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

1932

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

Waterless Mountai by Laura Adams Armer (Knopf, $16, fourth-grade level). ISBN: 0679202331.	The Medalist A Navajo boy develops both spiritually and physically. Well-written look at Navajo culture. Easy to read. Nice insights. Coming of age in another society. Despite the age of the book, it would work well in a modern classroom. Enough pot-boiler elements to keep kids interested. This would pair well with the Horse-Catcher.
The Fairy Circus written and illustrated by Dorothy P. Lathrop (MacMillan Company, seventh-grade level). Out of print	Honor Book A troop of fairies draws inspiration from the visit to their meadow by humans who set up a circus tent and hold a series of performances. The fairies approach their project with a light heart and immense creativity. They enlist the participation of woodland creatures and the  insects who share their realm. Chipmunks perform, poorly, as tigers but  squirrels make marvelous lions. Spider webs serve as an excellent  substitute for a trapeze wire and net. Turtles make do as elephants. The light, of course, is provided by the moon and wildly excited fireflies. This is a light and airy confection from a bygone era. The preciousness,  and I mean that in the older sense of the word, probably  has no place in our pragmatic society. It's a shame we've lost the ability to appreciate such wonder. What will translate well is the deeply felt  imagination exhibited by the fairies, who share their indomitable sense of the possible with children of all eras. Lathrop displays a marvelous sense of play with both words and images. The alliterative speeches made by her peripatetic ringmaster twist the tongue of the most skilled reader. Her images, especially the handful printed in color, are sumptuous, which is why her reputation resides primarily among artists, not writers.
Calico Bush by Rachel Field (Simon & Schuster, $12.80, fifth-grade level). ISBN: 0027346102.	Honor Book A French girl becomes an indentured servant to a pioneer family in Maine and shows much grit in a harsh, often racist environment. Another of the gritty girl sagas, but nowhere as good as Caddie Woodlawn and others. Snippets of history about the French-Indian war and pre-Revolutionary War life.
Boy of the South Seas by Eunice Tietjens (Coward-McCann, Inc., fifth-grade level). Out of print	Honor Book A boy from the Marquesas is transported by accident aboard a trading vessel to Tahiti, where he learns to be a man under the tutelage of an adoptive mother and a mysterious hermit who lives in the hills. Teiki is different that many of the other young islanders. He is fascinated by the myths and traditions of his culture, which is quickly being destroyed by colonialists from the West. The hermit in the hills becomes his mentor and teaches him much about the past, including the techniques of traditional carving. Teiki's hard work pays off when the curator of a museum takes him to Hawaii and employs him as a living artifact and repository of invaluable information. Tietjens is an unusual writer for her time. She writes in simple, unadorned prose that would not be out of place today. Her attitude to indigenous cultures is modern, too. With a few minor hints of cultural superiority, she laments the destruction caused by the West to native cultures. I've added this title to my short list of old Newberys which should be reprinted.
Out of the Flame by Eloise Lownsbery/illustrated by Elizabeth Tyler Wolcott (Longmans, Green and Co., seventh-grade level). Out of print	Honor Book The nephew of a famous knight finds his place in the world while growing up as a ward for the French king Francois I. Pierre de Bayard has nearly all the traits that made his uncle a paragon of knightly virtue, but the boy can barely conceal his very unknightly love for books. He's tormented by Henri, the second son of the king, who is angry and malicious. Young Pierre becomes confirmed in his choice to pursue an academic career after he becomes familiar with many of the great thinkers of his era. One would have to classify this book as historical fiction, though the line between biography and sheer fiction was a thin one in early juvenile literature. Lownsbery has created a mildly interesting character whose true importance lies in his chance encounters with the great men and women of his day: Erasmus, Thomas More, Catherine de Medici, and the legacy of Leonardo da Vinci. What the author has really done is create a polemic for the importance of humanist values by championing their battle against ignorance and superstition. This book has not aged well. The narrative is virtually free of action and packed with page after page of dialogue. Even a history buff like me has a hard time wading through the mild trials and the trivial tribulations of the Children of France (as the royal spawn are called) while trying to find a rare nugget of insight.
Jane's Island by Marjorie Allee (Woods Hole Historical Collection, fifth-grade level).	A plucky girl -- who else? -- has a series of adventures while spending the summer with her scientist father and family at the famed research institute in Woods Hole, Mass. Jane is no-nonsense, ruthlessly honest hellion, who is greatly beloved by all who appreciate her qualities. She and her temporary governess explore the area and cause a fair share of trouble. In the process, young readers learn a little about the scientific method, grants, research and sea life. This book has aged extremely well. It was, in fact, re-released in the late 1980s by the Woods Hole Historical Collection, the original publisher.
The Truce of the Wolf and Other Old Tales of Italy by Mary Gould Davis/illustrated by Jay Van Everen (Harcourt, Brace and Company, fourth-grade level). Out of print	Honor Book A pleasant, ambling collection of simple folktales from Italy. This collection is so short and so unremarkable for plot, narration, characterization or as a cultural artifact that I find it nearly impossible to review. Only someone with a deep love for old Italy and who is interested in the folktale surrounding place names in a few cities such as Florence would even turn these pages. When you look at the selections from 1931, which to me is the best year in Newbery history, you have to marvel at how some books are even chosen.

Copyright David Ross 2003