Classics, Nonfiction, and Children's Literature
In Victory on the Walls: A Story of Nehemiah by Frieda Clark Hyman (published 2005), 13-year-old Bani hesitantly joins his uncle, the cupbearer to the Persian king, on a journey back to Jerusalem to repair the walls of the Holy City. Bani has only known Susa, the Persian capital, but now he’s returning to the
Garram the Hunter: A Boy of the Hill Tribes by Herbert Best was a Newbery Honor book in 1931. It tells the story of a talented young man in the hilly country in Nigeria and his adventures with his tribe and as he visits the city nearby and learns from the leaders there. Garram must
Sai is Apprentice to Paiyoon, master mapmaker, in the middle grade novel The Last Mapmaker by Christine Soontornvat (published 2022). She hides her undesirable identity as a girl from the Fens, the daughter of a con-man. When the Queen announces an award to the explorers who find and map the Southern continent, Sai sees her
Imagine if teenaged Ferdinand Magellan were in the same room in Lisbon, Portugal with the known explorers Bartolomeu Dias and Vasco de Gama as they discussed the Portuguese trade routes. That is what Agnes Hewes does in Spice and the Devil’s Cave (published 1930). As the explorers plan, they are joined by a mysterious Arabian
In Mountains are Free by Julia Davis Adams (published 1930), young Bruno longs to see the world apart from his Swiss mountaintop, so when he has a chance to join two Austrian knights, he takes it. But he quickly comes to see that working for Austrian knights means giving up the freedom he’s accustomed to
The Dark Star of Itza: The Story of a Pagan Princess by Alida Malkus (published 1930) is a 1931 Newbery honor novel featuring ancient Mayan traditions in a story of the city of Chicken Itza. Nicté is the only daughter of the high priest and has visionary abilities as she gazes into a dark stone.
Meggy MacIntosh: A Highland Girl in the Carolina Colony by Elizabeth Janet Gray (published 1930) is a middle grade novel awarded a Newbery Honor in 1931. As the subtitle suggests, it focuses on Scottish immigrants to South Carolina, specifically during the Revolutionary War. Meggy comes from a long line of highland wealth, but upon becoming
Middle grade novel Big Tree by Brian Selznick (published 2023) tells the story of two sycamore tree seeds (Merwin and Louise) using a mix of illustration and text. In their journey from seed to tree, they encounter dangers as well as other creatures, including a butterfly, small microscopic creatures in a seashell, a seaweed, ferns,
The Cat Who Went to Heaven by Elizabeth Coatsworth (published 1930) is a short illustrated children’s book about a painter who has been commissioned to paint a reverent painting of the death of Buddha and the gathering of the animals that attended him. Although I found little to like about the plot of the story,
The middle grade novel Peacemaker by Joseph Bruchac (published 2021) tells the legend of the mysterious man who, with Hiawatha, spread peace throughout the Iroquoian nations many hundreds of years ago. Prior to his coming, the various Iroquois people violent raided and kidnapped each other. In the novel, young Okwaho faces the reality of his
Maizy faces a lot of new things during her summer in Last Chance, Minnesota, in the middle grade novel Maizy Chen’s Last Chance by Lisa Yee (published 2022). It’s hard to pinpoint just what her most influential learning moments are. Almost-twelve-year-old Maizy goes with her mom to help her grandfather during his illness, and she
The Doll family has an island adventure in the early Newbery Honor book Floating Island by Ann Parrish (published 1930). Mr. Doll, Mrs. Doll, their three children, their doll house, and Dinah (their Black cook) are shipwrecked as they are enroute to a child. With the shipwreck, sister Annabel and Dinah have been separated from
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