Tag: Newbery Medal

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King of the Wind by Marguerite Henry

Were you one of those children who adored horses? Do you have a child who devours every book on horses that she can get her hands on?

Then you have probably read books by Marguerite Henry.

I didn’t. As a kid, I liked horses. I liked their soulful eyes and soft noses. I appreciated their loyalty to their owners. I liked them. But I didn’t love them. So I passed over all of Marguerite Henry’s works for historical books or mystery series or the nurse series like Sue Barton and Cherry Ames.

Since I like to hunt for vintage books at my library, I noticed King of the Wind. I read it. Now I remember why Black Beauty was the first and only horse book I ever read. I felt so sorry for the stallion, I couldn’t take the sorrow. Fifty years later, my soul hasn’t changed. I almost put down Henry’s Newbery Medal winner because my heart couldn’t stand so much injustice.

Synopsis

Sham, this magnificent bay stallion born to run, and Agba, the stable boy who takes care of him, travel the world in the 1700s. Sham was to be a beautiful gift to the king of France, but by the time he arrives in that country, the ship’s crew has starved the horse into a shadow of himself. The king, a bit insulted by the scrawny gift,  assigns Sham to pull a cart.

Overworked and underfed, Sham almost dies. He’s rescued! But shortly after, circumstances place him in dire straits once again.

Spoiler: there is a bittersweet, happy ending.

Pros

  1. Everything that makes for a good story. Heroes, villains, and an ending that may surprise the reader. (I was surprised.)
  2. Marguerite Henry might be the leading author who can stir the reader with emotion regarding a horse and the person who loves him most.

Cons

  1. Like me, tender hearts may wish to save themselves the tears.
  2. Published in 1948, the narrative is not terse and to-the-point like modern writing. So acclimate and enjoy!

Discussion Questions

  1. What is your opinion of a world that treats people and animals in the way that Sham and Agba were treated?
  2. Why is the cat important to this story? (I can’t leave out the cat! He’s one of the main characters!)
  3. Think of several of the minor characters in this story. If you were one of them, how might you have tried to help Sham and Agba?

Conclusion

As I dug a little deeper into the making of this novel, I discovered a tantalizing fact. The story is based on truth! Most thoroughbred horses today who run in the Triple Crown are descended from Sham, a horse who never had the chance to glory in an official race. He became known as the Godolphin Arabian and sired three champions. Those sons have provided the world with centuries of descendants who live for the joy of competition. Man O’ War and Seabiscuit are only two famous examples in recent times.

A quote from the book:

But some animals, like some men, leave a trail of glory behind them. They give their spirit to the place where they have lived, and remain forever a part of the rocks and streams and the wind and sky.

That was Sham.

Yes, I understand why children love to read books about horses.

 

 

 

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Shadow of a Bull by Maia Wojciechowska

The publishing powers-that-be claim today’s readers are impatient. If you don’t hook them on the first page, the first paragraph even, you’re not publishable.  Vintage Reads always start a little slower. Teach your children patience for this book.  In turn, it will teach them how to respond to life’s challenges with integrity and faith, especially appropriate for middle grade boys as they search for what will make them good men.

Synopsis

The first paragraph caught my interest. Everyone in the bullfighting town of Arcangel expected Manolo to follow in his father’s footsteps as a bullfighter. The rest of the chapter? Not so interesting because the writing style is from fifty years ago –until the last lines that added deeper emotion: “…that hero had left them a son who was growing up once again to take arms against death. They were waiting for the son to be like his father.”

Except the son had no interest in becoming a bullfighter, which is the gist of the plot. How Manolo comes to terms with honor and bringing pride to his family and his town is what makes Shadow of a Bull a gripping read.

Pros

  1. Maia Wojciechowska gives us an enlightening peek into the world of bullfighting. Personally, I have always been adamantly against the “sport,” but the author shows us the spirit of a magnificent bull. As one character put it (and  I paraphrase): such a creature prefers to die in battle rather than be shoved into a slaughterhouse unable to defend himself.
  2.  Manolo’s character matures as he prepares for his first bullfight (at the age of twelve!). His final decision will please the bullfighter aficionado as well as  those who abhor bloodsport.

Cons

As with any Vintage Read, children of the 21st century will find it difficult to stay with the long descriptions and inner monologue, so maybe it can be a read-aloud for the whole family.

Discussion Questions

Lots of deep thinking abounds! I will limit myself to three.

  1. Why didn’t Manolo just tell people (or at least his mother) that he didn’t want to be a bullfighter?
  2. Did Manolo ever see the beauty in bullfighting? Explain your answer.
  3.  Did you like Manolo’s final decision? Why or why not?

Conclusion

If your public library, like mine, has a section on Newbery Awards, Shadow of a Bull should be there. Relish the story.

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M.C. Higgins the Great by Virginia Hamilton

Synopsis

Set in Appalachia of northern Kentucky along the Ohio River,  M.C. Higgins is the oldest son in an African American family, proud of his great grandmother’s mountain and proud of his skills as a swimmer, a hunter-tracker, and how he can shimmy up his forty-foot steel pole to view the hills. Then two strangers enter his domain. The first might be able to make M.C.’s mother a famous singer. The second is a girl who lives the kind of freedom M.C. never considered aiming for.

Over all of them, hover the age-old superstitions handed down through the generations and the brewing storm of strip miners laying bare Sarah’s Mountain. M.C. will soon need to make a choice: stay on his mountain as the coal industry destroys it, or move off the mountain and join the modern world.

Pros

  1. The setting may be more of a main character than M.C. Higgins. Virginia Hamilton’s descriptive imagery is superb.
  2. Readers will gain a solid sense of the culture that has inhabited Appalachia for centuries.
  3. While this is a coming-of-age story during a specific era in a specific setting, it goes beyond race bias and evil coal mine owners. This is M.C.’s story and what happens between him and his parents, between him and his siblings, and between him and the strangers who visit his mountain.

Cons

  1. The setting may be more of a main character than M.C. Higgins. Hamilton’s descriptive imagery and literary style will cause the average juvenile reader to close the book by page 10. I was a voracious reader as a child, but this book would not have held my interest. I would have skipped all the amazing prose to get to the action.
  2. The relationship between M.C. and his father bothered me. They loved each other, respected one another, but the way each challenged the other bordered on generating feelings of hate and disrespect.

Conclusion

M.C. Higgins the Great was a novel I appreciated for its literary excellence. It painted a portrait of one specific area of the United States with a brush that allowed me to become immersed in the setting using every one of my senses. However, I believe it’s a novel geared toward adults, not youth. It takes an especially thoughtful young reader to enjoy what M.C. Higgins has to offer.

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The Cat who went to Heaven by Elizabeth Coatsworth

Knowing this story won the Newbery Medal in 1931, I expected fantastic writing. Looking at the title, I assumed it was a book of faith. I was mostly correct. Yes, The Cat who went to Heaven is magnificently written, a wonderful read-aloud giving your child a full picture of the setting. Yes, it’s a book about faith—but not the Christian faith. Its themes are subtle, so it’s a book best read by children ten and up.
Look past the synopsis to see what I find worthwhile about reading a book centered on Buddhism.

Synopsis

The story centers on a talented, poverty-stricken artist who has been commissioned to paint the scene of Buddha’s death for the local temple. Such a painting includes all the animals lined up to give honor to this master teacher. Cats, however, are never included. They are traditionally associated with demons. To the artist’s dismay, his faithful housekeeper brings home a cat, but this cat seems different. He observes its gentleness with other living creatures and with his art, and he names her Good Fortune.
As he adds more and more animals to his paintings, the cat seems sadder and sadder, which makes him feel guilty for not putting her into the picture. She’s such a sweet cat! Finally, he gives in to his conscience. Even if the priest refuses to pay him, he adds a painting of his cat as the last animal in line to honor Buddha. What happens next would give away the ending!

Pros
1. With supervision, The Cat who went to Heaven makes for an excellent education about Buddhist history and myths, and it creates plenty of room for discussion on how Buddhist beliefs compare to the Christian faith. For example, it is filled with side stories of Buddhist myth. While each story is an example of another incarnation of Buddha, in every instance, the story involves Christlike self-sacrifice.
2. The entire message of the book teaches compassion, kindness, and mercy.
3. Told like a fairytale, the prose is almost poetic in its beauty.
4. Lynd Ward’s illustrations are exquisite.

Cons
1. Because it features a different religion, Christian parents may feel wary reading a book that promotes a faith other than their own.

Discussion Questions
1. The artist would think about the stories he’d heard about Buddha while he painted his masterpiece. How are those stories like the stories you know about Jesus?
2. What is the biggest difference between Buddha and Jesus? Why is that important?
3. How was the painting different at the end of the story? What do you think that means?

Conclusion
Elizabeth Coatsworth (1893-1986), a product of Ivy League colleges of Vassar and Columbia, traveled to the Philippines, Indonesia, and China throughout her twenties. Her knowledge of Buddhism and the man who initiated its teachings far exceeds mine. Believed to have lived in the fifth century B.C, Siddhartha gave up his status as a Hindu prince, lived an impoverished life, taught others to show mercy to the unfortunate, and to display kindness toward all. We might call him a secular humanist by today’s standards since he gave more credit to the possibilities of goodness in man than he did to any of the Hindu gods. If even a portion of what is known of Siddhartha Gautama is true, I can’t help but wonder if he would have embraced Christianity, for surely, he would have admired Jesus.
The blessing of sacrificing self for the sake of others is central to this story. It’s worth your time.