The Highest Hit : And Other Selections by Newbery Authors

A collection of stories by Newbery award winners and honorees includes works by Nancy Willard, Lois Lenski, Elizabeth Coatsworth, and Jean Craighead George.

Gr 4-8-Two collections of short pieces by Newbery authors, but not necessarily excerpts or chapters from their award-winning books. No criteria is given for the selection of these stories, other than the fact that they are supposedly outstanding children's literature drawn from the "life work" of these writers. There is no explanation of why, for example, Elizabeth Coatsworth and Elizabeth Yates are represented in both volumes. To compound the issue, the sources of these pieces are not immediately apparent. In all but a couple of instances, the only the copyright date, and from whence permission was obtained to reprint the story. Someone familiar with children's literature can identify Betsy Byars's "The Dancing Camel" as a picture-book text she wrote, but the story here suffers without the illustrations. One glaring error occurs in the note about Lloyd Alexander where it refers to his "Westmark" trilogy as the "Westover" trilogy. While some of the pieces, such as "The Highest Hit" by Nancy Willard, are contemporary and appealing, many of the stories are of historical interest, but will have little appeal to today's children.-Tim Wadham, Maricopa County Library District, Phoenix, AZ

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