Smoky the Cowhorse, Newbery Winner 1927

It's official - just because Marguerite Henry can write a Newbery winning horse book that becomes one of my favorites doesn't mean everyone can. I'm saying it right now - unless you're reading all the Newbery books I do not recommend this book and I especially do not recommend for children.
Where to start?

The book starts off nice enough - if slow. We follow the adventures of young Smoky in the mountains  - presumably the Rocky Mountains (Wyoming was mentioned but I'm not sure if that was where the Rocking R lands were or not). Anyhow happy horsey antics make up the first 80 pages. Like I said this part was nice - if we just had the life of a wild horse for 200 or so pages it would have been a  solid enough story. Heavy on the dialect, and poeticism - but solid.

Now - the middle piece. Uggggggh. The next 120 pages could have been condensed sooooooo much. Basically it is how Clint, a bronc buster, broke Smoky and became his rider. Smoky only liked Clint and he was a mighty fine horse. They ride the range for a few years until Smoky attains legendary status. It took me for-ev-er to get through this part. In the end I bought the Kindle book and used some fancy feature I've never needed before that drug the words across the screen, meaning I had to keep going or get lost. This chunk of the book contained important set-up but very little in the way of interesting plot.

So by this point in the book you would honestly have been better off choosing almost any other horse book that I'm familiar with and probably a fair number that I'm not familiar with. If you want the story of the West from the horse's mouth there's also this old animated movie - which I dug, it gives you a pretty similar plot sans the ending.

Alright, there are 120 pages left. What could they possibly bring us? Well, two things really: the plot and... racism.

Let's be honest the Newbery - and children's literature in general is no stranger to racism. It pops up all the time in things this old. The scale also ranges dramatically - not that it is ever right, but some offenses are definitely more egregious than others. I have read almost 90% of the Newbery winners now and this one was the one that made me think less, "Wow, this was written in a different era." and more, "Yikes."

This is gonna take an entire post in the future, but for now here are some choice quotes from the book - a book marketed to Ages 8-12 according to my copy printed in 2008 or later.

"All of him, from the toe of his gunny sack covered boots to the dark face which showed under the wore out black hat, pointed out as the man being a half-breed of Mexican and other blood that's darker, and noticing the cheap, wore-out saddle, the ragged saddle-blanket on a horse that should of had some chance to feed instead of being tied up, showed that he was a halfbreed from the bad side, not caring, and with no pride." (219-20)

We get many more instances referring to "his kind", "half-breed", and "the breed".

"There was all about the horse to show that he'd been right in his first dislike for the dark faced hombre." (240)

"But there was one thing which the riders noticed in him as most queer, and that was in the way he seemed to hate some humans worse than others - his hate was plainest for the face that showed dark." (251)

"'Say, cowboy,' (the sheriff) finally says, 'don't scatter that hombre's remains too much, you know we got keep record of that kind the same as if it was a white man, and I don't want to be looking all over the streets to find out who he was.'" (315)

Can anyone in good faith give this to an 8 year old? I hope not. Again, I've got a dedicated post planned, but it's going to require some planning and research.

For the record Will James was surprised he won the Newbery since Smoky was published for adults... my future blog plans include comparing the Newbery winners to honors and choosing the book I believe was the best. The honor books for 1927 are - lost to time or never existed. Was this adult book really the best for the year???

Some internet sleuthing later...

I turned up two other contenders on Wikipedia (my sleuthing isn't very comprehensive today) - Doctor Dolittle's Caravan by Hugh Lofting and The Hungry Tiger of Oz by Ruth Plumly Thompson. I haven't read either of these yet, but I can imagine the Lofting would have taken the prize had it not been for the tiny detail that he'd won four years previous. If anyone can name a 1926 American children's book that deserved the win let me in on the secret please!

The Higher Power of Lucky, Newbery Winner 2007

Going into this book I only knew two things about it: it won a Newbery and it contained the word scrotum... yeah, moving along. Not gonna lie about that second bit - I have no idea why Susan Patron thought this was necessary because it has absolutely no bearing on the plot whatsoever. But, as the old saying goes, this is your train - rob it.

Except she was robbing it for literature and not science.

I really enjoyed the book for the most part. It examines family in a different and interesting way - Lucky is being raised by her father's first ex-wife, a French woman named Brigitte. Her father has no role in either the book or her life and her mother is mentioned only to recount her death, funeral, and Lucky's inability to part with her ashes. I think that Lucky and Brigitte share an incredible dynamic - both loving each other but Lucky showing a believable amount of trepidation.

We are also given a glimpse of life in a tiny, tiny town. Everyone knows each other. For the most part they support each other. Some things simply don't exist in town and some really crazy things do. Living in a small town the last several years (not as small as in the book), I can relate to a lot of these things.

The important theme of family and how it isn't just the textbook definition are carried through to all the primary characters of the novel and the predictable (kind of sappy) ending is just the one you want.

A Year Down Yonder, Newbery Winner 2001

This was such an odd little book. It reminded me of a much older book - in fact, let's call this Up a Road Slowly: The Good Version. That's probably stretching it quite a lot but there you have it. This book reads as being written much earlier than it really was, which is appropriate since it is set in the 30's.

A Year Down Yonder returns the protagonist Mary Alice to her grandmother's small community... Returns? Wait a moment....

I have once again failed to read all books leading up to the winner. I can say that it doesn't affect the reading of this book in any way. The characters and setting were totally fleshed out and the only hint that I missed a book was a quick sentence Mary Alice said referring to time she had spent with her grandmother and her older brother. It wasn't said in a manner that was just background, I was expected to reflect and say, "Ah, good times."

Still the characters in this story rang true to their time. Grandma Dowdel was hilarious and slightly rebellious in a way only the elderly can be; she reminded me of the elderly Miss Volker (Dead End in Norvelt).  Mary Alice is a girl that perhaps another author would have wanted to make a tomboy. She isn't overtly 'feminine' but she is also an ordinary girl - not forced into any trope one way or the other. 

This book isn't very plot-driven, rather it is a series of vignettes. Another way it harkens back - I often find older books to be less plot heavy than modern literature. It was really relaxing and enjoyable because of this - sometimes all you need is a series of events loosely tied together by enjoyable characters.

The Witch of Blackbird Pond, Newbery Winner 1959

This was assigned reading when I was in 6th grade. I didn't read it very thoroughly but I got the gist. Well, here I am for a complete reading and I must say - I found it enjoyable.
in the 1600s Katherine (Kit) grew up living a fairly privileged life in Barbados. When her grandfather dies she heads north to her only remaining family in Puritan New England.

These are hilarious and I didn't really have anywhere else to share them.

As one would expect she causes a stir but her aunt and uncle allow her to move in with them and her two cousins. She quickly catches the eye if a local boy and he commences to courting her. She also makes friends with a young girl with an extremely strict mother and a widow living alone in the swamp. This widow is Hannah, a Quaker who does not join worship services with the Puritan community.

Kit tries her best to fit in but has trouble adjusting to the stricter laws and practices of the Puritans. She is especially uneasy about the fact that the man courting her is building a house when she doesn't think she really wants to marry him.

When a horrible sickness strikes the community a mob forms to drive out 'the witch of Blackbird Pond' (Hannah) and Kit rushes to her aid, arriving just in time. Now that Hannah has been saved Kit finds herself the subject of suspicion and must decide how to protect herself and her family.

Overall a decent read with good history and interesting conflict. I would have like to see the characters beyond Kit fleshed out a little more - but in such a short book I understand.