Crispin by Avi

I absolutely love to read children’s literature. It may be my favorite genre. But I definitely get stuck in the rut of reading the same kinds of books and historic fiction is not usually my cup of tea. So I went into Crispin fully preparing to not like it. And at first I had a really hard time getting into it, but then Avi definitely sucked me and I got lost in the story.

I don’t think that this is a book I would use with my kiddos. I think they are too young, first of all, and I also think there is a lot of talk of religion. I kind of hate that teachers need to be so politically correct in schools nowadays, and I can just hear the angry parent emails already. In a public school I think it’s too touchy of a subject to delve into, or at least delve into well. If I taught older kids, or if we studied the time period in the book it might make more sense.

Some other award winning books I have read include The View from Saturday by EL Konigsburg and A Ring of Endless Light by Madeleine L’engle. It’s hard to compare books like these. I think that historic fiction is such a different genre because there is so much research and background that go into it. And if you have the background info on the time period of a book you will take something much different from it than a person who knows nothing of the history.

It’s good they have guidelines for the Newberry Award because something like great literature is so subjective and changes from person to person. I can’t even imagine having to pick a winner. I think it would be incredibly hard. Throughout Newberry winners I see a lot of common themes. They are often great tales of childhood, and children overcoming tremendous obstacles. These books all have great morals that I would want to share with my children.