Home/Newbery by Year/Newbery Title Index/Newbery Subject Index/Newbery Author Index

1929

Editor's Note: Many of the books are out of print. The header information will be as complete as I can make it.

The Trumpeter of Krakow by Eric P. Kelly (Unknown, $13.60, sixth-grade level). ISBN: 002750140X.	The Medalist A boy and his father help save the city of Krakow in medieval Poland. Exciting, melodramatic story about the origin of Poland. Tons of Polish history. Good general historical information. I'm surprised that more seventh-grade teachers don't use this book.
The Pigtail of Ah Lee Ben Loo, with Seventeen Other Laughable Tales and 200 Comical Silhouettes by John Bennett (Longman's, Green and Co., sixth-grade level). Out of print	Honor Book The author provides a collection that includes nonsense verse, extended poems and quaint ditties that were funny about 100 years ago. Of all the hundreds of Newbery books I've read, this has aged the worst. In fact, I found it almost unreadable. The jokes fall deaf even to ears trained in Victorian literature. I think Bennett was attempting social commentary because he focuses much of his disdain on the rich and powerful.  He implies that they hold their position by birth and not ability. The most successful characters in his poems tend to be commoners who succeed through persistence or intelligence.
Millions of Cats by Wanda Gag (Coward-McCann Inc., second-grade level).. Out of print	Honor Book A lonely old couple seeks companionship from a cat, but gets far more than it bargains for before things settle down. The old man goes for a walk until he reaches a mountain that is home to trillions of cats. They are all just sitting there, perfectly in rows. He takes them all (yes, all) home with them. His wife raises a question about food and care that unwittingly initiates a winner take all fight among the vain cats. One scruffy kitten, hiding out of modesty in the bushes, is the survivor. Even making allowances for the era in which it was written, this is a weak book. By modern standards it fails on almost every level. If anything, it's a picture book, as is Gag's other Newbery winner, The ABC Bunny. Yes, the message about vanity is important, but trillions of cats sitting in rows? I have a cat - case closed. Despite my criticisms, this is a landmark book. Many historians of children's literature site Millions of Cats as the progenitor of the modern picture book. The Caldecott Award was created in the late 1930's, in part to recognize books such as this.
The Boy Who Was by Grace Hallock (E.P. Dutton, sixth-grade level).. Out of print	Honor Book A human boy blessed with eternal life by a bemused siren from Greek myth participates in the march of history as it moves across the Bay of Naples for 2,000 years. The aptly named Nino has a knack for being in the right place at the right time and for making friends with important people. They cherish his acquaintance because of his unfailing honesty and his almost Christ-like self-sacrifice. Nino sees the destruction of Pompeii, the sack of Rome, the ebb and flow of the Crusades, and a few key players from the medieval era. The last glimpse we get of Nino comes during an encounter with Garibaldi, the great liberator of Italy. This book would not be out of place on a modern bookshelf.. Taber writes with style and grace and a bemused quality that pokes gentle fun at human foibles. She is much like the siren who set Nino's eternal life in motion. Her book lacks depth but it surely delivers a message about the impermanence of man's governance.
Clearing Weather by Cornelia Meigs (Little Brown & Co., seventh-grade level). Out of print	Honor Book The folks who inhabit a small maritime village north of Boston sink all they have into the making of a fine sailing ship shortly after the end of the Revolutionary War. Like most of the country, the good people of Branscomb have fallen on hard times. Their plight is made worse by a traitorous Tory who is putting the screws to the Drury family, the de facto leaders of the community. Young Nicholas refuses to buckle under the pressure and convinces the locals to put their faith and money into a ship that sails the world seeking fortune for all. This book is hampered by the descriptive density found in most Victorian novels. Meigs fondly ladles heaping doses of melodrama to heighten tension. While it may have been a good read 80 years ago, the style is greatly dated and unlikely to appeal to a modern audience. If current readers can wade through the prose they will find nuggets of information about the interregnum between the end of the Revolutionary War and the signing of the Constitution. Clearing Weather could function as the companion piece to Glory of the Seas, which focuses more fully on the attempts of the fledgling U.S. to open trade routes across the Pacific.
The Runaway Papoose by Grace Moon/illustrated by Carl Moon (Doubleday & Doran, Inc., fifth-grade level). Out of print	Honor Book A little Native American girl becomes separated from her family during a trek across the desert. She receives help from an adventurous boy, a mysterious old man and various other Navajos she meets during her journey to a famous pueblo. Nah-tee seems to be about 7 or 8 years old, but she is a plucky little thing. Her friendship with brave Moyo, who is a few years older, takes them on a sometimes dangerous trip seeking her family. They explore abandoned Anasazi cliff dwellings and learn much about their people's past from the old man who guards the ruins. The Moons have provided a mildly interesting narrative. More importantly, they've given readers insight into the desert tribes and their predecessors. The Moons show no condescension to their subjects. The author does a wonderful job of capturing the pace and rhythm, even the syntax, of the Navajo's as they speak English. Young readers, if this book were still in print, would receive insight into one of the enduring mysteries of American history: What caused the rapid extinction of the cliff-dwelling tribes of the Southwest. Take this link to see the list of other Newberys that focus on Native Americans.
Tod, of the Fens by Elinor Whitney (MacMillan Company, fifth-grade level). Out of print	Honor Book Young Hal, the future King Henry V, becomes involved in shenanigans that stir up the rubes in a small English town. Hal is a minor player, as is the title character. They match wits with each other and various townsfolk in an attempt to hide, displace or steal the town treasury. Confusion reigns until the final pages, when the money is restored, the mayor gets his good name back and the bad guys are sent packing. Although the plot is a tad, or Tod, confusing, readers will breeze through the story, which is written with a clarity that previews narratives of a much later era in children's books. More importantly, readers will receive an interesting history lesson on England's fledgling attempts to become a naval and mercantile power.

Copyright David Ross 2003