Comments on: Top 100 Children’s Novels (#80-76)

By: Maggi

Maggi — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 14:52:29 +0000

Oh, yay! All-Of-A-Kind Family is one of those books I love sharing with just the right 2nd or 3rd grader who will squee and say, “Give me more!” That along with Betsy-Tacy and B is for Betsy. Wonder if those will pop up along the way…

Others — meh. City of Ember was fine, but nothing special. Graveyard Book — not as amazing as some of Gaimain’s adult fare, but very enjoyable.

By: Billy

Billy — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 16:41:30 +0000

Of the Newbery winners and Honors that I have read in the ’00s:

Ones that I love that are popular that will probably make it:

“Bud, Not Buddy” Memorable character, hilarious and heartfelt, great sense of period

“Because of Winn-Dixie” Simple and touching; great dog, great town

“Al Capone Does My Shirts” Wonderfully memorable central relationship and biting humor and pathos

…and what the heck…
“When You Reach Me” Brilliant concept and plotting (popular but still maybe too super-recent)

Ones that I love that are popular that may or may not make it:

“Pictures of Hollis Woods” Wonderful example of “quiet” plotting, excellent characterization, everyone loves it but not many talk about it

“Lizzie Bright and the Buckminister Boy” Brilliantly written in every regard, but it’s tragic

“A Year Down Yonder” I think this was really well done, but it’s a sequel and on the whole basically everyone prefers “A Long Way from Chicago”

“Elijah of Buxton” Fantastic example of how to be both hilarious and heratrending, but Bud probably used up the Curtis fans

“The Wednesday Wars” The Schmidt title for people who want a little humor

Ones that I love that are not so popular:

“Feathers” Delicately beautiful and insightful, lots of pepole love Woodson, but not everyone “gets” this book

“Criss Cross” I found it truly insightful and interestingly written, but a lot of people think that it is slow

“The Higher Power of Lucky” I thought this was jam packed with insight and character, and I liked the exciting conclusion, but apparently it wasn’t excing enough all the way for some people

One that I like that is popular and will probably make it:

“The Tale of Desperaux” I personally like Winn-Dixie and Tulane better, but this is a good little book too, nicely plotted and with a great sense of storytelling

By: Billy

Billy — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 16:13:55 +0000

Yes, I really like Edward Eager too, although I have to say that he doesn’t come up on my list of very favorite authors of all time. I suspect this is the same for most people here, but I still would not be surprised to see one of his books on the list. “Half Magic” is the beat in my opinion. Although I also liked “Magic by the Lake”, “Knight’s Castle”, and “The Time Garden”.

I am so happy to see people mentioning Elizabeth Enright! She doesn’t get enough credit anymore! “Gone Away Lake” is good, but “Thimble Summer” is great.

One more old-fashioned author beginning with “E” I love even more: Eleanor Estes. If “The Moffats” or at least “Ginger Pye” don’t show up somewhere on this list, I think a minor revolution might be in order.

By: Billy

Billy — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 16:04:35 +0000

Oh dear. I have to saysome of today’s choices I don’t particularly care for either.

I simply cannot understand why anyone could consider “The Graveyard Book” to be an excellent work of literature, I personally found the whole book uneven. Some chapters are good, some are not. The characters seemed to me to just serve the purpose of moving the plot along. Most of all, there are so many loose ends, so many plotlines and characters that are introduced and then are never explained, or disappear abruptly.

I too found “The City of Ember” to be forgettable and underwhelming. The concept could have been good, but I really thought the writing was rather mediocre. I also personally disliked the loose conclusion.

I appreciate the objectives and craft of “Out of the Dust” but I have to also say that it is one of my least favorite Newbery winners. The endlessly disturbing and tragic tone really ended up being the only thing I remembered. I think that the whole thing in general was kind of meandering.

Oh well. Hopefully better luck tomorrow!

By: ReadingCountess

ReadingCountess — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 13:40:17 +0000

I have read your list with great gusto each time you post. What a wonderful resource this will be! Thanks so much for the hard work that is so evident. I do have to say, though, that Gaiman’s book not only was disappointing to me, but I cannot “move it” in my own class library. I think the movie it is based on was masterfully done, though, which cannot be said about all movies on which books are based. And each year, I book talk Out of the Dust to my fifth grade readers-no question. It ALWAYS is circulated from then on out. I think Hesse was a master at showing the beauty of verse in a novel. The utter bleakness of the times rings through. From there, I introduce Home of the Brave and now All the Broken Pieces. The other two books have been wildly popular, too.

By: Sondy

Sondy — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 14:20:07 +0000

Genevieve & Chrisin, 7 Day Magic was my #11 pick, and it tore my heart to leave it off, but couldn’t decide something else to remove. I’m glad others love it, too, and hope it shows up! I almost was going to go with Half Magic instead, because I thought of it as more well-known, but Seven-Day Magic was definitely my favorite, so it would have been the one I chose. Anyway, I hope it shows up!

By: Chrisin NY

Chrisin NY — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 06:22:06 +0000

Wow- the comments are ALMOST as much fun as the actual list. Take heart whoever voted for Eager- he may be here yet. I voted for 7 Day Magic too. I am also hoping to see Enright and a few other favorites. I figure even if some/most of mine have not made the list yet- it just means they are coming in higher, right?

By: Anon01

Anon01 — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 21:05:41 +0000

Yep…it’s hard to believe, but prolific Kate DiCamillo has only been around for 11 years…Winn-Dixie was her first book.

Because of Winn-Dixie (2000)
The Tiger Rising (2001)
The Tale of Despereaux (2003)
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane (2006)
The Magician’s Elephant (2009)
Plus 6 Mercy Watson Chapter Books from 2005 thru 2009
Plus 2 Picture books 2008 and 2009.

By: My Boaz's Ruth

My Boaz's Ruth — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 19:52:33 +0000

Because of Winn-Dixie is that recent???

By: Anon01

Anon01 — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 19:40:50 +0000

Eric I agree whole heartedly that we will see many Newbery winners and honor books on this list.

I was merely pointing out that the years from 2000 to 2009 seem to be very lean indeed. Or does it take that much time for these books to percolate over the years to become classics?

I just went through the 1990′s and 2000′s decades of Newbery Winners and Honors and pared out the cream of the crop and came up with the following lists. Fiddle with these lists if you will but I think there was about a 2 to 1 advantage of good books in the 90′s.

———- 2000′s ———-
2009 Winner: The Graveyard Book
2008 Honor: Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis (Scholastic)
2007 Honor: Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson (Delacorte Press)
2004 Winner: 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, (Candlewick Press)
2003 Honor: The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer (Atheneum)
2001 Winner: A Year Down Yonder by by Richard Peck (Dial)
2001 Honor: Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo (Candlewick Press)
2000 Winner: Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis (Delacorte)

———- 1990′s ———-
1999 Winner: Holes by Louis Sachar (Frances Foster)
1999 Honor: A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck (Dial)
1998 Medal Winner: Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse (Scholastic)
1998 Honor: Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine (HarperCollins)
1997 Winner: The View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg (Jean Karl/Atheneum)
1997 Honor: The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner (Greenwillow/Morrow)
1996 Winner: The Midwife’s Apprentice by Karen Cushman (Clarion)
1996 Honor: The Watsons Go to Birmingham: 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis (Delacorte)
1995 Winner: Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech (HarperCollins)
1995 Honor: Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman (Clarion)
1995 Honor: The Ear, the Eye and the Arm by Nancy Farmer (Jackson/Orchard)
1994 Winner: The Giver by Lois Lowry (Houghton)
1993 an off year.
1992 Winner: Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor (Atheneum)
1991 Medal Winner: Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli (Little, Brown)
1990 Winner: Number the Stars by Lois Lowry (Houghton)

It’s not even close!!!