Newbery Challenge Finished

Earlier this year Think Pink Dana issued the Newbery Challenge and, since I haven't read a Newbery Award book that I have not liked, I joined up. Besides it's no secret how much a enjoy a good reading challenge.

The 6 books I read for the challenge were:

1. The Higher Power of Luckyby Susan Patron

2. The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

3. The Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

4. The Door in the Wall by Marguerite De angeli

5. The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg

6. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

It's hard to pick one I liked the best. I liked The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler the least, but it was still good. The slight negative feelings I have are probably because of the movie. Trust me - read the book and DO NOT watch the movie.

The Door in the Wall

by Marguerite De Angeli

I decided to read this Newbery Medal book because it won in the year I was born. The theme is presented early in the book when the friar, Brother Luke, leads a young crippled boy around the inside wall of the village. Brother Luke tells Robin that if he ever comes to a wall to just follow it and eventually he will find a door.

Later as Robin learns to whittle and play the lute, and as he strengthens his arm muscles by swimming, Brother Luke reminds him that he is finding doors in the wall. All the doors take effort, but they are there and they lead us past the walls, or restrictions, of our lives.

I hope my grandchildren grow into avid readers. I would like to read this one with them or give it to them when they get a little older. Along with teaching a valuable lesson it depicts the medieval period quite well. I learned that the word window came from the holes in the rock walls of buildings that were referred to as wind holes. I like picking up little tidbits like that in my reading.

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler

by E.L. Konisburg

I've heard people say that they really identified with a character in a story, but it's never happened to me. Until now. And it only happened at the beginning and the end of this book.

The main character is an 11-year-old girl named Caudia who doesn't feel fully appreciated by her family so she decides to run away from home. That's not the part that I identify with, though I could. JK

This is the description of Claudia that sounds like me.

"She studied maps and the tour guide book of the American Automobile Association and reviewed every field trip her class had ever taken. She made a specialized geography course for herself. There were even some pamphlets about the museum around the house, which she researched."

"Once she made up her mind to go, she enjoyed the planning almost as much as she enjoyed spending money. Planning long and well was one of her special talents."

I love to plan for trips, to find all the little-know as well as the 'must see' places of interest that are close to the road we'll be taking. I like to read books that set the mood and I enjoy gathering interest facts to share with my husband as we travel. Of course, I have to write all this down or it's forgotten long before the trip occurs.

Another identifying feeling:

"She never liked feeling either very hot or very cold, and she hated feeling both at the same time."

Sadly, this one is true of me also.

"Her net profit, therefore, would be as great as that of someone who read a great deal but remembered very little."

This is the story of a young girl and little brother who run away from home to the New York City Metropolitan Museum of Art. They live there for over a week. I enjoyed this book by the same author of The View From Saturday which also won a Newbery Award.

Just a few more passages that I liked.

"But lying in bed just before going to sleep is the worst time for organized thinking; it is the best time for free thinking. Ideas drift like clouds in an undecided breeze, taking first this direction and then that."

"Happiness is excitement that has found a settling down place, but there is always a little corner that keeps flapping around."

Here Mrs. Frankweiler disagrees with Claudia's idea that you should learn one new thing every day.

"I don't agree with that. I think you shuld learn, of course, and some days you must learn a great deal. But you should also have days when you allow what is already in you to swell up inside of you until it touches everything. And you can feel it inside you. If you never take time out to let that happen, they you just accumulate facts, and they begin to rattle around inside you. You can make noise with them, but never really feel anything with them. It's hollow."

How did the movie compare to the book? The movie changed quite a few things and it was boring. Yawn! I only watched an hour and then had to turn it off. I didn't get bored with the book. My suggestion: Read the book and forget about the movie.

The Westing Game

by Ellen Raskin

I read this book for my f2f book group, for the Newbery Challenge and the Book Awards Challenge. Whew - three with one book!

It's a fun little mystery written for reading levels 4-12. I was a bit confused for the first half of the book. Maybe I was trying to make more out of it than I should have, or tried to keep track of all the bits and pieces of clues. Once I stopped doing that and just let the book unfold, I enjoyed it more.

"The game is "Who Killed Sam Westing" and the winner receives his estate, worth millions. Sixteen people, all residents of Sunset Towers --- an apartment building on Lake Michigan --- are named as heirs to the fortune. They are split into eight unusual pairs and given clues to solving the murder. Through snowstorms, power failures and bombs they play the game, leading to deception and intrigue. Everyone is a suspect, no one is ever who he or she seems to be, and no one except the reader has all the answers (and sometimes not even then). Don't forget Sam Westing's most important instruction to the heirs: "It's not what you have, but what you don't have, that counts."

After twenty-five years, THE WESTING GAME --- written by the late beloved author Ellen Raskin and winner of the 1978 Newbery Award --- is still remarkable for its diverse, interesting characters, its plot twists, and an ending that no one inside or outside the novel could predict. Woven into the mystery are insights into family relations, dishonesty, courage and finding a sense of self. The absurdities of plot lend a humorous air but never distract from the story. There is something new to be found with every reading, from clues to connections between characters." from a review by Carlie Webber at teenreads.com

I liked this book and found it to be very clever. It's satisfying to be familiar with books that receive awards and also, those that are discussed often.

The Higher Power of Lucky

by Susan Patron

This is one of my selections for the Newbery Challenge. The Higher Power of Lucky won the Newbery Award for 2006 and received much criticism because it contained the word scrotum. I thought Lucky's foster mother, Brigitte, explained the meaning to the inquisitive 10-year-old in a sensible way.

Lucky is in search of the higher power that she has overheard different members of the 12 step program (AA) discuss at their meetings. She's in desperate need of this power to insure her happiness and to keep her foster mother from returning to France and abandoning her to an orphanage.

This is a beautiful, sweet book that address childhood fears, bravery, and misconceptions. Patron does an excellent job with the characterization. Lucky and her two friends, Lincoln and Miles become real people in just a very short time. I'd like to see other books by Patron that focus on each boy. I'm sure they would be every bit as touching as Lucky's story.

A Wrinkle in Time

by Madeleine L'Engle
It such a good feeling to finally read a book that has been on The List for ages and ages. Thanks to a couple of challenges it finally became pressing to read it.

A Wrinkle in Time is not as subtle with it's Christian teachings as The Chronicles of Narnia and I doubt it would receive a Newbery Award in today's world, so I'm glad it was written when it was. The main theme is the battle of good vs. evil and, in the end, good is triumphant. Woven into the main theme are the ideas of reliance on others, expectations, going it alone, love, family, etc. One of my favorites is the idea that some of the parts of our personalities we regard as weaknesses can become the very strengths we need to succeed.

A favorite quote:

Mrs Whatisit: A sonnet is a very strict form of poetry is it not? There are fourteen lines, I believe, all in iambic pentameter. That's a very strict rhythm or meter, yes? And each line has to end with a rigid rhyme pattern. And if the poet does not do it exactly this way, it is not a sonnet, is it?

Calvin: You mean you're comparing our lives to a sonnet? A strict form, but freedom within it?

Mrs Whatsit: Yes. You're given the form, but you have to write the sonnet yourself. What you say is completely up to you.

Bridge to Terabithia

by Katherine Paterson
I decided I needed to reread this book when I saw the advertisements on TV for the movie. The ads didn't look familiar to me. I decided I didn't remember a thing about the book. Not true. I did remember the story pretty well. I still haven't seen the movie, but I can tell it played up certain parts of the book to the extreme. Having reread the book, I will probably watch the movie one of these days.

Speaking of memories - There was something in the first third of the book that caused me to ask if Bridge to Terabithia was on any challenged or banned book lists. I don't remember what it was, but I did check the ALA's 100 most challenged books of 1990-2000 and Terabithia was ninth on the list. So, even though I didn't originally have it on my Banned Books Challenge, I am adding it. This is also the first of my Newbery Awards Challenge books. I think it's a wonderful book.

Newberry Challenge

Every year for the library's summer reading program I read a Newbery Award book. I've mentioned before that I probably wouldn't have read many of these without the encouragement offered by that program. And now, a new source of encouragement: Nattie at Nattie Writes! is hosting a Newbery Challenge.

Here is the challenge...
1. Pick 6 books from the Newbery list.
2. Comment at Nattie Writes! that you are in the challenge and list to your blog.
3. Post your picks on your blog.
4. You have from May 15, 2007 to Dec 31, 2007 to read and review the 6 books you choose.

My selections for this challenge:

1. The Higher Power of Lucky (2006)
2. The Westing Game (1979)
3. Bridge to Terabithia (1978)
4. Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry (1977)
5. From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (1968)
6. A Wrinkle in Time (1963)

I am looking forward to reading these. I read Bridge to Terabithia years ago and do not remember it well. I would like to reread it before seeing the movie. The only other on my list that I've read before was Roll of Thunder - actually, I listened to it on tape. It's no surprise that I don't remember much for it either.