So, in case you were wondering, I'm making good headway on my Newbery Award Reading List. Since September 1, 2008, I've read (drumroll please)....49 Newbery Award Winners! I started with 2007, and I've made my way back to 1944. I've missed some in between because they've been checked out of the library (you'll notice that the difference between 2007 & 1944 is not 49), or because the library doesn't have a circulating copy. But I'm working with the inter-library loan and we should be able to work that out.
Anyway, so far favorites are:
The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo
The View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg
Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli
The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
Up a Road Slowly by Irene Hunt
The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare
A few not-so-favorites:
Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Patterson
M.C. Higgins the Great by Virginia Hamilton
But overall, I've been pleasantly surprised by how great the books are! They're tough to put down. Some of the not-so-favorites had rather adult themes about them, particularly, "Jacob Have I Loved", which bordered on the inappropriate. I have a friend at church who is reading the Newberys with her kids, and I advised her to really check that one out before reading it aloud.
If you're looking for a new path to pursue in your reading, I highly recommend the Newbery list. There's a lot of creativity and variety in them, and the stories are interesting and generally uplifting.
1 comments:
LOVED the westing game. i think i remember liking jacob have i loved (it was so long ago!), but i like patterson's bridge to terabithia and the great gilly hopkins more.
meredith is a big fan of youth literature, too--you should find out some of her favorties:)
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