A lot of Newbery reviews this past week. A Fine White Dust by Cynthia Rylant is a Newbery Honor book from 1987. This is one of those books which has benefited from a face lift. Sadly, the book that I own is the cover on the right (blech!) but I love the book cover shown [...]
After Tupac & D Foster by Jacqueline Woodson is a beautiful book. Woodson continues to not disappoint me. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again but I’m a Woodson fan girl.
At the heart of this story is the bond of three twelve-year-old girls. Our unnamed narrator and Neeka are forever changed when D [...]
Do you know who Claudette Colvin is? You do know that Rosa Parks wasn’t the first person to refuse to give up her bus seat to a white person in Montgomery, Alabama, don’t you? Read Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip Hoose and you will discover this unsung civil rights hero.
In full honesty, I [...]
The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson, a 1979 Newbery Honor, is such a sweet book with wonderfully sweet characters. Gilly Hopkins is going to stay with me for a long time. Gilly’s transformation that takes place between the opening and closing pages of this book is bittersweet. I felt happy and sad for [...]
Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff is a 2003 Newbery Honor book and is worth every minute of the short read. Hollis is twelve years old and stuck in the foster care system. She is known as being a trouble maker and constantly runs away from the homes in which she is placed. [...]