Seventh Round-Up

Oh man. This round-up spans three years! So forgive me if I'm a little vague on the details. Going back and looking I see that I rated three of them as two stars and two as three stars - obviously not my favorite batch here. But my calculator indicates that I'm 74% through with reading (not blogging) so I'm sure the remainder will be tougher as they are the books I've intentionally not read yet. I apologize to both my readers that this blog was basically dead there for a while. Hopefully by catching up I'll be able to squelch any desire to let it go so long!

1. Trumpeter of Krakow was quite easily my favorite book of the batch and probably the first I would ever re-read. I've discussed before that reading it while in Krakow surely boosted its favor with me - and I think that a re-read might have a similar effect of transporting me back to my favorite city in Europe!

2. Miracles on Maple Hill - If Trumpeter of Krakow will take me back somewhere I love. Than perhaps Miracles on Maple Hill is tops in the opposite category of making me love somewhere I've never been. I'm truly a Heartlander, born and raised in that middle bit of the country some people call fly-over. But books like this really fuel a desire to visit the rural Northeast.

3. The Hero and the Crown was a fun book that I suspect may have been influential in bringing us more fantasy heroines. There are still aspects that sit uneasy with me - but is it a problem to have a book that challenges you?

4. Adam of the Road is a story set in Medieval England. I'm apparently missing a whole sub-genre of literature here! The more of these stories I read the more I want. This one is great because of the traveling aspect, but also a little frustrating I just want Adam to get back to his father!

5. The Girl Who Drank the Moon was a charming tale that reads very similar to a classic fairy tale. It had all the tropes: witches, dragons, animal transformations, abandoned children, and corrupt government. Definitely a fun one to read again.

6. Dicey's Song was so dreary. The story was okay I suppose and had every right to be depressing - but it drug out so much.

7. M.C. Higgins, the Great - An odd little book. An interesting idea for a story but they just never truly went anywhere with it.

8. Ginger Pye - This was just so incredibly dull.

9. The Dark Frigate - Somehow even more dull.

10. Amos Fortune: Free Man is an incredibly dated book that I have actually ranked lower with the passage of time. Sure, Amos had a decent enough life - but at the cost of his freedom and after so much trauma. The last couple years have made me rethink my evaluation of this book.

And now, the 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. The Trumpeter of Krakow
10. Out of the Dust
11. When You Reach Me
12. Crossover
13. The Tale of Despereaux
14. The Door in the Wall
15. Holes
16. Caddie Woodlawn
17. Kira-Kira
18. Sounder
19. Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!: Voices from a Medieval Village
20. The Giver
21. The Westing Game
22. Bridge to Terabithia
23. The View from Saturday
24. Sarah, Plain and Tall
25. Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices
26. Call It Courage
27. Miracles on Maple Hill
28. The Wheel on the School
29. The Cat Who Went to Heaven
30. The One and Only Ivan
31. The Midwife's Apprentice
32. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
33. The Twenty-One Balloons
34. The Hero and the Crown
35. Onion John
36. Shiloh
37. The Graveyard Book
38. Adam of the Road
39. The Girl Who Drank the Moon
40. The Summer of the Swans
41. Dear Mr. Henshaw
42. Missing May
43. Tales from Silver Lands
44. Last Stop on Market Street
45. Voyages of Doctor Dolittle
46. A Gathering of Days
47. The Whipping Boy
48. Dicey's Song
49. Shen of the Sea
50. Shadow of a Bull
51. The White Stag
52. Rabbit Hill
53. Strawberry Girl
54. Flora and Ulysses
55. Miss Hickory
56. The Matchlock Gun
57. A Visit to William Blake's Inn
58. Thimble Summer
59. M.C. Higgins, the Great
60. Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze
61. It's Like This, Cat
62. Ginger Pye
63. The Secret of the Andes
64. Up a Road Slowly
65. The Dark Frigate
66. Amos Fortune, Free Man
67. The Story of Mankind
68. Johnny Tremain
69. Dobry
70. Daniel Boone