Sounder by William H. Armstrong

I read this just because it was a Newbery winner and I am SHOCKED that so many of the reviews on Goodreads are of people who love this book and cried while reading it. I basically hated the whole thing. How many dog books win the Pulitzer anyways? I am clearly not a dog person and clearly not a dog book person... but I just really didn't connect with this book. It's a story of a family of sharecroppers in the South probably in the early 1900s, and the father steals some ham to feed his family and gets caught doing it. He is sent to jail and hard labor for years, and his family is left to fend for themselves. His loyal dog Sounder gets shot when he is being arrested, and ends up disfigured but doesn't die, and waits until his master comes home. 

I feel like that summary I just wrote didn't really encapsulate the feeling of the book. It felt really dark--really black and gray and hopeless, except for the boy being able to go to school after a while. I did not like how none of the characters in the book had names, not even the main boy. The one redeeming thing about this book for me was that it was pretty short and I was able to read it in an hour or two. I wouldn't have wanted to spend any more time on this book.

Less by Andrew Sean Greer

I have an eventual goal to try and read all the Pulitzer winners, and although I've been focused way more on the Newberys the last two years, I still want to try and get through these. Less was the 2018 Pulitzer winner, and I honestly finally got to it because it was available on audiobook when I was looking for something to listen to. I actually had it on e-book as well, and I ended up switching back and forth between the two when either one was better for me at that moment, and I actually liked it way, way better on audiobook. I feel like the comedy of the story really came out with the audio--maybe it was that I was reading too fast to really savor the funny elements of it when I wasn't forced to slow down with the audiobook pace. In any case, I did really like how this story was funny but still heartfelt, how Arthur Less had real feelings and real issues, even while he had many of the same problems happening to him over and over again. I was annoyed with how he kept sleeping with random people and how that was his solution to everything over the years, though--I really don't love that kind of lifestyle or books about it (straight or gay, doesn't matter). But many of the adventures Less gets caught up in in this book were written about so well that I could imagine them--riding on camels, getting injured in India, etc. I was torn and couldn't decide how much I actually liked this book at the end--if I just liked the narration or the book itself--but I'm glad I read it. 

The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World by Melinda Gates

I thought this book was really eye-opening and interesting, with stories from Melinda Gates's charity work around the world and explaining what has guided her interests and focus in her charity over the years. I feel like I was already on board with her main principles of the importance of focusing on women and women's empowerment, but I feel like I learned a lot from her experiences and the stories she shared about the importance of lifting women and especially in focusing on contraceptives for women. I obviously take a lot for granted in my privileged life as a white woman in the U.S., but I think the most obvious thing I have taken for granted is my ability to access contraceptives and how important that has been for my ability to care for my children and to have a happy life without worrying about getting pregnant at any moment. Gates talks about a lot of other issues as well, like the importance of education, maternal healthcare, stopping genital cutting, and other things that her charities are really involved in, and I really liked the insight on how you don't just swoop in as an outsider and force people to change, but how you have to have empathy and be a part of them in order to help things become better. Each chapter added something new and was interesting, and it was inspiring to see how much good is being done all over the world (not just by Melinda Gates, but a lot by her and her charities).

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. 

When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller

This was the 2021 Newbery winner, and it was available on audiobook from our library, so I snapped it right up. I actually really enjoyed this story, about Lily and her Korean grandmother. I loved its focus on stories and the power they have for us, and the influence of Lily's Korean heritage on her life and the story itself. I thought Lily was a determined and strong heroine, but not unbelievable, because she makes mistakes and obviously doesn't think as clearly as an adult, so she would be relatable for a kid. It seemed like it was going to be more magical than it was--there is an invisible-to-everyone-else tiger that talks to Lily, after all--but the book was really more about Lily and her relationship with her grandmother, her mom, and her sister, all of whom have important moments in the book both by themselves and with Lily. I loved that we got to know all of the characters and see them grow. I did feel confused by what Lily and the magical tiger were accomplishing--like, how did this actually happen?--but it was balanced out by the beauty of the rest of the story. 

Dragon Hoops by Gene Luen Yang

I heard about this being a great graphic novel about basketball, and since I haven't read many graphic novels (okay, just one, but I've spent a lot of time getting graphic novels for my boys so I feel like it's been more than that). This was an interesting story because I felt like it could have worked really well as an regular book written with words and no illustrations. Yang is writing the story of the varsity basketball team at the high school at which he teaches, but he works in parts about the history of basketball, the history of basketball with different racial and ethnic groups in America, basketball in China, and the school itself. Yang also works in a lot of personal aspects of his own story, like his decision to stop teaching to work fully on comics, and his wrestling with accepting a new opportunity to do the Superman comics. I feel like there were some things I would have maybe taken out to focus more on the basketball and the storyline of the championship, but I guess he had some good reasons to include that stuff. I thought the graphic novel format was an interesting choice, but I really enjoyed that part of it. I was thinking about giving it to Dane to read, but there is a bunch of swearing (written with symbols, but still) and I think he will be more interested in it when he is older anyways. (The best part of the graphic novel is how quickly it went--it was a huge, 400+-page book, but it only took a few hours to get through.)

Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

I did not love this book. I guess I'm not a dog person, but this story about a boy finding a dog and rescuing it from his abusive and mean owner did not get to me. I also think this book shows how much has changed over time in how we view our collective responsibility towards people and animals--I don't think a person mistreating his animals would be ignored or accepted like Judd Travers was in this book anymore. I think there's a chance Dane would actually really like this book, though--it does seem like one that would actually appeal to kids (appropriately). The boy in the story is pretty heroic in his determination to save the dog and stick up to the mean owner, and I think that would appeal to Dane (but I doubt I'll be able to get him to read it). I did root for Marty and was glad that Shiloh ended up being safe with him at the end, though. I'm not completely heartless.