Book Awards Reading Challenge

Wow, time flies!

Despite my best intentions, I didn't make it. Too many irons in the fire and all. I read two more books on my list for which I failed to write reviews, but even including those, fell short by one-third. I had great fun trying, though, and discovered some awesome books in the process. This has been a great challenge. Thanks! ;o)

By John Steinbeck © 1939
Published by Penguin Books Ltd.
1940 Pulitzer Prize Winner

Review posted at my blog, Needles and Pens.

By Earlene Fowler © 1999
Published by Penguin Books Ltd.
1999 Agatha Award Winner

Review posted at my blog, Needles and Pens.

Holes
By Louis Sachar © 1998
Published by Scholastic, Inc.
1999 Newbery Medal winner


Holes is the story of young Stanley Yelnats and a generations-old family curse. As the story opens, things look grim for Stanley. Convicted of a crime he did not commit, Stanley is sentenced to serve time at Camp Green Lake, a camp for bad boys.

“Stanley was not a bad kid. He was innocent of the crime for which he was convicted. He’d just been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“It was all because of his no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather!

“He smiled. It was a family joke. Whenever anything went wrong, they always blamed Stanley’s no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather…”

Camp Green Lake didn’t sound so bad. After all, Stanley had never been to camp before. But Stanley soon finds that, “there is no lake at Camp Green Lake.” Instead, there are endless stretches of desert, scorpions, rattlesnakes, and deadly yellow-spotted lizards. The Warden and camp staff are dangerous characters, as well, who oversee the boys, day in and day out, as they dig holes, each exactly five feet deep and five feet wide. The boys have no idea why they’re digging these holes. They’re told that digging holes builds character and turns bad boys into good boys. But before his time at Camp Green Lake is through, Stanley will uncover the real truth about the Warden, Camp Green Lake – and the Yelnats family curse.

Holes, by Louis Sachar, is definitely my favorite Newbery pick so far. It’s a smart, funny page-turner, has wonderful characters, a story line with lots of ups and downs, and a karmic happy ending. A great read!

Bridge to Terabithia
By Katherine Paterson © 1977
Published by HarperCollins
1978 Newbery Medal winner

As one of the few who had never read the book OR seen the movie, reading Bridge to Terabithia, by Katherine Paterson, was not what I had expected. I had seen the movie trailers with the fantasy monsters and the children in historical garb, so I assumed it was a fantasy story. Actually, it’s a real-life story about two kids with fantastic imaginations.

Jess Aarons has a hard time fitting in. He’s the only boy in his family, stuck between four sisters. He desperately wants his parents’ acceptance, but never quite seems to measure up. He has a talent for art, which is considered a waste of time by his rural farm family. Deep down, he’d really like to make his father proud, and as the story begins, Jess has big plans to be the fastest runner in the fifth grade. He spends his whole summer training for the race on that first day back at school, imagining all the while how it would feel when he won.

"Maybe Dad would be so proud he'd forget all about how tired he was from the long drive back and forth to Washington and the digging and hauling all day. He would get right down on the floor and wrestle, the way they used to. Old Dad would be surprised at how strong he'd gotten in the last couple of years."

But there’s a new kid in town, a girl, named Leslie Burke. Leslie is different from all the other girls at Jess’ school. She comes from the city, she dresses differently, she doesn’t even play with the other girls at recess, but instead dares the boys to let her race.

And she wins.

Even so, Jess and Leslie become the best of friends. Leslie introduces Jess to the wonders of imagination, as they create their very own secret place in the woods, the kingdom of Terabithia, where they reign together as king and queen. In Terabithia, their real-life problems become monsters to be defeated, and Jess and Leslie gain strength from their imagined battles. In this way, they help each other through the typical struggles of fifth-grade life, and become as close as two friends can be.

But the story ends in tragedy, adding further to the impact that Leslie has on Jess’ life.

Bridge to Terabithia is incredibly well written, the ending is extremely touching (make sure you have plenty of tissues if you read it) but it was a bit of a downer for me. With all the magic in the kingdom of Terabithia, I had hoped for a little more “happily ever after.”

(Also posted at my blog, Needles and Pens.)

Walk Two Moons
By Sharon Creech © 1994
Published by Scholastic Inc.
1995 Newbery Medal winner


Walk Two Moons is the story of 13-year-old Salamanca Tree Hiddle (most people call her “Sal”) and her trip across the country, from Ohio to Idaho, with her Gram and Gramps. But this is no ordinary vacation. Sal’s mother has gone to “find herself,” and Sal hopes to bring her back home. Her biggest worry is that they won’t get there in time for her mother’s birthday. Somehow, she feels that will make a difference.

Along the way, Gram asks Sal to tell a story.

“Salamanca, why don’t you entertain us?”

“What sort of thing did you have in mind?”

Gramps said, “How about a story? Spin us a yarn.”

I certainly do know heaps of stories, but I learned most of them from Gramps. Gram suggested I tell one about my mother. That I could not do. I had just reached the point where I could stop thinking about her every minute of every day.

Gramps said, “Well then, what about your friends? You got any tales to tell about them?”

Instantly, Phoebe Winterbottom came to mind. There was certainly a hog’s belly full of things to tell about her. “I could tell you an extensively strange story,” I warned.

“Oh, good!” Gram said. “Delicious!”

Some time after Sal’s mother left, her father decided – against Sal’s wishes – to rent out the family farm in Kentucky and move to Ohio. There, she befriended Phoebe Winterbottom, and it was Phoebe’s story that she told to Gram and Gramps – a strange story about Phoebe’s mother, her suspicious next-door neighbor, and “the lunatic.”

Throughout the telling of Phoebe’s story, Sal tells us bits of her own story, and as the miles roll by, we come to know Sal’s deepest thoughts, dreams and fears. Walk Two Moons cleverly delves into the complexities of relationships, between friends, spouses, parent and child, boy and girl, humans and their environment, all with the underlying theme of, “don’t judge a man until you’ve walked two moons in his moccasins.”

Sharon Creech has done a wonderful job of characterization in this book. The characters are fun and believable, each with their own human foibles and strengths. From the delightfully mischievous (and deeply in love) Gram and Gramps, to the sensitive soul that is Sal, to Phoebe Winterbottom, with her overactive imagination and drama-queen tendencies, by the end of the book you know and care about each one.

Walk Two Moons had me hooked from page one. I laughed, cried, and fell in love with the characters. Though written for children, I recommend it for readers of all ages, middle grade to adult. A great read, in just 280 pages!

The Tale of Despereaux:
Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread

By Kate DiCamillo
Illustrated by Timothy Basil Ering
First edition 2003 published by Candlewick Press


Thanks to a wonderful fourth grade teacher who reads this book aloud to her class each year, The Tale of Despereaux is a favorite of my two youngest children. It made my daughter’s birthday wish list three years ago, and recently my son joined in the chorus of, “Mom, you HAVE to read Despereaux!”

Finally, I have.

Despereaux is the youngest in the Tilling family, a disappointingly small, weak, sickly mouse, born – much to his family’s dismay – with his eyes open.

“This is the last,” proclaimed Antoinette from her bed. “I will have no more mice babies. They are hard on my beauty. They ruin, for me, my looks. This is the last one. No more.”

“The last one,” said the father. “And he’ll be dead soon. He can’t live. Not with his eyes open like that.”

But reader, he did live.

This is his story.

As he grows, Despereaux never quite fits in with the rest of the castle’s mouse community, refusing to search for crumbs and chew on books like a regular mouse, but choosing instead to savor the beauty in music and fairy tales. Left to pursue this very un-mouselike behavior, Despereaux eventually discovers – and falls in love with – the Princess Pea. And there, his adventure begins.

Despereaux’s tale includes an interesting cast of characters; King Phillip and Princess Pea, a judgmental community of mice, Gregory the jailer, Chiaroscuro the rat, Miggery Sow, the abandoned and abused servant girl. Each has his own life experiences and resulting ambitions, bringing Despereaux to his ultimate challenge. The story is a tale of good and evil, lightness and dark, with underlying themes of empathy, courage, love, forgiveness and the acceptance of differences.

With a storyteller’s narrative style, the author addresses the reader directly throughout the story, contemplating the deeper ideas within the tale. This unique narration, paired with short, concise chapters, makes The Tale of Despereaux a perfect read-aloud story. And one that is hard to put down.

Despereaux learns many lessons in his quest for love and “once upon a time,” lessons of bravery and courtesy, honor and devotion. He learns that even a small mouse can be a knight in shining armor. And in the darkness of the castle dungeon, he learns that “stories are light.”

If this is so, reader, then The Tale of Despereaux shines brightly.