William Armstrong's Sounder, which won the Newbery medal in 1970, was one of those books I'd known about for a long time but for whatever reason had never read. I think it was because I knew it was really sad and so I avoided it. Well, I read it this morning and found that, although it was as sad as I had feared, it was also deeply moving and inspiring. 
This is the story of a boy whose sharecropper father is arrested for stealing food. Sounder is their dog, and he has a bark like no other dog. Armstrong describes it, in part, like this:
"But it was not an ordinary bark. It filled up the night and made music as though the branches of all the trees were being pulled across silver strings" (p. 5).
Sounder is also exceptionally loyal to his master, losing his great voice when his master is arrested and taken away.
It's interesting that Sounder is the only character in this book who is named. Armstrong refers to the main (human) character as "the boy" and his mother as "the woman" or "the boy's mother." Sounder, then, with his exceptional voice, courage, and loyalty, is the star of the story and it is his story that speaks with the most force, not only to the reader but to the story's other characters as well. This is a beautiful, powerful story, and I'm glad I finally read it.
Johnny Tremain, by Esther Forbes, won the Newbery medal in 1944. This is a great story for 5th graders because it is set in Boston in the 1770's. The Boston Tea Party and the Battle of Lexington and Concord play prominent roles in the plot, and familiar historical figures such as John Hancock and Samuel Adams are characters in the story. 
At the beginning of the story Johnny is an apprentice to a silversmith, but a tragic accident forces him to give up his position and try to make a new life. Johnny is an admirable and likeable character, and I found myself quickly caught up in his world and interested in what would happen next in the story.
This is a fairly advanced book (Renaissance Learning gives its reading level as 5.9) and it is quite long, so I would only recommend it to 5th graders who are ready for a challenging book. I believe that older kids interested in this period of history -- both boys and girls -- would enjoy it. I liked this book, but I did get a little confused reading the last several chapters that deal with the military maneuvers of the battles. I suspect, though, that my confusion was more a result of my lack of interest in these kinds of details than a reflection of the author's skill. This book was written many years ago but has certainly withstood the test of time to become a classic of children's literature.
Kenneth Oppel's Silverwing is the first in a series which also includes Sunwing, Firewing, and Darkwing. These books are fantasy adventure novels about bats. In the author's note to Silverwing, Oppel says he liked the challenge of writing about an animal that is often thought of as ugly or scary, rather than the traditional cuddly animals such as kittens, mice, and rabbits. 
He wanted to make the bats appealing, and I think he has succeeded. The main character, Shade, is a Silverwing bat who is the runt of his colony. One of the main themes of the book involves the mysterious metal bands that humans have given to many bats. Do the bands mark the bats who have them as charmed, or cursed? Oppel has imagined a whole mythology for these bats which includes a bat deity known as Nocturna.
The villain is a large vampire bat named Goth who was transported north from his tropical jungle home. He escapes from some sort of research facility or zoo and manages to create havoc among birds, beasts, and bats alike. Goth has his own religion, the center of which is his god named Zotz. It's interesting to see how these animal characters' religious beliefs affect their actions.
I enjoyed not only the adventure and suspense of the story, but also the complex fantasy world Oppel has created.
Just Listen, a YA novel by Sarah Dessen, reminded me of Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, but the story is different enough that I think both are well worth reading. 
Annabel Greene, the heroine of Just Listen, is a teen who has been modeling for many years, long enough to have grown weary of it. However, she cannot bring herself to tell her mother, who clearly loves being involved with the modeling world. Annabel has trouble talking about other important issues in her life as well, but when she meets Owen, a loner at school who loves music and even has his own radio show, it seems as though things might change.
Dessen deftly balances several plot threads in this book, winding them together to create a very readable, though-provoking text.
Tithe, by Holly Black, is a YA fantasy novel. The heroine, 16-yer-old Kaye, lives with her would-be rock star mother, Ellen. When one of Ellen's band members tries to kill her, Ellen and Kaye move back in with Ellen's mother, in the house where Kaye grew up. Kaye soon reconnects with old friends, including a couple of faerie folk with whom she used to play. Of course, when Kaye was a little girl she did not really understand the significance of having faerie friends, but she soon discovers that she is, in fact, one of them -- a pixie.
This is a very dark novel, full of profanity and violence. As in Wicked Lovely, by Melissa Marr (see my April 28th post), many of the faerie folk in this story are pretty nasty creatures who revel in bloodshed and violence. Still, I found the book compelling, enough so to read it in one day. I cannot say that this is one of my favorites, but I think many teens would enjoy it. Black has written a sequel: Ironside : a modern faery's tale.
The Young Adult novel Criss Cross, by Lynne Rae Perkins, won the Newbery Medal in 2006, and I liked it a lot. The title refers to the way characters in the book come very close to connecting with each other in meaningful ways but for various reasons fail to do so. It is a quiet story, kind of meandering among several plot threads and several teen-aged characters. 
Their stories are simple, even everyday, but at the same time poignant and important. Debbie wants something new and different to happen to her -- she doesn't know what. However, when that "something" does occur, it still manages to catch her by surprise. Hector learns to play the guitar and starts writing songs, and even though his music is not really very good, it gives him pleasure and helps him to discover important things about himself. Dan is kind of a jerk, selfish and conceited, and he kind of just stays that way!
If you're looking for adventure and an exciting, suspenseful narrative, look elsewhere, because on the surface it doesn't seem as though much happens in this book. However, if you enjoy creative, thought-provoking writing about self-discovery and hope, then this book will be quite satisfying.
The Hero and the Crown, by Robin McKinley, won the Newbery Medal in 1985. It is a prequel to The Blue Sword . 
This is truly fantasy fiction at its best. I've read a few of McKinely's other books (Beauty: a Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast, and Spindle's End), so I knew to expect imaginative, richly detailed prose, as well as a compelling story. I was not disappointed. One thing I really enjoyed about this story was that the protagonist is a strong woman -- yes, the "hero" of the title is a woman. It was also hugely gratifying to see the small-minded characters in this story shown a thing or two by this courageous, determined, and gifted outsider whom they had shunned for years.
This is long and complex story, though, and I would only recommend it to avid fantasy fans. Renaissance Learning pegs it at Reading Level 7.0 and 15 points, so it's a good book for skilled readers who are looking for something challenging.
My boys love role-playing fantasy games like Runescape and The Legend of Zelda, so when I found this book I checked it out right away.
The main character of Wizards of the Game, by David Lubar, is an eighth-grader names Mercer (aka Shath'dra) who has the brilliant idea of organizing a gaming tournament in the school gym as part of a fundraiser. The planning committee chooses a homeless shelter to be the recipient of the fundraiser's profits, and at the shelter Mercer meets four rather strange people who keep coming up to him and saying "Make us!"
Well, it turns out these four are real-life wizards who have been trapped on Earth and are trying to get home. Meanwhile, a church group has started picketing the school, protesting the game playing as evil.
The way the author presents the conflict between the game players and the church group may be offensive to some readers, but it adds intrigue to the plot and it sure kept the pages turning for us. And it gives readers something important to think about, which as I've said before is always a plus!
I know I said I was going to read Newbery winners -- and I am! -- but I had already bought Blue Bloods, by Melissa De La Cruz, so I decided to read that first. This is a vampire-themed story, similar to Stephenie Meyer's Twilight, but in this story the main characters are all very wealthy New York teens who attend a private school called Duchesne. Turns out most of them are vampires but the adults in their lives do not tell them so until their (the teens') bodies begin to change (a sort of vampire puberty that begins around the age of 15).
It seems that most of the vampires of this story believe they are immortal, but when one of them turns up dead, some of them suspect that they may be more vulnerable than they thought.
There is a lot of talk about fashion that I'm afraid went right over my head. The author often describes what the young women are wearing as though she were Joan Rivers introducing an Academy Award nominee coming down the red carpet. I don't even know if the names she drops so liberally are real designers or just made-up names for the story!
Time travel themes always intrigue me, so one part of this story I really liked was the idea that these people have memories of past lives. For example, while dancing in an historic building called "The American Society Mansion," Schuyler has flashbacks to dancing in that same place 100 years earlier. The music was Chopin instead of rap, and of course her clothes were very different, but she remembers being there in another lifetime. Some of the older characters have memories of settling the Plymouth colony in the 1600's and of ancient civilizations.
The penthouse-living, self-indulgent lifestyle of most of the teens was rather shocking. They seem to have a great deal of freedom -- smoking, drinking, going to clubs -- so much that they seem more like adults than high school students. The misfit trio (Schuyler, Dylan, and Oliver) are likeable, though, and it's fun to hate the arrogant, careless queen bee Mimi. I guess I'll call this one a guilty pleasure and probably read the second book in the series before I get back to the Newberys!
I've decided to begin reading Newbery Medal winners, and my first is 2002 winner A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park. The story is set in "A small village on the west coast of Korea, mid- to late 12th century," and the main character is an orphaned boy of about 12 named Tree-ear. He and the man who raised him are homeless, foraging through garbage for food and living under a bridge. 
Tree-ear has developed a yearning to become a potter, and he has been secretly watching for some time now one of the master potters (Min) who works in his village. One day Tree-ear accidently breaks one of Min's creations and becomes Min's unpaid assistant in order to repay the debt.
The burning question throughout the story is, of course, whether Min will ever forgive Tree-ear and agree to teach him his craft. On the way toward answering this question, the author weaves a remarkable and touching story -- one that I found hard to put down. I thoroughly enjoyed this story, and I appreciated learning about Korean celadon potters and pottery.
I loved both Ella Enchanted and Fairest, so I was a little disappointed that Ever did not catch my interest quickly. The two main characters are Kezi, a young mortal girl, and Olus, a young god, and they tell the story in alternating chapters.
Kezi's mother becomes ill, and when she recovers the family believes they must sacrifice Kezi's life as repayment of an oath her father made when trying to save his wife. Also, Kezi and Olus fall in love, so Olus tries to find a way to spare Kezi's life.
Levine raises important questions regarding religion and fate here, but she deals with them with a soft touch and provides no definitive answers. Lots to think about here, then, which is always good, but I belive the story could have been more compelling.
Today I finished the second of the Ulysses Moore series, The Long Lost Map. In this one Rick and Jason have an adventure in ancient Egypt, while Julia and Nestor are left to battle Oblivia's henchman, Manfred, back home. This story reminded me of the Indiana Jones movies because of the search for an historic relic from an ancient civilization. There are plenty of mysterious tunnels and caves with snakes, spiders, and rats to add to the excitement. The story clearly continues with book three, so don't read this one unless you have book three handy!
I just re-read the first book in the Ulysses Moore series, by Pierdominico Baccalario: The Door to Time. 
This is an adventure story suitable for both boys and girls in upper grade elementary school. The main characters are 11-year-old twins Jason and Julia Covenant and their friend, Rick Banner. Jason and Julia move into Argo Manner, which is a very old house situated on a cliff overlooking the sea in England. Julia, who loved living in London, thinks she will be bored living so far removed from big city life, but she soon finds she is mistaken. There are plenty of riddles and other puzzles to figure out as the kids explore the old house, finding clues to the mystery of the previous owner’s activities. This book is similar to The Mysterious Benedict Society because of the adventure, mystery, and puzzles to solve; however, The Door to Time is written for a bit younger audience. The series so far consists of these titles:
1 The Door to Time
2 The Long Lost Map
3 The House of Mirrors
4 The Isle of Masks
