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Newbery Medal Winners

I am starting a personal project of reading all of the Newbery Medal winning books.  As I complete a book, I will add a blog entry here.
Newbery Winners List

The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting

8/29/2016

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The second winner of the Newbery Award (1923), The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting (Lexile: 930; Interest Level: Grades 4-7) tells the story of one of the voyages of the great naturalist who could talk to animals.  It is told from the point of view of Tommy Stubbins, the son of a local cobbler who seeks out the doctor to help a squirrel he found with a broken leg.  Tommy convinces the doctor to take him on as an apprentice, teach him to read and to talk with the animals.  Tommy and Doctor Dolittle embark on an amazing adventure to Spider Monkey Island, a floating island off the coast of Brazil.  There are several mini-adventures along the way including stowaways and a failed mutiny, but when they arrive at the island, things really pick up!

The language in this book is rather old-fashioned, and the timeline sometimes doesn't quite make sense, but the story is fun and engaging, nevertheless.  Readers who enjoy animal stories and wish they had Dr. Dolittle's wonderful gift will enjoy this story.  It is the second of Hugh Lofting's books about the amazing doctor, but it stands alone just fine. (336 p.)

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The Story of Mankind by Hendrik Willem van Loon

11/9/2015

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The very first winner of the John Newbery Medal in 1922, Hendrik Van Loon's The Story of Mankind (Lexile: 1260; Interest Level: Grades 5-9) gives a comprehensive history of the Western World from the Ancient Egyptians up to the "present" (which, of course, was just the beginning of the 1920s).  The edition I read was the one updated in 1939 to briefly include the fact that World War II was brewing.  Robert Sullivan and John Merriman have recently completed an 8th update to this classic, published in 2014, bringing the content up-to-date up through the most important events of the past couple of decades including the Cold War, the Internet, and Social Media. 

I found it very interesting that the version I read had claimed to do a history of all of mankind, but qualified it as "pertaining to us," as it had a concentration almost entirely of Europe and North America.  There was some passing reference to China (and Marco Polo), but no mention of the history of other countries in Asia. Aside from the slaves in Africa and the Egyptian civilization, there was no real coverage of the rest of that continent.  I understand that more current revisions have included a chapter on China, but it still seems as though a lot of "mankind" has been left out.

Still, if you are interested in a very intense history, this book is written in a very conversational tone and is definitely aimed at young historians.  I do recommend finding the most updated version, which I thought I had, but my audio version was apparently not the most current.  (800 pages, in 2014 edition)

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    As an elementary librarian, I want to share the best literature with my students.  This is my way of highlighting the best of the best.

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  • Home
  • About the Librarian
  • Blog
  • Online Learning Resources
    • Copyright With Read Alouds
    • Art
    • Computing
    • Languages
    • Math
    • Miscellaneous
    • Music
    • Phys Ed
    • Reading
    • Science
    • Social Studies
    • Special Education
    • Teacher Tools
    • Virtual BreakOut/ Escape Rooms
    • Virtual Field Trips
    • Writing
  • Creation Tools
  • Digital Citizenship and Literacy
    • Citing Sources
    • Copyright Friendly Images
  • Fun Sites
  • News and Magazine Sites
  • Online Books and Stories
  • Reference Sources
  • Search Engines
  • Standards