Newbery News

The 2011 Newbery Medal winner and the four honor winners have been announced. Of special interest to me is the fact that the winner and three of the four honor books are historical fiction:

2011 Newbery Medal Winner

Moon Over Manifest

by Clare Vanderpool
Twelve-year-old Abilene Tucker is the daughter of a drifter who, in the summer of 1936, sends her to stay with an old friend in Manifest, Kansas, where he grew up, and where she hopes to find out some things about his past.

Ages 9-12



2011 Newbery Honors

Heart of a Samurai 
by Margi Preus
In 1841, rescued by an American whaler after a terrible shipwreck leaves him and his four companions castaways on a remote island, fourteen-year-old Manjiro, who dreams of becoming a samurai, learns new laws and customs as he becomes the first Japanese person to set foot in the United States.

Ages 12 and up

Manjiro’s life story is f a s c i n a t i n g. I reviewed another book about him here.

One Crazy Summer
By Rita Williams-Garcia

In the summer of 1968, after traveling from Brooklyn to Oakland, California, to spend a month with the mother they barely know, eleven-year-old Delphine and her two younger sisters arrive to a cold welcome as they discover that their mother, a dedicated poet and printer, is resentful of the intrusion of their visit and wants them to attend a nearby Black Panther summer camp.

Ages 9-12

I noticed over at The Fourth Musketeer that this author is so committed to literature for young people that she offers her own short story contest to encourage and reward young people's writing. Open to kids from 12-19, the winner receives a check for $100, a certificate, and a personal critique by Rita Williams-Garcia!

Turtle in Paradise
By Jennifer L. Holm

In 1935, when her mother gets a job housekeeping for a woman who does not like children, eleven-year-old Turtle is sent to stay with relatives she has never met in far away Key West, Florida.

Ages 9-12

The other Newbery Honor book this year is Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night by Joyce Sidman. It is a collection of twelve poems that celebrate the wonder, mystery, and danger of the night and describes the many things that hide in the dark.

The Newberry Medal is awarded to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children as decided by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association. Given since 1922, it is named after John Newbery, an eighteenth-century English publisher of children’s books. It was the first children’s literary award in the world.

BEACH WEEK - Fossil Finder

TITLE: Mary Anning and the Sea Dragon

AUTHOR: Jennine Atkins

WHO WAS AT THE BEACH? Mary Anning, paleontologist extraordinaire, before paleontology was cool (or even actually thought of).

WHAT BEACH AND WHEN? In Lyme Regis, England in 1810, eleven year old Mary Anning made an amazing discovery!

WHAT HAPPENED? Mary was born to a struggling family. Her father was a cabinetmaker by trade, but collected fossils from the cliffs on the beach to sell to tourists. Mary was his frequent companion in this endeavor. Then when she was eleven he died, leaving the Annings even more destitute. Mary continued hunting for “curiousities” to help provide for her family. Soon after her father’s death she was the first person to ever uncover an ichthyosaur.  She went on to make other important discoveries, most notably the first plesiosaur.

An inspiring tale of an amazing individual. I highly recommend this book.

Ages 9-12
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Activity: Mary was uncovering fossils from the Jurassic period. Can you match the picture of the Jurassic creature with it’s name?

Bad News for Outlaws

Everything about Bass Reeves was big: his shoulders, his hands, his hat, his horse, his mustache and his reputation for being a sure shot. But the biggest thing about him was his character. Vaunda Micheaux Nelson does an exemplary job of introducing this Texas born slave turned free man who fought for justice. In Bad News for Outlaws: The Remarkable Life of Bass Reeves, Deputy U. S. Marshal, she chronicles how Reeves went about outwitting outlaws from 1875 to 1907. In that time he brought in over 3,000 bad guys, sometimes as many as 17 at once! Sadly, his own son was one of those 3,000. The tone of the telling puts you in an old west frame of mind and the illustrations are as right as rain. It was fun to find this forgotten hero. 

Ages: 9-12

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Activity: You may be wondering, what do U.S. Marshals do? They apprehend more than half of all federal fugitives, protect the federal judiciary, operate the Witness Security Program, transport federal prisoners, conduct body searches, enforce court orders and Attorney General orders involving civil disturbances and acts of terrorism, execute civil and criminal processes, and seize property acquired by criminals through illegal activities. 

Are you interested in becoming a U. S Marshal like Bass Reeves? Today you would have to meet these qualifications: be a U.S. citizen between the ages of 21 and 36, have a bachelor’s degree or three years of qualifying experience, have a good driving record and valid driver's license, complete a structured interview, meet medical qualifications, undergo a rigorous 17 1/2 week basic training program and be in excellent physical condition. Here are links to the fitness standards for men and the fitness standards for women. Can you do 33 push-ups, 40 sit-ups and run a mile and a half in 12:18? If so, you may well be on your way to being a U. S. Marshall. You can look here for more information.

A Spanish American War Hero

Papa Tells Chita a Story is probably the only Spanish American War picture book in existence. In it, a black American shares a tall tale with his daughter about how he delivered a secret message to troops on the other side of Cuba. Some of his story is not true (GIANT snakes, and alligators and eagles, oh my!) but he does have a beautiful medal, so some of his story must be true.

This book is based on the story that Harry S. McCard, who had enlisted to earn money to go to medical school, told his real life daughter, Chita. After the war he became one of Baltimore’s first black doctors. I love how a photograph of this father and daughter is included in the back of the book.

Ages 4-8
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Activity: Earn your own medal. After you read a book, ride your bike without training wheels, go without television for a week, swim across the pool, eat all your vegetables or learn to tie your shoe, you’ll deserve a medal! Print these then cut them out, (I recommend glueing them to poster board and glueing the second gold page to the back before you cut them out) add a hole (I used a hole punch) for a ribbon and wear proudly! Be sure to write the date of your historic event on the back of your medal.

When Will This Cruel War End?

How would it feel to have your brother, your father and your boyfriend away at war? What would it be like having bands of the enemy army roaming through your property and taking your food supplies? How would you deal with being sequestered to the upper level of your home while enduring the noise and inconvenience of enemy officers using your home’s main floor as their headquarters?

The fictitious Emma addresses all this and more in When Will This Cruel War Be Over?: The Civil War Diary of Emma Simpson, Gordonsville, Virginia, 1864. She reflects at times on her old life with it’s new pretty dresses and fine carriage rides but mostly writes about her current state of affairs, including what she is reading, news about the neighbors, who is sick, how difficult her cousin is being, her visits to the stable, the demise of her home and the arrival of letters from her boyfriend and her father. On Wednesday, November 23, 1864 part of her entry states, “At times I feel like I am a thousand years old—that is what this cruel war has done to me.”

What an excellent choice for entertaining reading that offers insight into the Civil War through confederate eyes. This is one of the many titles offered in the Dear America series. I reviewed another one, Across the Wide and Lonesome Prairie: The Oregon Trail Diary of Hattie Campbell, here.

Ages 9 and up
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Activity: Tea and biscuits with apple butter may have been a typical breakfast for Emma. Use this recipe to make your own apple butter.

Learning to Read While Learning History

This is what I was reading in 1st grade:

Given the choice, I would rather have been reading this:

Today we are bombarded with more choices than ever, whether we are in the shoe store, on the car lot or in the cereal aisle. In my day everyone was wearing saddle shoes, driving station wagons, eating Wheaties for breakfast and, of course, learning to read with Dick and Jane. Well, happily, that whole variety of options thing has carried over to beginning readers! Step Into Reading offers a batch of entertaining and educational titles on five levels. Step 1: ready to read (preschool to kindergarten), Step 2: reading with help (preschool to 1st grade), Step 3: reading on your own (1st to 3rd grade), Step 4: reading paragraphs (2nd to 3rd grade), Step 5: reading chapters (2nd to 4th grade).

Step 3 is a collection of over seventy books about nature, action heroes, princesses, witches, folk tales and familiar characters like Arthur. And I'm drooling over all the history titles available at this beginning reader level. Here they are:

• Abe Lincoln's Hat
• Babe Ruth Saves Baseball!
• Barack Obama: Out of Many, One
• The Bravest Dog Ever: The True Story of Balto (my review)
• Christopher Columbus
• Dinosaur Days
• Eat My Dust! Henry Ford's First Race
• The First Thanksgiving
• George Washington and the General's Dog (my review)
• The Great Tulip Trade
• Johnny Appleseed: My Story
• Lewis and Clark: A Prairie Dog for the President
• Listen Up!: Alexander Graham Bell’s Talking Machine
• Man O'War: Best Racehorse Ever
• The True Story of Pocahontas
  
• Paul Revere's Ride
  
  

UNCHARTED TERRITORY WEEK: Dr. David Livingstone

TITLE: The Story of David Livingstone

AUTHOR: Vautier Golding

WHAT TERRITORY WAS EXPLORED AND WHEN? From the mid 1840’s until his death in 1873 David Livingstone explored the unmapped interior of Africa. He searched for the source of the Nile and Congo Rivers and was the first European to see Mosi-oa-Tunya Waterfall, which he renamed Victoria Falls.

WHO DID THE EXPLORING? David Livingstone was born to a struggling Scottish family and worked long hours in a cotton mill beginning at the age of ten. He was an avid reader with a deep interest in nature, science and theology. By sheer determination he was able to study medicine and partake in missionary training. He longed to be a missionary in China but because of a war there he was sent to South Africa instead. Upon finding South Africa humming with missionaries he decided to go into the untapped interior of Africa for potential converts. 

HOW WAS THE TRIP? He dealt with numerous encounters with wild animals, including attacks by a lion and a rhinoceros. Livingstone also endured drought, fever and transportation hardships. The deadly tsetse-fly feasted upon many of his beasts of burden, once killing his entire team of oxen within moments while they were pulling his wagon. Dehydration was a threat on a Kalahari Desert expedition while a leaky boat was a constant irritation on his Zamesi River expedition. He was witness to the evils of the slave trade with natives being bought or captured by the Portuguese and the Arabs. He would befriend a tribe of Africans and upon returning to their village years later find it decimated and empty, cleaned out and burned down by slavers. He once witnessed this very atrocity first hand.

WHAT WAS GAINED? When back in England, Livingstone wrote and lectured on the horrors he witnessed in relation to slavery. He awakened in his countrymen and others around the world a desire to put an end to this wicked activity. He advocated trade of natural resources along Central Africa’s natural commercial highway, the Zamesi River, as a replacement to slavery. He helped countless natives with his medical skills and other know-how, teaching them how to irrigate for instance. He mapped central Africa and opened it up for settlement. But most of all he was a good and kind influence. He was not sent to Africa “to get ivory and gold and slaves but to give a good message of wisdom, and to set men free.” 

First published over a century ago, this books describes Livingstone as having a wonderful gift for finding his way into the hearts of men.

Ages 9-12
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Activity: I’ll bet Dr. Livingstone would rock at this game! Test your African geographic knowledge here.

UNCHARTED TERRITORY WEEK: Lewis and Clark

TITLE: The Great Expedition of Lewis and Clark: by Private Reubin Field, Member of the Corps of Discovery

AUTHOR: Judith Edwards

WHAT TERRITORY WAS EXPLORED AND WHEN? In 1803 President Thomas Jefferson paid 15 million dollars to France for a vast tract of land between the Mississippi River and the Continental Divide. Little was known about the contents of this Louisiana Purchase. Jefferson commissioned the Corps of Discovery to explore from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean, following the Missouri River. This journey took place from 1804 to 1806.

WHO DID THE EXPLORING? A party of 33 individuals headed by Meriwether Lewis, a U.S. Army Captain and personal friend of the president’s, and William Clark, who also served in the U. S. Army. This book is written from the perspective of Reubin Field, who was a young Kentucky farmer. When word got out that able woodsmen and hunters were needed to make the trip and would be compensated with land, men like Reubin applied for the expedition. A French trader, Toussaint Charonneau, and his young wife, Sacagawea, joined the expedition as interpreters, along with their brand new baby son that came to be called little Pomp.

HOW WAS THE TRIP? They traveled as much as they could by their keelboat and then canoes. When they couldn’t float they walked, wearing out scores of moccasins. The group encountered many native tribes, most of which were friendly, but some were not. They dealt with hoards of mosquitoes, a stampeding buffalo in their camp, an aggressive grizzly bear and considerable difficulty crossing the mountains.

WHAT WAS GAINED? Data was collected on previously unknown species of mammals, birds and plants and about available resources, especially in regard to the all important fur trade. Knowledge was gained about the tribes living in this area. This expedition ruled out the hope that there was a water route to the Pacific and provided other geographic details. This undertaking also opened the door for westward expansion.

A few years ago the 200th anniversary of this historical event was celebrated, and a slew of great books on this subject were published. I haven’t had a chance to read them all, but am amazed at the variety offered from different points of view, including:

Sacagawea: They Call Me Sacagawea and I Am Sacajawea, I Am York: Our Journey West with Lewis and Clark

York, Clark’s slave: York's Adventures with Lewis and Clark: An African-American's Part in the Great Expedition and I Am Sacajawea, I Am York: Our Journey West with Lewis and Clark

Seaman, Lewis’s dog: Seaman's Journal: On the Trail With Lewis and Clark, The Captain's Dog: My Journey with the Lewis and Clark Tribe, Lewis and Clark and Me: A Dog's Tale and Seaman: The Dog Who Explored the West With Lewis and Clark

Lewis and Clark: How We Crossed The West: The Adventures Of Lewis And Clark, Lewis and Clark (In Their Own Words) and Off the Map: The Journals of Lewis and Clark

Natural History: Animals on the Trail with Lewis and Clark and  Plants on the Trail with Lewis and Clark

Native Americans: Bad River Boys: A Meeting of the Lakota Sioux with Lewis and Clark

Ages 6-9
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Activity: Here's a Lewis and Clark National Geographic Interactive Game.