Newbery Award winning books & others by the author
The Newbery Award is given each year for the best in children’s literature. In the 2007 award winning book, The Higher Power of Lucky, Lucky is a girl who is not so lucky. Her mother is dead and her father doesn’t want to take care of her. He calls his former wife from France to become Lucky’s guardian. When she thinks her guardian is going to go back to France, she cooks up a scheme to keep her around. What Newbery Award winning books or authors have you read lately? Tell us about it.
November 16th, 2007 at 5:01 pm
Cracker the Best Dog in Vietnam by Cynthia Kadohata was a great book. Cracker is a German shepherd who loves her boy Willie. Unfortunately Willie’s dad lost his job and Cracker can’t stay in their new apartment. Willie’s parents give Cracker to the army for their scout dog program. There she meets Rick. At first, she wouldn’t do anything that Rick asked her to do but when she saw that Rick really loved her they became one of the best in their class. When they get to Vietnam it gets tense. Cracker can sense Rick’s moods and knows just what to do. She knows how to tell if there are booby traps, bombs, and even people hiding in the area. She and Rick save lots of lives. Will Rick get to keep Cracker when he leaves Vietnam? You have to read this amazing book to find out.
November 20th, 2007 at 8:42 am
Edward’s Eyes by Patricia MacLachlan is a book about a boy named Edward who loves baseball. His family is very close and they do lots of things together. Every day when the weather is good there is a baseball game on their back lawn. His mother has another baby and Edward names her Sabine. She loves Edward and he teaches her everything. When he suddenly dies no one knows what to do. How will Edward and his memory live on?
December 4th, 2007 at 6:55 pm
I don’t know if this book won a Newbery Award, but I am almost done with this book, called Return of the Indian. It is the sequel of Indian in the Cupboard. Return of the Indian is about a boy about 12 years old, and just moved to America, I think. He has a magic cupboard, but the magic is from the key. When he turns his Iriquois Indian, Little Bear, back to life, he had gotten shot by a French Soldier in the war. The bullets are in so far that he needs a surgery. So he gets a plastic figure from his best friend’s mean cousin’s collection. The best he manages is a nurse that helps surgeons. When she gets them out, Little Bear is back to his old bossy self. What other adventures does the boy have? Find out in the Return of the Indian!
December 10th, 2007 at 2:22 pm
I am reading a book about Anne Frank. It didn’t get an award for kids, but when the kids learn to read pretty hard words, they should really read this book. It is funny, but kind of hard to read. The book is, of course, about Anne Frank. In the beginning, Anne lives in a pretty big house. She goes to school every day, and she finds a friend, that’s a boy! Then, she starts hanging out with him a lot. Here is the major thing in the story! The war starts! Her family has to go live in her dad’s “Secret Annex”. She is very sad about that, but is also happy about getting to live a new life. Her family, and a couple others, like the Van Daans live in a Secret Annex above Anne’s father’s business area. When they get there, they are in a luxury. Then after a while, all the Van Daan’s money runs out. What will they do? Find out in The Diary of a Young Girl (Anne Frank)!
December 19th, 2007 at 2:44 pm
Pictures of Hollis Woods was a great book. It won a Newbery Honor medal in 2002. I saw the movie a few weeks ago and decided that I needed to read the book. It was about a girl named Hollis Woods who did not have a family. She was always getting into trouble everywhere she went. When she got sent to live with Josie she finally decided she might be happy. She got caught skipping school and was told she would have to leave if she didn’t shape up. She started to work very hard at school. Josie needed her because she kept forgetting little things. When the mustard woman finds out how forgetful Josie is, she tells Hollis she will have to go somewhere else. Hollis takes Josie and they run away to the only place she can think of, the Regan’s house, where she spent the summer. She loved all of them, but seemed to cause trouble with them too. When she thought she had hurt Steven, she ran away. Now she uses their summer house to hide in. Finally Steven finds her and they decide that she does belong with the Regan’s. This was a great book.
January 13th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
We’re reading Cracker with my class. There’s something in this book for everyone. I especially like the way the Cynthia Kadohata manages to show us what Cracker is thinking without making us think she’s human. I may have to hurry up and read to the end ahead of my class, because I can’t wait for them to get there. Excellent book!