Newbery Medal Award Book Club

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Tuly
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Newbery Medal Award Book Club

Post by Tuly »

Inspired by Lily's book club blog. We thought it would be fun to do a Newbery Medal Award book club. Since you will all have or have children,it would be good to read some of these "winning children's" books, some that I would consider youth novels. These books are also easily accessible in a public library. We could do one every other month, if needs be. :wink:
"Condemn me not because of mine imperfection,... but rather give thanks unto God that he hath made manifest unto you our imperfections, that ye may learn to be more wise than we have been." Mormon 9:31
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Lily
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Post by Lily »

Sounds good to me. Count me in. Probably a quicker read than Wuthering Heights, anyway!
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Steve
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Post by Steve »

I'm afraid all I have time for are Caldecott winners...sorry! :lol:
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Ann
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Post by Ann »

we're in! let's do it!
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Tuly
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Post by Tuly »

So here is the deal. The first Newbery Medal Winner was "The Story of Mankind" by Hendrik Van Loon in 1922. It is basically an interesting history book the author wrote to his sons. The book is around 400 pages...now do we want to read Newbery Medal Winners in a sequence of any kind? or just have me randonly pick NM winner books?
"Condemn me not because of mine imperfection,... but rather give thanks unto God that he hath made manifest unto you our imperfections, that ye may learn to be more wise than we have been." Mormon 9:31
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Lily
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Post by Lily »

*gulp* 400 pages? Hmm...my vote is for mom to pick the books. And maybe we can start out with one a little shorter than that? Although I suppose the print will be bigger than usual. Whatever you guys think, but let's just make sure we have enough time to finish the book that's chosen. And I shall try to hurry and finish the four other books I'm in the middle of reading (I'm turning into mom!!).
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Tuly
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Post by Tuly »

Our first selection will be the Newbery Medal winner for 1929 "The Cat Who Went To Heaven" by Elizabeth Coatsworth, she has written many other adult books. Our next selection will be announced the first week of February 2008. We will probably read the 2008 winner, since the Newbery Medal winners are announced in January.
"Condemn me not because of mine imperfection,... but rather give thanks unto God that he hath made manifest unto you our imperfections, that ye may learn to be more wise than we have been." Mormon 9:31
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Edward
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Post by Edward »

How about The Giver? I just read that today in between classes (it's only about an hour to read), and it's really interesting, though not very satisfying. Do let us know.
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Tuly
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Post by Tuly »

Yeah, The Giver - and yet another utopian book. That might be a good one for April. :wink:
"Condemn me not because of mine imperfection,... but rather give thanks unto God that he hath made manifest unto you our imperfections, that ye may learn to be more wise than we have been." Mormon 9:31
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Tuly
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Post by Tuly »

I don't know if any of you have started reading "The Cat Who Went To Heaven" - I would like to know a few things about this book(and other books we will review ) from you all. Not that this necessarily make the books bad, but as parents you should know all of the contents in them that are acceptable or not to your children. I'm hoping this can become a place to turn to for reference on Newbury Medal Award books.
1. What age group would you recommend this book to?
2. Was there any offensive language?
3. Violence or sexual innuendo?
"Condemn me not because of mine imperfection,... but rather give thanks unto God that he hath made manifest unto you our imperfections, that ye may learn to be more wise than we have been." Mormon 9:31
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Tuly
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Post by Tuly »

I have fished reading The Cat Who Went To Heaven by Elizabeth Coatsworth ( Grades 3-6). I did not find anything offensive in the book. Because the book deals with Buddah, it would be a great book for required reading in 6th grade since they talk about different religions in that grade. I enjoyed this very short story. Since the main character was an artist, I expected better illustrations. I loved the little poems (songs) at the end of each chaper. All in all it was a good read.
"Condemn me not because of mine imperfection,... but rather give thanks unto God that he hath made manifest unto you our imperfections, that ye may learn to be more wise than we have been." Mormon 9:31
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Tuly
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Post by Tuly »

This is February's Book Club selection, I included the Caldecott winner also. This is from ALA's website.

PHILADELPHIA - Laura Amy Schlitz, author of “Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village,” and Brian Selznick, illustrator of “The Invention of Hugo Cabret,” are the 2008 winners of the John Newbery and Randolph Caldecott Medals, the most prestigious awards in children's literature.

Schlitz and Selznick were among the award winners announced January 14 by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), during the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia, January 11 - 16. Considered the “Academy Awards” of children's book publishing, the Newbery and Caldecott Medals honor outstanding writing and illustration of works published in the United States during the previous year.
"Condemn me not because of mine imperfection,... but rather give thanks unto God that he hath made manifest unto you our imperfections, that ye may learn to be more wise than we have been." Mormon 9:31
Angela
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Post by Angela »

I read The Cat who went to Heaven just now. I too enjoyed the poems in between the chapters. I also thought that there would be better illustrations as well as an illustration of his work. I didn't find anything offensive in this story. I think the age group that would be appropriate to read this would be 10-12 yrs olds. I think it's a good story that involve a little history about the Buddha and his life. I was pleased to read that they included his life at Prince Siddhartha. All in all, it was a nice story.
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Post by Ann »

I just went to a book club where we covered "The Giver." The library didn't have any copies in English so I picked up one in Spanish. Wow - I have a lot of Spanish vocabulary to review. Anyway, I wonder what kids think of the book and what they understand from it. It did have some interesting thoughts, but I've had enough of socialist/utopian society for now.

I know this is also off topic, but do you think a David McCullough book would be good to own and/or use for a book club? If so, which one(s)?
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Tuly
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Post by Tuly »

The Giver is an easier read than Orwell's "1984". However, this so called utopian books, are still somewhat hard for children to understand because they know that somehow these are not fantasy books necessarily. I would definitely recommend McCullough's - John Adams.
"Condemn me not because of mine imperfection,... but rather give thanks unto God that he hath made manifest unto you our imperfections, that ye may learn to be more wise than we have been." Mormon 9:31
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