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

1947

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

Miss Hickory by Carolyn Cherwin Bailey (Viking, $12.25, fourth-grade level). ISBN: 0670479403.	The Medalist A wooden doll is forsaken by its human owners and learns to thrive among the plants and animals. There's not much here. Could work in a cross-curricular unit on plant life or the cycle of life.
Wonderful Year by Nancy Barnes. (Julian Messner/Pocket Books, fifth-grade level). Out of print	Honor Book A feisty girl and her parents move from their comfortable home in Kansas to a simple ranch in rural Colorado, circa late 1800s. Ellen, an only child, is spoiled by her parents, but she loves the hard life on the ranch because she's a bit of a loner. She forms on a crush on a handsome boy who's a few years older than her 12. They have a few mild adventures before Ellen's family moves into town when the summer ends. The narrative falls squarely into the largest, unofficial category  in Newbery history: The feisty girl in a new environment. Barnes writes in a conversational manner that would read well for a modern audience. Her sensibility, though is dated because she sends a conflicting message to girls. Be brave, she tells them, but let the men do the heavy lifting when it comes to danger. That criticism aside, Barnes has a gift for making snide -- yet accurate -- comments about male vulnerabilities.
"Big Tree" by Mary and Conrad Buff (Viking Press, fourth-grade level). Out of print	Honor Book The Buffs provide an imaginative life story, spanning millennia, for an old growth giant Redwood that lives in a California forest. This book should be brought back into print because it shares a modern view of ecology and the value of all life forms. We see forest life and the events of the natural world from the perspective of a creature that lives for centuries. Man is a blip on the horizon, but a dangerous blip when he has a saw. I highly recommend this book. It has aged extremely well, including the illustrations, which are the best in the Buff's long career.
"The Heavenly Tenants" by William Maxwell (Parabola Books, $11.16, fourth-grade level). ISBN: 0930407253.	Honor Book A farm family goes on vacation only to find that the inhabitants of the zodiac come down to earth to take care of the farm. Bizarre tale that earned the honor because of, well, I don't know why it earned the honor.
"The Avion My Uncle Flew" by Cyrus Fisher (fifth-grade level). Out of print	Honor Book A boy with leg problems is sent to live with his uncle in post-World War II France to regain his strength. He does so while actively participating in exciting adventures. Very funny, dry humor. This book is exciting and amusing. It also will teach the young reader several hundred words of French and how to use them. In fact, this is one of the most effective examples of how to teach kids a few words of a foreign language from a novel.
"The Hidden Treasure of Glaston" by Eleanore Jewett (Viking, seventh-grade level). Note: This book has been recently reprinted by Bethlehem Books.	Honor Book Set in 12-centuary England, A 12-year-old boy of noble blood is deserted by his father at a monastery where he becomes embroiled in an adventure involving the search for King Arthur's grave and the Holy Grail. This is actually a quite exciting read, though modern readers will struggle with Jewett's text, which flows in the sing-song voice of bardic language. I've never been a fan of Arthurian legend but under Jewett's skilled hand I felt myself drawn into the story, which reads like a middle school version of The Name of the Rose. I could see seventh-grade social studies/language arts teachers employing it in their units on medieval Europe.

Copyright David Ross 2003