Tag Archives: Dewey

Trending on Twitter: A read-a-thon mini-challenge

deweys-readathonbuttonWelcome, read-a-thoners! This Trending on Twitter mini-challenge will take place in two parts. For the first part, you must all work together to get the official read-a-thon hashtag — #readathon — trending on Twitter (if it’s not already).

If you’re not yet on Twitter, joining is quick and easy.

Then, while #readathon is a trending topic, take a screenshot capturing the high point and/or details of your joint success, and post this to your blog. Come back here and leave me a link to your post with screenshot, and you’re done!

Need a refresher on how to take a screenshot? This site has straightforward directions for both Windows and Mac users.

This mini-challenge will last just one hour. It will close at 9 a.m. CDT. Enjoy! I look forward to seeing what you can accomplish together! The winner will be chosen randomly from all those who post a photo to their blog and leave me a link in the comments.

The prize: A $25 gift card to the book store of the winner’s choice.

Read-a-thon sign-ups open

a lg-new-readathonbutton-borderThe October 2009 read-a-thon is just about 2 weeks away (it starts at 5 a.m. PDT/1 p.m. GMT on October 24, 2009); sign-ups are open, and as of this writing, 147 people have signed up to read, and 39 people have signed up to cheerlead.

Trish, Nymeth and I (your friendly read-a-thon co-hosts for the past couple events) are pleased to add Eva to our fold.

A quick bulleted form of the FAQ:
You don’t have to stay up all night to participate.
• No, we don’t think we’re crazy to do this (most of the time, anyway).
Involvement is possible even if you don’t want to (or can’t) read all day.
• You don’t need a blog to participate.

It’s getting close! We’re getting excited! Will you join us?

About Dewey’s 24-hour Read-a-thon.

Dewey’s 24-Hour Read-a-Thon

deweys-readathonbuttonIf you’re wondering what I’m up to today, or this weekend, for that matter, I’ll be practically glued to my laptop, but I won’t be posting much here (I may attempt a post or two, though).

Tomorrow morning, bright and early, Dewey’s 24-Hour Read-a-Thon starts.

Although I don’t have a stack of books I plan to dig into, I have been thinking about my snack and beverage choices; this is my third read-a-thon (the fourth total), so I know I want lots of variety in food and drink.

I’ve got coffee (caffeinated and decaffeinated), plus tons of tea choices, from English Breakfast (caff and decaf) to Mango Tango and Tazo’s Passion (I love me some purple tea!). I’m still debating on if I should ask my husband to pick up some soda for me.

Good luck to all participants, whether readers or cheerleaders! Hope you have lots of fun.

Newbery Medal winners

Since I’ve talked about Newbery winners a bit recently, I thought maybe it was time to post this book list here.

The Newbery Medal is awarded annually by the American Library Association for the most distinguished American children’s book published the previous year. It is named for the eighteenth-century English bookseller John Newbery.

From the American Library Association:
Newbery Medal Winners, 1922-2009

I’ve bolded the ones I remember reading and italicized those I hope to read soonish; starred* the ones I own. I was inspired to look up this list while preparing for Nymeth’s Try Something New mini-challenge (which is part of Dewey’s Book Challenge, which I hoped to take part in but have since bowed out of, but the mini-challenge is open to all comers), in which I’m paired up with Sarah.

2009: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, illus. by Dave McKean
2008: Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz
2007: The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron, illus. by Matt Phelan
2006: Criss Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins
2005: Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata
2004: The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread by Kate DiCamillo
2003: Crispin: The Cross of Lead by Avi
2002: A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park
2001: A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck
2000: Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis
1999: Holes by Louis Sachar
1998: Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse
1997: The View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg
1996: The Midwife’s Apprentice by Karen Cushman
1995: Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
1994: The Giver by Lois Lowry
1993: Missing May by Cynthia Rylant
1992: Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
1991: Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli
1990: Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
1989: Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices by Paul Fleischman
1988: Lincoln: A Photobiography by Russell Freedman
1987: The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman
1986: Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan
1985: The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley
1984: Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary
1983: Dicey’s Song by Cynthia Voigt
1982: A Visit to William Blake’s Inn: Poems for Innocent and Experienced Travelers by Nancy Willard
1981: Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Paterson
1980: A Gathering of Days: A New England Girl’s Journal, 1830-1832 by Joan W. Blos
1979: The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
1978: Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
1977: Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor
1976: The Grey King by Susan Cooper
1975: M. C. Higgins, the Great by Virginia Hamilton
1974: The Slave Dancer by Paula Fox
1973: Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
1972: Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O’Brien
1971: Summer of the Swans by Betsy Byars
1970: Sounder by William H. Armstrong
1969: The High King by Lloyd Alexander
1968: From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg
1967: Up a Road Slowly by Irene Hunt
1966: I, Juan de Pareja by Elizabeth Borton de Trevino
1965: Shadow of a Bull by Maia Wojciechowska
1964: It’s Like This, Cat by Emily Neville
1963: A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
1962: The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare
1961: Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell
1960: Onion John by Joseph Krumgold
1959: The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
1958: Rifles for Watie by Harold Keith
1957: Miracles on Maple Hill by Virginia Sorensen
1956: Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham
1955: The Wheel on the School by Meindert DeJong
1954: …And Now Miguel by Joseph Krumgold
1953: Secret of the Andes by Ann Nolan Clark
1952: Ginger Pye by Eleanor Estes
1951: Amos Fortune, Free Man by Elizabeth Yates
1950: The Door in the Wall by Marguerite de Angeli
1949: *King of the Wind by Marguerite Henry
1948: The Twenty-One Balloons by William Pène du Bois
1947: Miss Hickory by Carolyn Sherwin Bailey
1946: Strawberry Girl by Lois Lenski
1945: Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson
1944: Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes
1943: Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Janet Gray
1942: The Matchlock Gun by Walter Edmonds
1941: Call It Courage by Armstrong Sperry
1940: Daniel Boone by James Daugherty
1939: Thimble Summer by Elizabeth Enright
1938: The White Stag by Kate Seredy
1937: Roller Skates by Ruth Sawyer
1936: *Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink
1935: Dobry by Monica Shannon
1934: *Invincible Louisa: The Story of the Author of Little Women by Cornelia Meigs
1933: Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze by Elizabeth Lewis
1932: Waterless Mountain by Laura Adams Armer
1931: The Cat Who Went to Heaven by Elizabeth Coatsworth
1930: Hitty, Her First Hundred Years by Rachel Field
1929: The Trumpeter of Krakow by Eric P. Kelly
1928: Gay Neck, the Story of a Pigeon by Dhan Gopal Mukerji
1927: Smoky, the Cowhorse by Will James
1926: Shen of the Sea by Arthur Bowie Chrisman
1925: Tales from Silver Lands by Charles Finger
1924: The Dark Frigate by Charles Hawes
1923: The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting
1922: The Story of Mankind by Hendrik Willem van Loon

I haven’t read much young adult or children’s lit since graduating from the children’s section of the library in my pre-teens, but Dewey was committed to the Newbery Project. While I’m not ready to commit to the whole list, I like the idea of slowly advancing my knowledge of books that make this list.

Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis and Jacob Have I Loved guest review

bud-not-buddyBud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis (1999), 243 pages

Bud, Not Buddy won the Newbery Medal and the Coretta Scott King Award in 2000.

I read this — I haven’t picked up much children’s literature (or YA, for that matter) since I outgrew the children’s section when I was a kid — as part of Nymeth’s Try Something New Mini-Challenge. I was paired with Sarah of Behold, the thing that reads a lot for the challenge, and we settled on expanding our knowledge of Newbery winners since Dewey was participating in the Newbery Project.

Sarah suggested a few she’d read and enjoyed for me to choose a selection from, and I offered her a few choices as well.

In 1936, during the Great Depression, 10-year-old Bud Caldwell lives in the orphanage in Flint, Michigan that has been his home since the death of his mother, when he was 6. He doesn’t exactly enjoy life at the orphanage, but it beats the abusive foster home alternatives he’s given. Presented with the opportunity, Bud decides to go in search of his father. His only clue? A couple of fliers he found in his mom’s dresser. So he sets off for Grand Rapids, Michigan.

I really enjoyed this book. It fits with my recent infatuation with Depression literature, as well.

There are lots of reasons to love this book. Bud’s speech is endearing. What he’s been through is heart-rending. His interspersed Rules and Things to Have a Funner Life and Make a Better Liar of Yourself are funny and usually too true to life. It’s a very quick read. Oh, and the kid likes hanging out in libraries!😀 Curtis modeled characters in Bud, Not Buddy on his grandfathers.

I can’t think of a good reason why anyone would not read this book.

I’m quite interested to read Curtis’s The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963. His Elijah of Buxton was named a Newbery Honor book in 2008.

Other reviews:
1 More Chapter


Sarah read Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Paterson:

What shocked me in Jacob Have I Loved was how it was more of literature than a child’s story. Kids want to read about kittens and puppies and horses and firemen. Kids want to read about other kids like them, like Amber Brown or Junie B. Jones. It is not surprising that all of the books I read off of the Newbery list I read for school because of this fact. I think Jacob Have I Loved was particularly guilty of not being very relatable to children.

If I were a fifth grader, I would have hated the book. There wasn’t much action. The protagonist lives on an island village where they depend on crabs and oysters to make a living. The high school has two teachers. You have to ride the ferry to go grocery shopping. One thing is relatable, though, the struggle between Louise and her twin sister Caroline. Many times, their relationship is compared to Jacob and Esau’s relationship in the Bible. Caroline is the precious, sickly, talented child that wins the affections of everyone around her, and Louise is left to herself. Caroline gets to go to boarding school and Louise stays on the island.

What many would write off as childish jealousy goes deeper than that. Louise is greatly affected by her parents’ treatment of Caroline. While Caroline is off making a life for herself, Louise chooses to stay on the island and help her father. Louise makes herself think they are making her stay so she can make herself feel miserable.

The writing has a simplicity that makes it known that the book was written for children. Often, writers like Ernest Hemingway and Ayn Rand are said to have a simple but beautiful writing style. I fail to see it in the great American authors, but you can definitely notice the beauty of the simplistic language. It seems that the writing is a bit cold and grey, as you would imagine the setting of the island to be.

Usually I am disappointed of the endings of books. I find many of them subpar. They usually don’t offer enough closure and sometimes they offer too much. The ending of Jacob Have I Loved is touching, offers plenty of closure, and makes you wonder what happens next. But then your eyes fall on the back cover.

WordLily here again: My review of Jacob Have I Loved.

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Weekly Geeks: New ‘official’ policy

deweys-weekly-geeks27This week’s Weekly Geeks assignment is one I remember reading about on Dewey’s blog, but it was before I’d joined in the fun. I have started doing it, at least mentally, sometime in the interim, though. The assignment?

  1. Write a post encouraging readers to look through your archives (if you have your reviews in a particular place on your blog, point them there), and find the books that they have also written reviews. Tell them to leave a link to their review on your review post. For example, I’ve written a review for Gods Behaving Badly and Jane Doe leaves a link to her review of Gods Behaving Badly in the comments section of my review.
  2. Edit your reviews to include those links in the body of the review post.
  3. Visit other Weekly Geeks and go through their reviews. Leave links for them.
  4. Leave a note somewhere on your blog to let people know this is your new policy.
  5. Write a post later this week letting us know how your project is going!

OK, so. What are you waiting for? Have a look through my past reviews (I did recently create a page with all of them on it), and when you find books you’ve reviewed also, leave me a link — on my review of that book — and I’ll add your review to the post itself.

And now I’ll quote Nymeth:

    And I suppose that now is a good time to bring this up: please please please don’t be shy about leaving links. The reason why I’m saying this is because I can feel reluctant about it myself. I worry that I’ll look like a spammer, even though rationally I know there is no reason to…. In any case, your links will always be welcomed.
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