I’m a big nerd who reads too much. Don’t take any of this too seriously.
All in books
Assuming that these really are all folktales from different cultures, that makes Silver Lands something like the written equivalent of a mixtape. Too bad the DJ blows.
Poor Charles Boardman Hawes. In 1922, his sophomore novel, The Great Quest, came runner-up to The Story of Mankind for the inaugural Newbery Medal. By the time he won the prize in 1924, he’d been dead for nearly a year, cut down by a sudden bout of pneumonia.
This alternatingly charming and problematic book is probably way more racist than you remember.
And so begins my journey through every one of the first 100 John Newbery Medal recipients. What did adults think kids should be reading in 1921?
Until her death last year, Toni Morrison was the greatest living American author. After her death last year, let’s just call her the greatest American author. For my money, no other writer has excavated history to capture the American experience in a way that feels as true or as potent as Morrison.
