1964 Newbery Medal and Honor Books

It's Like This, Cat

By: Emily Neville
Illustrated by: Emil Weiss

Medal Winner

Reviewed by: Diane Pendergraft

I read this and enjoyed the narrator’s style in spots, though I’m not a fan of the first-person point of view. Some of the scenes were interesting, and it was definitely eye-opening to read about a young teen with the kind of freedom this boy has to walk, bike, and ride buses and subways all over New York City. But when I finished reading and thought about how it might compare to other Newbery Winners and Honor Books, my first thought was, This was, ‘the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children’ that year?

My purpose here is not to tear this book apart or tell anyone not to read it. I’m simply pondering on paper. The popularity of pedantic books with hit-you-over-the-head morals tends to be short lived. However, when I choose books to recommend for children, I lean toward stories where a character or two matures, gains wisdom, finds truth, or learns something of beauty. By the end of Cat, it doesn’t seem that Dave has learned much other than how to try a little harder not to upset his mom. Admirable, in a way, I suppose, but there is little evidence of character building.

The Loner

By: Ester Wier
Illustrated by: Christine Price

Honor

Reviewed by: Sherry Early
Recommended age: 12+ for independent reading, younger for read aloud
Also read and recommended by: Diane Pendergraft

The loner of the title is a boy who at the beginning of the story has no name. He travels with the migrant crop-pickers from place to place, catching a ride with anyone who will give him transportation, food, and a place to sleep in exchange for his work harvesting the crops. He doesn’t remember his parents or what happened to them, and he has never had a family or a friend until he meets Raidy, a fellow crop-picker who does have a family and who chooses to care about the boy and call him friend.

Unfortunately, tragedy strikes, and the boy is again on his own and near despair in the wild and lonely Big Country of Montana. At his lowest point, he is rescued by Boss, a big woman, something of a loner herself, who is a sheepherder. The Boy takes the name David, and along with the name he begins to learn how to care for other people and allow them to care for him—but not without a few rather dangerous and serious mistakes along the way.

Rascal: A Memoir of a Better Era

By: Sterling North
Illustrated by: John Schoenherr

Honor

Reviewed by: Diane Pendergraft
Also read and recommended by: Sandy Hall, Sara Masarik, Sherry Early, Terri Shown

Near the end of Sterling North’s Rascal, Sterling and his aunt Lillie discuss what Sterling might want to be when he grows up. Aunt Lillie thinks Sterling’s deceased mother would have wanted him to be a writer. When he asks why, she says; “And then you could put it all down, the way it is now. . . You could keep it just like this forever.”

That is just what North has done. He has preserved for us a snapshot of life in an American World War I-era small town. I am writing this almost exactly 100 years after the events in this book. Daily life for Americans has changed more in those 100 years than for any people at any other time in world history. There are references throughout the story to activities and objects that were familiar to most people in 1918 America, but will be unfamiliar to most of today’s young readers. Finding out about some of these things will give you a better picture of the time in which Sterling grew up.