Winner of the 1971 Newbery Medal, The Summer of the Swans by Betsy Byars is the story of the longest day of 14-year-old Sara’s life. Her summer has already been awful and boring, she thinks that her feet are too big and she’s jealous of her beautiful older sister Wanda. Sara, her sister and their [...]
Written in 1949, The Door in the Wall by Marquerite de Angeli won the 1950 Newbery Medal. To tell you the truth, I don’t have much to say about the book except that I read it. And I liked it. I found it entertaining and authentic.
From the back cover:
Ever since he can remember, Robin, child [...]
When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead is the perfect realistic fiction book with a fantasy twist. It’s a mystery too. As well as a coming of age, friendship book. In fact, When You Reach Me dabbles a little in many genres. In a short 197 pages, this book packs a punch! From what I’ve [...]
Call It Courage by Armstrong Sperry is the 1940 Newbery Medal winner. Set in the Polynesian Islands before the traders and missionaries first came to the South Seas, it is the story of Mafatu who is known as The Boy Who Was Afraid. What was it that he was so afraid of? The ocean. In [...]
I read Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse, the 1998 Newbery Award winner, in my ongoing project to read all of the Newbery books.
Set in the 1930’s during the great depression in the dust bowl of Oklahoma, Out of the Dust is told as a diary in free verse form, a style of writing [...]