Lights... Camera... Action!

When it comes to movies many are based off books especially children and young adult works. So it shouldn't be too surprising that some of the Newbery Award Winners have been filmed. The book I'm currently (re)reading is Holes, famous for its movie adaptation that, due to the author writing the screenplay, was incredibly faithful. Read the book, then catch the movie (it's long but good)!

For another adaptation we go back to Disney for the maybe less faithful even booed by the author, Wrinkle in Time. It was enjoyable the first time I watched it - before the book. After reading the book the movie uh- pales in comparison.

Long ago I read Call It Courage, I believe it was like a million degrees working the desk that day, and I recommended that book. Now I have finally gotten my grubby little fingers on the Disney movie and will watch it tonight! I hope that the adaptation is a good one!

But Disney isn't the only one adapting books into movies, King of the Wind was an excellent movie that I highly recommend (just like the book). Get A Clue is based on The Westing Game, and, while a fun movie, is definitely not as faithful as it could have been. Then, I almost forgot, is The Tale of Desperaux, which was such a poor adaptation that I am glad it was on Netflix and no additional money was spent.

I know there are others but I don't think I've seen them! Which one is your favorite?

Strawberry Girl, Newbery Winner 1946

Many people comment on two things concerning this book - dialect and the ending. I'm usually conflicted with dialect - I know it exists, I love listening to it, but I hate reading it most of the time. Since dialect is really something meant to be heard it really loses something when it is written. However, I felt that this dialect read fairly naturally (I admit that there were some places I had to use my context clues to figure it out.). The ending was a little bit too neat but not really to the detriment of the rest of the book in my opinion.
Now for my other thoughts. I really did enjoy this book. It is yet another pioneer story that I am drawn towards. Birdie Boyer could really be compared with Caddie Woodlawn and Laura Ingalls. There are so many similarities in these three texts (the young female protagonist for instance) that if a young person loves one, I'm sure they'll at least like the others. Strawberry Girl, despite having the girliest title, is the work that I think would most appeal to boys, because man-o-man they're a feuding!

Tales from Silver Lands, Newbery Winner 1925

This is the third out-of-print Newbery that I've read. Am I surprised that it's out-of-print? No. Am I sad? A little, I found this to be a fun collection of fairy tales. I have loved Latin American culture for many years, and was delighted to find that I had never heard any of these stories. For the most part the Newbery Awards have been given to books set in either the U.S. or Europe. Some of these stories are scary, like most fairy tales were originally intended to be, and I could see why some parents found it off-putting. 

Due to the out-of-print nature of this book it was harder to locate than many of the other books. I managed to buy a copy from a library book sale, and found a copy in circulation at another library, but those were my only sightings in the time that I've been interested in Newberys. I began reading my copy just before heading to Alaska and was more than halfway through. I then left the book in my mother's car at the airport, how foolish! I lamented that it would be some time before I would be able to finish. Then I traveled from my village to Barrow in order to attend an in-service, during some free time I found myself in the lounge where they had piles of free books, there, waiting for me, I found another copy. It seemed too good to be true! My third sighting came at precisely the right time. This is far from my favorite Newbery, but the story of my reading it is one of my favorites!

Diary of a Young Girl

Well, I finally did it! I read Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank. It was a very compelling read but I must say that there were times at the beginning when I found Anne’s teen attitude to be grating. I know that most people go through this period in their life but that didn’t make many of her criticisms any less grating. But as I read I found myself liking Anne more and identifying some of myself in her. I must say that towards the end I got more and more upset, knowing what eventually happened to the people in the annex made me feel worse about how hopeful they were about the invasion. Reading the afterword and seeing just how close they came to getting through the occupation made it that much worse. I’m glad I read it, and glad for the insights it gave me.

I have never read that much in relation to World War II, in fact only a handful of fiction books come to mind (Number the Stars, Escape from Krakow, A Boy No More, and.... those are really all that come to mind.) But I have several in my legion of to-read books so some day I'll round it out a bit more.

Too Many Books?

I am one month away from the big move! I am almost finished packing. However in the process of picking things to go to Alaska I realized I may have too many books.

I'm kidding of course. The real problem is that I don't have enough bookshelves.

 

Yes, those are a few of my shelves. Almost all of my books have been relegated to horizontal status. And a few shelves are stacked two deep. I have four freestanding bookcases, four built in shelves, a steamer trunk filled with books, and several books in boxes to go to Alaska. If I ever have a spare room that sucker will be filled with books! The funny thing about passion is that I know these books and can tell you all about them. I love knowledge in that way. (Just don't ask me to remember those clothes in the washer.)
My point is that I am a bibliophile of the top degree. I enjoy that fact, because I am investing in knowledge.

 

The Door in the Wall, Newbery Winner 1950

This was such a wonderful book! I found it to be immensely enjoyable and favorable in its depictions of all characters. I particularly loved Brother Luke, though perhaps simply because I have met several brothers and always find them good company.
This book is likely by many to be compared to The Whipping Boy, a book I mentioned that I felt perhaps wasn't of great literary value. Indeed this work is scarcely 20 pages longer, covers the same general time, and is richly illustrated. But the story is so much stronger in my opinion. I cared about the characters and was genuinely sorry for their hardships. I was also worried for their safety, joyous in their celebration, and intrigued by their work.
The moral is much stronger in this story as well, and repeated many times to be sure that you have not missed it. What begins as a devastating blow to Robin ends up being his opportunity to save everyone. Though he is upset by his ailment in the beginning, he soon grows to find himself interested in finding new skills, which is a truly honorable attitude.

By the Decade...

In order to gauge my progress I looked at which decades I've read the most from... some interesting results.

1920s - 0, these books are by far the hardest for me to find, and though I had checked some out for reading I simply got too busy.

1930s - 3 reviewed: The Cat Who Went to Heaven, Caddie Woodlawn, and Dobry. Two of these books I liked and Dobry was boring. The others I simply haven't gotten around to yet.

1940s - 6 reviewed: Daniel Boone, Call It Courage, The Matchlock Gun, Johnny Tremain, Rabbit Hill, and King of the Wind. This is surprising, I didn't realize I was more than half done with the decade! The 40's have been a mixed bag, I loved Call It Courage and King of the Wind, but Daniel Boone and Johnny Tremain I could have lived without.

1950s - 0, that is also surprising, I didn't realize I hadn't read anything from the 50s.

1960s - 3 reviewed, Onion John, Island of the Blue Dolphins, and It's Like This, Cat.I thoroughly expected this number to be larger. Another mixed bag.

1970s - 5 reviewed: Sounder, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, Julie of the Wolves, Bridge to Terebithia, and The Westing Game. I really enjoyed all of the books from this decade.

1980s - 6 reviewed: A Gathering of Days; A Visit to William Blake's Inn; Dear Mr. Henshaw; Sarah, Plain and Tall; Whipping Boy; Joyful Noise. An interesting assortment, I see a trend here that short is good. Brevity must have been a thing in the 80s. Also two poetry books, two journal books, and a father - son double win.

1990s - 6 reviewed: Number the Stars, Maniac Magee, Missing May, The Giver, The View from Saturday, and Out of the Dust. Here are the ones from my childhood, and also many of the ones I enjoyed the most thus far.

2000s - 5 reviewed: Bud, Not Buddy; Crispin; The Tale of Despereaux; Kira-Kira; and Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Here we have a batch that is truly beginning to show just how diverse children's literature can be. Far from being out of touch, I think that the Newbery Award is more in touch than ever before!

2010s -  1 reviewed: When You Reach Me. I'm excited to see how this decade works out!