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Newbery Review: ...And Now Miguel

...And Now Miguel by Joseph Krumgold won the Newbery Award in 1954. And much like the 1953 winner that I just reviewed it is a coming of age story about a young shepherd boy. Maybe shepherd boy stories were common in the 1950s.

Miguel comes from a family of shepherds and his greatest wish is to join his father, uncles, and older brothers in the mountain where they take their sheep to graze each summer. Throughout the book, Miguel struggles with what we have all gone through as adolescents--he is no longer content to be a kid but he is not yet old enough to join the adult world. He finds himself constantly in between, not one thing or another:

"Gabriel laughed because it was good and because it was so easy. That's the way it was with Gabriel. Everything that he wants he can get. With Pedro, it is the opposite. Everything he has is enough. Both of them, they are happy. But to be in between, not so little anymore and not yet nineteen years, to be me, Miguel, and to have a great wish--that is hard."

It's a wholesome story about a boy who loves his family and wants to find his place in it. I was surprised at the use of the word "jackass" in the book, but maybe it wasn't as offensive in 1954. In the end, Miguel learns to be careful what you wish (and pray to your patron saint) for.

Newbery Review: Secret of the Andes

Secret of the Andes by Ann Nolan Clark won the Newbery Award in 1953. It is the story of a young Incan boy who leaves his home in the high mountains to find himself, and to find his heart's desire--a family to belong to.

It was a simple story and a quick read. I think the author wanted to tell the story of a conquered people who are doing their best to pass on their traditions to their children as well as a story of family. But much to my surprise, I found a fairly modern theme within the pages of this book written more than 50 years ago. Cusi, the Incan boy, discovers that a family is not necessarily made up of the traditional father/mother/sister/brother formula. Your family is made up of the people who love you.

Newbery Goal Renewed

I'm going to buckle down and do it. I'm going to finish my goal to read all the Newbery Award winning books. I only have about a dozen left. And since I don't know where I'll be living six months from now, I want to take advantage of the Washington County Cooperative Library System while it's at my disposal. Some of the older Newbery winners are hard to find and I don't want to be held back by not being able to find a copy of a book.

Yes, I'm left only with books that look dreadfully boring. And yes, today I started reading a book about a boy whose best friend is his pet llama. But I shall persevere and be victorious.

Review: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

"They do surgery in the Capitol, to make people appear younger and thinner. In District 12, looking old is something of an achievement since so many people die early. You see an elderly person, you want to congratulate them on their longevity, ask the secret of survival. A plump person is envied because they aren't scraping by like the majority of us. But here it is different. Wrinkles aren't desirable. A round belly isn't a sign of success."

I've heard a lot of hype about The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, so I thought I'd give it a try. First of all, I'm just relieved to be reading a current YA fiction that's not about vampires. Yes, this book is dark, but it raises interesting questions about survival and humanity. And it puts a whole new twist on reality TV and the short story "The Most Dangerous Game."

It's difficult to to talk about this book without giving something about the plot away--and it's a plot driven book. So I'm just going to say that I enjoyed it. Once it got into the action, I had a hard time putting it down. It is violent and bloody, so keep that in mind before going into it, but it was a level of violence and blood that my sensitive stomach could handle. I'm glad I came late to this book, because the second book is already out so I don't have to wait for it. But I am going to have to wait for the third and final installment, which comes out this fall.

Review: The Book of Atrix Wolfe

"But unless Atrix could name what he fought, he would never defeat it, for he thought he fought only himself."

It's surprising that I've never read anything by Patricia McKillip because I devoured everything by Robin McKinley as an adolescent--and they're right next to each other on the shelf. I chose The Book of Atrix Wolfe based on the Author Read-Alikes section of my library's NoveList.

Before reading further, I want to say that I'm not not recommending this book--it might be just your thing. It just wasn't really my thing.

I enjoy what I call light fantasy--the stuff you can read without having to learn an entire new world and new language to understand. This book fell somewhere in the middle. It took me about fifty pages to connect all the different threads of the story, and I got lost on and off throughout the entire book.

One element of the writing was just straight up annoying. I'm an advocate of the simplest dialogue tags possible--"said" and "asked" are the only ones you really need. Anything more flowery is just a sign that the dialogue isn't strong enough on its own. And completely unforgivable: tagging dialogue in a way that interrupts the dialogue.

"What," Burne barked, "happened."

or

"Tell me," he said harshly, "what he recognized."

Even an untrained ear can hear how awkward that is. And those two examples came from the same page.

The book did have some redeeming qualities. It was entertaining enough for me to keep reading to the end. And it had some very beautiful imagery. It's a good book for lovers of fantasy.

I Love My Library

As a young girl we lived in a small town with a library no bigger than our living room. My mother raised six children, all of us avid readers. So she paid a yearly fee (no small sacrifice with our tight budget) to get a library card to a library in a city thirty minutes north of us. Every six weeks we travelled to the Orem Public Library where we were let loose to find enough books to last us till we could come again (a three week check out, plus one renewal). We stuffed our bags and staggered to the check out counter with our arms overflowing with treasures. At final count we would check out over one hundred books at a time.

In college I spent time studying in the college libraries, but they’re not exactly the kind of place where you want to browse and spend time looking at books. So I frequented the Provo City Library. When it moved to its new building, I wanted to live in it. I loved that library. My little sister used to work there and would check out and renew books for the family. (Thanks, Beccah!)

I moved to Portland with my husband on September 1, 2006. I came for grad school which didn’t start for three weeks. He took the car out every day to search for work. I knew no one, was too afraid of never making it back home if I took the bus by myself, and probably would have gotten terribly lost even if I’d had a car to go anywhere in. Every day I walked to two places: Blockbuster to check out the next disc of the latest season of Lost, and the Garden Home Community Library.

At the Garden Home Community Library, I used their Internet access, and checked out books, movies, and CDs. For a long time, it was my only connection to the outside world. I’ve lived within walking distance of it for three and a half years. It’s a small library, but part of the Washington County Cooperative Library System—which means I can check out any book from any of the larger libraries in Washington County, so I am not limited in my options. And it has the benefits of a small town library—the librarian knows our family and greets us all by name.

I love my library, as the only bumper sticker I’ve ever owned proudly proclaims. I hope you love and support your local library too.