Children of the Soil

This is the first 1930s Newbery I have read in a long while that I actually had a hard time putting down. And I'm not sure why. The story follows a very poor mom and her two kids during one year in Sweden. There is never any real peril or conflict, though a few of the kids' classmates are punks. I just loved that through the kids' resourcefulness and incredible hard work, they are able to improve their family's situation considerably in just a year. At the start of the novel, they are too poor to even afford an egg for Christmas and by the next winter they own TWO cows. In fact, upon completing the book, I immediately felt the desire to start earning more money for my family. The urge only lasted one morning, but still!

Additional notes:

- The boy's name is Guldklumpen, which may be the most unique name I have ever read in a book ever. And he never uses a nickname! He is Guldklumpen the whole book through.

- Guldklumpen and Nikolina refer to their mom as "the mother" which was weird every time they said it.

- I would much rather my kids grow up poor than rich. So far, so good.

Jane's Island

I would argue there is more explanation of the scientific method and very specific science research in this 100 year old Newbery than in any other I have read. Ellen, a Chicago college student, goes to Massachusetts to be a "nanny" to a 12-year-old aspiring scientist and adventurer named Jane for the summer. Jane's dad is a scientist and does research on planaria (flat worms?) at a nearby laboratory. Ellen and Jane go on all sorts of sciencey, marine-lifey adventures. The characters were interesting. The setting was cool. I had to read it very quickly over Thanksgiving in Texas so I could hand it off to my dad before he went home to return it to his university library in Utah. But he brought me two more!