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readallthenewberys2013-07-29 01:43 pm
justice_turtle) wrote in readallthenewberys2013-07-29 01:43 pm
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The 1929 Newberys Summary Post
I AM DONE WITH THE 1920s FOREVER. *whew*
...and for the first time ever, I've given five stars each to two books from the same year. Cool!
1929
* Clearing Weather by Cornelia Meigs got zero stars from me. It's the story of several upper-class young men saving their town's failing economy from an evil British sympathizer just after the American Revolution. I was most struck by the way that all the characters followed placidly along with whatever the narrator indicated was Good or Evil with her heavily loaded words. I gave it no stars because I couldn't come up with anything at all I thought praiseworthy about it.
* The Pigtail of Ah Lee Ben Loo by John Bennett got one out of five stars from me. It's an anthology of offensively racist "comical" short stories and poems originally published in a children's magazine. I was most struck by the way that really interesting premises went repeatedly overboard into WHAT DID I EVEN JUST READ and failed to deliver. I gave it one star for the illustrations, which were silhouettes made by the author and were really impressively detailed and lively, even when the subject matter was offensive.
* Runaway Papoose by Grace Moon also got one out of five stars. It's the very long story of a lost little Native girl in the Southwest U.S. area trying to find her family again. I was most struck by the hyper-simplified language, with sentences like "And fear thoughts cannot stay very long when smile feelings come."
I gave it one star for mentioning the historical kidnapping of Native children by government-sanctioned white people who forced them to attend White-run boarding schools and forget their culture.
* The Newbery Medal winner for 1929, The Trumpeter of Krakow by Eric P. Kelly, got two out of five stars from me. It's the story of a medieval Polish boy whose family keep a secret through great peril in order to save Poland from a threatened Tartar invasion. I was most struck on this re-reading by the large amount of ableism and dubiously accurate research that went right over my head during previous readings.
I gave it two stars because the plotting was complex, the use of descriptive language was superb, and because a named female character got to have a minor bit of agency in the plot, which is painfully rare in "Boys' Adventure" books. I docked it the other three stars for the ableism, racism, classism, and for the anachronistic pumpkin used as a major plot point.
* The Boy Who Was by Grace Taber Hallock got three of five stars from me. It's a tightly condensed history of the Naples, Italy area, told from the POV of an immortal teenage goatherd who lived the past 3,000 years in the area. I was most struck by the sheer density of the research the author must have done, and by how easily and lightly she conveyed all that information.
I docked it two stars for devolving, after a promisingly even-handed start, into repeated use of more and more loaded characterization to make readers sympathize with the "right" - which always seemed to be the whitest - side of any conflict.
* Tod of the Fens by Elinor Whitney got five of five stars from me. It's a wonderfully plotted, fantastically well-researched, perfectly-written adventure novel set in the late Plantagenet era and filled with accurate characterization and amazing banter. I was most struck by WHY DID I NEVER HEAR OF THIS BOOK BEFORE. ;-)
* Millions of Cats by Wanda Gág is the oldest American picture book still in print, FOR VERY GOOD REASONS. I gave it five of five stars. It's a picture book about a little old man who goes out to find a cat for his wife and winds up bringing back "Hundreds of cats, thousands of cats, millions and billions and trillions of cats". I was most struck by the perfect pairing of slightly-creepy fairytale tone with woodcut-style illustrations.
I honestly can't decide which of those last two books I'd award the Newbery Medal for 1929, if it were my choice! On the one hand, Millions of Cats is a perfect choice to win the medal named after the man who created The Little Pretty Pocket Book. On the other hand, Tod of the Fens should absolutely be up there with Island of the Blue Dolphins and The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler among Newbery Medal winners everyone's heard of. I... I may have to give these a shared Mock Newbery Medal.
Anyone out there have any votes on the matter? :D (You can read Tod of the Fens online for free, and any library in the US should have Millions of Cats, though I can't speak to other countries. Canadians, Brits, Australians - I'm curious now, do your local libraries stock Millions of Cats?)
...and for the first time ever, I've given five stars each to two books from the same year. Cool!
1929
* Clearing Weather by Cornelia Meigs got zero stars from me. It's the story of several upper-class young men saving their town's failing economy from an evil British sympathizer just after the American Revolution. I was most struck by the way that all the characters followed placidly along with whatever the narrator indicated was Good or Evil with her heavily loaded words. I gave it no stars because I couldn't come up with anything at all I thought praiseworthy about it.
* The Pigtail of Ah Lee Ben Loo by John Bennett got one out of five stars from me. It's an anthology of offensively racist "comical" short stories and poems originally published in a children's magazine. I was most struck by the way that really interesting premises went repeatedly overboard into WHAT DID I EVEN JUST READ and failed to deliver. I gave it one star for the illustrations, which were silhouettes made by the author and were really impressively detailed and lively, even when the subject matter was offensive.
* Runaway Papoose by Grace Moon also got one out of five stars. It's the very long story of a lost little Native girl in the Southwest U.S. area trying to find her family again. I was most struck by the hyper-simplified language, with sentences like "And fear thoughts cannot stay very long when smile feelings come."
I gave it one star for mentioning the historical kidnapping of Native children by government-sanctioned white people who forced them to attend White-run boarding schools and forget their culture.
* The Newbery Medal winner for 1929, The Trumpeter of Krakow by Eric P. Kelly, got two out of five stars from me. It's the story of a medieval Polish boy whose family keep a secret through great peril in order to save Poland from a threatened Tartar invasion. I was most struck on this re-reading by the large amount of ableism and dubiously accurate research that went right over my head during previous readings.
I gave it two stars because the plotting was complex, the use of descriptive language was superb, and because a named female character got to have a minor bit of agency in the plot, which is painfully rare in "Boys' Adventure" books. I docked it the other three stars for the ableism, racism, classism, and for the anachronistic pumpkin used as a major plot point.
* The Boy Who Was by Grace Taber Hallock got three of five stars from me. It's a tightly condensed history of the Naples, Italy area, told from the POV of an immortal teenage goatherd who lived the past 3,000 years in the area. I was most struck by the sheer density of the research the author must have done, and by how easily and lightly she conveyed all that information.
I docked it two stars for devolving, after a promisingly even-handed start, into repeated use of more and more loaded characterization to make readers sympathize with the "right" - which always seemed to be the whitest - side of any conflict.
* Tod of the Fens by Elinor Whitney got five of five stars from me. It's a wonderfully plotted, fantastically well-researched, perfectly-written adventure novel set in the late Plantagenet era and filled with accurate characterization and amazing banter. I was most struck by WHY DID I NEVER HEAR OF THIS BOOK BEFORE. ;-)
* Millions of Cats by Wanda Gág is the oldest American picture book still in print, FOR VERY GOOD REASONS. I gave it five of five stars. It's a picture book about a little old man who goes out to find a cat for his wife and winds up bringing back "Hundreds of cats, thousands of cats, millions and billions and trillions of cats". I was most struck by the perfect pairing of slightly-creepy fairytale tone with woodcut-style illustrations.
I honestly can't decide which of those last two books I'd award the Newbery Medal for 1929, if it were my choice! On the one hand, Millions of Cats is a perfect choice to win the medal named after the man who created The Little Pretty Pocket Book. On the other hand, Tod of the Fens should absolutely be up there with Island of the Blue Dolphins and The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler among Newbery Medal winners everyone's heard of. I... I may have to give these a shared Mock Newbery Medal.
Anyone out there have any votes on the matter? :D (You can read Tod of the Fens online for free, and any library in the US should have Millions of Cats, though I can't speak to other countries. Canadians, Brits, Australians - I'm curious now, do your local libraries stock Millions of Cats?)
no subject
Yes, but only one copy for the...*counts* eleven branches (and it isn't kept in my own branch).