My 13th year!
Search this blog
Twitterings
My TweetsCurrent favorite quote
“It was salutory to remember, I told myself, that writers and other creative artists do not relish other people’s ideas. They usually have more than enough of their own, and well-meant suggestions only add to the burden of their already over-stocked minds.” Miss Read, Farewell to Fairacre (1993)
-
My last 5 posts
- #WitchWeek2020: The end is nigh! November 6, 2020
- #WitchWeek2020 Day 6: MEXICAN GOTHIC and the Classic Gothic Tale November 5, 2020
- #WitchWeek2020 Day 5: Gothic fantasy, with puppets November 4, 2020
- #WitchWeek2020 Day 4: M R James and the Gothic Tradition November 3, 2020
- #WitchWeek2020 Day 3: The Graveyard Book November 2, 2020
Check out these blogs
Where you can find me
No upcoming events
Category Archives: Newbery Award
Grandma Dowdel for President
I just knew I’d written about Richard Peck’s books somewhere, and it took me a while to find the post, on the grandmother of all my blogs — my first and still accessible “Lizzie Ross, Writer” at blogspot.com. Here’s the post: … Continue reading
Mississippi cotton fields, 1933
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (1976), Mildred D. Taylor, 276 pp. In The Personal History of Rachel Dupree (2008), Weisgarber tells the story of a black rancher in 1910s South Dakota. In Taylor’s novel, we read about a black cotton farmer in … Continue reading
Killing dragons is not enough
The Hero and the Crown (1985 Newbery), Robin McKinley I love a good fantasy, and this one is good enough to stand with Garth Nix’s Sabriel. Aerin is King Arlbeth’s only child but, because she’s a girl, not next in … Continue reading
Gorilla my dreams
Sorry for the old (very old) joke, but I couldn’t resist. The One and Only Ivan (2013 Newbery), Katherine Applegate You might be familiar with the story of Ivan, the gorilla kept in a small shopping center in Tacoma until … Continue reading
On poetry
Four Newbery winners are books of poetry. One, Karen Hesse’s Out of the Dust, is a novel in free verse and will be featured in a separate post. The other three are reviewed below. A Visit to William Blake’s Inn: … Continue reading
Posted in Historical fiction, Newbery Award, Poetry
Tagged Laura Amy Schlitz, Nancy Willard, Paul Fleischman
Leave a comment
Graveyard rock
I hope you get the Garland Jeffries reference! Any-who. Neil Gaiman won the 2009 Newbery for The Graveyard Book, adding another notch to his award belt and crossing another goal off his writer’s bucket list. For it seems that Gaiman can … Continue reading
A simple matter of mathematics
Carry On, Mr. Bowditch (1956 Newbery Award), Jean Lee Latham There are few Newbery novels about seafaring. This biography is only tangentially about ships during the Age of Sail, for Nathaniel Bowditch is first and foremost a scientist, although he … Continue reading
Dog on your mind — or perhaps Cat
It’s Like This, Cat (1964 Newbery Award), Emily Neville Shiloh (1992 Newbery), Phyllis Reynolds Naylor Perhaps it’s a bit obvious to pair these two, but I couldn’t resist. Each can be read in a day, each tells the story of … Continue reading
He just wanted to be alone
The Twenty-One Balloons (1948 Newbery Award), William Pène du Bois So, there’s this teacher (Prof. William Waterman Sherman) in San Francisco, 1883. Been at it for 30+ years and is growing tired of his students’ antics (glue on his chair, etc.). … Continue reading
“Well, wasn’t that lovely?”
Up a Road Slowly (1967 Newbery Award), Irene Hunt Bildungsroman. There’s a word for tongues to trip over. It’s the fancy name for “coming-of-age” stories, but most particularly ones that take the main character from youth to adulthood (or pretty … Continue reading
