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Morris Plains Borough School Library
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The Newbery
Medal was named for eighteenth-century British bookseller John Newbery. It is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.
| The 2005 Newbery Medal Award Winner |
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Kira-Kira
Written by Cynthia
Kadohata
Atheneum Books for Young Readers/Simon & Schuster
Katie
loves and admires her older sister, Lynn, only
to lose her in this story that reads like a
memoir about a Japanese-American family in the
1950s. Built around the loss of Lynn to
lymphoma, it belongs to Katie and stays true to
her perspective. The supporting cast of extended
family and friends also fits within Katie's
vision of life. Humor keeps the depth of sadness
at bay as Katie reports events: "If a robber
came to our apartment, I would hit him over the
head with a lamp. So I didn't need a bank,
personally." Starting out in Iowa, the family
moves to Georgia; both parents work long hours
in the poultry industry to buy and then pay for
a house of their own. Kadohata weaves details of
life for a Japanese-American family into the
narrative along with Lynn and Katie's gradual
acquirement of understanding of the dominant
culture around them. The vivid writing and the
portrayal of a most loving and honorable father
lift this above the norm. "Kira-kira" is
Japanese for glittering, and Kadohata's Katie
sparkles. |
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2005 Newbery Honor
Books
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Al Capone Does My Shirts
written by Gennifer
Choldenko
(G.P. Putnam's Sons a division of Penguin Young Readers Group)
Moose's world is turned upside down when his
family moves to Alcatraz Island where his Dad
has taken a job as a prison guard.
Super-responsible Moose, big for 12, finds
himself caught in the social interactions of
this odd cut-off world. He cares for his sister
who is older, yet acts much younger due to her
autism and he finds his life alternating between
frustration and growth. His mother focuses all
of her attention on ways to cure the sister; his
dad works two jobs and meekly accepts the
mother's choices; his fellow island-dwellers are
a funny mix of oddball characters and good
friends. Basing her story on the actual
experience of those who supported the prison in
the '30s-when Al Capone was an
inmate-Choldenko's pacing is exquisite,
balancing the tense family dynamics alongside
the often-humorous and riveting school story of
peer pressure and friendship. Fascinating
setting as a metaphor for Moose's own
imprisonment and enabling some hysterically
funny scenes, but a great read no matter where
it takes place. |
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The Voice that Challenged a Nation: Marian Anderson and the Struggle for Equal Rights
Written by Russell
Freedman
(Clarion Books/Houghton Mifflin)
Freedman
movingly and dramatically sets the stage for the
performer's historic 1939 Easter concert at the
Lincoln Memorial. In less than two pages, he
captures the huge crowd's eager anticipation,
briefly describes the controversy sparked by the
Daughters of the American Revolution's refusal
to allow Anderson to appear at Constitution
Hall, and mentions the significance of the
concert. He leaves readers at the moment when "A
profound hush settled over the crowd.- she
closed her eyes, lifted her head, clasped her
hands before her, and began to sing." The author
then switches to a chronological account of
Anderson's life from her childhood in
Philadelphia through her acclaimed U.S. and
European concert tours in the 1920s and 1930s.
He then gives a fuller account of the famous
outdoor concert, which he refers to as a
milestone in both musical and civil rights
history. Freedman acknowledges that the singer
did not set out to be a political activist or a
crusader for civil rights. Numerous archival
photographs, thorough chapter notes, a selected
bibliography of works for both adult and younger
readers, and a selected discography of currently
available Anderson CDs are included. This
inspiring work once again demonstrates
Freedman's talent for showing how a person's
life is molded by its historical and cultural
context. |
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Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy
Written by Gary D.
Schmidt
(Clarion Books/Houghton Mifflin)
The
year is 1912, and Turner Buckminster III has a
mighty cross to bear: his family has just moved
from Boston to Phippsburg, Maine; no one in
Maine seems to throw a baseball so he can hit
it; and, worst of all, he is the minister's son.
His misery is just about complete until he meets
Lizzie Bright Griffin, an African-American girl
from nearby Malaga Island, who teaches him how
to hit a Maine baseball and doesn't hold his
parentage against him. But the tide is turning
against Malaga Island, a settlement of some
50-plus outcasts, very poor and mostly black:
the good elders of Phippsburg want to replace
the failing ship-building industry with tourism,
and the collective eyesore that is the Malaga
community will just have to go. Schmidt takes
his time with his tale, spinning gloriously
figurative language that brilliantly evokes both
place and emotion. Turner himself is a
wonderfully rich character, his moral and
intellectual growth developing naturally from
the boy the reader first meets. There can be no
happy ending to this story, but the telling is
both beautiful and emotionally honest, both
funny and piercingly sad.
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