2008 Newbery Honor Books (2)

Feathers
By Jacqueline Woodson

Perception can be different about this book. One could contend that it’s about bullies, good girls or social/racial relations. Others may say it is the story of a family holding itself together through many trials and tribulations. You will have to judge for yourself. This story begins with a new boy arriving at school who is different from the other kids or is he? He is named “Jesus Boy” because of his appearance and behavior. Frannie senses a sort of connection with Jesus, partly because she remembers being a stranger at a new school and partly because the boy knows Sign Language which she has known for quite some time since she has a hearing impaired brother. The author explores, through Frannie's eyes, many facets of growing up. Because she has experienced sorrow in her life (her brother's deafness, her mother's miscarriages) Frannie is able to see beyond it all and to look ahead to a time when the pain subsides. Frannie learns to deal with religious ideas, racism, the meaning of friendship, family love, and simple human kindness. I felt slim novel packed with power calls you to look beneath the surface and find hope.



The Wednesday Wars
By Gary D. Schmidt

Holling Hoodhood, a seventh-grader at Camillo Junior High and the only Presbyterian student, must spend Wednesday afternoons with his teacher, Mrs. Baker, while the rest of the class has religious instruction. Holling, who believes Mrs. Baker hates him because of this situation, spends that first month's Wednesday afternoons completing classroom chores that she gives him. Due to a classroom mishap, (rats escape) Mrs. Baker decides to shift gears and spend the Wednesday afternoons doing Shakespeare. Mrs. Baker tells Holling that Shakespeare wrote about being human more beautifully than anyone else. I think Holling is quite funny as he relates his tragic/comical journey through 7th grade; including his Perfect Family, his part in a Shakespearean play (in yellow tights! with feathers!), his friends and enemies, his adventures and misadventures, all the while quoting Shakespeare's!