by Beth Cronk, Litchfield head librarian
Do you love to read but feel like you don’t have enough time
to finish a novel? That’s usually how I
am. This fall I discovered a great way
to read beautiful writing that gives you an engrossing experience without the
time commitment: read quality children’s books.
This fall I’ve been taking a class on children’s materials for
libraries, which has required me to read stacks of children’s books. It has introduced me to wonderful books I
would never have chosen on my own. I’ll
share the highlights with you.
When You Reach Me
by Rebecca Stead won a Newbery in 2010.
It reads like excellent realistic fiction, the main character a
12-year-old girl living in New York City with her single mother in the
‘70s. She’s a fan of
A Wrinkle in Time and makes many
references to it, a clue that this book is actually science fiction, although
it sneaks up on you. I read it
immediately after reading
A Wrinkle in
Time, which I recommend doing.
Year of Impossible
Goodbyes by Sook Nyul Choi is a fantastic piece of historical fiction set
in Korea during and immediately after World War II. I was pitifully unaware of the history of
Korea during that time, and this story of a young girl’s experience with Japanese
and then Soviet occupation was enlightening to me – and impossible to put down.
A Year Down Yonder,
another Newbery winner, is a lighthearted novel about a teenage girl who has to
move from Chicago to her grandmother’s house in a little town when her father
loses his job during the Depression.
Grandma Dowdel is a wacky character, the Christmas pageant rivals that
in
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever,
and the author, Richard Peck, hits the right balance of sweetness and
quirkiness.
Rules by Cynthia
Lord is a masterfully written story of Catherine, a girl who struggles with
having an autistic brother and with navigating new friendships with a
paraplegic boy and with the new, popular girl next door. Catherine’s social struggles are easy to
relate to, and there are powerful but not preachy insights about
relationships.
Out of My Mind by
Sharon M. Draper is told from the perspective of a brilliant girl with cerebral
palsy who cannot speak. The language is
poetic, and her story is infuriating, heartbreaking, and inspiring. This is
some fantastic writing.
Joey Pigza Swallowed
the Key is told from another unique perspective, that of a boy with
apparent ADHD. Author Jack Gantos
manages to make the narrative feel like it’s inside a mind that’s racing at a
hundred miles an hour, shifting suddenly from one thought to another in ways
that seem logical to the boy making impulsive decisions – but the reader knows
that he’s headed for trouble. Gantos
does this while creating empathy in the reader for this child who wants to do
the right thing but is unable to control himself.
I encourage you to explore children’s books even if you
aren’t choosing them for children. This
is not second-class literature just because it is written for kids. Try
some from the Newbery winners list, or find something on a historical period
you enjoy. Jan chooses truly wonderful
books for our juvenile collection, and she, Mary, or I would be glad to direct
you to quality children’s books that appeal to people of all ages.
