My Newbery 2012 Pick!

So, I have read every book that has every won the Newbery, and for the past 3 years I have joined the mock Newbery lovers of the world, reading the best books published and picking my winner.  In 2010 I was right when I picked When You Reach Me.  Last year I LOVED several books and was a little disappointed when One Crazy Summer was not the pick.  But, it was really cool that the winner, Moon Over Manifest, was a dark horse and a first book from an author.  This year honestly, I have been all over the place.  I loved several books and some of my favorites didn't bubble to the top of other list, you all should really give the Romeo and Juliet Code a read, it is worth it!  My love of The Floating Island, makes me wonder if everyone saw the same feminist theme I did, or if that is about what I was thinking as a reader.  After much thinking I have one winner and 3 Honor book choices this year.
My winner is Okay For Now, a book I read early in the year that stayed with me.  When thinking about Newbery criteria this book really is most Newberyish.


Honor book predictions:

Inside Out and Back Again, an extraordinary journey that is worth reading and remembering.
Amelia Lost, a bit of a surprise pick for me because I don't always LOVE non fiction.
I broke My Trunk,a light hearted book that told lots in a few words, a good change for Newbery!  And I promise if it wins kids everywhere will pick it when they have to do their "Newbery" book report (my brother defiantly would.

So, now we wait for Monday morning, I will be watching live and tweeting and blogging about it all (yes, I am skipping school--don't worry I will make up the work!)

The Summer Before Boys

I LOVE Nora Raleigh Baskin!  Nora is the Schnieder Family Award winning author of Anything But Typical, and I was lucky enough to meet her at ALA 2010; she is as wonderful in person as you would think she is from reading her books!  All of this is to say I was very excited to read her newest book.  I saved the honor of my last Mock Newbery 2012 for her, it was worth the wait, I read the book in under a day and look forward to reading it again (maybe on a snow day).  I liked the friendship dynamic between the "cousins" and the different way this book looks at the common theme of a growing up story.  I'm a Middle School student, so the idea of diffrent views on boys and dating is something that is all around me.  I wonder if the Newbery committee will think this book is limited by a small age audience, I don't find that to be a problem, but I am 11 (getting close to 12).  I highly recommend this book and reading more from Nora.
Rating *****

Mock Newbery 2012 #2

This is the second year that I have had a Mock Newbery at my local library. I really like this event because it allows met to talk to other kids about who's gonna be the winner. Today we talked about 14 books, including some of my favorites. We ended up picking our top 5 (in no particular order): In a week from today, we will all know what the real winner is. I will share my personal picks later this week.

Lost Voices

I Broke My Trunk

Breadcrumbs

The Emerald Atlas

Inside Out and Back Again

Hidden

I really liked this book. I got so many recommendations for this book I lost count, and I wasn't allowed to leave the ACPL Mock Newbery without a copy of it. Everyone insisted that I could not decide on my final pick for Newbery without reading it, I am glad that I did! The storyline in this book was really really twisty- not twisted, twisty. The way the book was written really reflected the personalities of the characters. I loved how there was a second story hidden in Darra's chapters. I think that this book might be an Honor Book, but I don't think that it will win the Newbery.




Rating: *****

Wonderstruck

I LOVED this book!!!!! The illustrations were amazing and the story was well written. I hardly put the book down (much to my teachers' dismay) and read it in half a day. I was wondering throughout the book how the stories were going to intertwine, but I never would have guessed about Rose and Ben's relationship. I loved how Jamie and Ben's friendship grew throughout the story and how Jamie was included at the end. I think this book has little to no chance of winning the Newbery, though, because it wouldn't work without the pictures.




Rating: *****

On the Road to the Newbery 2012

I had an awesome Saturday!  I got to go participate in the Mock Newbery discussion at the Allen County Public Library.  I love this annual chance to talk about all the great books I have been reading.  Saturday's discussion was for adults, but they let me participate, which I think is great training for being on the real Newbery Committee (come on ALA).  You can read about the results of the Allen County Voting here.
I will be sharing my personal picks soon!

Breadcrumbs

I had the unusual experience of disusing this book with others when I was only 1/2 done with it. Because this book is written in two parts it is actually possible to talk about it in two parts.  I like the book as a whole, but if I had to pick my favorite is part 1.  I felt like part one had a combination of reality and fantasy that was really great.  Part 2 seemed to be more fantasy and I missed the reality.  Hazel's adventures saving Jack were fun to hear about, but it seems like it could never happen.  Also, there were some loose ends that were not tied up at the end. I would recommend this book to anyone, and I think that girls and boys could both enjoy it.  I don't think it will be this year's Newbery, but I look forward to reading more from  Anne Ursu

I Broke My Trunk!

First, who doesn't LOVE Mo Willems? He is GREAT and he co-hosts the Book Cart Drilll Team contest at ALA with Jon Scieszka which is one of the best things I have ever seen. Early reader picture books don't often win the Newbery, but the award is for books of children 0-14 so, they are in contention.  And don't forget that Frog and Toad was an Honor book.  I was excited to see this short story on many lists, and I am spending more time with picture books lately because I have two young cousins.  One challenge when thinking about this book in terms of character development is that it is part of a series, so most readers know Elephant Gerald and Piggy before they open the book.  I like this circle story, it was good fun and kids can connect to many parts of it.  I LOVE the illustrations,but there are all the challenges around the Newbery rules about illustrations and how they can be considered.  I LOVE that the story continues in the illustrations on the end pages.  I am not sure I would fight for this book to win the Newbery (you know they really should let me on the committee), but I do highly recommend it.

Rating:  *****

Flesh & Blood So Cheap

I was looking forward to reading this book because I really like history. My dad is a history teacher, and I sometimes read history text books for fun. I love historical fiction and I really like social justice.  You would think this would mean that I would LOVE this book, and the fact that it had made it onto some folks Newbery short list made me even more interested.  Despite all of this, I was not a big fan.  It took a LONG time to get into, and you didn't get connected to the personal story of the people impacted.  I am sure that I learned lots by reading it and I will connect parts of what I learned to other things, but I can't say this is anywhere close to my favorite.  I like to read some nonfiction when thinking about the Newbery, but this would not be on my list of contenders this year.  If a non fiction book should be considered I would pick Amelia Lost.

Rating:  **

The Aviary

Intriguing is the single best descriptive word for this novel.  This spooky mystery set in the turn of the century kept my interest and I could hardly put it down. Clara discovered the mystery of the Glendoveer children when she was "trapped" in her own house, the Glendoveer mansion. Clara met Daphne, and their forbidden friendship was an interesting twist on the friendship theme in many children's books. I think that this book has a fair chance of being the Newbery or an honor book, but I still like The Romeo and Juliet Code, we will all find out the winner soon. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys mysteries or historical fiction because this is a little bit of both.

Rating:  *****

The Emerald Atlas

Kate, Michael and Emma are three of the most interesting book characters I have ever read about, and I have read about lots of characters! This is one of the reasons I couldn't put this book down. Another reason is that their adventures are so interesting and don't seem to repeat anything I have read before. Also, the different settings (especially the different times) give a unique and interesting twist to the plot line. The only thing I dislike about this book is that the other two books in the trilogy weren't released at the time this one was, meaning I REALLY want know what happens!!!!! I think anyone could fall in love with The Emerald Atlas, so you need to go read it right now!!!!!!!!!!  I think the uniqueness of this story makes it a Newbery contender, I am not sure if it will seem like the level of literature that the committee will like.  What do you think?

The Trouble with May Amelia

Lots of people debate about sequels and the Newbery, because I am a giant fan of A Year Down Yonder, I am pretty open to the idea of a sequel winning.  It just needs to stand on its own.  I have not yet read, Our Only May Amelia, so i would say this book does stand on its own.  May Amelia lives with her father, mother and many older brothers. May's father believes that girls are useful for nothing more than being wives and mothers. May Amelia is having none of it. She is determined to convince her father that girls are just as good as boys. She is a complete feminist!!!!! May struggles to gain her father's respect but eventually it tears the family apart. The story of May and her family is truly inspiring. I recommend this book to every girl, middle school and up.




Rating: *****

Junonia

Which book will win the Newbery this year?  Maybe, the one that is good enough to read in a hospital bed!

This book is really well written. It has loads of similes and metaphors, but not so many that they distract the reader from the story. This story was a great one, so I was doubly glad to not be distracted. Alice wants her tenth birthday to be perfect, and it seems like it could be until things start going terribly wrong. The worst thing is that Aunt Kate is coming, but she is bringing along her boyfriend and 6-year-old Mallory. Alice doesn't want to share Kate (or anyone else, for that matter) with Mallory. Things go terribly wrong with Mallory and Alice's birthday is nothing like what she had imagined, but can it all work out? I recommend this book to EVERYONE, especially 10-year-old girls.

Rating: *****

The Penderwicks at Point Mouette

I said earlier that I would be reading another Penderwicks book, and here is the review. This book is on a lot of Mock Newbery lists and I think it has earned a spot on mine. I really liked hearing more about this interesting family. When I read that Skye was gonna be the OAP I knew something disastrous was bound to happen. I won't tell you what goes wrong, but it is almost everything. I think it is harder for books that are in the middle of a series to win the Newbery, but a few have. This book mentions things that could be better understood when you have read the first book, but it is possible to figure it out without reading the other two books. The one complaint I have about this book is that Rosalind isn't talked about much and she was my favorite of the sisters in the first book.

Rating: *****

War and Watermelon

You know I love historical fiction, which gave this book a head start for me liking it.  The title also helped. I LOVE watermelon, so much so that I won a watermelon eating contest when I was five.  This book combined a sports theme with a growing up story and set it all in the middle of giant historic events during a very interesting time in our history.  Brody's love of football made it a little hard for me to totally connect, but it might draw boys or sports lovers who don't already love historical fiction aspect of the story. I did like has watermelon tied the story together.

Rating:
***

Small Acts of Amazing Courage

I think that this book has a perfect title. India is fighting for it's freedom with lots of small acts of amazing courage, and so is Rosy's Aunt Louise. Rosalind gets into so much trouble along the way, but she was determined to help with her own small acts of amazing courage. My favorite small act of courage in this book was when Rosalind bought Nadi, but I also really liked when Aunt Louise got her own checkbook and started to think about what she really wanted for her life and how she would get there. The two characters I didn't like were Aunt Ethyl (she was so mean to Aunt Louise, like England was being to India) and Rosalind's mother. The reason I didn't like her was that she had absolutely no courage. She could have at least let Rosy stay in England after she had arrived, even if she wasn't courageous enough to send her there without Rosalind's father forcing her to. If so many people around you are showing so much courage, can't you show a little too? I really, really liked this book, and I recommend it to everyone. It is perfect way for each of us to think about the way we can act with amazing courage in our own lives.

Water Balloon

Marley's life is turned completely upside down over the summer. Nothing seems to be going her way. Her friends are not her friends any more (unfriends), she is living with her dad, not in a place she is willing to call home. Her grandma is sick and her mom is traveling and nothing is the way it used to be and she falls in love for the first time.  All of this makes for an interesting and engaging story, a perfect summer read, and I sqeezed it in right before Labor Day!  Even though this was a good book, nothing took it to the next level for me. I'm glad I read it and would be happy to read more by Audrey Vernick , but I don't think this book is not going to win an award.
Rating:
****

Clara Lee and the Apple Pie Dream

Clara Lee is a fairly basic little girl character with a fairly basic story: big dream, but she has to do something she doesn't like to have her dream come true, she does it, happily ever after, the end. This book did talk about culture and being an American, plus the relationship with the Grandpa was sweet, but neither of these things were dealt with in a powerful, new of amazingly interesting way.  I liked this book, but it didn't wow me. It was just a book I read to pass time, not life changing. I am absolutely positive this book has no chance of winning the Newbery.

Bless This Mouse

Lowis Lowry, 2 time Newbery winner, is an author who you always have to check on.  This year's new book by her is very different from her past winners, Giver and Number the Starts, but worth reading.  I read this book in just a few hours, but all of them were on airplanes.  We had to switch planes in Philadelphia on our way from DC to Minneapolis, and one of the flight attendants on the 1st plane told me that I had to finish the book before I got off the plane.  He was joking, but, coincidentally, I did finish it before we reached our destination for the day.  I think this is the sweetest chapter book I've ever read.  It was written in a way and about a topic that would suggest that it was a children's book (and could someone please explain to me why SO many children's books are mouse stories), but the length was that of a chapter book.  It was a nice break to read a cute, sweet mouse story instead of sad and tragic stories like I have read recently.  I don't think this will bring Ms Lowry a third Newbery winner, but it is worth reading and interesting to see how one author can write so many different kinds of books.

Rating:

****

Hound Dog True

Wow. This is a really interesting book. Custodial wisdom? Custodial apprentice? She really thinks she can do all the custodial things perfectly? Hound dog true?What does that even mean? By the time I read the first twenty pages I had all of these questions and many more. The plot was fairly basic: shy schoolgirl avoiding making friends, making a plan to do just that, the plan fails, she ends up making friends and it isn't so bad. But this book has a bit of a twist and I highly recommend it.



Rating: *****