First off...
Moving on...
Ginger Pye by Eleanor Estes, won the Newbery Award in 1952. There are only so many ways you can say a book is boring.
Ginger Pye fits all of those ways. The characters are boring, the plot is
boring, the setting is boring, and the conflict is boring.
1951 1952 1953
It's like the filling in a bummer sandwich.
That counts as a review, right?
Alright… so even though my blogging has fallen woefully
behind I’ve been pretty diligent about getting Newbery award winners in my
reading every once and a while. I read this a loooooong time ago and only have
the vaguest notion of what I might have written back in the day. I remember
thinking that it took him an absurdly long time to name his dog. Mostly because
the kids were boring – I mean devoid of intriguing personality. I usually have
a decent memory for what I’ve read but dash it all if I can only remember the
most basic bits of this book.
Basic plot – boy wants dog, boy gets dog, dog is moderately
good at tricks (like nothing outstanding), dog disappears, boy looks for dog,
boy finds dog, all is well. Whoop-de-doo. This takes realistic fiction to its
absurd extreme. In that nothing is extreme, not one thing. Like, make the
antagonist a scary old man, make the dog capable of circus level tricks, or
make the kid’s personalities a tad quirky. SOMETHING!!!
Visual representation of me reading this book.
I remember feeling that the antagonist was fairly obvious
despite the absurd amount of time it took in story for the kids to find their
dog. But know I can’t remember if the kids thought it was obvious too. Wouldn’t
want to shake things up too much, would we? Anyway – I’ve read it – I’ve blogged
it – I’m done with it!
Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Janet Gray, won the Newbery in 1943. This is another boy and his dog story with the twist that it
is interesting and emotionally engaging. I’m starting to see a trend in that I
actually quite enjoy stories set in Medieval England.
Who knew?
Adam is a minstrel’s son – a brilliant choice since it gives
him access to all levels of society and we can explore them all in a friendly
way. He has a dog that does several tricks and since he is a performer the fact
that the dog is good at tricks is fairly pertinent. His dog is stolen and in
the pursuit of the thief Adam becomes separated from his father. He must use
his talents and the help of others to find both his dog and father now.
Thankfully, the author chose not to tease us with both being lost the majority
of the book – that would become annoying rather than empathy inducing pretty
quickly.
After retrieving his dog, Adam begins following the sites
where his father has performed in the past and meeting a great many people,
from thieves to noblemen, clergy to students. Eventually he finds his father’s
nobleman but must wait until spring to be reunited.
Just get together!!!
I liked that the author apparently put a fair deal of
research into this book and it shows. There are details sprinkled throughout
the text alluding to history, geography, and music that make the whole book
come alive. Overall a story I really enjoyed and can see myself reading again.
