The House of Sixty Fathers

The House of Sixty Fathers by Meindert DeJong

1957 Newbery Honor Book

I loved this book! It is based on a real life experience of the author from his time as a soldier during World War II. This is the first book I've read by this author, but I'm excited to see that he has FIVE books on the Newbery list, so I'm excited to find the rest! 

The story follows a small boy, Tien Pao, lviing in China during the Japanese occupation during Word War II.  Tien Pao's village was burned and his family managed to escape and traveled up river to the city of Hengyang.  Then, left alone on their sanpan while his parents went to work, the boat comes loose of it's mouring and Tien Pas is swept down the river and into Japanese territory. 


Together with his pig (yes, his PIG!) he travels on foot through the mountainous country of occupied territory, survives on what he can find, narrowly avoids capture and gun fire, and is actually starving by the time he finds real help. Which he does find. And the story ends, against all odds,  very happily. 


This is an action packed story set in a brutal war time and there is much tension, some violence, and a lot of courage and struggle in Tien Paos' journey. I found myself telling it (in my own words not reading it) to my children in installments as I read the book, and they were mesmerized. It's a compelling story; the kind you don't want to put down. It's my next read aloud pick for my 10 year old son, who likes a story with plenty of action and excitement. 


NOTE 1/16/2012: Jabu (the 10 year old son) and I are half way through and he is loving it! 

One Crazy Summer

One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia

2011 Coretta Scott King Award Winner

2011 Newbery Honor Book

2011 Scott O’Dell Prize for Historical Fiction

2010 National Book Award Finalist

Delphine is the oldest of three sisters at eleven years old. Dephine, and her younger sisters Vonetta and Fern travel from Brooklyn, where they live with their Pa and "Big Ma" (his mother) to Oakland CA during the summer of 1968. The girls have been sent to meet their mother, Cecile, who left them immediately after Ferns birth, and isn't exactly "motherly." Cecile has changed her name to Nzilla, is a poet with a small printing press in her kitchen, and is involved with the Black Power movement. The girls spend their summer going to Black Panther summer camp where they get a free breakfast, learn the meaning of revolution, make friends with the children of freedom fighters who's parents gave their lives in the struggle or are imprisoned. It's a long way from Brooklyn and Pa and Big Ma. Cecile seems distinctly NOT glad to see them, and Delphine steps up to look out for her sisters the best she can. 

You will love these three girls. Several other characters are also memorable. The window into that time and place and movement is very satisfying. The intensity of Cecile/Nzilla and the mother she isn't is very compelling. Near the end of the book the girls take place in a rally that leaves them empowered. But the real culmination of the story happens the night before they leave when Cecile and Delphine have a heated discussion where Delphine finally learns her mothers life, and in the last moment before they step on the plane, to go home. 

I like this book! I could totally recommend it. Middle school and up. There are complex issues and scenes of arrests, stories about black panthers who were killed in episodes of police brutality, etc. So, I'd consider it ideal for adults and young people to read together as it would be a rich jumping off place for lots of worthy discussion! 

I feel the quote on the back of the book by Linda Sue Park (Newbery Medal author for her book The Single Shard) summed it up well: "One Crazy Summer is a genuine rarity: a book that is both important in it's contents and utterly engaging in its characters. . . with the tremendous bonus of being beautifully written."

The Wanderer

Originally posted 2003

The Wanderer by Sharon Creech

2001 Newbery Honor book

I liked Walk Two Moons so much that I made a project of reading everything Sharon Creech wrote! I like the Wanderer the best! A transatlantic sailing voyage sets the scene. An adopted girl is the central character and adoption issues figure into the story in a central way. There are great dipictions of family relationships especially with fathers and sons. Everyone is transformed by the voyage and the difficulties of a particular storm in a positive way. There are the characteristic Sharon Chreech wonderful people, including a wonderful boy character on the voyage.

A Year Down Yonder; A Long Way From Chicago

Originally posted October 24, 2003

Both of these are by Richard Peck. A Year Down Yonder was the Newbery Medal Winner in 2001 and A Long Way From Chicago was a Newbery Honor book in 1999. I read A Long Way from Chicago first because it is the "prequel" to A Year Down Yonder and I wanted to do it in order.

These stories have a storytellerish style, a kind of tall tale, yarn spinning quality. In A Long Way from Chicago each chapter tells a story about a gun toting, don't care what anybody thinks, tough as nails/heart of gold Grandmother that two kids from Chicago go visit each summer.

A Year Down Yonder follows the younger child through an entire year with her grandmother, during the depression when her parents are in a hard way in Chicago and decide it's best for the girl to live with her Grandmother for the year.

The chapters of each book stand on their own as stories. I bet it would be a fun one to read aloud.

I found that the each chapter a story format didn't suck me in quite a thoroughly as a regular novel does. The stories are funny, the Grandmother character outrageous and with good moral fortitude despite (or maybe because of?) her out law mentality. I think a lot of kids would love these books. Even though there's some gritty events, they are all placed in such an amusing, ridicules light that I don't think any of it is scary. I'd say it's aimed more at a middle school, high school audience, but I bet a much younger reader would enjoy them as well, especially if read with a parent.

Wringer by Jerry Spinelli

Originally Posted October 24, 2003

I loved Maniac Magee, and I loved Wringer by the same author, Jerry Spinelli. They are different stories, completely, but each brilliant in their own way. Wringer is a Newbery Honor book from 1998.

Wringer tells the weird story of a town that as a fundraiser for it's park holds a pigeon shoot, with live pigeons, each summer. The boys of the town "help" with the pigeon shoot by becoming "wringers" on their 10th birthdays, when they run on the field and wring the necks of any wounded pigeons to put them out of their misery. The story tells of a boy who dreads his 10th birthday, because he knows with complete certainty that he doesn't want to be a wringer.

It's an incredible story about boys, the pressures on them to be "boys", the pain and losses involved in succumbing to these pressures, and the courage and strength required to not give into them. Even though it has at it's core this weird unappealing pigeon death image, there's something about the way the story is told where you kind of know this boy is going to rise to the occasion and keep his own truth about the whole thing. So, with parental guidance, I would find this story to be OK for kids 8 or 9 and up, or with out so much parental involvement for 10 and up. I really liked it a lot and greatly appreciated it's message.

Love, Louise

The Secret River

The Secret River by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings; pictures by Leo and Diane Dillon

Newbery Honor book 1956

This was in the picture book section of our library. I love the illustrators Leo and Diane Dillon, who have also received the Caldecott medal. It's a beautiful book and both Jabu (10) and Makyala (6) enjoyed it as a bedtime read aloud (took more than one night to read). I found it when I was looking for books about Florida and it does a nice job of depicting rural Florida with it's cypress knees, live oaks, cat fish, and other creatures. Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings also wrote The Yearling, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1939 (and I have never read, so now want to!) This story was published posthumously and is the only story that the author wrote specifically for children. (Although the Yearling is now considered to be a young adult read, that was not the authors intention.)

The heroine of our story is a little girl named Calpurnia who was "born to be a poet." Hard times have come to the forest and the African American community Calpurnia and her family belong to. Her daddy runs a fish market, but it's looking like the market will have to close. With some instructions from Mother Albirtha, the wisest person in the forest, Calpurnia follows her nose to discover a secret river and brings back fish that turn "hard times to soft times". The real magic in the story though, is uncovered when Calpurnia sets out to find the secret river again. The ending is lovely and I'll save it for you to enjoy in the book!

Love, Louise

Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo

Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo (Candlewick Press)
2001 Newbery Honor Book

This is my first read in the revived project!

Takes place in Florida and I appreciate the completely southern feel of the story. Involves a wonderful batch of odd-ball characters including an old lady librarian, a guitar playing/ex-convict/pet shop employee, a nearly blind old lady gardener, a preacher, and especially a girl named Opal and her dog, Winn-Dixie.

There were some whacky elements that I enjoyed . . . like the guitar playing/ex-convict/pet shop employee letting all the animals out of their cages every morning ("I take them out. I feel sorry for them being locked up all the time. I know what it's like to be locked up.") and playing his guitar for them while they listen, mesmerized.

And Littmus Lozenges---- a candy that tastes of root beer, strawberries, and a hint of melancholy.

It's an easy read. A sweet story, not too heavy, but with themes of loss and healing; acceptance and friendship. Nothing in here that would scare off anyone (a younger chapter book reader/listener could definitely handle it). I'd recommend it. It's next on the read aloud list for my kids, and I think BOTH of them (ages 10 and 6) might like it.

update:

I started it with Makayla age 6 last night and she LOVED it. She was a little reluctant at first because "it doesn't have pictures" but she is a big animal lover and she was captivated pretty much right away. :-)

update 2:
Jabu (age 10) read Because of Winn Dixie last week. He LOVED it, said it was the best book he has ever read! The kids also found the movie DVD at the library, so we watched it. I thought it was pretty good over all, but Jabu who had JUST finished the book didn't like it so well. Which I actually was pleased by! (Nice that his experience of the book beat the movie!) He was eager to find another chapter book to read after this one, another excellent recommendation for this book!

I also wanted to share some links that I found related to the book:
Kate DiCamillo's webiste has a nice essay "On Writing"--- On Writing
The publishers of the book have a discussion guide: http://www.candlewick.com/book_files/0763607762.bdg.1.pdf

Jabu enjoyed doing this crossword puzzle related to the book:
Crossword Puzzle

I can't find the link now, but I found some cool writing ideas---

* make a list of 10 things about someone important to you (like Opal had for her mom, and for Winn Dixie)

* invent a new kind of candy that evokes an emotion. And create an advertisement for this candy.