I think I’m going to make a point of trying to read through this list. Join me if you’re feeling brave!
Oooo, start with THE VOYAGES OF DR. DOOLITTLE. Great story! The scene where he fucks with the Spanish bullfight – which he considers vicious and cruel entertainment – would warm the heart of any PETA member. And I’ve been thinking about racist angle I mentioned earlier in the thread…
The African Prince, who was a real shuffle-and-jive stereotype in the original novel, reappears here, but now he’s a bona fide hero and cuts a true royal figure. The Red Indian zoologist (I can’t call him Native American, because I don’t remember where he’s from) is every bit the equal of Dr. Wonderbread Doolittle as a naturalist, and surpasses him as an expert in marine animal life. In fact, Doolittle undertakes the whole voyage in order to meet him. Even though he runs around without pants.
When my kids were small I made an effort to get an old edition of the book to make sure it wasn’t Bowlderized. So maybe it’s not as bigoted as I thought, years ago.
It depends on how old I was when I read the books which one is/was a favorite.
When I was ten or eleven it was King of the Wind. A little older and it was *Johnny Tremain *or The Witch of Blackbird Pond. In my late teens it would have been The High King.
I did read A Wrinkle in Time and I agee with those who wonder why some folks think it’s so good. Okay I suppose, but nothing special.
:hangs head in shame:
I did not check the list before posting.
The Giver is great, but I failed to realize the Westing Game had won the award.** The Westing Game** is one of my favorite novels ever published and is clearly the best Newberry winner.
I can not recommend the Westing Game enough.
A big reader – I’ve read six of these books. None are favourites, and not read enough of them to conjecture which is best. I liked Johnny Tremain and Neil Gaiman’s.
I need to reread The Westing Game. Every year my mom tries to convince me to do it as a read-aloud for my class, and I keep putting off the reread.
I haven’t read it in years, but I remember thinking it was stellar.
I’m a teacher and I taught it for advanced English at my school(middle-school). I read it 6-8 times that year and had already read it before that. Honestly, it benefits from having already reading it once. I have my copy circled, underlined, and highlighted. It’s a masterpiece.
Okay, I remember thinking it was a great mystery and being so mad at myself that I didn’t figure it out, but that’s all. Clearly I need to reread it.
And I sort of thought I had read The Westing Game, but I don’t remember it at all. And if it’s all you guys are saying, I’d think I would have remembered it. So I obviously need to dig that one up, too.
Another vote for Dicey’s Song by Cynthia Voigt. The whole series was incredible, and I read all of them over and over as a kid/teen.
Catamount, they made The Homecoming into a movie. It’s pronounced the same way as you do the adjective.
By my count, I’ve read nine, but none after 1980. I’ll go with Bridge to Terabithia, which probably had as much emotional impact on me as any book I read in my childhood.
I actually think A Swiftly Tilting Planet is one of the best plotted and written of L’Engle’s books. The odd thing about the “later” books about Meg’s daughter is that L’Engle started writing them before Meg and Calvin were referred to as married in the series. The first was written even BEFORE a Wind in the Door.
As a boy growing up in the sixties and seventies, I read very few of the “early” Newbery winners, meaning roughly the ones through 1960. I read Ginger Pye, which was mostly forgettable, or at least I have mostly forgotten it; I liked Eleanor Estes’s *Moffat *books better anyway.
I read Doctor Dolittle, but never the sequel that won the award. (I had not been aware till now, btw, that Lofting wrote these books while living in the US.)
I knew a few kids who read and enjoyed Johnny Tremain, Rabbit Hill, and Caddie Woodlawn, all mentioned in earlier posts, but I didn’t read them as a kid.
As an adult, I read a few that I wasn’t familiar with as a boy–The Wheel on the School, Carry on Mr. Bowditch, and A Door in the Wall–and wasn’t impressed with any of them.
It’s interesting to me how many of the first 40 winners or so had already disappeared from the public consciousness even by the time I was a kid, and how many of the rest are thoroughly gone by now. I read enthusiastically as a kid, and certain parents and teachers were forever trying to steer me away from the Hardy Boys and books about baseball, but no one ever handed me a copy of Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze (1933), or Miss Hickory (1947), or even Rifles for Watie (1958).
Some of it was a sense of “Let’s choose something really interesting” on the part of the committee, sometimes in direct opposition to “Let’s choose something that kids will actually want to read.” A Door in the Wall read like the author had said, “I want to write a book to teach kids about the medieval era, let’s see if I can put an interesting story around it.” (The author couldn’t.) Charlotte’s Web lost out in part because one committee member, looking at its competitor Secret of the Andes, said that it had been a long time since she’d seen a good book about South America…
My favorites as a child (from among the Newbery winners 1960-1975) were Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and A Wrinkle in Time. I’d still say they are great books, but when I reread them as an adult they didn’t seem as strong. I know that the underlying message of Wrinkle in Time is that love conquers all, and Charles Wallace gets into trouble relying too heavily on his intellect, but as an adult I was really turned off by all the “smart people are special” and “oh, it’s so hard to be a smart person” that seemed to litter every page of the book. (Later on L’Engle wrote Many Waters, in which Meg’s “ordinary” twin brothers were the main characters, and it was just an awful book, partly because she was completely unable to get into the heads and hearts of people who were only of ordinary intelligence.) By the way, for those who think the book is excessively Christian, it’s interesting to note that it has been attacked on numerous occasions by members of the Christian right.
I would say that the Newbery Award winners from about 1975 to 2000, as a group, were particularly strong, though of course the ones I’ve read I’ve only read as an adult. (I was a classroom teacher for a good chunk of this time, and a writer for some of it as well, so I had a professional interest.) Some that stand out: Bridge to Terabithia, Sarah Plain and Tall, Number the Stars; but there are lots of other very good ones as well. My daughter LOVED A Visit to William Blake’s Inn.
Unlike some, I’m not a big fan of The Giver. I echo the criticism that the world doesn’t make sense–which usually isn’t a concern of mine but stood out sharply here–and I couldn’t figure out what happened at the end. (Turned out there was a good reason for this. I heard Lois Lowry speak shortly after the book was published–she was an OUTSTANDING speaker, by the way–and someone asked her what happened at the end, and she shrugged and said she had no idea.)
If I had to choose just one it would probably be Bridge to Terabithia. But tomorrow it might be Sarah, Plain and Tall. Who knows??
–My work in education has changed somewhat since 2000, and so I’m not as familiar with the award winners as I used to be. Some of you probably know there has been a lot of controversy about the awards since then–a lot of complaints that once again the awards are being given to books that librarians think children OUGHT to like rather than to books that they DO like. Also that many of the books are too difficult for kids, either thematically or in terms of reading level.
As a result, the award has lost some of its cachet. I’m sure part of the reason that the more recent books aren’t being mentioned in this thread is simply demographic–we remember our reading from childhood best, and most of us were kids before 2000 or so–but some of it is that these books aren’t necessarily all that interesting to read. (I do want to read Despereaux, now, though.)
Interesting thread. Thanks for starting it.
I didn’t know that controversy existed, but I believe it. If I put the books into ought-to-like vs. do-like, here are my thoughts for the ones I’ve read since 2000:
2016: Last Stop on Market Street–I think it’s the only picture book ever to win. Short and sweet, but probably more in the ought-to-like category.
2014: Flora and Ulysses–it was my daughter’s all-time favorite book when she was five. It’s got a superhero flying squirrel. It also has divorce and custody battles, but on my daughter’s recommendation, I put it in do-like.
2013: The One and Only Ivan. A teacher across the hall always does it as a read-aloud. Not me: it’s a well-written tale of unstopping animal abuse, complete with death of a beloved character. Ought-to-like for sure.
2012: Dead End in Norvelt: Ought to like? I can’t even tell, I thought it was terrible, a failed attempt at funny and a failed attempt at deep. No idea why it won.
2009: The Graveyard Book: Do like definitely. Not deep, no Great Life Lessons, but pretty fun.
2004: The Tale of Despereaux: Do like, but also ought-to-like
2000: Bud, Not Buddy: Both again. It sounds soul-crushing from the synopsis (in 1938 or so a black orphaned boy escapes from an abusive foster family and sets out across a racist nation to try to find his father), but it’s funny as hell and full of action. The main character is so thoroughly likeable, and the humor is so strong, that it’s barely ever depressing.
As a child, I remember loving Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (read aloud to us by a teacher), being moved by The Bronze Bow, and liking A Wrinkle In Time at least well enough to seek out the sequels. I loved the Chronicles of Prydain (including The High King) and liked but wasn’t as impressed by the Dark Is Rising sequence (including The Grey King).
If I had to choose a favorite, it would be a tie between Caddie Woodlawn and A Wrinkle in Time. Ginger Pye and Island of the Blue Dolphins would be tied for second. Thing is, very few of the books on the list of medal winners were my overall favorites when I was a kid. But it is worth noting that they “honor” some books; it’s not medal or nothing. Honorees include Charlotte’s Web, some of Eleanor Estes’ Moffat books, and a lot of Elizabeth Enright. (Still no Phantom Tollbooth, though. And Edward Eager never got within spitting distance!) It’s the honorees, like the Little House books, that were more likely to make my heart go pit-a-pat.
All About Eve did win the Best Picture Oscar.
But Newberry is kind of like the Oscars. To win an acting award, it helps to play a character who triumphs over some hardship, like war or disability. To get a Newberry medal, it helps to have a dead parent, friend or pet, or at least some major trauma. Notice how Beverly Cleary, despite getting numerous honors, didn’t get an actual Newberry medal until 1984, for Dear Mr. Henshaw? Because that was about a child of divorce, whose life pretty much sucked. It’s probably one of the least read of all her books, but it was depressing, so it got medaled.
And now I’m thinking of Blubber, by Judy Blume. The school has a Halloween costume contest, and the prizes are books with medals on them. “One was pretty good but the other was so boring I never finished it.” In the end, kids will choose their own favorites. (And personally, if I had to choose between reading Johnny Tremain again and chewing my own arm off, I’d be typing this one-handed.)
Ah, shit. I done mixed up the Best Picture Oscar with the Best Actress Oscar. Judy Holliday DID beat out both Gloria Swanson and Bette Davis.
On a happier note, I came across my kids’ copy of The Westing Game on a basement bookshelf while I was looking for another book today. That’ll be tomorrow’s project up until I need to start the frijoles and green mole sauce for dinner.
I printed the list. I’ve downloaded Voyages of DD from the library, and The Westing Game is on hold. I have a vague suspicion I’ve read The Westing Game. Read Dear Mr. Henshaw over the weekend and I agree that it got the Newbery because it was not a happy. Cleary wrote much better books than this. Give me Henry Huggins!