I never expected Avi’s Crispin: The Cross of Lead (2003 winner) to hook me in so deeply, or upset me so much. I stopped watching Outlander years ago because it was so gruesome. Like that show, this teen version of travels and hardships in the English countryside in the 1300s was engaging and horrifying.  Moving on, I’ve got to pick up Linda Sue Park’s 2002 winner, A Single Shard.

I read the 1999 Newbery winner, Louis Sachar’s Holes, in one sitting. I’m sure I’d read it before, but the back-and-forth between the recent past, older past and current events was still confusing. Overall, this creative, imaginative story was riveting. Ditto for Bud, Not Buddy, Christopher Paul Curtis’s 2000 award winner. Another good one!

Earlier this month, Abe Books placed Calvin & Hobbs at # 10 on their monthly list of most expensive sales. I was not a scrapbooker, but I clipped and saved weeks and months of those cartoons from the paper and eventually recycled them all. Sigh.

http://rokeefehistory.com/blog: #RichardPeck; #AYearDownYonder; #Avi; #CrispinTheCrossofLead; #LouisSachar; #Holes; #NewberyAwards; ChristopherPCurtis; #BudNotBuddy;  #CalvinandHobbs; #BillWatterson;