Up a Road Slowly by Irene Hunt

I knew literally nothing about this Newbery winner and I loved it so, so much. I guess it shows my old-fashioned ways, but it reminded me a LOT of the books I loved so much as a child, like Anne of Green Gables and so many others, books that were slow and more about the character development of the main character than about any exciting plot twists. I guess I love a good old-fashioned coming-of-age story, emphasis on the "old-fashioned" part--because this was definitely old-fashioned. It was published in 1966, so it definitely espouses some 1966 values, like the woman needing to take care of the home and that a woman isn't complete until she has loved a man and stuff like that. But I really enjoyed the book anyways. It just felt really familiar and homey to me, just like the books I would find and read on my grandma's bookshelf in San Diego. I can see a lot of modern readers turning their noses up at this, but I loved it and definitely plan on buying it to read it again.