Blogging the Newbery's

Thank goodness this book is short and 1/2 is pictures.  It is a fictional account of the Hun migration, sanitized and overwrought with symbolism and purposely lacking facts. Perhaps warrior-loving readers will enjoy it. I did find one emotional thread which was the suggestion that the most fearsom warrior, Attila the Hun's, cold and dominating leadership was born of complete absence of affection from the day of his birth when his mother died. CLASSROOM CONNECTION. Partner with the study of the Huns.

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The main character, Lucinda, reminds me of dear Anne of Green Gables, who is one of my all-time favorite fictional characters.  Lucinda is another of the spirited, mold-breaking frontierswomen that capture reader loyalty through unconventional behavior. She is a city girl, touring us through New York life in the 1890s. Classroom Connection.  I immediately thought of the study of American immigration, and the great melting pot of New York City.  Lucinda makes friends with a variety of people with varied ethnicity. It would be fun to guide a class in researching the various groups that inhabited New York at that time.  Perhaps host a cultural fair highlighting some things from each group that have become part of American culture.

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I read this pioneer girl story when I was a girl and remember liking it, but all the details were new again to me! Foremost, reading it begs a comparison to Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House books and I notice that several of those are on the Newbery list in honor book positions. Therefore, the prominent CLASSROOM CONNECTION I see is a comparison/contrast activity between the characters of Caddie and Laura. I can hardly keep myself from presenting those points here. The tender bonds with their fathers and their self-image as tomboys seem so similar. Both books are stongly based on a real person, but ficitonalized for interest...See, I could go on and on.  But Caddie has brothers and Laura only sisters, so there is variety in that detail.  On the last page Caddies observes that she has changed a lot in a year and she wonders "If folks keep growing from one person into another all their lives."  A CLASSROOM CONNECTION could be to write about how you have changed in one year. Include last year's school photo.

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Illustrated by Atanas Katchamakoff

Once again I am thankful for book clubs, book lists, award committees and other structures that lead me to pick up a book I certainly would have passed over on the shelf.  I'm not deeply fond of Dobry (the book), but I am grateful for the experience of reading about the unfamiliar customs of a Bulgarian village. I think young readers might find some unbelievable customs higlighted in this story that relies heavily on describing traditions and very lightly on plot. Chilly winter challenges, a massaging bear, and the surprising opposite world habit of  nodding their heads for no and shaking their heads for yes may entertain young readers. The art is unremarkable, except I would have liked to have seen more of the detailed head sketches of characters. CLASSROOM CONNECTIONS I definitely see grandparent and family tradition as the strong tie here. After discussing unfamiliar customs you could talk about seasonal traditions in our society.  Writing or drawing about family traditions would be a natural connection, especially if you can get them to identify unique family traditions.  This can lead to a discussion of how traditions form.  For example, our family always eats raw carrots at midnight on New Year's Eve.  When the kids were little, we decided together in a family discussion that champagne (a customary midnight tradition) was not a healthy choice.  So instead we searched the kitchen and found carrots! Now we always bring in a healthy New Year with a carrot toast.  I don't know anyone else who does this, because it is OUR tradition.  Bread is really important in this story, too, and plays into a number of their traditions.  Make fresh bread from frozen dough to nibble on one day during the read-aloud. Be sure to serve it warm! Food traditions could make for a great recipe book or class feast.

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The biography of Louisa May Alcott, author of Little Women, was so personal for me I hardly want to write about it here in a public blog. I suppose because I, like Louisa did, gravitate toward writing.  I understand the longing to create something and to toil over inventing the perfect story that might be loved by readers.  But the power with which Louisa attacked writing, and life actually, shames me. I write when I feel in the mood.  Louisa wrote to put food on the table and heat in the house. At times she wrote things which were not from her heart, but out of necessity for an income.  Louisa is now my "Just Do It" poster girl.  Her best writing came when she wrote honestly about her own life and the people with whom she shared that journey. It's a perfect title, Invincible Louisa, because Cornelia Meigs gives a detailed retelling of the stuggles of day to day living that the Alcotts navigated.  It seems that in the face of the impossible Louisa just kept on trudging toward survival and success. Now I want to reread Little Women. Classroom connection. Writing personal narratives would be a great tie-in with this biography. Louisa couldn't see why people were so interested in her stories about people at the hospital where she worked during the Civil War. Help students focus on the details that make their own everyday stories unique. OR write down favorite family stories.  The Alcotts loved to entertain one another with colorful retellings of events.  Help students recall and write down favorite stories their families tell when they gather. "The time you ..."

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Of course, I have fallen for the honorable youth,Young Fu. I think that coming of age stories are so emotionally connective, whatever the setting, because of the rapid changes the characters undergo.  The details may differ, but the core of the emotional experience is the same.  This story of a coppersmith's apprentice in Chungking contains all the exciting elements of peril, good and bad luck, bad decisions, foes and unpleasant cultural expectations, but it is offered in an optimistic, warm tone. Even the interactions with his mother, who is culturally bound to speak ill to him, are tempered with smiles, and hints of love and humor. What can you do in the classroom? Explore the word apprentice and find out what other kinds of trades an apprentice may have learned. Have a small trade fair in your classroom where students take tests to become apprentices by trying certain skills. (Weaving, breadmaking, pottery.)

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Waterless Mountain 1932 by Laura Adams Armer

I wasn't excited to read a coming of age story of a young Navajo boy.  I think I've mentioned before,  I'm an indoor girl.  I've always been disinterested in stories about life and lifestyles in the great outdoors, hunting, exploring.  And the dusty desert? Oh brother. Not my cup of tea. It took me a long time to get over the fact that the main character didn't have a name.  He was just called younger brother.  But I was able to finally let it go as I realized the main character in this story was much gentler than I expected. And, the reason he doesn't have a name is eventually explained.   He was wise beyond his years and told stories of the mystic ancestors.  Some of those stories appealed to me because they were filled with color. I remember most vividly, the one about turquoise woman.  I also liked that the family members all seemed tender with one another.  Although there were hardships in the book, they were tempered by a contented sense of optimism and faith.

One of the many ceremonies described in the story, sand painting, interested me.  I found this link to a fun online sand art experience http://www.artsology.com/sandpainting-game3.php

It's not very authentic, but it's a fun way to play with sand patterns without all the mess of actual sand.

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1931 The Cat Who Went to Heaven by Elizabeth Coatsworth

This short read seems to me a very brief introduction to Budda in the retelling of the Siddhartha story. It's been a number of years since I read Siddhartha, and the details are fuzzy, but I recognized some of the details.  Basically a painter is working on a masterpiece of Buddah and his cat companion appears each day to appraise. As short as it was, I couldn't wait to be done.  I thought it was dull to read section after section about which animal he was painting.  I'm sure if I took the time I might find some deeper meaning in what each animal represented, but, frankly, I'm not interested enough to do that.  The story ends with a miracle of compassion involving the cat, which felt quite Christian to me.  My knowldege of Buddhism is limited, so there is the great possibility I misinterpreted what happened. 

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1930 Hitty: Her First Hundred Years by Rachel Field

This was the book that piqued my interest in reading the Newbery Awards.

Hitty was a wonderful read.  At first I didn’t think a doll’s memories could keep my attention for 207 pages, I was wrong.  Hitty turned out to be a doll with historical adventures and a warm a loveable personality. At the end of the book I saw that the Author and Illustrator were two friends who actually purchased an antique doll and made up a history for her.  The doll resides in a library in MA, and there are a number of websites dedicated to Hitty replica dolls and fashions.

It surprises me that I had never read this book.  I was such a doll-lover as a girl.  I had my baby dolls and my fancy sit-on-the-shelf dolls.  A favorite story book was The Surprise Doll. It must sound ridiculous that for years I couldn’t remember the title but remembered the illustrations and the main plot. Eventually as I realized you could find everything on the internet, I did locate its title and now own a worn copy.

            But a caution.  When I was a teenager, I outgrew my dolls.  I carelessly purged them all to rummage sales, thinking I needed the cash for clothes and entertainment more than the dolls. All the Barbies, their camper and wonderful homemade clothes. Gone.  Baby Tenderlove, gone. Crissy with the extending hair that tangled maddenly, gone.  The tabletop doll in the flouncy pink hoopskirt purchased at a Swap meet on a California vacation, gone. Mom’s 1950’s Barbie-like doll, gone. I am so disappointed that I did this.  I would love to have them back. Esp. my Timey-Tell. My mother did try to talk me out of it. But, sadly, she let me make my own decision. I hope they went on to have wonderful adventures with their new owners as Hitty did.  This story makes me wonder, could any of them still be around after 30 years?  Hmmm.

            What struck me immediately when I began to read Hitty, was how similar it was to The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by the talented Kate DiCamillo.  This book was written more recently. Both characters went overboard a ship. And SPOILER ALERT, both characters have a type of reunion with their beginnings at the end of their story. It has been awhile since I read Edward, so I could be remembering wrong, but as I recall, his adventures involved more emotional involvement with his owners.  Hitty’s memoirs seemed more event-focused.  Where she went and what she saw.

            Related activites for this book would be to:

             Write more adventures from Hitty’s next 100 years and highlight historical events.

            Sewing or drawing clothing for her through the decades.

            Making and dressing clothespin dolls.

            Making a map of her travels in the book.

            Make a list of the significant historical things mentioned in the book.

            Create art of the various settings.  Paintings, dioramas or sculptures.     

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The Trumpeter of Krakow by Eric P. Kelly illustrated by Janina Domanska 1929

Finally!  A book with people characters and a plotline.  I'm thrilled. Yes. I remember that The Dark Frigate also met these standards. There's a teeny-tiny bit of Harry Potter echo in here with the introduction of an alchemist character and an apprentice of sorts who are dabbling in experiments to concoct the sorcerer's (philosopher's) stone in hopes of manufacturing gold.  I am approx. 1/2 way through and the main character's family seems to be in great danger.  

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