Skip to main content

Favorite Newbery Winners

I wasn't planning on doing a My Favorite Things post this week, but when given inspiration for a perfect topic I will take it. Plus I'm sick this week. Really sick. Going to bed at 8 every night sick. Not much reading has been happening and I'm running out of stockpiled reviews to post. So this was excellent timing. (I now have antibiotics and will hopefully be pulling out of this funk soon.)

In that article I linked to up there Jonathan at Heavy Medal makes some very interesting points. I like the points he is making and agree with them. I like the little exercise he provided for everyone more and that is what I'm running with, and for the purposes of this post will play by his rules (mostly). Meaning I will stick to the last 50 years of Newbery Winners. For the purposes of full disclosure I have only read 30 of the 50 titles.

Here are my Top 4 Picks (because I couldn't decide on which book to give the #5 slot) :

 Rounding out the Top 10 I would choose: From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, The High King, Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry, The View From Saturday, The Tale of Despereaux, The Graveyard Book

Here is where I blaze my own trail. Let's see how adding in the Honor books, still only looking at the last 50 years, shakes things up. Here are the top contenders (this time there are 5):



Adding the Honors changes the remaining Top 10 to:  From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, The High King, Walk Two Moons, The View From Saturday, The Wednesday Wars, The Graveyard Book

That was a lot harder than I originally thought it would be. What are your top choices? Complete list of winners can be found here.

Comments

Wendy said…
I want to know which winner it is that you hate so much!
Brandy said…
Wendy, I see you saw my comment at HM too. :)

That winner would be the Hero and the Crown.

And if you want to know why, I'm more than happy to rant:
I felt the pacing was off and the character development less than stellar. Then I had to blink at the whole time travel element which I don't think was necessary. But the book nearly went air born when the Mage guy (Luthe-right? See I tried to block his name) delivered what has to be one of the cheesiest lines man ever came up with to get a girl in his bed and the heroine swooned at his feet. So much for girl power. Then they traveled at a less than fast pace to the battle so they could enjoy their sexy times. No big deal, people were only dying there. Then at the end Aerin is basically thinking "thank goodness the supernatural immortal part of me is pretty much asleep so later on I might not have to remember the torture of this dull life with this man who adores me and sacrificed so much for me and I can go back to enjoying the sexy times with the hot magic man." I was thoroughly disgusted. She was just as selfish and self centered at the end as she was at the beginning. What was the point????
April said…
Not as hard for me because I've only read about 1/3 of them.

1. A Wrinkle In Time
2. Holes
3. Jacob Have I Loved
4. The Graveyard Book

I also do not have 5! I haven't yet read The Westing Game and Walk Two Moons...WTM is coming up soon though.
Brandy said…
Oh April both are so good. But I don't know how reading WTM while pregnant will go for you. Mmmmm...maybe you should wait. (Makes mental note to tell you this next time we talk.)

Popular posts from this blog

Serafina and the Black Cloak

Serafina and the Black Cloak  by Robert Beatty is a thrilling tale of mystery and adventure set at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC in 1899. Having lived in Asheville and visited the house several times, there was no way I was going to pass up a chance to read this. (Also it's MG fantasy, always a bonus for me.) Serafina lives in secret in the basement of the Vanderbilt's spacious vacation home. She has lived there most of her life. Her father worked on the house as it was being built and is the mechanic who runs the massive generator and keeps the electricity going. Serafina is the chief rat catcher, slipping through the halls of her massive home secretly and quietly. She is light on her feet, sees well in the dark, and is quick enough to catch the vermin and keep them out. Serafina knows she if different and strange. Her father insists she stay hidden. But all that changes when one night Serafina witnesses a horrible crime. A little girl, a guest in the house, is fleein

Shorter Musings MG Fantasy

Here are some shorter musings on recent MG fantasy reads. Anya and the Dragon   by Sofiya Pasternack This book is fun. It is a book full of adventure, an obvious bad guy, some more complicated morally gray area characters, and a strong, brave heroine. It is also a book about friendships, community, and fighting for what is right. All things that usually work for me really well. While I enjoyed this, I did feel it was a little overlong and there were certain plot points at the end I didn't love. However, there were things I thought were done really well, such as Anya's Jewish faith and the idea that power needs to be challenged. In the end it was a middle of the road read for me, but it is one I will certainly be recommending to dragon and fantasy adventure lovers I know! R is for Rebel   by J. Anderson Coats This is tough because I usually really like Coats's books. I had such a hard time with this one though on so many levels. It's difficult to get into because t

Favorite Kissing Scenes

When thinking of a favorite things post I could do for February I decided it would have to be kissing. I've already done couples and I was feeling in the mood to do something fluffy and Valentine's related. So kisses it is. I read more MG than YA, and the YA I read tends to not focus on romance so this was actually harder than I expected it to be though a few jumped into my head right away. (And one of my choices does actually come from a MG book. One is adult. Gasp!) The actual scene from the book is quoted followed by my thoughts. The king lifted a hand to her cheek and kissed her. It was not a kiss between strangers, not even a kiss between a bride and a groom. It was a kiss between a man and his wife, and when it was over, the king closed his eyes and rested his forehead against the hollow of the queen's shoulder, like a man seeking respite, like a man reaching home at the end of the day . - The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner Turner doesn't write the

Shadowshaper

Shadowshaper  by Daniel José Older is everywhere. Best of lists. Award buzz. Blogs everywhere. It's one of those books everyone is reading and talking about. I had it on my TBR but decided I definitely needed to read it before the year was out just so I could weigh in on one of the most talked about books of 2015 if asked. It is deserving of every good thing said about it. Every. One. Sierra was looking forward to a relaxing summer break. Her plans involved hanging out with her friends and painting. They did not involve being chased by zombie like creatures and threatened by a magical power connected to her family's heritage she has never heard of. When murals begin fading all over her Brooklyn neighborhood, Sierra is perplexed. When her grandfather, who had a stroke, begins to apologize and starts repeating strange phases and insisting Sierra get the help of a boy she barely knows to help her finish her mural, Sierra is concerned but mostly about her grandfather. Then at a

The Field Guide to the North American Teeanager

The Field Guide to the North American Teenager by Ben Philippe is a book I picked up on a whim at the bookstore when it first came out. I liked the cover. I thought it had an engaging premise. I went into it with a healthy does of trepidation because the execution could have gone so terribly wrong. Fortunately, Philippe is an excellent character writer, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time spent reading about Norris's adventures in Texas and high school. High school junior Norris Kaplan's life is ruined by his mother when she takes a job that requires them to leave the only home he has ever known in Montreal, Quebec. Moving is always hard, but Norris knows for him it will be harder than it's ever been for anyone else. Norris is moving to Texas. He will be a Canadian living in Texas. Not just a Canadian. A French Canadian who speaks fluent French. And not just your average run-of-the-mill French Canadian. A black son of Haitian immigrant parents French Canadian. If Norris has