making space for creativity
1998 Newbery winner, Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse is a verse novel set in Depression-era panhandle Oklahoma during the devastating Dust Bowl. Narrator Billie Jo is an only child of fourteen whose mother is finally pregnant with a much anticipated new baby while their farm is enduring a terrible drought. I came into…
1997 Newbery winner, The View from Saturday by E. L. Konigsburg stars four unlikely sixth grade academic quiz bowl team members. Exploring the backstory of each character’s specific talents and knowledge, the book is told in a series of five narrators: the four competitors and their teacher and coach Mrs. Olinski. The stories are told…
I’m 75% through the Newbery Award winning books! Here’s a quick look at # 1-25 and 26-50. For this batch (#51-75) from 1972 to 1996, some of my very favorite books of all time I got to re-read (again!). These are books I have returned to and re-read over and over: Mrs. Frisby and the…
1996 Newbery winner, The Midwife’s Apprentice, by Karen Cushman has long been a favorite of mine by one of my long-time favorite authors. I think that reading Karen Cushman’s first novel Catherine Called Birdy (1994) was one of the reasons I wanted to study early modern English history in college and graduate school. I love…
When I feel sick or sad or overwhelmed, I instinctively reach for either my well-worn paperback copy of CS Lewis’ Voyage of the Dawn Treader or the comforting sounds of Jim Dale reading JK Rowling’s Harry Potter. Those are my very favorite books, and the ones I’ve re-read the most. When I read the sentence…
Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli (1991 Newbery winner) follows the crazy fast, incredibly athletic, kind, and lonely Jeffrey Lionel Magee. Magee runs into town, and outruns, out-catches, out-reads, and out-unentangles everyone in Two Mills. He was orphaned at a young age, taken in by two quarreling relatives and is in search of a family. He’s…
In the middle of all the little pamphlets and one sheet reminders that we left the hospital with was the instruction to “read to your child 20 minutes a day.” This is, of course, wonderful advice. It’s the kind of public health initiative meant to convey that it’s never too early to expose your child…
This is my 6th year of birthday reading lists! (You can see the others here: 30 // 31 // 32 // 33 // 34 ). My top picks for this year were Circe, When Life Gives You Pears, Being Mortal, The Blue Sword, and The Blue Castle. The full list is broken down by nonfiction / memoirs / novels / YA/ middle grade reads (but doesn’t include any…
Sid Fleischman’s 1987 Newbery winning book, The Whipping Boy, is about spoiled Prince Horace (Prince Brat by his subjects behind his back) who has a servant for everything, including taking his whippings. But when he runs away, and takes his whipping boy, Jemmy, with him, Prince Horace learns that only by experiencing the harsh realities…
Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan is told from the perspective of ten-year-old Anna as she and her younger brother Caleb await and meet the woman who answered the advertisement for a mail-order bride their father had placed. Set in 19th century American Prairie, the book is short and sweet, honest and compelling. I’ve…
The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley won the 1985 Newbery medal. Only daughter of a king, Aerin is looking for her place in a kingdom that is suspicious of her just as they were of her foreign, magically powerful and long-dead mother. Aerin finds a recipe for an ointment that protects the wearer…
Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary is the 1984 Newbery winning epistolary novel starring Leigh Botts writing letters to his favorite author Mr. Henshaw. At first Leigh is young, just learning to read and write, then as he gets a bit older (6th grade) he writes Mr. Henshaw for a school assignment. After Leigh tries…
Dicey’s Song by Cynthia Voigt won the 1983 Newbery. It’s the second installment in a seven-part series called the Tillerman Cycle. I read the first book of the series in fourth grade, and I clearly remember being completely taken with Homecoming: the details of these kids being abandoned, counting their money and buying a tiny…
Writing in the style of William Blake’s short lyrical poems, Nancy Willard’s short, beautifully illustrated book A Visit to William Blake’s Inn: Poems for Innocent and Experienced Travelers won the 1982 Newbery. It was the first book of poetry to win the Newbery, and Alice and Martin Provensen’s illustrations won the book a Caldecott honor…
The 60th Newbery winner, Jacob Have I Loved, by Katherine Paterson, is the first of these Newbery books that I still have my copy of from when I read it as a child. Evidently, I liked it enough to print my whole address in the front, so it could be returned to me should I…