Special Collections
Newbery Award Winners
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Indian Captive
by Lois LenskiA Newbery Honor book inspired by the true story of a girl captured by a Shawnee war party in Colonial America and traded to a Seneca tribe. When twelve-year-old Mary Jemison and her family are captured by Shawnee raiders, she&’s sure they&’ll all be killed. Instead, Mary is separated from her siblings and traded to two Seneca sisters, who adopt her and make her one of their own. Mary misses her home, but the tribe is kind to her. She learns to plant crops, make clay pots, and sew moccasins, just as the other members do. Slowly, Mary realizes that the Indians are not the monsters she believed them to be. When Mary is given the chance to return to her world, will she want to leave the tribe that has become her family? This Newbery Honor book is based on the true story of Mary Jemison, the pioneer known as the &“White Woman of the Genesee.&” This ebook features an illustrated biography of Lois Lenski including rare images and never-before-seen documents from the author&’s estate.
Little Town On The Prairie
by Laura Ingalls WilderThe little settlement that weathered the long, hard winter of 1880-81 is now a growing town. Laura is growing up, and she goes to her first evening social. Mary is at last able to go to a college for the blind. Best of all, Almanzo Wilder asks permission to walk home from church with Laura. And Laura, now fifteen years old, receives her certificate to teach school.
Winner of the Newbery Honor
Call It Courage
by Armstrong SperryMaftu was afraid of the sea. It had taken his mother when he was a baby, and it seemed to him that the sea gods sought vengeance at having been cheated of Mafatu. So, though he was the son of the Great Chief of Hikueru, a race of Polynesians who worshipped courage, and he was named Stout Heart, he feared and avoided tha sea, till everyone branded him a coward. When he could no longer bear their taunts and jibes, he determined to conquer that fear or be conquered-- so he went off in his canoe, alone except for his little dog and pet albatross. A storm gave him his first challenge. Then days on a desert island found him resourceful beyond his own expectation. This is the story of how his courage grew and how he finally returned home. This is a legend. It happened many years ago, but even today the people of Hikueru sing this story and tell it over their evening fires.
Newbery Medal winner
The Long Winter
by Laura Ingalls WilderThe adventures of Laura Ingalls and her family continue as Pa, Ma, Laura, Mary, Carrie, and little Grace bravely face the hard winter of 1880-81 in their little house in the Dakota Territory. Blizzards cover the little town with snow, cutting off all supplies from the outside. Soon there is almost no food left, so young Almanzo Wilder and a friend make a dangerous trip across the prairie to find some wheat. Finally a joyous Christmas is celebrated in a very unusual way
Winner of the Newbery Honor
Blue Willow
by Doris GatesJaney Larkin can't remember when she's lived in the same place for more than a year. Her family has to keep moving so that her father can find work. But Janey longs for a real home and the chance to make friends. When Mom gets sick and the Larkins don't have rent money. Janey offers to pay the rent with her beloved treasure - the beautiful blue willow plate that once belonged to her great-great-grandmother. Losing the plate seems like the end of the world to Janey, but it's really the beginning of something wonderful.
Newbery Honor book
Daniel Boone
by James DaughertyDaniel Boone was a farmer who couldn't stay put. Something was always pulling him westward into new and mysterious lands, and when this pull got so strong that he could no longer ignore it, and his wife and children could not persuade him to stay, he just went, with his toes pointing into the West and his eyes glued to the hills.
Newbery Medal Winner
The Singing Tree
by Kate SeredyThis sequel to The Good Master continues the story of young Jancsi and his cousin Kate, as they take care of the family farm when Jancsi's father is called off to fight in the Great War.
A Newbery Honor book.
By the Shores of Silver Lake
by Laura Ingalls WilderThe adventures of Laura Ingalls and her family continue as they move from their little house on the banks of Plum Creek to the wilderness of the unsettled Dakota Territory. Here Pa works on the new railroad until he finds a homestead claim that is perfect for their new little house. Laura takes her first train ride as she, her sisters, and their mother come out to live with Pa on the shores of Silver Lake. After a lonely winter in the surveyors' house, Pa puts up the first building in what will soon be a brand-new town on the beautiful shores of Silver Lake. The Ingallses' covered-wagon travels are finally over.
Newbery Medal Honors book
Thimble Summer
by Elizabeth EnrightA few hours after nine-year-old Garnet Linden finds a silver thimble in the dried-up riverbed, the rains come and end the long drought on the farm. The rains bring safety for the crops and the livestock, and money for Garnet's father. Garnet can't help feeling that the thimble is a magic talisman, for the summer proves to be interesting and exciting in so many different ways.
There is the arrival of Eric, an orphan who becomes a member of the Linden family; the building of a new barn; and the county fair at which Garnet's carefully tended pig, Timmy, wins a blue ribbon. Every day brings adventure of some kind to Garnet and her best friend, Citronella. As far as Garnet is concerned, the thimble is responsible for each good thing that happens during this magic summer--her thimble summer.
Mr. Popper's Penguins
by Richard Atwater and Florence Atwater and Robert LawsonMr. Popper has penguins in his fridge, an ice rink in the basement, and a family for whom life will never be the same How many penguins in the house is too many?
Mr. Popper is a humble house painter living in Stillwater who dreams of faraway places like the South Pole. When an explorer responds to his letter by sending him a penguin named Captain Cook, Mr. Popper and his family's lives change forever. Soon one penguin becomes twelve, and the Poppers must set out on their own adventure to preserve their home.
First published in 1938, Mr. Popper's Penguins is a classic tale that has enchanted young readers for generations.
Newbery Medal Honors book
Winner of Pacific Northwest Library Association’s Young Reader’s Choice Award
The White Stag
by Kate SeredyYielding to the command of their gods, the Huns and Magyars, led by Attila, stalk the white stag in a search for the promised land that takes them from Asia to Europe.
Newbery Medal Winner
Bright Island
by Lynd Ward and Mabel L. RobinsonBorn and raised on Bright Island off the Maine coast, Thankful Curtis is more like her sea captain grandfather than any of her older brothers are. Nothing suits her better than sailing and helping her father with the farm. But when her dreaded sisters-in-law suggest that Thankful get some proper schooling on the mainland, the wind is knocked from her sails.Thankful finds the uncharted waters of school difficult to navigate: there's a rocky reception from her rich roommate, Selina; the breezy behavior of the charming Robert; and stormy Mr. Fletcher, the handsome Latin teacher whose caustic tongue masks a tender heart. And while Thankful works hard to make the best of her new life, Bright Island continues to flash in her thoughts, like the sparkle of the sun on the water.
Newbery Honor book
On The Banks Of Plum Creek
by Laura Ingalls WilderThe adventures of Laura Ingalls and her family continue as they leave their little house on the prairie and travel in their covered wagon to Minnesota. Here they settle in a little house made of sod beside the banks of beautiful Plum Creek. Soon Pa builds a wonderful new little house with real glass windows and a hinged door. Laura and her sister Mary go to school, help with the chores, and fish in the creek. At night everyone listens to the merry music of Pa's fiddle. Misfortunes come in the form of a grasshopper plague and a terrible blizzard, but the pioneer family works hard together to overcome these troubles. And so continues Laura Ingalls Wilder's beloved story of a pioneer girl and her family. The nine Little House books have been cherished by generations of readers as both a unique glimpse into America's frontier past and a heartwarming, unforgettable story.
Winner of the Newbery Honor
Roller Skates
by Ruth SawyerA Newbery Medal Winner!
Growing up in a well-to-do family with strict rules and routines can be tough for a ten-year-old girl who only wants to roller skate. But when Lucinda Wyman's parents go overseas on a trip to Italy and leave her behind in the care of Miss Peters and Miss Nettie in New York City, she suddenly gets all the freedom she wants! Lucinda zips around New York on her roller skates, meeting tons of new friends and having new adventures every day. But Lucinda has no idea what new experiences the city will show her.... Some of which will change her life forever.
Audubon
by Constance RourkeA Newbery Honor award winner book for the year 1937, Audubon is a biography of ornithologist and painter John James Audubon.
Caddie Woodlawn
by Carol Ryrie Brink and Trina Schart HymanCaddie Woodlawn, which has been captivating young readers since 1935, was awarded the John Newbery Medal for the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children. Now it is in a brand-new edition with lively illustrations by Trina Schart Hyman. In her new foreword, Carol Ryrie Brink lovingly recalls the real Caddie, who was her grandmother, and tells how she often "sat spellbound, listening, listening!" as Caddie told stories of her pioneer childhood.
Children everywhere will love redheaded Caddie with her penchant for pranks. Scarcely out of one scrape before she is into another, she refuses to be a "lady," preferring instead to run the woods with her brothers. Whether she is crossing the lake on a raft, visiting an Indian camp, or listening to the tales of the circuit rider, Caddie's adventures provide an exciting and authentic picture of life on the Wisconsin frontier in the 1860s. And readers will discover, as Caddie learns what growing up truly means, that it is not so very different today.
Newbery Medal Winner
The Good Master
by Kate SeredyJancsi is overjoyed to hear that his cousin from Budapest is coming to spend the summer on his father's ranch on the Hungarian plains. But their summer proves more adventurous than he had hoped when headstrong Kate arrives, as together they share horseback races across the plains, country fairs and festivals, and a dangerous run-in with the gypsies.
In vividly detailed scenes and beautiful illustrations, this Newbery Award-winning author presents an unforgettable world and characters who will be remembered forever.
Newbery Honor Book
All Sail Set
by Armstrong SperryWho can love the spread of canvas and the bend of the oak and not thrill to the names of the great clippers built by Donald McKay? Great Republic, Sovereign of the Seas, Lightening, Star of the Empire, and Westward Ho these names ring from an era when the windships were the queens of the ocean and sail was king. But the most famous, the one that most securely captured the hearts and imaginations of the entire nation, was McKay's masterpiece, the Flying Cloud.
Here is the story of Enoch Thacher, a boy whose father lost his fortune at sea, who McKay takes on during the lofting, building, and rigging of the Cloud, and who finally ships out on her for her maiden, record-breaking trip around the Horn. This realistic and riveting narrative will keep even landlubbers pegged to their seats.
A Newbery Honor Book.
Dobry
by Monica ShannonThere is always something to look forward to in Dobry's small Bulgarian village. From the delicious peppers and tomatoes he helps his mother and grandfather grow, to the visiting Gypsy Bear, to the Snow-Melting games that are the highlight of winter, Dobry lives within the circle of the year--and uses it in the art he shares with his friend Neda.
A Newberry Medal winner.
Davy Crockett
by Constance RourkeBlending myth and reality, Constance Rourke aimed to get at the heart of Davy Crockett, whose hold on the American imagination was firm even before he died at the Alamo. Davy Crockett, published in 1934, pioneered in showing the backwoodsman’s transformation into a folk hero. It remains a basic in the Crockett literature.
A Newbery Honor Book.
Invincible Louisa
by Cornelia Meigs[from the back cover]
"The True-life Story of Louisa May Alcott
Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy, the four famous March sisters in Little Women, were more than just storybook characters. The author, Louisa May Alcott, based that book on her own loving family--her parents and her sisters, Anna, Elizabeth, and May.
Jo was the real-life Louisa--the invincible (unconquerable) tomboy whose stories brought her fame and the money her family so desperately needed.
In this true story of Louisa May Alcott, you'll find out what really happened to Jo (Louisa) and her sisters--and whether there really was a Laurie."
Contains a chronology of the events in Louisa's life including the names of all of the books that she wrote and the years they were published.
Newbery Medal Winner
Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze
by Elizabeth Foreman LewisYoung Fu is bound for seven years to be an apprentice to Tang the coppersmith, and his new life in the Chinese city Chungking is both exciting and terrifying. Young Fu endures the taunts of his coworkers, and must live by his wits on the streets, where restless soldiers will shoot a man if he does not carry a load for them, and beggars steal from those who pass them by.
Yet for Young Fu, the pleasures of the bustling Chungking of the 1920s far outweigh its dangers. Little by little he learns the ways of the big city and plunges into adventure after adventure. Young Fu's eagerness to help others and his acts of courage earn him many friends, and finally, more good fortune than he ever thought possible.
Newbery Medal Winner
Swift Rivers
by Cornelia MeigsBarred from his family home- stead by his mean-spirited uncle, eighteen-year-old Chris weathers a Minnesota winter in a small cabin with his grandfather. Poverty and the tempting stories of a wandering Easterner convince Chris to harvest the trees on his grandfather’s land and float the logs down the spring floodwaters of the Mississippi to the lumber mills in Saint Louis. Filled with stories of raft hands and river pilots, this fast-paced novel has all the momentum of the great Mississippi.
Newbery Honor Book
Waterless Mountain
by Laura Adams ArmerYounger Brother lives in a dry land, and he dreams of finding the wide water of the Pacific Ocean. This gentle coming-of-age story, rooted in the traditional culture of the Navajo, recounts Younger Brother's journey toward finding his vocation as a medicine man. Under the guidance of his uncle, the boy learns about the ancient songs, customs, and ceremonies of his people as well as the modern-day magic of movies and airplanes.
Written in the 1930s by an authority on Native American life and lore, this Newbery Medal winner offers a vivid portrait of Navajo beliefs and traditions.
Calico Bush
by Rachel FieldThis heartwarming and enthralling classic is the story of a young girl who is left orphaned and alone shortly after her French family arrives in the New World. First published in 1931, this memorable story by a Newbery Award winner offers a historically significant portrait of pioneer life in the eighteenth century.
Newbery Medal Honors book.