RI Mock Newbery 2012 - Straggler Reads

Toys Come Home: Being the Early Experiences of an Intelligent Stingray, a Brave Buffalo, and a Brand-New Someone Called Plastic by Emily Jenkins

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Delightful. From StingRay's confidence in her brilliance to Lumphy's "I have dread," I smiled through the entire thing in one sitting. Please know that you were puked on with love. And that we are here for each other.



Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Ok, so the plot was not the most earth-shattering genius of the world, but it was interesting and engaging. And after forcing myself to finish some other Mock Newbery nominees, it was so nice to WANT to keep turning the pages and find out what happened. I couldn't wait to see how the stories intertwined, and I kept going back to the picture of the special exhibit that Rose explored.

Also, the change in movies from silent to talkies made me think about the current sea change ... Red Boxes and streaming Netflix. You don't even need to wait for the DVD to be mailed to you anymore!



Waiting for the Magic by Patricia MacLachlan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I was prepared to hate this book. Four dogs and a cat? And the dogs "talk"? Yuck.

But.

It's Patricia MacLachlan.

Gentle, sweet, slightly unrealistic, but quality.

Choice quotes:
"If you don't talk about it, maybe it isn't there."
"If he wasn't here, he couldn't leave again."
"Can you forgive when you don't understand?" (actually, I think that is not a quote but a note I made)



Hidden by Helen Frost

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


If you're going to have two characters narrating, you really should give them two distinctive voices. I did like the message that sometimes you have to talk to the other person to find out that you were both wrong.



Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


I liked all of the allusions, but they added up to ... what? The entire second part was random and unsatisfying. I had to force myself to finish it; the book had lost me at the chapter where adults around the world had glass shards poke them and reacted in depressing ways. If the rest of the committee could discard Sir Gawain for one sentence about economics, then I think we should discard Breadcrumbs for this. Or the wraith. Or the indication that for all of the stories Hazel knew, she wasn't familiar with The Snow Queen. Seriously?