PICTURE BOOK - Dark Emperor & Other Poems of the Night by Joyce Sidman

Illustrated by  Rick Allen
2011 Newbery Honor
2010. Houghton Mifflin

HC $16.99
32 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  3.97 - 1853 ratings

My rating:  4

Endpapers:  solid royal purple

Illustrations:  Woodprints?

My comments:  Sophisticated poetry about some of the creatures that creep in the woods at night, illustrated with lovely prints by Rick Allen.

Goodreads:

Welcome to the Night

To all of you who crawl and creep,
who buzz and chirp and hoot and peep,
who wake at dusk and throw off sleep;
Welcome to the night.

To you, who make the forest sing,
who dip and dodge on silent wing,
who flutter, hover, clasp, and cling:
Welcome to the night!

Come feel the cool and shadowed breeze,
come smell your way among the trees,
come touch rough bark and leathered leaves;
Welcome to the night.

The night's a sea of dappled dark,
the night's a feast of sound and spark,
the night's a wild, enchanted park.
Welcome to the night!

13. Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk

listened to an unabridged cd in the car
read by Emily Rankin - superb
6 unabridged cds, 7 hrs.
2016, Dutton Book for Young Readers
304 pgs.
Historical fiction for upper middle grades (and up)
Finished 3-2-17
Goodreads rating: 4.3 - 4695 ratings
My rating: 5
Setting: rural Pennsylvania, just after World War II
Newbery Honor Award

First line/s:  "The year I turned twelve, I learned how to lie.  I don't mean the small fibs that children tell.  I mean real lies fed by real fears - things I said and did that took me out of the life I'd always known and put me down hard in a new one."

My comments:  Well.  This was an exceptionally heavy story, particularly for middle grade students of younger ages. That's not bad at all, though I think it might be a little tough for third or fourth graders until they're a little older - why force kids to grow up earlier than need be? It is an exceptionally well written story that will stay with me for a long, long while.  More and more in my life I wonder why people enjoy being mean, why a bully becomes a bully, and how easy it is for some people to lie.  Rural Pennsylvania in the after-World War II years is the perfect setting for this extraordinary story.

Goodreads synopsis:  Growing up in the shadows cast by two world wars, Annabelle has lived a mostly quiet, steady life in her small Pennsylvania town. Until the day new student Betty Glengarry walks into her class. Betty quickly reveals herself to be cruel and manipulative, and while her bullying seems isolated at first, things quickly escalate, and reclusive World War I veteran Toby becomes a target of her attacks. While others have always seen Toby’s strangeness, Annabelle knows only kindness. She will soon need to find the courage to stand as a lone voice of justice as tensions mount.
          Brilliantly crafted, Wolf Hollow is a haunting tale of America at a crossroads and a time when one girl’s resilience, strength, and compassion help to illuminate the darkest corners of our history.

67. The Corn Grows Ripe - Dorothy Rhoads

Newbery Honor Book
Illustrated by Jean Charlot
1956
90 pgs.
For: Middle Grades
Rating: Much better than I ever expected

Dionisio, called Tigre (meaning Jaguar) lives in a primitive village in current-day Yucatan. At 12 he is lazy and somewhat spoiled, but takes over his family's milpa (cornfield) when his father is badly injured. This corn is the family's sustenance. Yes, they have a few chickens, but it is the corn that feeds them. We get to observe the full cycle, from cutting and preparing the milpa, to the wait for rain, the sowing, the wait for rain again, and the harvest. During that time we get a glimpse into the life of modern-day Maya that is still tied to those of the ancient Maya.

Full of description, Maya and Spanish words (and a wonderful glossary), stories of gods and ceremonies and a way of life, this book was appreciated by almost all of my 27 fourth-graders. They are creating a map of the setting that has them VERY excited. A codex of 27 of the Maya words and terms will follow. This was a great novel for our Maya unit.

41. Savvy - Ingrid Law

Published: May, 2008
Newbery Honor Award
Grades 5-8 (Tween)
348 pages
$16.99
Dial Books for Young Readers

Hmm. This was a fun book. However, it seemed endless. It took forever to read it, and I had to force myself to go back to it every time I put it down. But I enjoyed it - its quirkiness, and it's great storytelling. I guess it was just a little too long-winded for me. It's been out for over a year and none of my students has read it, or even talked about it. I wonder how one of them would enjoy it? I'll have to put it "out there" next year, see what comes of it.

What I call a "realistic fantasy" that takes place in the Nebraska/Kansas area. Good setting. I wanted a map to go along with the story, and one of the websites below has a good one. And why a map? Because Mibs Beaumont, two of her four siblings, and the two teenaged "preacher's kids" sneak onto a bus and go for a RIDE. Mibs is hoping to get down to Salina, Kansas, where her poppa is in a coma from a car accident, but Lester, the driver, had other stops to make before Salina. And quite the riproarinest adventure ensues.

And why realistic FANTASY? Because everyone in the Beaumont family, upon their 13th birthday, has been given a SAVVY. They never knew what it would be, and as Mibs' birthday approached she was quite excited about it. Her mother's savvy that she did everything perfectly. Her brother, Fish, created hurricanes, winds, rains. Her oldest brother Rocket's savvy was electricity, which he had a difficult time controling. Of course Mibs' savvy is nothing she ever dreamed it would be. And as it appears, she and her companions are on the pink bus, making the world a much more memorable place.

For more details, take a look at one of the websites below. They're very well done. In the meantime, I'm gong to have to decide how to rate this book. I wonder if I would have liked it more if I'd listened to it? Another hmm.

Official Savvy Website (the audio review is particularly good) including a downloadable teacher's guide.

Listen to the book! (Or at least the beginning of it) and play games - an interactive site.

Kid's Read Review