2011 Newbery Medal and Honor Books

Moon over Manifest

By: Clare Vanderpool

Medal Winner

Reviewed by: Sherry Early
Recommended age: 12+

Moon Over Manifest is the story of a girl, twelve year old Abilene Tucker, whose father, Gideon, is a hobo. Abilene and her dad have been riding the rails together for as long as she can remember, but now (summer, 1936) Gideon has sent Abilene to live with an old friend of his in Manifest, Kansas while Gideon takes a job on the railroad back in Iowa. Abilene is not happy about being separated from her loving and beloved father, and she is determined that Gideon will come get her by the end of the summer. In the meantime, Abilene wants to find some information about the time Gideon spent in Manifest during World War I, before Abilene was born. What she gets is a nun, Sister Redempta, who teaches at the Sacred Heart of the Holy Redeemer Elementary School and gives her a summer assignment on the last day of school. Abilene also meets: Shady Howard, the bootlegger who is also the interim pastor of the First Baptist Church; Miss Sadie, fortune teller, spirit medium, conjurer, and story-teller extraordinaire; Hattie Mae Harper Macke, newspaper columnist and amateur historian of Manifest; and two new friends, Lettie and Ruthanne, who join Abilene in searching for The Rattler, a spy who may or may not be selling secrets from Manifest to the enemy.

Abilene is an engaging character, independent, feisty, and determined. But she’s also respectful and grateful for the people in Manifest who help her and feed her and take care of her. I like respectful and thankful, since it seems to be in short supply sometimes in book characters and in real kids. Abilene’s story feels real and has a flavor of the summertime adventures of the Jem and Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird. Abilene and her two buddies roam all over Manifest all summer long, and they make up stories and hunt for The Rattler with impunity and without much adult interference. The adults are available, but not over-involved. I think my kids could use some of that kind of independence and free-range experience.

As Abilene grows up over the course of the summer, she also learns more about her father and about his history, his character, and his flaws. Twelve is about the right time for a daughter to begin to see her father as a real person with a past and with hurts that need to be healed. 

Moon Over Manifest is a fine novel; it will probably appeal most to mature readers with good to excellent reading skills. The chronological jumps are well marked and easy to follow, but some of the psychological insights into family history and relationships are going to go over the head of young readers no matter how well they can follow the plot. 

Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night

By: Joyce Sidman
Illustrated by: Rick Allen

Honor

Reviewed by: Lara Lleverino
Recommended age: 6-12
Also read and recommended by: Sandy Hall

This book is one of those glorious finds that blows the top off of two completely separate genres: that of poetry and nature study! Each spread presents one the Joyce Sidman's wonderfully lyrical poems followed by a margin of scientific information that provides teaching moments to anchor the pictures the poetry paints in the reader's mind. Covered in the poetry, science explanations and wonderful linoleum cut and wood engraved print illustrations are snails, moths, owls, spiders, porcupettes, crickets, mushrooms, efts, bats, and the moon! Books like these are meant to awaken wonder and call to the senses to live more present in the gifts of nature.

Heart of a Samurai: Based on the True Story of Nakahama Manjiro

By: Margi Preus
Illustrated by: Jillian Tamaki

Honor

Reviewed by: Terri Shown
Recommended age: 10+
Also read and recommended by: Sarah Kim, Sherry Early, Terri Shown

I did not realize that this book was based on a true story because of the cover. I pre-read for my children ages 4-10. I think it would be best for school age children. Probably would be perfect for my 10 year old or older. It's an action-packed book giving insight into the Japanese culture and life on whaling ships. There are some heavy themes of racism and death of a baby. Nakahama is believed to be the very first Japanese man to step foot in America.

One Crazy Summer

By: Rita Williams-Garcia

Honor

Reviewed by: Sherry Early

I had trouble getting past the initial premise of this story: loving father sends his three daughters (ages 11, 9, and 7) across the country on an airplane from Brooklyn to Oakland, California to spend a month with their crazy mother who deserted them seven years previously and doesn’t really want them to come. Negligent mother, Cecile, doesn’t even have a phone and may be living on the streets for all the father knows. Why would any decent parent send his young daughters on such a journey?

After I swallowed the implausibility of that opening gambit, I enjoyed reading about Delphine and her sisters Vonetta and Fern and their selfish, crazy mother, Cecile/Nzila, who in addition to being totally obsessed with writing poetry is also associated with the Black Panthers. The summer of 1968, the year in which the story takes place, saw the Panthers’ leader, Huey Newton, on trial for manslaughter, and the Black Panthers were holding rallies and demonstrations with the slogan “Free Huey!” The Panthers also ran a feeding program out of a church in Oakland, providing breakfast for poor children, a program which figures into the story of Delphine’s crazy summer.

The book tries to present a balanced view of the Black Panthers and of the political and social climate of the time, and as far as I can tell, it does maintain some objectivity. While the Black Panther group is providing breakfast and a place of safety during the day for Delphine and her sisters, Delphine also becomes aware that that the Panthers have been involved in some serious violence, that they carry weapons, and that being close to the Panthers might not be so safe after all. The real villains in the book are not the “pigs” (police) or white people, but rather Delphine’s negligent mom and a traitor within the Panther group itself.

Turtle in Paradise

By: Jennifer L. Holm

Honor

Reviewed by: Sherry Early

Key West, Florida, June, 1935.

Take one eleven year girl named Turtle with eyes as "gray as soot" who sees things exactly as they are. Plunk her down in Key West, Florida with her Aunt Minnie the Diaper Gang and a bunch of Conch (adj. native or resident of the Florida Keys) relatives and Conch cousins with nicknames like Pork Chop and Too Bad and Slow Poke. Leave her starry-eyed mama back in New Jersey keeping house for Mrs. Budnick who doesn’t like children and dreaming of being married to Archie, the encyclopedia salesman. Add in an ornery grandmother that Turtle didn’t know she had and a cat named Smokey and a dog named Termite.

All of that put together by author Jennifer L. Holm makes a story that reminded me of The Goonies, Little Rascals, Annie, Tom Sawyer, and The Great Brain, but at the same time had its own feel and flavor. Turtle is a great little anti-Pollyanna who hates Shirley Temple and knows that “kids are rotten,” especially boys. The Diaper Gang is the Conch version of Our Gang with a wagon for babysitting bad babies and a secret formula for curing diaper rash. And if you’re a fan of the movie The Goonies, you should enjoy Turtle in Paradise, and vice-versa.