Children/Young Adult Book Awards: 1930-1939

A few hours after nine-year-old Garnet Linden finds a silver thimble in the dried-up riverbed, the rains come and end the long drought on the farm. The rains bring safety for the crops and the livestock, and money for Garnet's father. Garnet can't help feeling that the thimble is a magic talisman, for the summer proves to be interesting and exciting in so many different ways. There is the arrival of Eric, an orphan who becomes a member of the Linden family; the building of a new barn; and the county fair at which Garnet's carefully tended pig, Timmy, wins a blue ribbon. Every day brings adventure of some kind to Garnet and her best friend, Citronella. As far as Garnet is concerned, the thimble is responsible for each good thing that happens during this magic summer-- her thimble summer.

The story of the simple pleasures and hard work of an Italian family, living around 1900 in a small village. Based upon the author's childhood.

Mr. Popper, when not painting or papering his neighbors' walls, has a persistent penchant for penguins. A decorator by day, he's an intrepid Antarctic explorer by night--at least in his imagination. Mr. Popper resigns himself to quiet evenings at home with his family and his travel books, until one day a mysterious package arrives. Pretty soon the Poppers have a house full of penguins, an ice rink in the basement, and an ever-increasing bill for raw fish and canned shrimp. Time to take this show on the road!The Atwaters wrote this unforgettable tale in 1938, but its timeless charm shows no signs of aging. Children are invited to imagine, dream, and believe that anything is possible. Robert Lawson, illustrator of The Story of Ferdinand, offers delightfully humorous pictures--as integral to this classic as the story itself. An ideal read-aloud book for all ages, Mr. Popper's Penguins will have any audience rolling in the aisles.

This is the story of an everyday family who fled the depression of 1817 by moving westward. Rafts and flatboats and Conestoga wagons moved slowly into the new territory beyond the Alleghenies, but the Doak family made the journey down the Ohio river from Pittsburgh to Cincinnati on a boat fitted out as a store, peddling pots and pans, hardware, bonnets, dry goods and Yankee notions. Responding to the call of "Hello, the boat!" from settlers along the banks, Mother, Father, the children, Old Pappy and his fiddle all helped to make the trip as profitable as it was adventurous.

The gradual growth of the boy, his development into the leader of his time, his devotion to principle, and his later change from Tory to Revolutionist are shown in this biography of George Washington.

At twenty, William Penn seemed destined for a brilliant military or diplomatic career. For this handsome, cultured, witty youth, life held the worldly and social success that usually awaited the talented son of a famous seventeenth-century English admiral.
But one day he attended a meeting of the Friends of Truth - called Quakers by the unconvinced - and became a follower of this persecuted, peaceful, and "unfashionable" religion. Ignoring his father's threats of disinheritance, heedless of the inevitable loss of his social position, Penn became a devoted leader of the Friends.
Frequently imprisoned because the Quaker principles of peace, democracy, and freedom directly opposed the prevailing English concepts of Church and State, Penn came to be a defender of all the oppressed, defying the courts, whose justice was administered only when convenient. In one of the highly dramatic scenes, richly portrayed by Miss Gray, Penn's resistance established once and for all the right of trial by jury. But despite this and other triumphs, Penn and the Quakers realized that religious toleration could be firmly established, on a permanent basis, only in a new land, and to America they came to set up a new order where freedom and liberty should prevail.
As governor of the new colony of Pennsylvania, Penn put into practice the principles for which the Quakers had struggled so long. His treat of peace and friendship with the Indians remained unbroken until his death. His colony's constitution, with its guarantees of civil liberties, served as a model for the Constitution of the United States. Despite many reversals of fortune, both in the New World and in the Old, he lived to see his colony grow and thrive, a momument to his courage and faity.

Retells the legendary story of the Huns' and Magyars' long migration from Asia to Europe where they hope to find a permanent home.

Jolted off the back of his westward-bound pioneer family’s covered wagon, four-year-old Bill is left in the dust by his eighteen wawling and brawling siblings and never-suspecting mom and dad. Raised by coyotes as one of their own, Bill retains a natural innocence while developing a host of supernatural powers. When he finds out that he is a man, not a coyote, and returns to confront the often inhuman human world, those powers will come in handy. Bill never uses them maliciously, always for good, or simply to amaze and amuse.
James Bowman was a fine folklorist and an outstanding storyteller and he relates Pecos Bill’s wild deeds in a plainspoken voice that highlights their wonderful swagger and charm.

Born and raised on Bright Island off the Maine coast, Thankful Curtis is more like her sea captain grandfather than any of her older brothers are. Nothing suits her better than sailing and helping her father with the farm. But when her dreaded sisters-in-law suggest that Thankful get some proper schooling on the mainland, the wind is knocked from her sails.
Thankful finds the uncharted waters of school difficult to navigate: there's a rocky reception from her rich roommate, Selina; the breezy behavior of the charming Robert; and stormy Mr. Fletcher, the handsome Latin teacher whose caustic tongue masks a tender heart. And while Thankful works hard to make the best of her new life, Bright Island continues to flash in her thoughts, like the sparkle of the sun on the water.

The adventures of Laura Ingalls and her family continue as they leave their little house on the prairie and travel in their covered wagon to Minnesota. Here they settle in a little house made of sod beside the banks of beautiful Plum Creek. Soon Pa builds a wonderful new little house with real glass windows and a hinged door. Laura and her sister Mary go to school, help with the chores, and fish in the creek. At night everyone listens to the merry music of Pa's fiddle. Misfortunes come in the form of a grasshopper plague and a terrible blizzard, but the pioneer family works hard together to overcome these troubles.

The discoveries and adventures of ten-year-old Lucinda, who spends a wonderful year exploring the New York City of the 1890s.

Depicts family life in New England around 1830.

Set in rural Wales shortly after World War I, Whistler's Van tells the story of a young farmboy, Gwilyn, who spends one summer traveling with the gypsies.

The Golden Basket is a children's novel written and illustrated by Ludwig Bemelmans. It tells the story of a family's visit to Bruges and marks the first appearance of the author's best-known character, Madeline.

A teenage brother and sister take charge of their little sisters and Connecticut farmhouse while their parents are away in this dramatic story by the author of The Velveteen Rabbit. Winner of a Newbery honor, the Depression-era novel weaves an inspiring tale of the city-bred children's struggles and triumphs during a chilly country winter.

Naturalist, artist, woodsman—all these descriptions fit John James Audubon, and each of them adds its own color to the story of his life. His personality grips the imagination—unflagging energy drove him from Pennsylvania to Texas, from Florida to Labrador in his unending search for birds; salty humor was capable of self-appraisal; unwavering devotion served Lucy, his wife. Courage and independence armed him equaly against frontier dangers and the slander and flattery of civilization. His singleness of purpose never faltered from his youth to his death.
Constance Rourke is an authority on the American frontier and American folk-lore. This background and her interest in the natural scene combine to make her portrait of Audubon a rich contribution to American literature.

This Newbery Award winning book . . . has been reprinted with a charming reminiscence by the author about her grandmother Caddie . . . Told with style and grace and teamed with . . . fresh new illustrations, the story of Wisconsin frontier life in the 1860s will continue to attract readers today.

What do you do when a moose takes over your town? Three young boys try to save a moose through the cold Minnesota winter.

Young Jancsi and his cousin Kate from Budapest race across the Hungarian plains on horseback, attend country fairs and festivals, and experience a dangerous run-in with gypsies, in a author of The White Stag.

Young Walter Scott is a fictionalized biography of the early life of Walter Scott by Elizabeth Janet Gray, set in Edinburgh in the late eighteenth century. Illustrated by Kate Seredy, it was first published in 1935 and was a Newbery Honor recipient in 1936.

Here is the story of Enoch Thacher, a boy whose father lost his fortune at sea, who McKay takes on during the lofting, building, and rigging of the Cloud, and who finally ships out on her for her maiden, record-breaking trip around the Horn. Accompanied by Sperry's wonderfully vigorous drawings, this realistic and riveting narrative will keep even landlubbers pegged to their seats.

A Bulgarian peasant boy must convince his mother that he is destined to be a sculptor, not a farmer.

Do you find interest in history but notice that reading history books can become....a little... boring? Well this book is for you. It is an excellent overview of Chinese history. It will not tell you EVERYTHING, but for a person who is curious about Chinese hisotry, it is the one and only book for you! Also, history, especially exotic history, means nothing if you don't understant culture. For example, you might think that the punishments of China for not taking an embassy in Peking(Beijing--Pinyin) were well deserved. However, the embassadors wouldn't bow(or kowtow), which if you understood their culture, you would see why this was such a big problem. This book is PERFECT in that it explains the Chinese culture (literature, religions, and lifestyles). Even if you are interested in a long and elaborate study of Chinese history and culture, this book is great in providing you with the basics so that nothing will be confusing in the harder studies. I am usually the kind of person who likes history books ONLY because I look up the chapters which interest me. But for this book I couldn't help to read it from cover to cover!

Blending myth and reality, Constance Rourke aimed to get at the heart of Davy Crockett, whose hold on the American imagination was firm even before he died at the Alamo. Davy Crockett, published in 1934, pioneered in showing the backwoodsman’s transformation into a folk hero. It remains a basic in the Crockett literature.

The children whose acquaintance you make in "A Day on Skates" are real children, not puppets; you will meet in these pages no dull little Miss Good, no tiresome little Master Naughty; these are real children, and they are delightful children. It is most unlikely that the small reader, or for that matter the reader who is very large indeed, will be indifferent as to whether or not the burgomaster changes his mind about (but I mustn't tell you what); whether or not the boys get safely down from (but I mustn't tell you where); whether or not Simon ever wins the friendship of (no, I mustn't say of whom).

Biography tracing the fascinating life of Louisa May Alcott from her happy childhood in Pennsylvania and Boston to her success as a writer of such classics as Little women.

Chloé, the young daughter of a noble Roman man, has been lost to her father, and has spent her life as a slave on one of his own villas. Cruelly treated, and with no hope of freedom, her only escape in into the stories of her Grecian mother's home town of Eresós, as told to her by Melissa, a fellow-slave and her mother's dearest friend. Aulus, a brave young Roman solider, is banished from Rome and escapes to his own villa in the Italian countryside. There he is faced by a life-threatening misfortune, is saved by the enchanting young Chloé, and falls in love with her, despite the fact that she is a slave. This historically accurate 1934 Newbery Honor Book is a captivating story of adventure, love, Chloé's struggle with the anger and hatred she feels toward her father, and the forgiveness she learns that cleanses her soul.

A powerful, deeply absorbing story in which the reader sees through the eyes of a sensitive boy, John Deane, events preceding the Civil War in the Gettysburg country, the pursuit of escaped negroes, the attack at Harper's Ferry, then war at close range when John's home is taken over by the enemy and he watches the family papers and treasures go to pile up the breastwork. The love affairs of John's sisters are in gay relief, and his own shy romance and his return from the War are touchingly described. Battle pictures of great vigor help to make a volume which will rank among the finest achievements of the year in books of interest for old and young.

Follows a little bunny as it scampers through the alphabet.

Here is an adventure story for older girls—an exciting tale of ancient Crete three thousand five hundred years ago! From this island the empire of the mighty Minos extended even to the southern slopes of Greece. It was an age of color, of drama and of danger. Phoenician traders brought tin from far off Cornwall, Minos sent gifts of purple dye to the Pharoahs of Egypt. What a background for a story! And yet this is the only book for young people—boys or girls—to be laid in that period. Erick Berry, the author and artist, has thoroughly sifted history and legend for the tale, and in her illustrations has reconstructed the actual murals of Knossos itself.
The heroine is Inas, the lithe, blue-eyed, tomboy daughter of the famous Daidalos. She is her father's companion in his experiments with the flying gliders, and is, herself, renowned for her skill in bull-vaulting in the Royal ring. Jealousy of Daidalos' success and of his position of favor with the king, and Inas own implication in the escape of Theseus from the labyrinth, conspire to drive both father and daughter to far-distant Siceli. Here occurs the destruction of Minos' white-sailed fleet. Inas escapes with Kadmos, son of the captain of the fleet...and what happens next will be left for the reader to discover. Here is a tale of high adventure, but with a background both fascinating and valuable as supplementary reading for the study of Ancient history.

A collection of thirteen short stories from Padraic Colum, based on life in his home village of Bunlahy, in County Longford, Ireland.

A young shipping clerk in Boston yearns to travel to California to find gold. But, before he can get on with this dream, many other adventurers distract him.

Opening in 1453, this is the story of sixteen-year-old Nemo, apprenticed to a silk merchant of Florence, who accompanies the merchant's son to Constantinople on business.

In the 1920's a Chinese youth from the country comes to Chungking with his mother where the bustling city offers adventure and his apprenticeship to a coppersmith brings good fortune.

Barred from his family home- stead by his mean-spirited uncle, eighteen-year-old Chris weathers a Minnesota winter in a small cabin with his grandfather. Poverty and the tempting stories of a wandering Easterner convince Chris to harvest the trees on his grandfather’s land and float the logs down the spring floodwaters of the Mississippi to the lumber mills in Saint Louis. Filled with stories of raft hands and river pilots, this fast-paced novel has all the momentum of the great Mississippi.

Tells the story of Harriet Tubman who escaped from slavery herself and then brought more than 300 people to the North and freedom by way of the Underground Railway.

An early Newbery Honor Book, telling the story of two Swedish children and their folk beliefs.

A poignant story of a young Navajo boy's spiritual odyssey and coming of age as a medicine man provides a vivid portrait of the beliefs, traditions, and lifestyle of the Navajo people.

The fairies, enchanted by a human circus which visits their meadow, put on a circus of their own with the woodland creatures.

In 1743, thirteen-year-old Marguerite Ledoux travels to Maine as the indentured servant of a family that regards her as little better than the Indians that threaten them, but her strength, quick thinking and courage surprise them all.

Tells the story of Teiki of the Marquesas Islands, who, after accidentally stowing away on a visiting ship, makes a new life on the island of Moorea.

Set in sixteenth-century France, at the court of Francis I, Out of the Flame describes the education and adventures of Pierre, who is training to be a knight.

When seventeen-year-old Ellen comes to look after twelve-year-old Jane, she enjoys seaside and family life, and helps solve a bit of a mystery, in the scientific seaside village of Woods Hole, Cape Cod, during the nineteen twenties.

The first story in this book is retold from the "Fioretti" of St. Francis of Assisi. "Calandrino and the pig" is from the "Decameron" of Boccaccio. The last three stories are adapted from "Legends of Florence" by C.G. Leland.

In ancient Japan, a struggling artist is angered when his housekeeper brings home a tiny white cat he can barely afford to feed. But when the village's head priest commissions a painting of the Buddha for a healthy sum, the artist softens toward the animal he believes has brought him luck.
According to legend, the proud and haughty cat was denied the Buddha's blessing for refusing to accept his teachings and pay him homage. So when the artist, moved by compassion for his pet, includes the cat in his painting, the priest rejects the work and decrees that it must be destroyed. It seems the artist's life is ruined as well -- until he is rewarded for his act of love by a Buddhist miracle.

When the doll house they inhabit is shipped overseas as a gift, a terrible storm results in shipwreck on an uninhabited tropical island for the Doll family. This includes Mr. and Mrs. Doll, their children William and Annabelle, and Dinah the cook. The story follows their adventures with affection and humor.

The story of a Mayan princess who lived at the time the ancient city of Chichen Itza fell under Toltec rule.

Relates the experiences of an outcast deaf-mute Indian boy as he grows to adulthood and eventually becomes a great leader.

"This treatment of the legend of William Tell endeavors to place it in its historical setting, and to show the difference in ideals and manners between the Swiss and the people against whom they were struggling; that is to say, between the feudal system and the first faint stirrings of democracy."

A story of the rivalry between Arab traders, the city-state of Venice, and of the struggling nation of Portugal to dominate the spice trade by finding a new sea route to India by going around the "Devil's Cave" -- the Cape of Good Hope. In Lisbon, the workshop of Abel Zakuto, a Jew, becomes the meeting place for Vasco da Gama, Bartholomeu Dias, and Ferdinand Magellan to discuss their plans to find this sea route. How the Jews furthered the work of discovery plays a significant part in the story.

Meggy MacIntosh had a gentle manner and an adventurous spirit inherited from her father who had fought for Bonnie Prince Charlie. But there was no adventure in Edinburgh where Meggy was the neglected ward of her titled uncle, so she ran away to North Carolina to find her heroine, the celebrated Flora MacDonald. Meggy reached the Carolinas in March 1775 where she finally meets the Highlanders of her dreams.

Garram, son of the chief of the Hillmen tribe, is forced to flee his home when it is revealed to him that a planned usurping of his father's position as chief will take place soon unless Garram goes into hiding. The journey that Garram subsequently embarks upon helps prepare him for the inevitable confrontation with his father's political enemies that is sure to occur when he eventually returns home.

Ood-le-uk, an American Eskimo boy, accidentally gets across the Bering Strait when his boat is swept to sea. After three years of wandering in Asia and having many exciting adventures, Ood-le-uk returns home and is instrumental in helping establish trade between his tribe and Siberian tradesmen.

On a cold Maine night in 1829, an old peddler carved a small doll out of a piece of mountain ash wood. Her name was Hitty and she was no ordinary doll.
Hitty's first owner, Phoebe Preble, takes her from Boston to India. From the hands of Phoebe Preble, Hitty travels on with a snake charmer, a Civil War soldier, a riverboat captains daughter, and a former slave. Along the way she meets presidents and painters, relating each adventure in vivid detail.

This is a fictionalized biography of the French Revolutionary patriot and writer Jeanne Manon Roland de la Platiere (1754-1793), who became known simply by Madame Roland. She was the daughter of a Paris engraver who encouraged his daughter's interest in music, painting, and literature. As a young girl, she told to her grand-mother: "I'll call myself daughter of the Seine," and as an adult she often said that the river was part of her soul. As a young woman she became interested in the radical ideas of Jean Jacques Rousseau and the movement for equality. She shared these enthusiasms with her husband, whom she married in 1780. After the outbreak of the Revolution, she formed a salon of followers, who late became known as the Girondists. Under the constitutional monarchy, her husband became minister of the interior, a post he held after the monarchy was overthrown. Madame Roland both directed her husband's career and influenced the important politicians of the period.

"Pran is a daughter of the sturdy mountain tribes of Albania - old enough to be betrothed in accordance with the ancient tribal traditions.
This is the story of Pran and her life in the mountains and the refugee barracks at Skodra; of her friend, the laughing blue-eyed Nush and his secret; of her adventures in war times and peace, of her betrothal and the strange vow she takes."

In the early 1900s, four orphaned siblings, the eldest being seventeen, set out to fulfill their uncle's dream of homesteading in Tripp County, South Dakota, and although they face drought, discomfort, and sabotaging squatters, new friends and inner strength help them carry on.

Ella Young was born in 1867 in the little village of Feenagh, County Antrim. "From childhood I heard tales of ghosts, banshees, haunted castles, mischievous and friendly sprites, snatches of ballads, and political arguments....It was not until I came to Dublin and met Standish O'Grady, A.E., and Kuna Meyer that I realized what a heritage waited for me in Celtic literature. I read every translation I could get, learned Irish, and betook myself to Gaelic Ireland where, by turf fires, I could hear the poems of the Fianna recited by folk who had heard the faery music and danced in faery circles...".

Tales and legends from Finland form the background to this story of a modern Finnish boy who is a student during the Finnish Revolution of World War I that freed that country from oppressive Russian rule.

A fictional history of railroading, as told by the first steam engine.