2009 Newbery Honors

 Hello again! With this batch done I'll now have read every Newbery book published since I graduated high school. I think I'm going to continue working backwards chronologically until I hit 2000, then we'll see how I want to proceed. I'm working on amassing a complete collection of the Newbery books (winners and honors) and will probably start picking through the 1900s by working on those years which I have the complete set for first.

The Underneath by Kathi Appelt

I have mixed feelings on this book. It had two pretty good stories, but I never really gelled with the combination of the two. I understand where the author was going with the combination and the final act where everything weaves together was decent, but the back and forth throughout the novel was a bit of an issue for me. It was like reading two books at the same time and continuously trading them out.

Gar Face as a villain is needlessly cruel (imagine Amos Slade from The Fox and the Hound without caring for his dogs). While I loved the atmosphere and characters of Puck, Sabine, and Ranger, the overhanging threat of Gar Face made these parts of the book less enjoyable. As to the other parts with Grandmother Moccasin I wish those had been longer and more fleshed out. I think ultimately, I might have enjoyed this book more if it had been much larger sections of the book dedicated to different stories at a time. For the right, and emotionally mature, reader I can see this being a good selection. 

The Surrender Tree by Margarita Engle

Again I’m conflicted. I usually really enjoy novels in verse, but for some reason this one wasn’t working for me. Full disclosure: I don’t have a physical copy, so I listened to the audio book which probably contributed somewhat, but I’ve also listened to other novels in verse before and enjoyed them, so there is still some disconnect. I really liked the characters and the history thread - I think if this book had been prose it would easily be my pick for the year! As it is… I may enjoy it more with a physical copy, but the short length left me wanting so much more!

Savvy by Ingrid Law

What starts out as a very atmosphere heavy book develops into a character driven work. Mibs (Mississippi) is about to turn 13 and receive her Savvy - the magical gift everyone in her family receives. Her older brothers are strongly connected to electricity and storms (particularly if water is involved). Just before her birthday though Mibs father is in an automobile accident that puts him in the hospital 90 miles away. 

Her intense desire to go to her father and use her new gift to help him drives the plot forward. We end up with a book that is one-part young wizard book, one-part road-trip comedy, and one-part coming of age. Every character on the journey is well thought out and proves an important part of learning what it means to grow up. Really my only complaints come from the dialect - which admittedly got less prevalent - and the initial suspension of disbelief not over magic (accepted) but rather them hitching a ride and it never occurring to the driver that his stowaways might be reported as missing/ runaways. Overall, pretty good and I would be against checking out the sequels sometime in the future.

After Tupac and D Foster by Jacqueline Woodson

I was admittedly too young to be familiar with Tupac's music or to really be aware of his young death. I really haven't enjoyed too much of his music since rap isn't my style, but when I just look at the lyrics it is undeniable - the man had a way with words. But, where I am unfamiliar with Tupac, I'm getting to be very familiar with Jacqueline Woodson's work! I've not yet read one of her books and walked away thinking, 'it was alright, I guess'. Be it verse or prose she always tackles her themes in such an honest and mature way. Even this - her book I've connected with the least - is still good enough that I'd willingly read it again (despite my looming TBR pile!).

Three girls growing up in Brooklyn tackle the ins and outs of nearing adolescence. Two girls have known each other their whole lives and grown up together in a close-knit neighborhood, but D Foster is new, having just sort of appeared one day. She is a foster kid from a different neighborhood, but she rides the bus on her own, stays out after dark, and generally is in more of a rush to be grown. The book chronicles their growth through the year before they become teenagers as they connect with the words of their favorite musical artist and explore how Tupac's music speaks to them.

This year it is tough for me to say how I feel about the honors compared with the winner. I'm not incredibly passionate about The Graveyard Book, I like it well enough, but a lot of that comes off my love of The Jungle Book. I'm not fired up to defend the honor of any of the honor books either. I think Savvy is probably the one I enjoyed the most, but on a technical level I think D Foster and Surrender Tree are probably the better books (with Woodson's title edging out ahead based on kid appeal). 2008 was kind of mellow for me when it comes to the official Newbery books and a brief glance through the available books published in 2008 lead me to believe these really were the popular frontrunners - with a notable exception - The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I think the Newbery was right in passing on this as the book really feels more young adult to me.
Digging through my Goodreads turned up Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson - which I loooooveeed. In my world that would have taken the crown!