Our fourth Newbery Award winner was another surprise: a collection of folktales. Tales from the Silver Lands by Charles J. Finger has 19 short folk tales from South America. Confession, it turns out that I don’t love reading a whole book of folktales, at least not more than two or three at a…
Month: May 2014
On Seven Years of Marriage & Breakfasts
Seven years ago yesterday, we got married. I was too excited to sleep. I woke up at 3:30 am, convinced that no one was going to remember to get communion bread. So I tried to sleep for another hour. I couldn’t believe that I had actually made it to that day, through the 9…
Newbery Review # 3 (Dark Frigate, Hawes, 1924)
The third Newbery winner, from 1924, is a demanding read: a pirate tale set in the 17th century Atlantic World. What makes The Dark Frigate both remarkable and challenging is the way that author Charles Boardman Hawes meticulously researched mid-1600s’ sea-life and speech and poured it into his pirate yarn. The story centers around…
Simple Company Dinner: Roasted Chicken, Broccoli & Sweet Potatoes
Since the birth of my sweet niece, we’ve been camping out at the family lake house. It’s a beautiful place to watch the trees unfurl their leaves and the sun come up earlier and earlier on the water of Lower Genesee Lake. We’ve also gotten to share this space, hosting a few weekend events…
Newbery Review #2 (Dr. Dolittle, Lofting, 1923)
After the marathon 500 page history book, The Voyages of Dr. Dolittle was a quick and fun read. It was about a fifth as long, and perhaps a fifth as difficult as the first Newbery Winner The Story of Mankind. Dr. Doolittle is by far the most popular of the 1920s Newbery Winners. It…
My Brother’s Daughter: A Birth Story
It was a late night in early September, when my brother called me. Evan and I had just pulled into our parking space in our Maryland apartment. “Hi,” my brother said. Then there was a pause and some random muffled sound. He was trying to get the speaker phone to work. Evan looked at…
Newbery Review #1 (Story of Mankind, van Loon, 1922)
The first Newbery winner from 1922 came as somewhat of a surprise to me, for my review the Newbery project. I think my working definition of Newbery winners was something like: a really great novel by an American, for kids between 10 and 12, but enjoyed by older and younger audiences as well. But…
Why I Don’t Keep a To-Do List (& 10 Things I Do Instead)
I love the idea of a fancy planner. You know the kind that has pretty floral pages, goes inside a matching binder, and fits in the pocket of a matching leather purse. And inside my planner would be this lovely to-do list written in neat handwriting, arranged by priorities (A, B, C) and the…