Home/Newbery by Year/Newbery Title Index/Newbery Subject Index/Newbery Author Index

1930

Editor's Note: Many of the books are out of print. The header information will be as complete as I can make it.

Hitty, Her First Hundred Years by Rachel Field (Simon & Schuster, $13.60, fourth-grade level). ISBN: 0027348407.	The Medalist A wooden doll recalls her adventurous life and the the people who owned her. The prose reveals the style of the time, with sometimes stilted dialogue. However, Field has a wonderful, cynical, comic touch which she uses every so subtly. By having the doll narrate the story, she can skillfully make comments about religion, manners, fashion, culture, etc. A decent amount of American history is thrown in, too.
A Daughter of the Seine: The Life of Madame Roland. (Harpers, seventh-grade level). Out of print	Honor Book The author is at her melodramatic best in relating the undeniably dramatic life of Madame Roland, the most significant women involved in the French Revolution. Eaton sprints through Marie-Jean Philipon's early years but spends enough time there to show the reader how events and personality shaped the woman who would play an integral role in the revolution. Her confidence, intelligence, and clearly limned arrogance led to her rise and then later played no small part in her fall. Eaton is at her best in the last 30 pages, when she leads Roland to the gallows. Even the most jaded reader might drip a tear while experiencing her gallantry as those around her crumbled. Young readers, if they could get a copy of the book, would certainly learn much about that most important moment in world history. Unfortunately, Eaton's breathless style, her penchant for inventing dialogue and her fondness for ascribing feelings to her characters, real and imagined, ages the book prematurely. It is an entertaining, informative artifact from another era.
Pran of Albania by Elizabeth Miller (Doubleday, Doran and Company, sixth-grade level). Out of print	Honor Book A 14-year-old girl does her best to change the cultural rules that  have governed blood feuds in the Albanian mountains for centuries. Pran suffers from the ossified traditions that shape rural life in Albania. Men eat first, talk first, and walk around carrying rifles, a sign of their manhood. The men die willingly to pay the honor price of a family or clan feud. It's pointless, and Pran seems to be one of the few people brave enough and smart enough to try to make a change. To say this book has limited appeal is a gross understatement. The narrative is slow and the characters unremarkable. Even Pran, who could have been rendered in far bolder colors, is dull despite the barrier-breaking actions she takes. The only element of interest is the portrait of a violent, proud culture that few understand. American diplomats and military experts should have read it to gain insight before our 1990s intervention in Kosovo. It would have been nice to have a Pran around during that terrible time.
The Jumping-Off Place by Marian Hurd McNeely (Cadmus Books/E.M. Hale and Company, sixth-grade level). Out of print	Honor Book A family of orphaned kids are led by the oldest brother and sister to a claim staked for them on the Dakota prairie, circa 1915(?), where they work hard to carve out a home. Much of the groundwork, both literally and figuratively, was prepared by their uncle, who died of a stroke shortly before they made the trip west. That said, the kids have to work extremely hard to overcome the rigors of frontier life, the harsh climate, and the near-daily assaults by a family of miscreants who try to steal their claim. Think of this book as a precursor of The Little House on the Prairie series. The similarities are remarkable. Try this one on for size: The oldest girl, Becky, is given a schoolhouse and she must use all her industry, wit and charm to teach the kids, who include four offspring from the family that plagues her claim. Wilder is by far a better writer but many of the themes she develops to a greater depth first surface here. For comparison, read the reviews of Wilder's work: On the Banks of Plum Creek, These Happy Golden Years, Little Town on the Prairie, The Long Winter, By the Shores of Silver Lake.
The Tangle-Coated Horse and Other Tales: Episodes from Fionn Saga by Ella Young/illustrated by Vera Bock (David McKay & Co., eighth-grade level). Out of print	Honor Book The author provides more tales from Irish sagas, this time focusing on the exploits of the legendary king Fionn and his doughty band of warriors. Fionn, a morose sort at times, wanders around the Irish countryside hunting, getting into trouble with mythic beasts, and using wits or weapons to save his skin. His entourage contains a pair of stalwarts who engage in a notable series of insults and provide some comic relief. Even though my paternal grandparents were born in Ireland this stuff reads like alien history to me. It's a shame that Irish mythology/legend has been given short shrift in our schools and colleges and that only the gods of Greece or Norway roll off young tongues. Anyone attempting to read this or Young's other Newbery book, The Wonder-Smith and his Son, has to be willing to slog through sometimes tongue-twisting vocabulary and learn a new pantheon of gods and beasts.
Vaino, a Boy of New Finland by Julia Davis (Adams)/illustrated by Lempi Ostman (Dutton, sixth-grade level).. Out of print	Honor Book A boy growing up in Finland during his country's fight for independence learns to cherish the values of country and family while aiding the adults who risk their lives in the rebellion. Vaino, like his sister, is named for characters from Finnish folklore. And like his namesake, Vaino shows great courage and preternatural wisdom while serving as a runner during the rebellion. His mother and older siblings are deeply involved in the fight for a free Finland, which is beset by internal foes aided by Russians trying to foment a socialist rebellion in their smaller neighbor. The author allows Vaino's mom to share stories from Finland's mythology so that she can inculcate her son (and the reader) with the stoic values of her nation. The digressions, which fully consume 50 percent of the book, serve as a distraction and not a tool for edification. If the storylines between the two realms concurred more frequently, the effect would have been marvelous. But they don't so the reader must tediously switch gears every 15 pages or so. I wish that Davis has focused fully on the Finnish independence movement. It's details are obscure for even the well-informed reader. We could learn so much.
Little Blacknose: The Story of a Pioneer by Hildegarde Hoyt Swift (Harcourt Brace, third-grade level).. Out of print	Honor Book The author provides a fanciful tale of the first railroad engine, the DeWitt Clinton steamer, that rode in the United States, circa 1830. This story is closer in nature to the text of a picture book because Swift tells it from the first-person perspective of the little engine that could. Her story falls into the admirable tradition of personifying trains (Thomas, anyone?) but it makes for bizarre reading. Although the story drips melodrama of the most basic sort, Swift did her research and one can discern a few facts of note.

Copyright David Ross 2003-2004