The Twenty-One Balloons

The Twenty-One Balloons by William Pene du Bois has such a charming premise, I couldn't help but add it to the stack of books I was planning to pack for travel. A good chunk of the book I consumed on the floor at JFK, waiting for my connecting flight. I think it was the perfect selection.

Beginning with these words: "There are two kinds of travel. The usual way is to take the fastest imaginable conveyance along the shortest road. The other way is not to care particularly where you are going or how long it will take you, or whether you will get there or not." The opposite page features a delightful sketch of a hot air balloon. What better way to inspire a traveler?

The story of The Twenty-One Balloons centers on Professor William Waterman Sherman and his loyalty to The Western American Explorer's Club. You see, Professor Sherman has been on a very big adventure. Setting off in a giant balloon with the aim of crossing the Pacific Ocean, Sherman was discovered three weeks later a bit distressed and in the Atlantic. How could this be, the entire country wants to know. Sherman vows that his colleagues of explorers be his first audience and he is raced to the West Coast amid the country's eagerness to hear his tale.

Recommendation: A delightful tale of exploration and adventure.

Newbery List

One of my lifetime goals is to read all of the Newbery Award winners. I love printing off the list of titles and highlight each book I've read. Unfortunately, I also keep losing the list. The book blog seems like a pretty good place to keep track of where I am on my goal. Naturally, this post will be updated as new titles are read or added. 35 down.

Newbery Winners:

2009: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, illus. by Dave McKean
2008: Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz
2007: The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron, illus. by Matt Phelan
2006: Criss Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins
2005: Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata
2004: The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread by Kate DiCamillo
2003: Crispin: The Cross of Lead by Avi
2002: A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park
2001: A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck
2000: Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis
1999: Holes by Louis Sachar
1998: Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse
1997: The View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg
1996: The Midwife's Apprentice by Karen Cushman
1995: Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
1994: The Giver by Lois Lowry
1993: Missing May by Cynthia Rylant
1992: Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
1991: Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli
1990: Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
1989: Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices by Paul Fleischman
1988: Lincoln: A Photobiography by Russell Freedman
1987: The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman
1986: Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan
1985: The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley
1984: Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary
1983: Dicey's Song by Cynthia Voigt
1982: A Visit to William Blake's Inn: Poems for Innocent and Experienced Travelers by Nancy Willard
1981: Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Paterson
1980: A Gathering of Days: A New England Girl's Journal, 1830-1832 by Joan W. Blos
1979: The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
1978: Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
1977: Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor
1976: The Grey King by Susan Cooper
1975: M. C. Higgins, the Great by Virginia Hamilton
1974: The Slave Dancer by Paula Fox
1973: Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
1972: Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien
1971: Summer of the Swans by Betsy Byars
1970: Sounder by William H. Armstrong
1969: The High King by Lloyd Alexander
1968: From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg
1967: Up a Road Slowly by Irene Hunt
1966: I, Juan de Pareja by Elizabeth Borton de Trevino
1965: Shadow of a Bull by Maia Wojciechowska
1964: It's Like This, Cat by Emily Neville
1963: A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
1962: The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare
1961: Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell
1960: Onion John by Joseph Krumgold
1959: The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
1958: Rifles for Watie by Harold Keith
1957: Miracles on Maple Hill by Virginia Sorensen
1956: Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham
1955: The Wheel on the School by Meindert DeJong
1954: ...And Now Miguel by Joseph Krumgold
1953: Secret of the Andes by Ann Nolan Clark
1952: Ginger Pye by Eleanor Estes
1951: Amos Fortune, Free Man by Elizabeth Yates
1950: The Door in the Wall by Marguerite de Angeli
1949: King of the Wind by Marguerite Henry
1948: The Twenty-One Balloons by William Pène du Bois
1947: Miss Hickory by Carolyn Sherwin Bailey
1946: Strawberry Girl by Lois Lenski
1945: Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson
1944: Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes
1943: Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Janet Gray
1942: The Matchlock Gun by Walter Edmonds
1941: Call It Courage by Armstrong Sperry
1940: Daniel Boone by James Daugherty
1939: Thimble Summer by Elizabeth Enright
1938: The White Stag by Kate Seredy
1936: Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink
1935: Dobry by Monica Shannon

1934: Invincible Louisa: The Story of the Author of Little Women by Cornelia Meigs

1933: Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze by Elizabeth Lewis
1932: Waterless Mountain by Laura Adams Armer
1931: The Cat Who Went to Heaven by Elizabeth Coatsworth
1930: Hitty, Her First Hundred Years by Rachel Field
1929: The Trumpeter of Krakow by Eric P. Kelly
1928: Gay Neck, the Story of a Pigeon by Dhan Gopal Mukerji
1927: Smoky, the Cowhorse by Will James
1926: Shen of the Sea by Arthur Bowie Chrisman
1925: Tales from Silver Lands by Charles Finger
1924: The Dark Frigate by Charles Hawes
1923: The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting
1922: The Story of Mankind by Hendrik Willem van Loon

Young Adult Book Challenge (Revised)

I've done some reworking of my list. I weeded out the young ones... but I am keeping a few that are borderline because I've seen them on other people's lists!

The List:
1. Misadventures of Maude Marche: Or Trouble Rides a Fast Horse by Audrey Couloumbis
1. Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen
2. Stumptown Kid by Carol Gorman
2. Slam by Nick Hornby
3. Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry
4. Chicken Boy by Frances Oroa Dowell
4. Anatomy of a Boyfriend by Daria Snadowsky
5. Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata
5. Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan
6. Criss Cross by Lynn Rae Perkins
7. The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron
7. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
8. Holes by Louis Sacher
9. Frindle by Andrew Clements
9. Peaches by Jodi Lynn Anderson
10. The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
11. Brian's Winter by Gary Paulsen
12. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

I picked up Holes and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn over the past few days. Now I'm really excited to get started!

Young Adult Book Challenge

I'm very excited to join the Young Adult Book Challenge.

After taking a closer look and thinking over my list, I realized it's really more on the Juvenile Fiction side of things. Especially considering I created it based on Newbery Award winners and Young Reader's Choice nominees, (in addition to other books). But... I haven't come across an "Upper-Intermediate Grade Level Almost Young Adult Book Challenge" so hopefully no one protests. (And I really kinda like that it's 2/3 female authors.)

The List:
1. Misadventures of Maude Marche: Or Trouble Rides a Fast Horse by Audrey Couloumbis
2. Stumptown Kid by Carol Gorman
3. Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry
4. Chicken Boy by Frances Oroa Dowell
5. Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata
6. Criss Cross by Lynn Rae Perkins
7. The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron
8. Holes by Louis Sacher
9. Frindle by Andrew Clements
10. The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
11. Brian's Winter by Gary Paulsen
12. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

I can't wait to get started.