Max Voelzke’s Children’s Literature Recommendations
Sperry,
Armstrong. (1940). Call It Courage.
New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.
This
is an excellent book of a boy who is afraid of the sea. It keeps the reader
interested following Mafatu's one experience after another.
Speare,
Elizabeth George. (1983). The Sign of
the Beaver. New York: Dell Publishing Co.
This
is a book of a boy's survival in the wilderness, his friendship with an Indian
boy, and how he learns from the Indians the knowledge he needs to survive. One
thing that comes out in the book is the difficulty of explaining or sharing
with others unique experiences. It would be interesting for students to note
the many things Matt learned from his Indian "brother" Attean and
just what Attean and his people learned from Matt.
Babbitt,
Natalie. (1975). Tuck Everlasting.
Toronto: Collins, Pub.
An
excellent book of a family that lives forever and of a girl, Winnie, who
discovers the secret and must choose mortality or immortality. On the surface some
things seem wonderful but really may turn out to be a curse instead. The story
makes the reader look at two sides of a situation. Good opportunity to discuss
symbolism and vocabulary connotation.
Reit,
Seymour. (1988). Behind Rebel Lines.
New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Pub.
This
is the true story of a girl, Emma Edmonds, who disguises herself as a man in
order to join the Union army. She initially serves as a nurse but ends up
crossing enemy lines disguised as a black slave in order to obtain information
about the Rebel forces. She makes many trips with many disguises. She comes
down with Malaria, and to avoid detection, goes to a civilian hospital to care
for herself. Of course this makes her AWOL. An excellent book of a woman who
wouldn't let anything stop her from reaching her goals. A great springboard for
students to search for and read more books with strong female characters.
Students may also wish to look more closely at how females are often times
characterized in books and elsewhere.
McDaniel,
Lurlene. (1985). Six Months to Live.
Worthington, OH: Willowisp Press, Inc.
An
easy read dealing with a difficult subject. It is about a girl's fight against
cancer and how she deals with the loss of a very close friend she makes in the
hospital and further develops at a summer camp for young people with cancer.
The book gives insight as to how relationships change with friends and how
difficult they become under these circumstances.
Kjeigaard,
Jim (1977). Outlaw Red. New York:
Bantam Books.
This
is a fair book about a dog, an Irish setter. Everything works out for the best
which makes it a bit contrived. It doesn't build suspense too well.
Hahn,
Mary Downing. (1988). December
Stillness. Boston: Clarion Books.
An
excellent thought provoking book of family relationships and personal
relationships. Kelly is an idealistic high school girl who feels her parents
have given up on their earlier dreams of making the world a better place. She
tries to befriend a homeless person who is a Viet Nam veteran and through this
learns much about that era, herself and her family. It is a very difficult time
for Kelly but a growing time. It is a very realistic book; it doesn't leave the
reader with the idea that "everything will be okay". Some research on
the Viet Nam war would be in order here.
Byars,
Betsy. (1970). The Summer of the Swans.
New York: Viking Penguin, Inc.
Swans
packs a lot into a brief look at Sara. It depicts the emotional swings of an
adolescent girl and how she cares for a mentally handicapped brother. Easy
reading. Interesting the way it gives the perspective at times of Charlie the
brother, how he views the world around him, his securities and confusions.
Effective to use to have students look at other perspectives.
Byars,
Betsy. (1981). The Cybil War. New
York: Scholastic, Inc.
This
book centers on the relationship of two boys, Simon and Tony, and a girl,
Cybil, who they both like. It is similar to ...Swans because here too, the
father has left and doesn't seem to be dealing with the world. Not a difficult
book; one students could easily relate to.
Taylor,
Mildred. (1987). The Friendship. New
York: Dial Publishing Co.
I
would have students read this prior to Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. This is a
brief story involving some of the same characters as Roll of Thunder, Hear My
Cry. It shows one aspect of how predudice was acted out that being the
importance that white people attached to being called Mister by the black
people. It shows how peer pressure caused one white man to betray the friendship
he had had with an old black man who had saved his life.
Taylor,
Mildred. (1987). The Gold Cadillac. New
York: Dial Publishing Co.
A
story of a black family living in Toledo, Ohio, whose father buys a gold
Cadillac. The family travels to Mississippi to visit grandparents against the
advice of all their relatives. They tell the father he is only asking for
trouble which they soon experience while traveling through the South. The two
daughters see a world they're unfamiliar with. One where they can't drink from
certain drinking fountains, stay in motels, or eat in most of the restaurants.
I would read this to students prior to their reading Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry and
Will the Circle Be Unbroken and
encourage students to examine their own feelings concerning people of other
races.
Other
Books:
Summer
of the Monkeys
The books that are highlighted are ones that I have read and recommend.
2001: A Year Down Yonderby Richard Peck (Dial)
2000: Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis
(Delacorte)
1999: Holes by Louis Sachar (Frances
Foster)
1998: Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse (Scholastic)
1997: The View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg (Jean
Karl/Atheneum)
1996: The Midwife's
Apprentice by Karen Cushman (Clarion)
1995: Walk Two Moons
by Sharon Creech (HarperCollins)
1994: The Giver by
Lois Lowry (Houghton)
1993: Missing May
by Cynthia Rylant (Jackson/Orchard)
1992: Shiloh
by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor (Atheneum)
1991: Maniac Magee
by Jerry Spinelli (Little, Brown)
1990: Number the
Stars by Lois Lowry (Houghton)
1989: Joyful Noise:
Poems for Two Voices by Paul Fleischman (Harper)
1988: Lincoln: A
Photobiography by Russell Freedman (Clarion)
1987: The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman (Greenwillow)
1986: Sarah, Plain
and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan (Harper)
1985: The Hero and
the Crown by Robin McKinley (Greenwillow)
1984: Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary (Morrow)
1983: Dicey's Song by Cynthia Voigt (Atheneum)
1982: A Visit to
William Blake's Inn: Poems for Innocent and Experienced Travelers by
Nancy Willard (Harcourt)
1981: Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Paterson (Crowell)
1980: A Gathering
of Days: A New England Girl's Journal, 1830-1832 by Joan W. Blos
(Scribner)
1979: The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin (Dutton)
1978: Bridge to
Terabithia by Katherine Paterson (Crowell)
1977: Roll of
Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor (Dial)
1976: The Grey King
by Susan Cooper (McElderry/Atheneum)
1975: M. C.
Higgins, the Great by Virginia Hamilton (Macmillan)
1974: The Slave Dancer by Paula Fox (Bradbury)
1973: Julie of the
Wolves by Jean Craighead George (Harper)
1972: Mrs. Frisby
and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien (Atheneum)
1971: Summer of the
Swans by Betsy Byars (Viking)
1970: Sounder
by William H. Armstrong (Harper)
1969: The High King
by Lloyd Alexander (Holt)
1968: From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L.
Konigsburg (Atheneum)
1967: Up a Road
Slowly by Irene Hunt (Follett)
1966: I, Juan de
Pareja by Elizabeth Borton de Trevino (Farrar)
1965: Shadow of a
Bull by Maia Wojciechowska (Atheneum)
1964: It's Like
This, Cat by Emily Neville (Harper)
1963: A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle (Farrar)
1962: The Bronze
Bow by Elizabeth George Speare (Houghton)
1961: Island of the
Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell (Houghton)
1960: Onion John
by Joseph Krumgold (Crowell)
1959: The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
(Houghton)
1958: Rifles for
Watie by Harold Keith (Crowell)
1957: Miracles on
Maple Hill by Virginia Sorenson (Harcourt)
1956: Carry On, Mr.
Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham (Houghton)
1955: The Wheel on
the School by Meindert DeJong (Harper)
1954: ...And Now Miguel by Joseph Krumgold (Crowell)
1953: Secret of the
Andes by Ann Nolan Clark (Viking)
1952: Ginger Pye
by Eleanor Estes (Harcourt)
1951: Amos Fortune,
Free Man by Elizabeth Yates (Dutton)
1950: The Door in
the Wall by Marguerite de Angeli (Doubleday)
1949: King of the
Wind by Marguerite Henry (Rand McNally)
1948: The
Twenty-One Balloons by William Pène du Bois (Viking)
1947: Miss Hickory
by Carolyn Sherwin Bailey (Viking)
1946: Strawberry
Girl by Lois Lenski (Lippincott)
1945: Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson (Viking)
1944: Johnny
Tremain by Esther Forbes (Houghton)
1943: Adam of the
Road by Elizabeth Janet Gray (Viking)
1942: The Matchlock
Gun by Walter Edmonds (Dodd)
1941: Call It Courage by Armstrong Sperry (Macmillan)
1940: Daniel Boone
by James Daugherty (Viking)
1939: Thimble
Summer by Elizabeth Enright (Rinehart)
1938: The White
Stag by Kate Seredy (Viking)
1937: Roller Skates
by Ruth Sawyer (Viking)
1936: Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink (Macmillan)
1935: Dobry
by Monica Shannon (Viking)
1934: Invincible
Louisa: The Story of the Author of Little Women by
Cornelia Meigs (Little, Brown)
1933: Young Fu of
the Upper Yangtze by Elizabeth Lewis (Winston)
1932: Waterless
Mountain by Laura Adams Armer (Longmans)
1931: The Cat Who
Went to Heaven by Elizabeth Coatsworth (Macmillan)
1930: Hitty, Her
First Hundred Years by Rachel Field (Macmillan)
1929: The Trumpeter
of Krakow by Eric P. Kelly (Macmillan)
1928: Gay Neck, the
Story of a Pigeon by Dhan Gopal Mukerji (Dutton)
1927: Smoky, the
Cowhorse by Will James (Scribner)
1926: Shen of the
Sea by Arthur Bowie Chrisman (Dutton)
1925: Tales from Silver
Lands by Charles Finger (Doubleday)
1924: The Dark
Frigate by Charles Hawes (Little, Brown)
1923: The Voyages
of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting (Lippincott)
1922: The Story of
Mankind by Hendrik Willem van Loon (Liveright)
Caldecott Award Winners…
So You Want to
Be President?Illustrated by David Small; text by Judith St. George (Philomel Books)
Joseph
Had a Little Overcoat Simms Taback (Viking)
Snowflake
Bentley, Illustrated by Mary Azarian; text by Jacqueline Briggs Martin
(Houghton)
Rapunzel
by Paul O. Zelinsky (Dutton)
Golem by David Wisniewski
(Clarion)
Officer Buckle and Gloria
by Peggy Rathmann (Putnam)
Smoky Night, illustrated by
David Diaz; text: Eve Bunting (Harcourt)
Grandfather's Journey by
Allen Say; text: edited by Walter Lorraine (Houghton)
1993: Mirette on
the High Wire by Emily Arnold McCully (Putnam)
1992: Tuesday
by David Wiesner (Clarion Books)
1991: Black and
White by David Macaulay (Houghton)
1990: Lon Po Po: A
Red-Riding Hood Story from China by Ed Young (Philomel)
1989: Song and
Dance Man, illustrated by Stephen Gammell; text: Karen Ackerman
(Knopf)
1988: Owl Moon,
illustrated by John Schoenherr; text: Jane Yolen (Philomel)
1987: Hey, Al,
illustrated by Richard Egielski; text: Arthur Yorinks (Farrar)
1986: The Polar
Express by Chris Van Allsburg (Houghton)
1985: Saint George
and the Dragon, illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman; text: retold by
Margaret Hodges (Little, Brown)
1984: The Glorious
Flight: Across the Channel with Louis Bleriot by Alice & Martin
Provensen (Viking)
1983: Shadow,
translated and illustrated by Marcia Brown; original text in French: Blaise
Cendrars (Scribner)
1982: Jumanji
by Chris Van Allsburg (Houghton)
1981: Fables
by Arnold Lobel (Harper)
1980: Ox-Cart Man,
illustrated by Barbara Cooney; text: Donald Hall (Viking)
1979: The Girl Who
Loved Wild Horses by Paul Goble (Bradbury)
1978: Noah's Ark
by Peter Spier (Doubleday)
1977: Ashanti to
Zulu: African Traditions, illustrated by Leo & Diane Dillon; text:
Margaret Musgrove (Dial)
1976: Why
Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears, illustrated by Leo & Diane
Dillon; text: retold by Verna Aardema (Dial)
1975: Arrow to the
Sun by Gerald McDermott (Viking)
1974: Duffy and the
Devil, illustrated by Margot Zemach; retold by Harve Zemach (Farrar)
1973: The Funny
Little Woman, illustrated by Blair Lent; text: retold by Arlene Mosel
(Dutton)
1972: One Fine Day,
retold and illustrated by Nonny Hogrogian (Macmillan)
1971: A Story A
Story, retold and illustrated by Gail E. Haley (Atheneum)
1970: Sylvester and
the Magic Pebble by William Steig (Windmill Books)
1969: The Fool of
the World and the Flying Ship, illustrated by Uri Shulevitz; text:
retold by Arthur Ransome (Farrar)
1968: Drummer Hoff,
illustrated by Ed Emberley; text: adapted by Barbara Emberley (Prentice-Hall)
1967: Sam, Bangs
& Moonshine by Evaline Ness (Holt)
1966: Always Room
for One More, illustrated by Nonny Hogrogian; text: Sorche Nic
Leodhas, pseud. [Leclair Alger] (Holt)
1965: May I Bring a
Friend? illustrated by Beni Montresor; text: Beatrice Schenk de
Regniers (Atheneum)
1964: Where the
Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak (Harper)
1963: The Snowy Day
by Ezra Jack Keats (Viking)
1962: Once a Mouse,
retold and illustrated by Marcia Brown (Scribner)
1961: Baboushka and
the Three Kings, illustrated by Nicolas Sidjakov; text: Ruth Robbins
(Parnassus)
1960: Nine Days to
Christmas, illustrated by Marie Hall Ets; text: Marie Hall Ets and
Aurora Labastida (Viking)
1959: Chanticleer
and the Fox, illustrated by Barbara Cooney; text: adapted from
Chaucer's Canterbury Tales by Barbara Cooney (Crowell)
1958: Time of
Wonder by Robert McCloskey (Viking)
1957: A Tree Is
Nice, illustrated by Marc Simont; text: Janice Udry (Harper)
1956: Frog Went
A-Courtin', illustrated by Feodor Rojankovsky; text: retold by John
Langstaff) (Harcourt)
1955: Cinderella,
or the Little Glass Slipper, illustrated by Marcia Brown; text:
translated from Charles Perrault by Marcia Brown (Scribner)
1954: Madeline's
Rescue by Ludwig Bemelmans (Viking)
1953: The Biggest
Bear by Lynd Ward (Houghton)
1952: Finders
Keepers, illustrated by Nicolas, pseud. (Nicholas Mordvinoff); text:
Will, pseud. [William Lipkind] (Harcourt)
1951: The Egg Tree
by Katherine Milhous (Scribner)
1950: Song of the
Swallows by Leo Politi (Scribner)
1949: The Big Snow
by Berta & Elmer Hader (Macmillan)
1948: White Snow,
Bright Snow, illustrated by Roger Duvoisin; text: Alvin Tresselt
(Lothrop)
1947: The Little
Island, illustrated by Leonard Weisgard; text: Golden MacDonald,
pseud. [Margaret Wise Brown] (Doubleday)
1946: The Rooster
Crows by Maude & Miska Petersham (Macmillan)
1945: Prayer for a
Child, illustrated by Elizabeth Orton Jones; text: Rachel Field
(Macmillan)
1944: Many Moons,
illustrated by Louis Slobodkin; text: James Thurber (Harcourt)
1943: The Little
House by Virginia Lee Burton (Houghton)
1942: Make Way for
Ducklings by Robert McCloskey (Viking)
1941: They Were
Strong and Good, by Robert Lawson (Viking)
1940: Abraham
Lincoln by Ingri & Edgar Parin d'Aulaire (Doubleday)
1939: Mei Li
by Thomas Handforth (Doubleday)
1938: Animals of
the Bible, A Picture Book, illustrated by Dorothy P. Lathrop; text:
selected by Helen Dean Fish (Lippincott)