2013 Newbery Medal and Honor Books

The One and Only Ivan

By: Katherine Applegate
Illustrated by: Patricia Castelao

Medal Winner

Reviewed by: Sherry Early

I can see why people are all gaga over Ivan, the gorilla who’s the star of the Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video Arcade. Ivan is a sympathetic character, an artist, something of a stoic, and a good friend to Stella, the elephant, Bob, the stray dog, and Julia, the daughter of the night janitor for the mall. Ivan lives in the moment, takes life as it comes, and doesn’t worry over much. However, when he makes a promise to a dying friend, Ivan is determined to keep his word, no matter what.

I really enjoyed getting to know Ivan. And I had sympathy for his plight, a lonely gorilla who has nothing to do but watch TV and draw pictures to be sold in the mall gift shop. Ivan doesn’t feel sorry for himself, even though he has been living without the company of other gorillas for most of his life, the last twenty-some odd years. (The One and Only Ivan is based on the true of a gorilla named Ivan who lived for twenty-seven years in a circus-themed mall in Washington state and who now lives in the Atlanta Zoo.)

But honestly, the whole “animals are people, too” theme was distracting to me. I think the author could have made us sympathize, even identify, with Ivan without beating us over the head with the philosophy that we’re all great apes, and animals are just like people (only they’re not really, are they?). The insertion into the story of animal rights rhetoric was intrusive and unnecessary. Animals are animals and people are people. People have a responsibility to treat animals with care and respect, and Ivan shouldn’t have been caged alone without other gorillas and without a natural habitat for over twenty years. The story of Ivan’s “emancipation” is a good one, even if Ivan is anthropomorphized a little too much. How else could he tell his own story?

Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon

By: Steve Sheinkin

Honor

Reviewed by: Deanna Knoll
Recommended age: 14 and up
Also read and recommended by: Sandy Hall

I'm not sure where to start; this is a book that could hardly be put down.  Steve Sheinkin managed to write a captivating book with the allure of a spy novel, the drama of a WWII story, and the attention to detail found in a non-fiction science volume all in one.  This book provides a solid picture of the intensity, fear, commitment and danger that surrounded the race for the first nuclear weapon.  The author's incredible research, using primary sources for it all, makes this a not-to-miss book about the incredible risk and sacrifice, along with the missteps made by American and British scientists who committed their lives to ending World War II.  While this book includes difficult details, it is an important story that serves as a massive reminder of the risks and benefits to creating such a weapon.

Splendors and Glooms

By: Laura Amy Schlitz

Honor

Reviewed by: Sherry Early

I think this rather dark fantasy about a witch, three children, and some marionettes is my favorite of all Ms. Schlitz’s books that I’ve read. Splendors and Glooms is set in Victorian England and tells the story of two orphan children who are under the care and domination of an Italian puppet-master named Grisini. Grisini is appropriately greasy and nasty and villainous. Cassandra, the witch of the tale, appropriately lives in a sort of castle with a tower, and she’s, of course, clairvoyant and insane, just like the mythological Cassandra. The orphans, Lizzie Rose and Parsefall seem like typical Victorian street urchins at first, but each one is much more complicated and multifaceted than the typical Oliver Twist character in a Victorian novel. Lizzie Rose is a good girl, motherly and always seeing the best in people, but she manages to lead Parsefall and their friend into danger and still remain strong and compassionate to the end. Parsefall is the Artful Dodger of the piece, but he has a secret wound and turns out to be a true knight who saves the “princess” from death.

The final major character in this ensemble cast is Clara Wintermere, who is the only child from her rich family to survive a cholera epidemic that killed her five siblings when she was only five years old. Clara’s been living in the shadow of those siblings, called the “deaders” by Parsefall, ever since. Clara is the Poor Little Rich Girl who’s so protected and spoiled that she has only a hint of a personality in the beginning of the book, but it is Clara who manages to defeat the witch and her magic and free the children from Cassandra’s evil spells.

The title comes from the poem Adonais: An Elegy on the Death of John Keats, canto 13, by Percy Bysshe Shelley. It sums up the atmosphere of this brooding and haunting novel that turns out to be a rather down-to-earth story of the rescue and redemption of three children and a witch.

Three Times Lucky

By: Sheila Turnage

Honor
NOT REVIEWED

Rising sixth grader Miss Moses LoBeau lives in the small town of Tupelo Landing, NC, where everyone's business is fair game and no secret is sacred. She washed ashore in a hurricane eleven years ago, and she's been making waves ever since. Although Mo hopes someday to find her "upstream mother," she's found a home with the Colonel—a café owner with a forgotten past of his own—and Miss Lana, the fabulous café hostess. She will protect those she loves with every bit of her strong will and tough attitude. So when a lawman comes to town asking about a murder, Mo and her best friend, Dale Earnhardt Johnson III, set out to uncover the truth in hopes of saving the only family Mo has ever known.

From the publisher