Classics, Nonfiction, and Children's Literature
Little Blacknose: The Story of a Pioneer by Hildegarde Swift (published 1929) is a story for a young child about the creation of the first steam locomotive in New York State. The steam locomotive, eventually called the DeWitt Clinton Steam Engine, ran between Albany and Schenectady beginning in 1831. (Although that’s less than 20 miles,
A Daughter of the Seine: The Life of Madame Roland by Jeanette Eaton (published by 1929) is a fictionalized biography of a significant French woman during the violent French Revolution. Marie-Jeanne “Manon” Phlipon was a woman of Paris. As a child, her brightness was soon discovered. She studied every subject, including history, mathematics, agriculture, and
The Tangle-Coated Horse and Other Stories by Ella Young (published 1929) records the traditional Irish Fionna saga, which features the story of Fionn (pronounced “Finn”), a young son of a clan chief in ancient Ireland. In the forward, the author notes that this is one of the oldest sagas from Gaelic people, and yet so
Taking place about forty-years after the Ingalls family settled in the Dakota territories, The Jumping Off Place by Marion Hurd McNeely (published 1929) tells a similar yet fictional pioneer tale. In this Newbery Medal runner-up for 1930, four orphaned children travel to the claim in the Dakota prairie that their dear Uncle Jim has set
When the titular character was first carved in the 1820s in Hitty, Her First Hundred Years by Rachel Field (published 1929), the world moved at a slow pace and horse and wagon was the method of transport. By the time the now-antique doll is “writing” her memoirs (in the 1920s), she can see airplanes out
The Trumpeter of Krakow by Eric P. Kelly (published 1928) is an historical fiction novel featuring tradition, treasure, and alchemy in medieval Krakow. The Charnetski family has fled Ukraine after bandits robbed and burned their estate, and they arrive in Poland with nothing but a pumpkin in their cart. Joeseph, the young teenage son, is
Runaway Papoose by Grace Moon (published 1928) is one of the early Newbery books that just by its title alone seems questionable and suggests irrelevance for young readers today. The book itself actually was better than the title suggests. Although the title first reminds a modern reader of the racist connotations connected to the perjorative
The historical fiction Newbery Honor book Clearing Weather by Cornelia Meigs (published 1928) tells of a financially destroyed town during the 1780s, the years after the Revolutionary War and before the establishment of the United States Republic. Because of the war, Branscomb’s elderly ship-builder, Thomas Drury, no longer has the means to continue building, especially
In Tod of the Fens (published 1928), author Elinor Whitney creates a story connecting a group of men living in the low-lying fens of Lancashire, England with the happenings in the neighboring medieval town of Boston (see information on Wikipedia about Boston, England). With a distinct Robin Hood feel, the novel’s men in the fens
Children love the ridiculous. The first picture book to be a runner-up (Honor) book for the Newbery Award, Millions of Cats by Wanda Gág (published 1928), certainly meets the “ridiculousness” standards for a young child to giggle at. With silly but adorable plot, quaint black-and-white illustrations, and hand-formed text, the book still has eye-rolling childhood
The Boy Who Was by Grace Hallock (published 1928) is a uniquely organized story about the history of the Bay of Naples through the ages, each chapter using the same young goat boy (who has eternal life as a young man) as a key character. The prologue introduces the boy, named Nino, in the present
The Pigtail of Ah Lee Ben Loo with Seventeen Other Laughable Tales and 200 Comical Silhouettes by John Bennett (published 1928) is an uneven collection of original stories and poems taking place around the world. The varied settings of the stories include somewhat realistic to fantastical and magical other worlds. About half of the stories were
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