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

The Complete 2017 Newbery Read-Through

Well, it's been a looooong time coming. After all, I'd read three out of four of these before the award was ever announced (and that missing book took me less than thirty minutes to read). But I'm the worst kind of procrastinator in that once I get behind I tend to just get more and more behind. Hopefully I'm well on my way to getting back on track.

Freedom Over Me: Eleven Slaves, Their Lives and Dreams Brought to Life by Ashley Bryan is a picture book, but I do believe that the writing holds its own and can stand without its illustrations. Ashley Bryan found the names of eleven slaves on an auction list in some of his historic documents. Using this list that contained names and prices (also I believe gender and rough age) he tried to envision each of the eleven people listed. He writes a poem about each person and their dreams and creates a portrait - we not only see who they are but who they wish to be. Of course his description is more likely than not to contain inaccuracies - but it puts a personal face to the tragedy of slavery that stripped so many of their identities and prevented them from realizing their dreams.

The Inquisitor's Tale by Adam Gidwitz is the book I predicted would take the win. I initially went in with quite a bit of trepidation - I was wary of how Catholicism might be portrayed in a book with 'Inquisitor' in the title. I still am not sure how to feel - the story was enjoyable and I don't think the Church as a whole was portrayed negatively. But there were so many inaccuracies on technical things that sort of played into a fantasy aspect. As an adult I found it quite enjoyable, as a Catholic child I might have felt confused and occasionally insulted. Overall, a book that I don't feel was purposefully trying to be harmful or malicious, but was from the perspective that really mixed faith and fantasy quite a bit.

Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolf definitely leans towards the older end of the Newbery age focus. It has been compared to To Kill a Mockingbird by many reviewers. It would would probably be best classified as young adult rather than children's literature because it is quite dark. The main character Annabelle finds herself bullied by a classmate relentlessly. The bullying escalates and begins to physically harm the people in Annabelle's life. Toby, a veteran from WWI, begins to draw the towns suspicions and Annabelle's efforts to stand up for him seem to fall short. In the end whose word will prevail, Annabelle or her bully, Betty? Bring your tissues and make sure that you pre-read this book before deciding if it is right for the children in your life.

And now the winner....

The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill - Another hard fantasy! I thoroughly enjoyed this fantasy and really liked how all the material came together. Starting at the beginning we have a woman that is a witch and takes a child from the village in the woods each year. This is a classic fairy tale set-up, but then we are offered the events from the witch's point of view. Xan saves this child - feeds it starlight and carries it through the forest to a family waiting for it.
One year however she feeds the abandoned girl moonlight - a meal that imbues the baby girl with powerful magic. Xan names the girl Luna and raises her in an isolated swamp as her granddaughter. Other residents of the swamp include a tiny dragon who wishes to be bigger and a swamp monster.
Back in the city Luna's mother is locked away as a madwoman, the coming heir struggles with the traditions of his city, and the council keep secrets.
One year they all come colliding together in a grand climax that is precisely how a fantasy is meant to come together. It has all the classic elements, just the right amount of darkness, a mythos, and of course - the wilderness.

So - my thoughts? All worthy, most in need of historical context and guidance, but it never hurts kids to get those things. My favorite was Wolf Hollow, but I do think that more of the targeted demographic for Newbery's is going to be excluded by the dark content/subject matter. All-in-all The Girl Who Drank the Moon was a fine choice to include with the list of winners - but perhaps I'd have liked to see Ghost by Jason Reynolds there more. Not sure what that book is? Go read it!

M.C. Higgins, the Great; Newbery Winner 1975

This book won SO MANY awards! The Newbery Medal, the National Book Award, and the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award have only been collectively won by two titles - this book and Holes. I loved Holes so, obviously, going in I had expectations. Annnnnnd, meh. It was actually one of my three lowest rated books last year (not number one - I was too frustrated with another) possibly tied for second worst.

The story is billed as a coming of age story (three days?), I'm not sure about this but I can agree with it being realistic fiction. Our titular character lives in the Appalachians and is in his early teen years. He is convinced that his family's home is in danger due to mining activities, but he cannot decide if it is time to leave or not. He meets two people that help him in making a decision, a man collecting the musical traditions of the mountains and a teenaged girl traveling on her own. The ending is interesting and complex but not worth the journey we took to get there.

Many covers show M.C. sitting atop his pole. It seems like it will be really important at first, but outside of some possible symbolism (rising above hardship, isolation, seeing the world - take your pick) it doesn't feature too prominently. Overall, this is one I'd recommend skipping to anyone that isn't a completist.

Miracles on Maple Hill, Newbery Winner 1957

This book spoke to me on all my nerdy adult introvert levels. It involves moving to a remote town in New England (I assume Vermont, but cannot remember if it was explicitly stated), raising small livestock, exploring the woods, and making maple syrup! All of those are things I either currently want to do or have once wanted to do.

I blame Reading Rainbow for this one.

This is a fairly short story but it hits so many right notes. It addresses family separation when the father stays in the country while the mother and kids go back and forth to the city, parental anxieties on both low and high levels when the parents want to move to the country permanently and bring their ideas before the kids and also when the brother goes missing on a cold winter night, intergenerational friendships including friendships with the marginalized... like I said it hits so many notes! I really enjoyed this quick read and think it probably is among the top for a cozy winter read.

The Hero and the Crown, Newbery Winner 1985

I had actually typed up some lengthy run-through about the fantasy genre after I had first finished this book (in February 2017!), I couldn't really make heads or tails of where I was going with that particular except to say that high fantasy, though a popular genre with young people doesn't seem to frequently win the Newbery. Sorry past me, for deleting what I'm sure had the makings of a well thought out essay.

Past Katie is upset.

Remember when I once said that if a book was part of a series I would try to read at least the preceding books in the series? Well, chuck that right out the window because, as it turns out, this is book #2. A fact that was not conveyed to me by the cover of the book nor any of the brief blurbs that I read about it in Newbery lists. The FIRST TIME I saw #2 was on the Goodreads page when I logged my read. *Sigh.* That being said, you can totally skip the first book and still enjoy this one. Why? Because the sequel is actually a prequel! In fact, I still haven't read book one though I intend to... my research leads me to believe that this series is similar to Redwall in that everything can stand on its own fairly well. 

Anyhow, this book definitely fits the 'high fantasy' mold better than any of the other Newbery books I've read thus far - I mean look at it - there's a dragon on the front cover! Anyhow, this is one of those books I'd not heard of before beginning this little quest - despite the fact that fantasy is totally my jam. I'd love to gush about the intricate plot points that drew me in - but honestly this book needs a quick wikisearch from me.

Okay - so there was apparently romance (totally forgot about that), though I did remember the 'not-quite-mortal' stuff because it creeped me out a smidgen. Let's be honest though - I came for the dragon slaying. I'm all about dragons from either side of the mythos, just so long as the mythos has decided what it is doing with its dragons I'm good. I love them all - good, bad, and in-between - forget everything being better with penguins (still true) everything is better with dragons.

A solid story that I'd recommend to anyone who loves a rip-roaring fantasy - as long as they are able to navigate the sometimes dense language.

A Tales of Two Dogs: Ginger Pye and Adam of the Road

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.