work in a harmonica factory where he becomes the youngest apprentice they've ever had. As the government enacts more and harsher laws it becomes evident that they will need to flee...
We next find the harmonica in America. Where a young orphan and his brother are desperate to find a home where they can stay together. They find temporary asylum with a stern woman forced to take in children to keep her inheritance. But her lawyers are constantly looking for a loophole that will allow her to take the boys back to the orphanage where they will certainly be split up. When they find out that the paperwork has gone through they make the daring decision to strike out on their own...
The next section focuses on a young Latina girl in California near the end of WWII. When her family moves to a new home she is shocked to discover that she must attend a different school because of her race. She also discovers that her father moved here to continue his relative's job of caring for the house of a Japanese-American businessman who has been moved into an interment camp. She struggles with concerns about the fact that she is forced to attend a substandard school and whether or not there are dangerous items hidden in the house her father is caring for...
In the end the stories weave together in a beautiful fashion. This book is a love story to the power of music and the inherent goodness people possess and must call upon in times of struggle. 

The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

I very much expected this book to win. It is wonderfully written and shows deep, deep emotions, on top of that it is historical fiction and seemed very much the write dose of that elusive Literature with a capital L.

It begins in London where Ada and her younger brother live with an emotionally abusive mother. Ada gets the worst of it because a club foot makes it painful for her to walk and her mother refuses to let her leave the house. When German planes threaten to bomb England, Ada's brother is scheduled to be sent to the countryside. Desperate to stay with him Ada escapes the house and gets on the train. They are taken in by Susan Smith a stern but kind woman. She is the first to show Ada what love can truly be and Ada comes to love Susan in return. This is not to say that it is an easy journey. The author heartbreakingly captures the struggles Ada has with trust and the difficulties in accepting that she has worth and intelligence. 

Overall a solidly historical novel set in WWII England. This book hits emotions perfectly and the character development was spot-on. Even the a-little-to-perfect ending sat okay with me. BECAUSE I NEEDED THAT HAPPY ENDING!!!

Which brings us to.....

Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Peña

If you're thinking, "That looks like a picture book," you'd be correct. This charming book chronicles a boys journey with his grandmother from church to a soup kitchen as they ride the bus. The grandmother points out the every day beauty around them as they go. I love this book - I really do. That being said, I disagree with the decision to crown it the winner. The Newbery is for writing and this book relies too much on the pictures to carry the story. (As opposed to Good Masters... or William Blake's Inn which are both heavily illustrated but most definitely intrenched in written language.) I have a hard time accepting this book as the winner in a year where books like Echo and The War That Saved My Life were on the table. For my money either of those two was a solid choice - TWTSML I may have ranked a little higher based on the fact that it's writing was a tad bit tighter when it came to character development.

The Story of Mankind, Newbery Winner 1922

Here it is. The very first Newbery winner. I must say that, although not a real page turner, this book was much better than I expected it to be. I started reading it a few years back and the book is nicely illustrated but in order that I might just be done with it I have gone ahead and listened to the audio book. It was still a bit dry so I cranked up the speed and listened to it at 1.5X in order that I could just be done with the whole affair. So I think a simple overview ought to suffice.

The Good: The author does seem to put forth effort into being unbiased while looking at historical events. Though not always perfect at this he does note areas where he had to fight his personal bias in order to tell both sides of a story.

The Bad: For claiming to be the condensed story of mankind this book is awfully Eurocentric. The author having been raised in Europe and schooled in America this can hardly be surprising. Still he did spend probably 60 of the 67 chapters talking about events in Europe. One chapter is dedicated to Egypt, one to the Far East (only to discuss religion), two to the Middle East, and the others to the United States.  The text also shows its age quite often when discussing People of Color and non-Judeo-Christian religions, on the same note the author is not unkind he simply uses phrases and cites ideas that were common one-hundred years ago but are no longer considered appropriate.

The Ugly: Actually, considering the age of the book does explain many of its shortcomings. Would I recommend it to children? No. But mostly because I just didn't find it all that enjoyable. It was a fair sight better than I expected, but by no means brilliant. I think the only reason this book survives at all today is its accomplishment of being the first book awarded with The John Newbery Medal.