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1945

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

Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson (Live Oak Media, $24.95, third-grade level). ISBN: 067058679X.	The Medalist A group of animals that live cooperatively benefit from the arrival at the farm of humans who respect their needs. Cute story and characterizations. The narrative sounds a lot like Animal Farm, but Lawson takes the story in a different direction. Would work with Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIHM.
The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes (Harcourt Brace, $12.80, fourth-grade level). ISBN: 0152373748. Reprinted in 2004 by Harcourt..	Honor Book A poor Polish-American girl is hounded by her more affluent classmates, who only learn of her tremendous artistic ability after the girl moves away. Sad story, smoothly told. Reflects themes of racism and the cruelty of children. Puts a different face on the idealized image of rural America.
The Silver Pencil by Alice Dalgliesh (Peter Smith Publishing, $19, fifth-grade level). ISBN: 0844667943.	Honor Book Confused story about a young woman who travels from Trinidad to England to Trinidad to the U.S. while sorting out her life and wavering between a writing and teaching career. Odd selection by the Newbery committee. Has a few moments about writing and teaching, but the rest is weak.
Abraham Lincoln's World by Genevieve Foster (Charles Scribner's Sons, sixth-grade level). Out of print	Honor Book Foster continues the historic parade she began with George Washington's World, picking up a mere 9 years after his death, when Lincoln first entered the world stage. Following the same pattern, but with more grace it seems, Foster provides a concise, well-written, and far-reaching chronology of world events and characters. She has greater control of her material here and more easily shows the connections that produced unthought-of of consequences around the world.  Amazingly, a man as interesting and important as Lincoln seems a sideshow when you see him in action opposed to the remarkable events sweeping Europe. This, like it's predecessor, will be a difficult book for kids to read. It is an invaluable guide for true history lovers, which, I hope, would be the teachers who are working in the field. I marvel at her ability to condense so much important detail into such a readable form.
Lone Journey: The Life of Roger Williams by Jeanette Eaton (Harcourt Brace, fifth-grade level). Out of print	Honor Book The author gives readers an insightful biography of the open-hearted man who create a truly democratic colony in Rhode Island. Although a few of the sections are breathless in the fashion of the day, and all of the conversations are invented, this biography provides a clear understanding of why Williams was so important to the development of democracy and religious freedom in the United States. What is most remarkable, as Eaton points out, is the fact that he isn't more famous or more recognized for this revolutionary ideas and actions. Modern kids would hardly be interested in this story, which is a shame, because Lone Journey has made me appreciate this prophetic man.

Copyright David Ross 2003