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Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Looking for Newbery Day 3: Countdown


I reviewed this one back in April from an ARC that was making the rounds with the Central Ohio Bloggers and I couldn't say enough good things about it. It was my early favorite for Newbery attention. It got a little from some other places, but seems to have dropped off the lists lately. It's still on my list for a variety of reasons.

I love the way Deborah Wiles presented the subject of the story. She didn't just write a good story, she recreated the mood of the story's time period. I know that some people have been put off by the non-fiction portion of her story, but I loved it. Being a bit of a history buff may help in that regard, but in my opinion it just set the tone for the story of Franny and her family. If I were given the task of teaching about 1962 and the Cuban Missile crisis, I would look no further than this book.

The one thing I would change about my earlier post is the last paragraph where I said that it would be a tough sell in the elementary school. I could not have been more wrong. Once I got it into the hands of the right kids, the book was never on the shelf and the reserve list was always 5 students or so long. It clearly worked with the elementary students.




Other Reviews:
A Year of Reading
100 Scope Notes
A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy
Abby the Librarian

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