The 1930s... A Look Back

Alright, today let's take a peek at the 1930s - fun fact, every winner this decade was written by a woman. I'll tell you how I rated the books on Goodreads and which book I'd recommend.

Books that I read longer ago I may wish to give a different number of stars to because in the early days I had a tendency to give books 5 stars no matter if I liked them or adored them.

Overall this decade was very - meh. Another theme is that I'm not sure just how accurate any of it may be. Which may be a problem when discussing historical periods and cultures. I think Thimble Summer and Roller Skates escape this problem by virtue of being contemporary realistic fiction.

Caddie Woodlawn (1936) - 5 Stars - Good. But I really preferred the Little House books. I also probably couldn't recommend this to a child since it brings a lot of historical baggage with it.

The Cat Who Went to Heaven (1931) - 4 Stars - A rather nice little book. I like the morals even if I'm not sure about the accuracy... but it works really well as a fable if anything.

Invincible Louisa (1934) - 3 Stars - A great biography of Louisa May Alcott. I'm glad I read Little Women first as I think it really added to the overall experience of learning about her life.

The White Stag (1938) - 3 Stars - The story of two brothers used to explain the origins of the Huns and Maygars.  It is basically a beginners' epic with its heavy themes and short length.

Thimble Summer (1939) - 3 Stars - Early form Charlotte's Web. A series of loosely connected events on a farm. A young girl is the focus rather than her pig which opens us up to a wider variety of scenarios.

Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze (1933) - 3 Stars - A series of loosely connected events in China. The story of a boy and his series of unbelievable coincidences. Let's be honest - I recall nothing except selling snow.

Hitty: Her First Hundred Years (1930) - 2 Stars - A series of loosely connected events as told by a doll. Slooooooow trek through a doll's life. Oddly enough this one comes closest to kid appeal because when it's good it's very good. But all to often it isn't good.

Roller Skates (1937) - 2 Stars - A series of loosely connected events in the city. Little in the way of an ending kind of ruins this one for me.

Waterless Mountain (1932) - 2 Stars - A series of loosely connected events in the desert. Little Brother is on his way to becoming a Navaho medicine man, except the details on this one are a bit sketchy.

Dobry (1935) - 2 Stars - A series of loosely Alright, that joke is probably dead. Doubled by the fact that I can remember only that Dobry wants to be an artist, there is a bunch of hooplah about a bear, and it takes place somewhere in Eastern Europe - where I can't be certain.

Recommendation of the Decade

Egads. I said once many years ago that the books I had read up to that point for the decade lacked kid-appeal. I stand by that. Unless one of these books really catches your eye as a reader you may as well skip the whole thing. If you absolutely must read one, I would say older readers should go with The White Stag and younger readers can pick up Thimble Summer.