#AtoZChallenge 2006 Newbery Winner 'Criss Cross' by Lynne Rae Perkins

In 2006, the Newbery Medal Winner was 'Criss Cross' by Lynne Rae Perkins. Because I teach younger children, I have lost touch with these fabulous chapter books in recent years. This coming-of-age novel looks like another good read that I must add to my list.

I have included the Amazon blurb with the book cover. Click on the cover to download from Amazon and to read other reviews.

Book blurb:

She wished something would happen.

Something good. To her. Checking her wish for loopholes, she found one. Hoping it wasn't too late, she thought the word soon.

Meanwhile, in another part of town, he felt as if the world was opening. Life was rearranging itself; bulging in places, fraying in spots. 

He felt himself changing, too, but into what?

So much can happen in a summer.

#AtoZChallenge Newbery Winner 'Bud, Not Buddy' by Christopher Paul Curtis

In 2000, author Christopher Paul Curtis won the Newbery Medal for his book Bud, Not Buddy. A story chronicling an orphan during the great Depression, it is taught in classrooms all over. (Get a teaching guide here.) This is yet another one that I haven't read, but plan to soon. I have a copy sitting on my bookshelf, just waiting to be devoured.

The Amazon description is short, but tells you everything you need to know to start it:

It’s 1936, in Flint, Michigan, and when 10-year-old Bud decides to hit the road to find his father, nothing can stop him.

Buy it on Amazon \ Barnes & Noble

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Author Christopher Paul Curtis also received the Newbery Honor in 1996 for The Watson's Go to Birmingham: 1963, which deals with the horrors of racism in Birmingham in 1963. (Get a teacher's guide here.) Another one on that never-ending necessary TBR pile.

From Amazon:

A wonderful middle-grade novel narrated by Kenny, 9, about his middle-class black family, the Weird  Watsons of Flint, Michigan. When Kenny's  13-year-old brother, Byron, gets to be too much trouble,  they head South to Birmingham to visit Grandma, the  one person who can shape him up. And they happen to  be in Birmingham when Grandma's church is blown  up.

Buy it on Amazon \ Barnes & Noble

Have you read either of these? What did you think of them? 

#AtoZChallenge Newbery Winners & Honors: Avi

For this year's A to Z Challenge, I am focusing on Newbery Winners and Honors. To kick things off, I am starting with Avi. 

Avi comes from a long line of writers, dating back to the 19th century. He was born in 1937 and has published over 70 books. He has also won many awards, including one Newbery winner and two Newbery Honors.

While I haven't yet read these books, they are now on my TBR pile, as all Newbery books and honors should be. I have included the Amazon or Goodreads book blurb for each of the books. Click on the cover to order or to read reviews from your fellow readers.

Which of these have you read?

~~1991 Newbery Honor Award~~

But when the two families she was supposed to travel with mysteriously cancel their trips, Charlotte finds herself the lone passenger on a long sea voyage with a cruel captain and a mutinous crew. Worse yet, soon after stepping aboard the ship, she becomes enmeshed in a conflict between them! What begins as an eagerly anticipated ocean crossing turns into a harrowing journey, where Charlotte gains a villainous enemy . . . and is put on trial for murder!



~~1992 Newbery Honor Award~~

In this thought-provoking examination of freedom, patriotism, and respect, ninth-grader, Philip Malloy, is kept from joining the track team by his failing grades in English class. Convinced that the teacher just doesn't like him, Philip concocts a plan to get transferred out of her class. Breaking the school's policy of silence during the national anthem, he hums along, and ends up in a crisis at the center of the nation's attention.






~~2003 Newbery Award Winner~~

"Asta's Son" is all he's ever been called. The lack of a name is appropriate, because he and his mother are but poor peasants in 14th century medieval England. But this thirteen-year-old boy who thought he had little to lose soon finds himself with even less - no home, no family, or possessions. Accused of a crime he did not commit, he may be killed on sight, by anyone. If he wishes to remain alive, he must flee his tiny village. All the boy takes with him is a newly revealed name - Crispin - and his mother's cross of lead.