Don't Shoot!

There are tons of new challenges going around right now, and I am very firmly NOT JOINING any of them. I have a couple I plan to do in 2008 (after I fail the ones in 2007) but nothing new for fall. Then today as I was bloghopping, I found this- The Newbery Project. This is been going on for a while now, it's not new, but I just found it. There is no list to be made (the list already exists) and no set number of books to read. There is no time limit. Just read them. Here's the complete list, with the ones I've already read (as an adult, I read quite a few of them as a child) marked off.

2007 The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron
2006 Criss Cross, by Lynne Rae Perkins
2005 Kira-Kira, by Cynthia Kadohata
2004 The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread, by Kate DiCamillo
2003 Crispin: The Cross of Lead, by Avi (I've met the author)
2002 A Single Shard, by Linda Sue Park
2001 A Year Down Yonder, by Richard Peck (I've met the author)
2000 Bud, Not Buddy, by Christopher Paul Curtis (I've met the author)
1999 Holes, by Louis Sachar
1998 Out of the Dust, by Karen Hesse
1997 The View from Saturday, by E. L. Konigsburg (I've met the author)
1996 The Midwife’s Apprentice, by Karen Cushman
1995 Walk Two Moons, by Sharon Creech
1994 The Giver, by Lois Lowry
1993 Missing May, by Cynthia Rylant
1992 Shiloh, by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
1991 Maniac Magee, by Jerry Spinelli
1990 Number the Stars, by Lois Lowry
1989 Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices, by Paul Fleischman
1988 Lincoln: A Photobiography, by Russell Freedman
1987 The Whipping Boy, by Sid Fleischman
1986 Sarah, Plain and Tall, by Patricia MacLachlan
1985 The Hero and the Crown, by Robin McKinley
1984 Dear Mr. Henshaw, by Beverly Cleary
1983 Dicey’s Song, by Cynthia Voigt
1982 A Visit to William Blake’s Inn: Poems for Innocent and Experienced Travelers, by Nancy Willard
1981 Jacob Have I Loved, by Katherine Paterson
1980 A Gathering of Days: A New England Girl's Journal, 1830-1832, by Joan Blos
1979 The Westing Game, by Ellen Raskin
1978 Bridge to Terabithia, by Katherine Paterson
1977 Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, by Mildred D. Taylor
1976 The Grey King, by Susan Cooper
1975 M. C. Higgins, the Great, by Virginia Hamilton
1974 The Slave Dancer, by Paula Fox
1973 Julie of the Wolves, by Jean Craighead George
1972 Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, by Robert C. O’Brien
1971 Summer of the Swans, by Betsy Byars
1970 Sounder, by William H. Armstrong
1969 The High King, by Lloyd Alexander
1968 From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, by E. L. Konigsburg
1967 Up a Road Slowly, by Irene Hunt
1966 I, Juan de Pareja, by Elizabeth Borton de Treviño
1965 Shadow of a Bull, by Maia Wojciechowska
1964 It’s Like This, Cat, by Emily Neville
1963 A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L’Engle
1962 The Bronze Bow, by Elizabeth George Speare
1961 Island of the Blue Dolphins, by Scott O’Dell
1960 Onion John, by Joseph Krumgold
1959 The Witch of Blackbird Pond, by Elizabeth George Speare
1958 Rifles for Watie, by Harold Keith
1957 Miracles on Maple Hill, by Virginia Sorenson
1956 Carry On, Mr. Bowditch, by Jean Lee Latham
1955 The Wheel on the School, by Meindert DeJong
1954 …And Now Miguel, by Joseph Krumgold
1953 Secret of the Andes, by Ann Nolan Clark
1952 Ginger Pye, by Eleanor Estes
1951 Amos Fortune, Free Man, by Elizabeth Yates
1950 The Door in the Wall, by Marguerite de Angeli
1949 King of the Wind, by Marguerite Henry
1948 The Twenty-One Balloons, by William Pène du Bois
1947 Miss Hickory, by Carolyn Sherwin Bailey
1946 Strawberry Girl, by Lois Lenski
1945 Rabbit Hill, by Robert Lawson
1944 Johnny Tremain, by Esther Forbes
1943 Adam of the Road, by Elizabeth Gray Vining
1942 The Matchlock Gun, by Walter Edmonds
1941 Call It Courage, by Armstrong Sperry
1940 Daniel Boone, by James Daugherty
1939 Thimble Summer, by Elizabeth Enright
1938 The White Stag, by Kate Seredy
1937 Roller Skates, by Ruth Sawyer
1936 Caddie Woodlawn, by Carol Ryrie Brink
1935 Dobry, by Monica Shannon
1934 Invincible Louisa: The Story of the Author of Little Women, by Cornelia Meigs
1933 Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze, by Elizabeth Foreman Lewis
1932 Waterless Mountain, by Laura Adams Armer
1931 The Cat Who Went to Heaven, by Elizabeth Coatsworth
1930 Hitty, Her First Hundred Years, by Rachel Field
1929 The Trumpeter of Krakow, by Eric P. Kelly
1928 Gay Neck, the Story of a Pigeon, by Dhan Gopal Mukerji
1927 Smoky the Cowhorse, by Will James
1926 Shen of the Sea, by Arthur Bowie Chrisman
1925 Tales from Silver Lands, by Charles Finger
1924 The Dark Frigate, by Charles Hawes
1923 The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle, by Hugh Lofting
1922 The Story of Mankind, by Hendrik Willem van Loon

Number The Stars by Lois Lowry and other bookish catchup

Despite taking a huge stack of books, and buying even more, I only managed to read one book on my vacation- Number the Stars by Lois Lowry- and that one I read on the plane home. Number the Stars is set in 1943 Denmark. It's the story of the Jewish detainment and one 10 year old girl's role in it. This is a very quick book, written for middle school aged kids. It won the Newbery Award in 1990.

The story is very clear, and simple to read, but I didn't think it was nearly as good as The Giver (also by Lowry) or The Book Thief (also about WWII and the Holocaust). The writing isn't as good, and I didn't find it as emotionally hard as either of the others. This was on my Newbery Challenge list, and I am glad that I read it, but it's not going down as a favorite book.

I also finished Hex in the City by Simon R Green. This is the fourth in the series and it just keeps getting more outlandish and better with each installment. This one sets up the story for the next few titles and ends with a bit of a cliff hanger. I have the next two at home (borrowed from the library) and hope to get to them soonish. I'd like to have at least one series that I'm all caught up on.

Reading goals for the next month or so- Harry Potters 5 and 6, finish up the Newbery Challenge, wrap up a couple odds and ends (The Faith Club, I Am the Messenger, Carved in Bone.) This is a lot of reading for me, those HPs are huge! I'm determined to reread them all before July 21 though.

Two weeks worth of math- 7 more from Paperbackswap (the last being How I Paid For College: A Novel of Sex, Theft, Friendship and Musical Theater) plus the 7 I bought on vacation brings me to 86 books in since January. I finished two whole books in that time. This brings me to 52 books behind. This experiment is starting to get depressing. Good thing it's summer and tv is all reruns!

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

The Westing Game was my first Newbery Challenge book. This book won the prize in 1978 and according to all sources is hugely popular. Perhaps I'm in the wrong demographic (and, of course, I am) but I did not get it. I didn't find it interesting. The mystery was confusing. There were clues, but they didn't really lead to an answer. Perhaps I didn't spend enough time sorting them out and keeping notes, maybe if I had I would have be enthralled and amazed. As it was, I didn't like it. I didn't care who won and I found all the characters annoying. I didn't feel like there was any danger to the character who was in danger. Just eh.

Here's the publisher's summary, if you're still interested:

For over twenty-five years, Ellen Raskin's Newbery Medal-winning The WestingGame
has been an enduring favorite. It has sold over one and a half million copies.
This highly inventive mystery involves sixteen people who are invited to the
reading of Samuel W. Westing's will. They could become millionaires-it all
depends on how they play the tricky and dangerous Westing game, a game involving
blizzards, burglaries, and bombings! Ellen Raskin has created a remarkable cast
of characters in a puzzle-knotted, word-twisting plot filled with humor,
intrigue, and suspense.

NOLADawn gave me an interesting link to this site, where you can see actual manuscript pages. That's more interesting than the book was, I think!

This is my first Newbery Challenge and my second By the Decades Challenge book.

Randomness

Has anyone else seen this? I'm not sure how I feel about an 8th Harry Potter, even if it's not part of the storyline. While is is cool to see the rest of the details, it doesn't seem like a neat ending. It's the "we can still be friends" of breakups. I still need to re-read books 5 and 6 in preparation.

I'm reading The Westing Game for the Newbery Challenge. I'm over half through and really could care less. Good thing it's short.

I still need to decide on one more Southern title for the Southern Challenge.

If you came to see me last Thursday and I never made it back to see you, I'm sorry. I hope to be more friendly this week. In a related comment, can I just say how many tries it takes me to get letter verification correct on typepad accounts?

I went back to the library yesterday. I've suddenly become addicted to young adult novels. I have The Westing Game, Gathering Blue, A Mango Shaped Space, One of Those Hideous Novels Where the Mother Dies, The Silent Boy, I Am the Messenger, 13 Little Blue Envelopes ...

I am so ready for a vacation. 2nd week of June!

Book lists and other things of note.

I've decided to join the Newberry Challenge. I'm not sure where I'll find the time to read them, but I can't help myself. I figure just entering the challenge will have me reading at least a couple books I'd otherwise skip over. I had a really hard time choosing as so many of them brought back memories for me. I managed to only pick one that I had read before (#6). Here's my list:

1. The Giver by Lois Lowry (1994 Newberry Winner and on my Dystopian Challenge list.)
2. Number the Stars by Lois Lowry (1990 Newberry Winner)
3. The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin (1979)
4. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor
5. Up a Road Slowly by Irene Hunt (1967)
6. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle (1963)
7. (alternate title) The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare (1959)

(Gina, you should definately do this one with me!)

I am definitely going to create a TBR list over here, because I need to see how far behind I am at every moment!

I have finished one book this week (Plum Lovin' by Evanovich) and will get a brief review up soon. I have been reading another quick one (Kitty and the Midnight Hour by Vaughn) in the hopes of getting some quick credits over at paperbackswap. I am struggling with The Inheritance of Loss. While I'm reading it I enjoy it a lot, but the minute I stop I turn ambivalent. Each time I review my wish list at PBS I wish I were reading something other than TIoL. I am still reading The Book Thief as well, and loving it, but don't want to rush it at all.

I finished up my list of 101 Things in 1001 days, for anyone who can't live without reading another list. It's in no particular order, though I did try to group things a little.

Newberry Challenge ?

Nattie Writes! has started a Newberry Award winner challenge...

Ok, I know. I have too many of these as it is. But this one seems so harmless- it's children's books, how much more reading time could possibly be involved? This one has a set number of books- read 6 Newberry Award Winners. The challenge starts May 15, and runs to December 31, 2007. PLENTY of time. I just quick browsed the Newberry List, and quite easily found 8 or 10 that I'd love to read (or re-read, as the case may be.) Should I?