1989, 1990 Yearling edition
Lois Lowry
Number the Stars
Original price unknown, purchase price $3.75
Very worn paperback
C+
Although this won the Newbery and deals with the serious topic of Denmark saving its Jewish population, I didn't find it to have any more depth than one of Lowry's "Anastasia" books, and a great deal less than Summer to Die. In fact, although the reading level is 5.2 and the interest level ages 10 to 14, I found the writing style aimed at a much younger level. It is ironic though that it's the first novel I own where cocaine affects the plot (with guard dogs). Read it for the history lesson but I suspect that there are better World War II stories for children. (None spring immediately to mind.)
Showing posts with label Newbery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Newbery. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Jacob Have I Loved
1980, 1990 HarperTrophy edition
Katherine Paterson
Jacob Have I Loved
Original and purchase price unknown
Worn paperback
B-
Well, it looks like I don't like this book as much as I used to. This time, I kept thinking that Sarah Louise complained too much and her twin sister Caroline was much nicer, even if she was spoiled. Also, it's hard to get worked up about Caroline "stealing" Louise's best/only friend Call, when Louise is always putting him down and they have nothing in common except that they're both misfits. (It's not at all on the same level as Amy "stealing" Laurie from Jo, and even there Jo didn't want to marry him.) Unlike some readers, I've never been that bothered by Louise's admittedly strange crush on a 70-year-old neighbor. There aren't that many single men on their small Chesapeake island, and Louise had earlier imagined herself marrying a man who died at 19, if he'd lived, just because she liked his gravestone.
I like the setting, including the 1940s time period, and the characters are well done. The later chapters are rushed, but I'm glad Louise has a happy ending. I just wish that there'd been some sort of closure with her sister.
This won the Newbery, but like some of the other winners, it seems more junior-high level than preteen. I don't own any other children's books from that year, so I can't really argue that there's a more deserving winner.
Katherine Paterson
Jacob Have I Loved
Original and purchase price unknown
Worn paperback
B-
Well, it looks like I don't like this book as much as I used to. This time, I kept thinking that Sarah Louise complained too much and her twin sister Caroline was much nicer, even if she was spoiled. Also, it's hard to get worked up about Caroline "stealing" Louise's best/only friend Call, when Louise is always putting him down and they have nothing in common except that they're both misfits. (It's not at all on the same level as Amy "stealing" Laurie from Jo, and even there Jo didn't want to marry him.) Unlike some readers, I've never been that bothered by Louise's admittedly strange crush on a 70-year-old neighbor. There aren't that many single men on their small Chesapeake island, and Louise had earlier imagined herself marrying a man who died at 19, if he'd lived, just because she liked his gravestone.
I like the setting, including the 1940s time period, and the characters are well done. The later chapters are rushed, but I'm glad Louise has a happy ending. I just wish that there'd been some sort of closure with her sister.
This won the Newbery, but like some of the other winners, it seems more junior-high level than preteen. I don't own any other children's books from that year, so I can't really argue that there's a more deserving winner.
Sunday, November 11, 2012
The Westing Game
1978, 1984 Avon edition
Ellen Raskin
The Westing Game
Possibly bought new, for $2.75
Worn paperback
B-
This is the book that won Raskin the Newbery, but I've always preferred The Mysterious Disappearance of Leon (I Mean Noel) (1971), although that sadly was out of print for two or three decades, and I haven't yet picked up a copy. (I did check it out from the library though.) That book has twins, lots of purple, a more interesting puzzle to solve, playful illustrations, and much more heart. This one isn't bad. It's about on a level with the other Newberys I own (better than Julie of the Wolves, not as good as Island of the Blue Dolphins, equal to Wrinkle in Time and Terabithia). Strangely enough, its greatest strength is also its greatest weakness. The sixteen heirs/suspects/sleuths are fairly diverse in age, class, and ethnicity. Unfortunately, there are just too many characters to keep track of for a medium-length preteen mystery. Turtle Wexler is closest to a heroine, but we spend time with each character, without getting to know any of them particularly well. In contrast, I cared and still care about Tony and Tina, and their adoptive mother Mrs. Carillon, and even mysterious Leon/Noel.
I can't really judge this book as a mystery. I think, as with Mysterious Disappearance, I figured out part of the puzzle as a child, but missed the main solution. Raskin's puzzles involve a lot of wordplay, and sometimes even syllable-play, which is still impressively clever.
Signs that this is set in the 1970s are not only the ways blacks, Asians, and handicapped people (or "cripples" as they were still known) are treated, but also Turtle's remark to her engaged sister Angela that no one gets married anymore. The book has a self-conscious feminism to it, as when Angela's position on a form changes from "none" (which her fiancé mishears as "nun") to "person." All of Raskin's characters in this book try to become their true selves, and I just wish those selves were more rounded.
Ellen Raskin
The Westing Game
Possibly bought new, for $2.75
Worn paperback
B-
This is the book that won Raskin the Newbery, but I've always preferred The Mysterious Disappearance of Leon (I Mean Noel) (1971), although that sadly was out of print for two or three decades, and I haven't yet picked up a copy. (I did check it out from the library though.) That book has twins, lots of purple, a more interesting puzzle to solve, playful illustrations, and much more heart. This one isn't bad. It's about on a level with the other Newberys I own (better than Julie of the Wolves, not as good as Island of the Blue Dolphins, equal to Wrinkle in Time and Terabithia). Strangely enough, its greatest strength is also its greatest weakness. The sixteen heirs/suspects/sleuths are fairly diverse in age, class, and ethnicity. Unfortunately, there are just too many characters to keep track of for a medium-length preteen mystery. Turtle Wexler is closest to a heroine, but we spend time with each character, without getting to know any of them particularly well. In contrast, I cared and still care about Tony and Tina, and their adoptive mother Mrs. Carillon, and even mysterious Leon/Noel.
I can't really judge this book as a mystery. I think, as with Mysterious Disappearance, I figured out part of the puzzle as a child, but missed the main solution. Raskin's puzzles involve a lot of wordplay, and sometimes even syllable-play, which is still impressively clever.
Signs that this is set in the 1970s are not only the ways blacks, Asians, and handicapped people (or "cripples" as they were still known) are treated, but also Turtle's remark to her engaged sister Angela that no one gets married anymore. The book has a self-conscious feminism to it, as when Angela's position on a form changes from "none" (which her fiancé mishears as "nun") to "person." All of Raskin's characters in this book try to become their true selves, and I just wish those selves were more rounded.
Friday, October 19, 2012
Bridge to Terabithia
1977, 1987 HarperTrophy edition
Katherine Paterson
Illustrated by Donna Diamond
Bridge to Terabithia
Bought new for $4.95
Worn paperback
B-
This is similar to A Summer to Die not only because one of the young characters dies, but because it's pretty good but not my favorite work by that author. In Paterson's case, I much prefer Jacob Have I Loved (coming up in 1980). I will give Paterson credit for developing the character of Leslie, and her friendship with Jess, much more than Lowry did with Molly, or her relationship with her sister.
Unfortunately, I didn't find Jess or Leslie all that interesting. Their situations are, particularly their Narnia-inspired imaginary kingdom in the woods, but I didn't feel like I'd want to be friends with either of them. They are good if flawed people, and I do like how they end up befriending the bully that they'd earlier got revenge on. It's just, they're both a too serious for me. When Jess says that he and Leslie would've mocked the sentimentality surrounding her death, I don't buy it, because they're just not that cynical, she especially. (Yes, she mocks their teacher, but this is told rather than shown. When I think of Leslie, I think of her belief in fantasy.)
As with Summer, this book shows the legacy of the '60s even into the late '70s. Leslie is apparently the only girl in their small Southern town who doesn't wear dresses to school. The music teacher is a "hippie." And Leslie's writer parents would've hit it off with Meg's writer father.
One aspect that's suggested rather than spelled out is that Jess, as an artistic boy with four sisters, is the victim of stereotypes about masculinity. Not only the boys at school but his own father think of him as a sissy, or worse. Of Jess's artwork, his dad says, "What are they teaching at that damn school? Bunch of old ladies turning my only son into some kind of a--?" Jess knows that he's taking a risk befriending Leslie, with her short hair and blue jeans. But he finds a kinship with her that he doesn't have with any of his sisters.
I would've liked Diamond to show some of Jess's art. Her own is generally solid, although the picture of Jess's dad holding the grieving boy like a baby is all wrong. It looks more like Jess holding one of his kid sisters, except that the standing figure is in shadow, like Frankenstein's monster holding the dead child in the 1930s movie.
Like Julie of the Wolves five years before, this won the Newbery. I don't own any better children's books for '77, so I have less of an issue with this winner.
The movie adaptation of this book five years ago was well done, but it was promoted badly, as if it were a fantasy film.
Katherine Paterson
Illustrated by Donna Diamond
Bridge to Terabithia
Bought new for $4.95
Worn paperback
B-
This is similar to A Summer to Die not only because one of the young characters dies, but because it's pretty good but not my favorite work by that author. In Paterson's case, I much prefer Jacob Have I Loved (coming up in 1980). I will give Paterson credit for developing the character of Leslie, and her friendship with Jess, much more than Lowry did with Molly, or her relationship with her sister.
Unfortunately, I didn't find Jess or Leslie all that interesting. Their situations are, particularly their Narnia-inspired imaginary kingdom in the woods, but I didn't feel like I'd want to be friends with either of them. They are good if flawed people, and I do like how they end up befriending the bully that they'd earlier got revenge on. It's just, they're both a too serious for me. When Jess says that he and Leslie would've mocked the sentimentality surrounding her death, I don't buy it, because they're just not that cynical, she especially. (Yes, she mocks their teacher, but this is told rather than shown. When I think of Leslie, I think of her belief in fantasy.)
As with Summer, this book shows the legacy of the '60s even into the late '70s. Leslie is apparently the only girl in their small Southern town who doesn't wear dresses to school. The music teacher is a "hippie." And Leslie's writer parents would've hit it off with Meg's writer father.
One aspect that's suggested rather than spelled out is that Jess, as an artistic boy with four sisters, is the victim of stereotypes about masculinity. Not only the boys at school but his own father think of him as a sissy, or worse. Of Jess's artwork, his dad says, "What are they teaching at that damn school? Bunch of old ladies turning my only son into some kind of a--?" Jess knows that he's taking a risk befriending Leslie, with her short hair and blue jeans. But he finds a kinship with her that he doesn't have with any of his sisters.
I would've liked Diamond to show some of Jess's art. Her own is generally solid, although the picture of Jess's dad holding the grieving boy like a baby is all wrong. It looks more like Jess holding one of his kid sisters, except that the standing figure is in shadow, like Frankenstein's monster holding the dead child in the 1930s movie.
Like Julie of the Wolves five years before, this won the Newbery. I don't own any better children's books for '77, so I have less of an issue with this winner.
The movie adaptation of this book five years ago was well done, but it was promoted badly, as if it were a fantasy film.
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Julie of the Wolves
1972, undated but "celebrating the 25th anniversary," from HarperTrophy
Jean Craighead George
Illustrated by John Schoenherr
Julie of the Wolves
Bought newish for $4.95
Slightly worn paperback
C+
This book reminds me of Island of the Blue Dolphins in that it's about a "native" teenager surviving in the wildnerness with the help of animal friends and, like IoBD, it won the Newbery. However, Julie/Miyax is a less interesting character and I definitely never had a moment, as a child or an adult, of wishing I could live her life, as I've sometimes wanted to trade places with Karana. The book is told in three parts, with the middle part a set of flashbacks to Julie's first thirteen years, ending with her fleeing her young, possibly mentally retarded husband who attempts to rape her. Along with the abusive relationship of her husband's parents, this is disturbing and surprising content for a book aimed at "10up" as the back cover says. I understand why it's there, to show why Miyax must escape, but I think I would've actually preferred that the story be told in order if George wanted to get that dark.
I didn't care all that much for Julie's life among the wolves either, since it was just as much about dominance as her Eskimo life and what she sees of white "civilization." And I know I shouldn't have laughed, but equating San Francisco-- of all places and at such a time!-- with violence is funny to me. I wanted to tell Miyax, be sure to wear some flowers in your hair.
So what's good about the book? I did like seeing Miyax's attempts to communicate with the wolves, and some of the descriptions of nature are nice. Schoenherr's few illustrations are slightly better than the text in conveying mood. But this can't have been the best children's book of the year. (Not that I'd expect Freaky Friday to win of course.)
Jean Craighead George
Illustrated by John Schoenherr
Julie of the Wolves
Bought newish for $4.95
Slightly worn paperback
C+
This book reminds me of Island of the Blue Dolphins in that it's about a "native" teenager surviving in the wildnerness with the help of animal friends and, like IoBD, it won the Newbery. However, Julie/Miyax is a less interesting character and I definitely never had a moment, as a child or an adult, of wishing I could live her life, as I've sometimes wanted to trade places with Karana. The book is told in three parts, with the middle part a set of flashbacks to Julie's first thirteen years, ending with her fleeing her young, possibly mentally retarded husband who attempts to rape her. Along with the abusive relationship of her husband's parents, this is disturbing and surprising content for a book aimed at "10up" as the back cover says. I understand why it's there, to show why Miyax must escape, but I think I would've actually preferred that the story be told in order if George wanted to get that dark.
I didn't care all that much for Julie's life among the wolves either, since it was just as much about dominance as her Eskimo life and what she sees of white "civilization." And I know I shouldn't have laughed, but equating San Francisco-- of all places and at such a time!-- with violence is funny to me. I wanted to tell Miyax, be sure to wear some flowers in your hair.
So what's good about the book? I did like seeing Miyax's attempts to communicate with the wolves, and some of the descriptions of nature are nice. Schoenherr's few illustrations are slightly better than the text in conveying mood. But this can't have been the best children's book of the year. (Not that I'd expect Freaky Friday to win of course.)
Sunday, July 1, 2012
A Wrinkle in Time
1962, 1973 Dell Yearling edition
Madeleine L'Engle
A Wrinkle in Time
Original price $3.50, purchase price $1.75
Worn paperback
B-
This won the Newbery and its heroine loves math. It has a theme of love and nonconformity. It shows a variety of aliens, from cuddly Aunt Beast to horrifying IT (as in "it," not "Information Technology"). And the book irritates the heck out of me.
I think as a child I respected the story as a "modern classic" and liked aspects of it, but I always preferred the third book in the series, A Swiftly Tilting Planet. I read the books mostly for Meg, the bespectacled misfit I somewhat identified with. (Although I was a much better student than she was, and my rebellion took a quieter form.) And since I wasn't yet aware of what a cliche "You're beautiful when you take your glasses off" was, I was touched by Calvin's interest in her. Now that, and his immediate love of her family, feels rushed and unmerited, at least at this point in the series.
The book is very frustrating, because of its mixture of good and bad. Perhaps I should've been warned by the opening sentence, "It was a dark and stormy night." You think that L'Engle is parodying cliches, and then you realize that she's embracing them. Calvin seems like a believable teenager, and then he says, "Jeepers."
Also, the Christianity is heavy-handed, as in Charles Wallace's "Oh, duh, Jesus of course" moment. In Little Women, the girls' religion is integral to their lives, like them being New Englanders. Here it feels forced. Also, the message of light vs. dark is bungled when the sightless beasts wonder if the humans are from a "dark planet," even though later Aunt Beast can't understand the concepts of light and dark. L'Engle should've chosen another symbol, at least for that planet.
All that said, the book keeps almost working. It just doesn't hold up as well as Island of the Blue Dolphins, a less ambitious story.
Madeleine L'Engle
A Wrinkle in Time
Original price $3.50, purchase price $1.75
Worn paperback
B-
This won the Newbery and its heroine loves math. It has a theme of love and nonconformity. It shows a variety of aliens, from cuddly Aunt Beast to horrifying IT (as in "it," not "Information Technology"). And the book irritates the heck out of me.
I think as a child I respected the story as a "modern classic" and liked aspects of it, but I always preferred the third book in the series, A Swiftly Tilting Planet. I read the books mostly for Meg, the bespectacled misfit I somewhat identified with. (Although I was a much better student than she was, and my rebellion took a quieter form.) And since I wasn't yet aware of what a cliche "You're beautiful when you take your glasses off" was, I was touched by Calvin's interest in her. Now that, and his immediate love of her family, feels rushed and unmerited, at least at this point in the series.
The book is very frustrating, because of its mixture of good and bad. Perhaps I should've been warned by the opening sentence, "It was a dark and stormy night." You think that L'Engle is parodying cliches, and then you realize that she's embracing them. Calvin seems like a believable teenager, and then he says, "Jeepers."
Also, the Christianity is heavy-handed, as in Charles Wallace's "Oh, duh, Jesus of course" moment. In Little Women, the girls' religion is integral to their lives, like them being New Englanders. Here it feels forced. Also, the message of light vs. dark is bungled when the sightless beasts wonder if the humans are from a "dark planet," even though later Aunt Beast can't understand the concepts of light and dark. L'Engle should've chosen another symbol, at least for that planet.
All that said, the book keeps almost working. It just doesn't hold up as well as Island of the Blue Dolphins, a less ambitious story.
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Island of the Blue Dolphins
1960, 1978 Laurel-Leaf edition
Scott O'Dell
Island of the Blue Dolphins
Original price $3.50, purchase price $3.40 (not much of a bargain)
Worn paperback with possible mold
B
I generally disagree with the Newbery committee(s) on their selections for best children's book of the year, or at least the winners of the last dozen years. (Holes was great.) Back in the 1960s, they had a surer touch, and this is a fine choice, although I'm not sure whether it would be my top pick. (Newbery honor book The Cricket in Times Square is coming up.)
In any case, neither the Newberyites nor O'Dell could've known that the book would touch on issues that would become more relevant, specifically feminism and environmentalism. Karana lives alone on the island for many years and learns to fend for herself, despite her father the chief's teachings that women shouldn't handle weapons. Even before the other islanders have sailed away, but after Karana's father and most of the other men have been killed, there's cultural upheaval when the women take on some of the men's tasks and do a better job of providing food.
As for the environment, while Karana learns to hunt and fish, she eventually cuts back on it because she learns empathy with the other creatures on the island. This goes beyond the idea of "to (not) kill a mockingbird," since in Lee's novel it's OK to kill sometimes, like with mad dogs. Here, Karana even adopts a wild dog, although the pack killed her little brother.
Karana wouldn't even be "alone" on the island if not for annoying Ramo, who was left behind when the tribe sailed away. Karana jumped ship to get him, but the others never came back for them. Six-year-old Ramo was always pointlessly disobedient, as opposed to Karana who disobeys for good reasons, and this is probably blaming the victim, but his disobedience eventually leads to his death. Significantly, Karana doesn't miss him, although she does miss their elder sister Ulape. When the Aleuts visit the island, she befriends the one woman, but she has to be careful because the Aleuts are enemies of her people.
Like a Little House book, part of the appeal of this story is the how-to aspect. Karana is clever and creative, although I like how she's not perfect, sometimes failing. (This is not Jean Auel's "And then she invented the wheel" Earth's Children series.) Like Scout in Mockingbird, she's looking back as an adult, and we know that the real life girl she's based on lived on the island for 18 years before being "rescued." The ending is bittersweet, since although Karana is happy to hear human voices again, she has to give up much of what she's loved on the island, including her beautiful cormorant skirt, in order to be "civilized."
It really is a very 1960s book, at a time when other works still feel so '50s.
Scott O'Dell
Island of the Blue Dolphins
Original price $3.50, purchase price $3.40 (not much of a bargain)
Worn paperback with possible mold
B
I generally disagree with the Newbery committee(s) on their selections for best children's book of the year, or at least the winners of the last dozen years. (Holes was great.) Back in the 1960s, they had a surer touch, and this is a fine choice, although I'm not sure whether it would be my top pick. (Newbery honor book The Cricket in Times Square is coming up.)
In any case, neither the Newberyites nor O'Dell could've known that the book would touch on issues that would become more relevant, specifically feminism and environmentalism. Karana lives alone on the island for many years and learns to fend for herself, despite her father the chief's teachings that women shouldn't handle weapons. Even before the other islanders have sailed away, but after Karana's father and most of the other men have been killed, there's cultural upheaval when the women take on some of the men's tasks and do a better job of providing food.
As for the environment, while Karana learns to hunt and fish, she eventually cuts back on it because she learns empathy with the other creatures on the island. This goes beyond the idea of "to (not) kill a mockingbird," since in Lee's novel it's OK to kill sometimes, like with mad dogs. Here, Karana even adopts a wild dog, although the pack killed her little brother.
Karana wouldn't even be "alone" on the island if not for annoying Ramo, who was left behind when the tribe sailed away. Karana jumped ship to get him, but the others never came back for them. Six-year-old Ramo was always pointlessly disobedient, as opposed to Karana who disobeys for good reasons, and this is probably blaming the victim, but his disobedience eventually leads to his death. Significantly, Karana doesn't miss him, although she does miss their elder sister Ulape. When the Aleuts visit the island, she befriends the one woman, but she has to be careful because the Aleuts are enemies of her people.
Like a Little House book, part of the appeal of this story is the how-to aspect. Karana is clever and creative, although I like how she's not perfect, sometimes failing. (This is not Jean Auel's "And then she invented the wheel" Earth's Children series.) Like Scout in Mockingbird, she's looking back as an adult, and we know that the real life girl she's based on lived on the island for 18 years before being "rescued." The ending is bittersweet, since although Karana is happy to hear human voices again, she has to give up much of what she's loved on the island, including her beautiful cormorant skirt, in order to be "civilized."
It really is a very 1960s book, at a time when other works still feel so '50s.
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