Children's Books discussion

New discussion of all honor books and medal winners from 2011 and 2012.

This thread will take the place of the previous discussions on these books.

2011 Honors:
Turtle in Paradise
Heart of a Samurai
One Crazy Summer
Dark Emperor & Other Poems of the Night

Previous discussion here:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...?

2011 Medal Winner:
Moon Over Manifest

Previous discussion here:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...?

2012 Honors:
Inside Out & Back Again
Breaking Stalin's Nose

Previous discussion here:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...?

2012 Medal Winner:
Dead End in Norvelt

Previous discussion here:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...?

Start ordering now! Too many of these are not widely available, and I have no idea why. Even 'Dark Emperor' is only one copy at only one of my currently local libraries... and I'll have to read 'Inside Out & Back Again as an ebook.'

Btw, I also lost several reviews of these. Strange....

We have many copies of all of them. Hoopla has them too. I never had the inclination to read most of them so I don't think I will now.

Nice.
I have some in hand, but waiting for others.
If I count the list in the first post, I see 8 titles. So I'll need to start soon! :)

I really liked Turtle in Paradise. The audio book was funny and charming. I didn't love Moon Over Manifest. The writing didn't wow me!

Great!

I can't bring myself to reread Breaking Stalin's Nose. It's wonderful historical fiction, very illuminating, and short. I remember being quite 'wowed' by it. But I just can't face it now, sorry.

I'm going to skip Moon Over Manifest too. I wasn't impressed back in the day, and am not motivated to try again.

4.5 stars for Dead End in Norvelt.

I have to say, there's so much here that's still relevant, over 60 years later. It's very much worthy of the Newbery.

It's also laugh-out-loud funny in several places. For example when old Mr. Spizz chases after the Hell's Angels with his volunteer police badge, and his 'giant tricycle' with a baseball bat in the basket.

I found it especially relevant and interesting to pay attention the parents' characters and relationship (as seen through Jackie's eyes). Dad is a pretty good guy, a loving husband and father, a good provider, but clearly he would've voted MAGA. Mom and Miss Volker are more like me....

Jack gets caught in the middle... but is that an entirely bad thing? It sure is helping him learn Another Point of View, and also to think for himself. His recreational reading is adventure stories from history, and that is giving him a lot of insight, too; he has already decided that the conquistadors were not heroes.

And Jackie is such a lovable kid. His granted wish for his birthday is "industrial-strength petroleum-based grease remover that they used at the pants factory." It's to get the paint that Uncle Will used on his (Will's) pony off the poor beast.

As opposed to certain other people: During WWII a Japanese couple gave their baby to a childless couple in town to keep it safe from the internment camp they were headed to. Six months later, the government tracked down the baby and took it away, and the Norvelt parents never learned its fate.

" a person first lies to himself before he lies to others."

Highly recommended.
I might read the sequel just to learn more about Uncle Will. He seems seriously messed up, sadly.

I only gave Turtle in Paradise three stars.

I do appreciate that Turtle doesn't whine about missing her mom, or the annoying boy cousins, or the heat... she just matter-of-factly copes quietly or sasses back, depending on what works, or is the better choice, at the time.

I can see the Newbery worthiness. It is set during the Great Depression, and teaches kids about a way of life few of them have any clue of. It's also fairly concise, and somewhat appealing to at least some of the target audience. I think that I probably would have thought it fun read when I was about 10.

As an adult, I'm not quite so entranced. No interest in the companion book.

Cheryl wrote: "4.5 stars for Dead End in Norvelt.

I have to say, there's so much here that's still relevant, over 60 years later. It's very much worthy of the Newbery.

It's also laugh-out-loud ..."

I also remember many laugh out loud moments when I read this back in 2012. I rated the book with 4 stars. My one-sentence comment:
Pretty funny; lots of humorous hijinks and silliness as Jack spends practically his entire summer grounded for shooting off a Japanese rifle.

Glad to hear you liked it!

Only three stars, in my own personal opinion, for Heart of a Samurai.

Rounded up because young me would have been very interested; it's the kind of historical fiction that vibes more like the Little House on the Prairie books, which were my favorites. Not that it really has anything in common with them except the century in which they take place, though, unless you count the fact that both Manjiro and Laura had to adapt to new homes & cultures (less so Laura, of course).

" a person should always put his heart in order before falling asleep. Then he will be unencumbered by fear."

I need to find the classic poem about a "shipwrecked brother" who saw footprints (in the sand ?).

"Seeing the native Islanders here [in Hawaii] were expected to change almost everything about their lives for the missionaries, Manjiro could understand why Japan had expelled them."

"'Aw, he's always got to pick on somebody,... I used to be friends with him just so he wouldn't pick on me.'"

Dark Emperor
These lovely, descriptive poems feature nocturnal animals and some plants. Some poems rhyme and some are free verse. The poem about the owl is a shape poem, in the shape of an owl. The illustrations are beautiful hand-made linoleum/wood block prints, then hand-colored. It certainly deserved its Newbery Honor citation.

I'm so glad that you enjoyed it.

Either I'm still waiting on my copy for a reread, or I forgot to request it, so I'll check now.

Oops. I did finally get it, and enjoyed it. I still have no idea why it's not in more of my libraries.