Everyone Needs a Little Kira-Kira!

Newbery Challenge 2007

Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata

2005 Newbery Medal Winner

Main Characters: Katie and Lynn Takeshima

Setting: Move from Iowa to Georgia

Time Period: 1950'-60's?

Plot: Katie’s coming-of-age in rural Georgia, where her Japanese heritage makes her family a target of discrimination, faces financial hardship when sister Lynn becomes bedridden w/ cancer.

Kira-kira is the first Japanese word Katie Takeshima learns as a baby. Translated it means "glittering," but our young heroine Katie constantly misuses it for cars, pets, houses, butterflies, and colored Kleenex. Older sister Lynn clarifies the meaning as a type of see through shimmer more associated with clear-blue eyes, babbling creeks, and translucent Iowan skies.

This is Katie’s first memory before the Japanese-American family is uprooted to rural Georgia. In search of the American dream, they begin working in separate chicken factories owned by mean, Mr. Lyndon. As a chicken "sexer," father becomes known for his accuracy and speed. Mother spends her time, and any extra, as a chicken "slicer."

Now the plot thickens, as Lynn becomes sick, and the family struggles to make ends met. Girls may find this book a bonding experience as kira-kira (colored Kleenexes) will be in use.

Everyone Needs a Little Kira-Kira!

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2007/05/everyone-needs-little-kira-kira.html

Oh, No! Not the Wolf's Head!

Newbery Challenge 2007

Crispin: The Cross of Lead by Avi

2003 Newbery Medal Winner
Main Characters: Crispin(Asta’s Son) and Bear
Setting: Medieval England
Time Period: 1377
Plot: Heir to the thrown, Crispin, who knows himself only as Asta’s Son, loses his mother one day and spends the following days running for his life.

I love quest books! I love traipsing through unknown kingdoms, being amazed at the news sights, sounds, smells, and adventures that await me. Could I be a little “Dorothy?”

Recently orphaned, our hero, Crispin, has been falsely accused of stealing from the manor and killing a priest. For this, a “wolf’s head” is placed on his name, and anyone who finds him may kill him as a hunted animal. So, he runs, he runs so far away… (Please, excuse me, Flock of Seagulls!)

Unbeknownst to Crispin, he is the illegitimate son of the manor’s Lord. This comes as a shock to the steward, too. His plans for becoming the next Lord are in jeopardy if Crispin is allowed to live. Thank goodness, Crispin meets a likable fellow in the joker, Bear.

This is one of those books, where you see the ending before it arrives, only to find out it doesn’t happen. You know that place in a book, when you are nearing the end, and go ahead and finish it for the author. In a good book, I savor this junction. I come up with two or three different endings. Avi had other plans. ;D

Oh, No! Not the Wolf's Head!

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2007/05/oh-no-not-wolfs-head.html

Mississippian Wins Pulitzer!

Gulfport native, Natasha Trethewey, (1966- ) has won a Pulitzer for her poetry book Native Guard. Billy Watkins of the Clarion-Ledger had this to say, “In Native Guard, Trethewey pays tribute to the Louisiana Native Guards, one of the Union’s first official black units during the Civil War. They guarded Confederate prisoners on Ship Island, a place she regularly visited on her trips to Gulfport.”



Reknown poet and proud father, Eric Trethewey, stated, “Natasha had the gift of language even when she was a little girl, and I knew it was extraordinary.”

Margaret Gibson, former professor at University of Massachusetts, added, “Natasha’s poems are grounded in personal experience and observation, grounded in what I would call an ethical or moral point of view.”

Mississippian Wins Pulitzer!

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2007/05/mississippian-wins-pulitzer.html

She Used that Word!

Newbery Challenge 2007

The High Power of Lucky by Susan Patron

2006 Newbery Medal Winner
Main Characters: Lucky and guardian Brigitte
Setting: Trailer Park in Hard Pan, California
Time Period: Modern
Plot: Ten-year-old Lucky lives with her father’s, French ex-wife after her mother dies. She finds clues that lead her to believe Brigitte is moving back to France and not adopting her.

I consider any Newbery a quality chapter book for children. That being said, there has been some controversy surrounding this year’s winner. The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron includes the word “scrotum.” Not once, not twice, but six times it appears in print.

Knowing the controversy, pre-read, I was not shocked when I read it on the first page. I’ll admit, it takes a lot to shock me, but I initially thought, “Why this word?”

Picture yourself at a local Alcoholics Anonymous meeting where someone is telling their “rock bottom” story. Our main character, Lucky, is attending one such meeting by crouching behind a fence, when the offending word is said. Do you think a rough, ex-alcoholic would say “scrotum” or whip-out one of the many colorful slang representations? (I was shocked because he didn’t say balls!) ;D

I don’t want to give away the ending, but I found the word an essential element, tying the story together in the end. Before, you jump to harsh conclusions, I plead with you to read the book from cover-to-cover. Newbery committees aren’t arbitrary popular vote members. They spend a year discussing the pros and cons; and in this case, the book is worthy of all accolades.

She Used that Word!

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2007/05/she-used-that-word.html

South of Illinois, but NOT Southern!

Newbery Challenge 2007

A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck

2001 Newbery Medal Winner
Main Characters: Mary Alice and Grandma Dowdel
Setting: Chicago to rural Illinois
Time Period: Post-depression, 1930’s
Plot: Mary Alice is sent to live with her ancient grandmother in a hick town south of Chicago. Mary Alice learns it isn’t the age or the place that confines her from learning.

The story is rich with humor and inter-generational play between a grandmother and her granddaughter. I don’t know about most people, but I consider my grandmother’s generation a hoot. They tell the best stories and they have the oddest names for everyday objects. My grandmother insist that I roll the glass down (window), and always wants to know where my pocketbook (purse) is.

Peck brings the feel of small-town America, with its limits and freedoms, to Mary Alice’s awareness. Knowing all in town has its advantages; until, one who knows you, won’t give you a chance. For instance, I have enjoyed stage fright all my life. People in my hometown know this, and cater to my problem. I was given parts where emotions could run high, such as I could yell a part and be red in the face because of acting and not fear. When I moved to the small town of Como, I was eager to get back on stage, so to speak. I performed a solo within a year of living there. I wasn’t nervous, my voice didn’t quiver, and the experience was rather liberating. I contribute it all to people not knowing my history, thus not pooh-poohing me into lesser demanding roles.

Loved this book and highly suggest it to other readers. Not as innocent as Anne of Green Gables, and a little too slow for the Harry Potter types, this is a possible read-aloud in 5th or 6th grade class. I think it complements Rules of the Road by Joan Bauer, because of the inter-generational relationship.

South of Illinois, but NOT Southern!

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2007/05/newbery-challenge-2007-year-down-yonder.html

Southerner Wins American Academy of Arts and Letters Award for Literature!

We know him as the author of Gap Creek! Robert Morgan said of the award it is, "particularly thrilling to me because you're chosen by your fellow writers at the national level, so it's recognition by your peers. It's a very distinguished list."

The press release states, "Morgan's writings include The Truest Pleasure, The Hinterlands, Topsoil Road and the best-selling novel Gap Creek, a 2000 selection of Oprah Winfrey's Book Club. His first major nonfiction work, Boone: A Biography, about the frontiersman Daniel Boone, will be published in October. Morgan's poem "October Crossing" will be in an upcoming issue of Atlantic Monthly, and a short story, "The Distant Blue Hills," will appear this fall in The Southern Review."

I'm particularly overjoyed about the upcoming Daniel Boone Biography. He is one of my childhood heroes! :D

Southerner Wins American Academy of Arts and Letters Award for Literature!

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2007/04/southerner-wins-american-academy-of.html

Southerner Wins EB White Award!

First time novelist and Alabama naive, Watt Key, wins the E.B. White Read-Aloud Award for Older Readers. His book Alabama Moon is set in the wilds of Alabama and perfect for the Southern Reading Challenge.

Exert

"I could trap my own food and make my own clothes. I could find my way by the stars and make fire in the rain. Pap said he even figured I could whip somebody three times my size. He wasn’t worried about me."

DearReader's Booktalk

For as long as ten-year-old Moon can remember, he has lived out in the forest in a shelter with his father. They keep to themselves, their only contact with other human beings an occasional trip to the nearest general store. When Moon’s father dies, Moon follows his father’s last instructions: to travel to Alaska to find others like themselves. But Moon is soon caught and entangled in a world he doesn’t know or understand, apparent property of the government he has been avoiding all his life. As the spirited and resourceful Moon encounters
constables, jails, institutions, lawyers, true friends, and true enemies, he adapts his wilderness survival skills and learns to survive in the outside world, and even, perhaps, make his home there.

Southerner Wins EB White Award!

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2007/04/southerner-wins-eb-white-award.html

And the Winner is...

The peeps at PEN/Faulkner really like ole Philip Roth! He has won this year's award with Everyman. That makes 3 PEN/Faulkners under his modestly sized belt.

Congratulations!

May I borrow $15,000? ;)

And the Winner is...

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2007/03/and-winner-is.html