sometimes

Sometimes you are having kind of a hard time.

And sometimes your sister will send you flowers, long distance. The very next day.

They are beautiful, Miranda. Love you!

witch, interrupted

I thought I was going to read The Witch of Blackbird Pond as my next Newbery endeavor. In fact, out of the last batch of Newberies from the library, I saved this one for last because I was so looking forward to it.

I made the mistake of setting it on the dining room table for a few minutes yesterday afternoon. When I went back to get it, it had mysteriously vanished! I immediately had my suspicions.

Me: "Eve? Have you seen my book?"

Eve: No answer

Me: "Eve? Have you seen the book that was on the table?"

Eve: No answer

Me: "Eve? Are you reading my book?"

Eve: "Hmmmmmmm?"

I find Eve flopped on the couch. On page 23 and totally engrossed. Oh well. There are worse ways to lose a book. From all appearances, she is enjoying it very much and that was the whole point of my Newbery project, wasn't it?

After she fell asleep last night, I crept into her room and snuck the book out for a few hours so I could read. Then I snuck it back in. It looks like I may just need to skip to the next book on the list for now. I'm looking at you Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze! Show me what you got!

newbery extravaganza!

So this is my last "catch up" post and I have saved the most boring exciting post for last! Newberies! Hooray! Were you afraid that I had given up on my thrilling goal while sunshine beckoned so beguilingly outside, while swimming pools sparkled and the siren call of the ice cream truck wove it's magic spell? Never fear, loyal reader! I have spent many a summer afternoon diligently reading and am now ready to make my full report.


The number generator was not very kind to me this last go around and I was stuck in the 1930s for several books. But what's done is done and I have learned alot. So are you ready to begin? Sitting in a comfy chair? Sipping a cool beverage? All right, then - let's start:

• Shen of the Sea by Arthur Bowie Chrisman (1926) - a collection of "just-so" style Chinese folk tales. As far as I can tell (with my extensive Wikipedia searching,) the author never actually went to China but just hung around Chinatown in San Fransisco and decided to write a book of Chinese folktales. You could apparently do this in the 20s. Hence, the stories are a little too "ah-so-confucious-say" but some were still pretty charming.
  


• Strawberry Girl by Lois Lenski (1946) - heartwarming little story about a pioneer family in Florida (that's something new!) trying to fit in with their grouchy neighbors and start their strawberry crop. Just the same sweet innocuous book I remembered reading in 3rd grade. The most interesting thing I learned this time, however, is that Ms. Lenski - a very prolific children's writer - wrote a series of 16 regional books about children all over the country when an illness forced her to travel from her native Connecticut. While Strawberry Girl is her most famous, some of the other titles include Blue Ridge Billy, Bayou Suzette, and Texas Tomboy. The titles may seem a little quaint now but were probably fascinating to children in an era where travel and knowledge of other parts of our nation were rare.
  


• Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech (1995) - the story of a young girl's road trip with her grandparents, retracing her mother's steps before she vanished from Sal's life. An adult reader will probably figure out the "surprise" ending in the first chapter, but I child reader will weep and hope right along with our heroine. The story deftly and sweetly handles grief and death and loss of various kinds; reads a little more like YA fiction and would possible be over the heads of younger readers. I was really touched by this book, though I did bridle at the number of parents in the book who did selfish things while telling their children "it's not about you, it's about me." One of my favorite books this summer. A real surprise find.
  


• Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz (2009) - So I totally made fun of this book before I read it because... well, look at the title! Wouldn't you? But it really surprised me. It was The Spoon River Anthology set in medieval England, a series of poems and songs about the various inhabitants of the town, from the lord's son down to the lowly beggar. A librarian in Maryland (I think) whipped this up when the 7th graders at her school needed a reader's theater exercise for the unit on the Middle Ages. Funny and quick and well-written. Eve snatched this out of the library bag before I read it and she really enjoyed it. The frank poem about childbirth did bring up a lot of questions, though, so be prepared!
  


• Dobry by Monica Shannon (1935) - story of a boy's coming of age in his remote Bulgarian village. There is no real conflict in this story until somewhere in the middle when Dobry must convince his family he is destined to be a sculptor, not a farmer. Even more interesting: Bulgarian villagers grow their tomatoes in the winter, so the snow will keep them cold and preserved. Crazy Bulgarians!
  


• Daniel Boone by James Daugherty (1940) - how is this book still in print? How did it managed to get reprinted as recently as the 60s? If you like really inaccurate poorly researched "biographies", then this is the book for you! Also, violently offensive. Pretty much Daniel Boone is a hero because he burned down Indian villages just for fun. And, according to quotes from his journal, thought they were "lazy" and "shiftless" and "ignorant" and many other choice words. I didn't know many of the runners up in 1940, but By the Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder - an author who handled the frontier and Native Americans with a much gentler pen - was one of them. Need I say more?
  


• The Dark Frigate by Charles Hawes (1934) - dark and thrilling tale about a boy who runs away to sea only to find himself in league with a surly group of pirates. And I mean surly. Even Long John Silver would be terrified! Many graphic and brutal scenes of violence (well, graphic for a children's book from the 30s.) One pirate complains of his knife scraping along his victim's ribs as he stabs a man in the back. Yikes! Great characters, especially the lonesome and noble heart of our hero, Philip Marsham.
  


• A Visit to William Blake's Inn: Poems for Innocent and Experienced Travelers by Nancy Willard (1982) - a very short book of whimsical poems about a boy who imagines he stays for a visit at an inn run by famous poet William Blake. Yes, an odd and not-so-relevant choice for 1982, but there you have it. Ramona Quimby, Age 8 was a runner up this year, a book which would probably resonate more with the child of 1982. That said, however, Eve did read through it and the illustrations were very enchanting.

• Gay Neck, the Story of a Pigeon by Dhan Gopal Mukerji (1928) - aside from the fact that I felt like a 12 year old boy every time I said the title (Hey, Gay Neck!), this book was perfectly tolerable. The title pretty much says it all. Gay Neck escapes hawks, Gay Neck escapes eagles, Gay Neck escapes cats. Gay Neck, Gay Neck, Gay Neck!

Aaaaaaand.... I think that's it! I still have The Witch of Blackbird Pond to read before I pick up my next batch from the library, but I am sure I will breeze through that one and love it. Thanks for sticking with me to the end of this post. I don't want to give anything away, but this next batch of books actually has one written in the 90s! I can't wait!