I am back to reading the Newbery books.  I’d read 1922 – 1931 with the exception of just a couple over the summer.  Then school started and I didn’t have much time for reading anymore.

I have a new plan though.  I have printed out a pdf of all the award winners from the beginning to the present.  Instead of going through year by year though, this time I am going to pick and choose until I hopefully have them all read.  I also am looking for books that I can check out for my kindle from the library.  I still don’t have a ton of reading time, so I am not wanting to interlibrary loan too many right now.  I will feel too much pressure to get to them.   And I don’t want to feel pressure.  For that reason, if I start a book and it’s just not my kind of book or I really don’t like it, I can stop reading it.  I won’t march through just for the sake of reading it.  This happened to me several times in the books of the 1920s.  There were some beautiful and great books, but there were some really dry ones too that I just didn’t get into.  I said good-bye to those.

It’s very satisfying to check books off a list as I read them.  As I look at the list though, I am thinking using a highlighter might even be more satisfying.

I just started the 1998 Newbery Medal winner Out of the Dust.  It is written in free verse, and it’s just a beautifully written story about the Dust Bowl.  The story is very historically accurate (at least based on what I have read about the Dust Bowl).  It’s so interesting and so darn sad.  At first, I thought I’d like to read this with Davey, but about 1/3 into the book, I have changed my mind on that.  At least not until he gets a little older.  It’s really bleak, but this was quite a bleak time.

It’s amazing what I have learned and experienced so far reading these Newbery books, and I’ve only really just begun.