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RE: The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg
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From: Nigrelli, Joanna <Joanna.Nigrelli_at_ci.austin.tx.us>
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 2010 18:35:36 -0600
This book made it on our Mock Newbery consideration list, but wasn't able to get a place in the final medal/honor round (Medal: When You Reach Me, Honors: Calpurnia Tate, Written in Bone, All the Broken Pieces). In the end it didn't have enough support to carry it farther. I think part of that is because those of us who did find it distinguished didn't convey our enthusiasm for it in the right way and those participants who weren't sure what to make of this unusual story were still left feeling ambivalent.
It's a fun, romp of a tale that also manages to delve into several more serious and weightier issues of that period. Of all the books on the Newbery list, this was a most pleasant surprise.
Joanna Nigrelli Austin Public Library
Message-----
From: Kathleen T. Horning
Sent: Monday, January 25, 2010 5:25 PM To: CCBC-NET Subject:
The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg
This one wasn't on my radar at all, I'm afraid, until it was announced as a Newbery Honor -- though it should have been because I think I recall seeing it as the choice on a few mock Newbery lists, and I've enjoyed Rodman Philbrick's books in the past. For whatever reason, it slipped by me when it came out last spring.
I read it over the weekend and am glad I did. For those of you who haven't read it, it's a picaresque novel set during the Civil War about 12-year-old Homer Figg, who goes off in search of his brother after he has been illegally enlisted into the Union army. He meets quite a few unsavory characters along the way and has some hair-raising adventures, and Homer's ability to bend the truth usually works to his advantage. The novel has hyperbolic, humorous voice and great cliff-hanger chapter endings. It's a quick and easy read and it reminds me the easier novels by Christopher Paul Curtis. I would definitely recommend it to kids who like "Bud, Not Buddy."
I'd be curious to see what others think of the book.
KT
Kathleen T. Horning Director Cooperative Children's Book Center 4290 Helen C. White Hall 600 N. Park St Madison, WI 53706
Phone: 608-263-3721 FAX: 608-262-4933
horning_at_education.wisc.edu http://www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 2010 18:35:36 -0600
This book made it on our Mock Newbery consideration list, but wasn't able to get a place in the final medal/honor round (Medal: When You Reach Me, Honors: Calpurnia Tate, Written in Bone, All the Broken Pieces). In the end it didn't have enough support to carry it farther. I think part of that is because those of us who did find it distinguished didn't convey our enthusiasm for it in the right way and those participants who weren't sure what to make of this unusual story were still left feeling ambivalent.
It's a fun, romp of a tale that also manages to delve into several more serious and weightier issues of that period. Of all the books on the Newbery list, this was a most pleasant surprise.
Joanna Nigrelli Austin Public Library
Message-----
From: Kathleen T. Horning
Sent: Monday, January 25, 2010 5:25 PM To: CCBC-NET Subject:
The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg
This one wasn't on my radar at all, I'm afraid, until it was announced as a Newbery Honor -- though it should have been because I think I recall seeing it as the choice on a few mock Newbery lists, and I've enjoyed Rodman Philbrick's books in the past. For whatever reason, it slipped by me when it came out last spring.
I read it over the weekend and am glad I did. For those of you who haven't read it, it's a picaresque novel set during the Civil War about 12-year-old Homer Figg, who goes off in search of his brother after he has been illegally enlisted into the Union army. He meets quite a few unsavory characters along the way and has some hair-raising adventures, and Homer's ability to bend the truth usually works to his advantage. The novel has hyperbolic, humorous voice and great cliff-hanger chapter endings. It's a quick and easy read and it reminds me the easier novels by Christopher Paul Curtis. I would definitely recommend it to kids who like "Bud, Not Buddy."
I'd be curious to see what others think of the book.
KT
Kathleen T. Horning Director Cooperative Children's Book Center 4290 Helen C. White Hall 600 N. Park St Madison, WI 53706
Phone: 608-263-3721 FAX: 608-262-4933
horning_at_education.wisc.edu http://www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/
---Received on Mon 25 Jan 2010 06:35:36 PM CST
