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

1944

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

Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes (Houghton-Mifflin, $12, sixth-grade level). ISBN: 0395067669.	The Medalist A brash, egotistical young man undergoes a change of heart after suffering a terrible accident and living through the first months of the American Revolution. Johnny Tremain is the most talented silversmith apprentice in all of Boston. He uses his high status, and implied high birth, to lord it over everyone in his shop and house. His pride costs him dearly despite many warnings from his religiously minded master. The narrative then turns on a dime as we watch Johnny become a useful tool in the hands of the men who encouraged the Colonies to rebel. He is a witness to history. I enjoyed the first section of the book because Johnny is one of the most carefully described characters in the Newbery canon. His arrogance is without parallel in any of the other so-honored books. That said, the first section is a tedious read. The second  section, far more active in terms of plot development, is filled with a highly personal look at the characters and events that turned Boston into a cauldron of rebellion. Johnny, who stood so prominently in the first 75 pages, recedes far into the background. This was, of course, a stratagem on the part of Forbes to invest young readers in a character before deluging them with historical facts. Teachers know how bored kids get at the mere mention of the  American Revolution so Forbes made a wise decision. Despite its age, this novel remains a solid choice for the modern classroom. This book works well with other Revolutionary War titles, including Tree of Freedom (1950) and My  Brother Sam is Dead (1975)
These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder (HarperCollins, $13.56, fifth-grade level). ISBN: 0060264802.	Honor Book The final book in the author's five-time Newbery honored cycle sees Laura become an accomplished teacher and marry Almanzo at age 18, ending the longest courtship in literary history (three books and nearly 900 pages). Wilder regains her touch in this story, which flows smoothly from beginning to end. There are a few bumps in the road, including an odd passage in which a woman homesteader loses her mind and walks around the house with a knife, terrifying Laura, who is boarding with her. This last book gives me the opportunity to share a few observations I've been collecting. Wilder has a tendency to underplay emotion, making her characters as stoic as the most legendary of New Englanders. The lack of expressed feeling is at times astonishing. That said, these books are remarkably optimistic. Reading these books has given me, and hopefully young readers, a deeper understanding of the pioneer impulse, which Laura and her father alone among the major characters share. Both father and daughter cringe in the presence of strangers, which means the town and surrounding area is getting too developed. They both feel an almost tidal pull to move West into unsettled territory to avoid crowds and experience the new. This spirit lingers on in America and explains much of our national character. The other books in the series:  Little Town on the Prairie, The Long Winter, By the Shores of Silver Lake, On the Banks of Plum Creek.
Fog Magic by Julia Sauer (Peter Smith Publishing, $18.75, fourth-grade level). ISBN: 0844663441.	Honor Book An 11-year-old girl travels back in time by entering the fog and visits an old village that co-exists near her own in Canada. Odd story that shares a thread of meaning with the Velveteen Rabbit. One member of the girl's family is able to visit the village of the past each generation. The kids loose the ability to visit when they turn 12. It is as much a cautionary tale for adults as is it is entertainment for kids. It may remind some of the same message delivered in the book The Velveteen Rabbit.
Rufus M. by Eleanor Estes (Odyssey Classics, $13.60, fifth-grade level). ISBN: 0152025715.	Honor Book Rufus, the youngest member of the famed Moffat clan created by Estes, gets his day in the son. Rufus is persistent and oh-so literal. He latches on to an idea (becoming a ventriloquist, the invisible man who plays a neighbor's player piano, etc.) and doesn't let go until overwhelming evidence is presented to his very own eyes. Rufus' personality engenders much humor, none of it intentional. Estes ranks highly among all the writers who've won Newbery honors in her ability to capture the behavior, speech and thought processes of children. She deeply, intuitively understands how children interpret the world and then lets her characters act as only children can. The only negative side to this approach, and its a hallmark of nearly all her novels, is that they tend to be episodic with only the thinnest threads of continuity. No true narrative drives them. I doubt, though, that many readers would object - her characters are that funny and that true to life. Rufus' sister Jane gets her due in The Middle Moffat, a 1943 Honor book.
Mountain Born by Elizabeth Yates (Walker & Co., $6.95, paperback, fourth-grade level). ISBN: 0802774024.	Honor Book A boy comes of age working his family's flock of sheep in a mountain village. Strong characterizations and a wealth of information about sheep raising provide mild interest to the modern reader.

Copyright David Ross 2003