Here we go! I’m going to try to read the Newberry and Caldecott Medal books chronologically if I can, starting with the book that won the medal, and then moving on to the honor books. Since the Caldecott award wasn’t given until several years after the Newberry, it’ll be all Newberry here for a while.
What I’ll be reading:
The Newberry Medal winner of 1922, the very first Newberry Medal-winner, was The Story of Mankind (from which this project gets its name!) by Hendrik Willem van Loon. The honor books are:
- The Great Quest, by Charles Hawes
- Cedric the Forester, by Bernard Marshall
- The Old Tobacco Shop: A True Account of What Befell a Little Boy in Search of Adventure, by William Bowen (what a title!)
- The Golden Fleece and The Heroes Who Lived Before Achilles, by Padraic Colum, and
- The Windy Hill, by Cornelia Meigs.
The 20s were a time of enjoyment and excess, and I’m expecting the winners from early in this decade to reflect the kind of “top of the world” feelings many Americans enjoyed. I was really excited to see a woman medalist so early on in the winner’s list. But I’ve already run into my first bit of trouble–some of these books are out of print and not easy (or affordable) to find! I’ve only been able to find 2 of these titles at the library, and one other is available as a Kindle book, even though it’s been out of print for a few decades. Not my favorite way to read a book (especially since I don’t actually have a Kindle–I’ll have to read it on my phone or laptop), but it’s better than spending a fortune on an out-of-print book. Anyone know where I can get a copy of Cedric the Forester, The Old Tobacco Shop, or The Windy Hill? I’ve been struggling with those!
The Newberry Medal is given to a book published the year prior, so all the 1922 winners were published in 1921. So what did 1921 in America look like? (I’m not a historian by any measure, so help me out!
We were still coming off the Great War, and even though WW1 ended in 1918, we didn’t formally end the war with Germany until 1921. The war with Europe–still regarded as one of the most bloody and brutal wars the earth has seen–was still fresh in everybody’s minds.
Sacco and Vanzetti were found guilty for murder in a highly contentious trial fueled by the shaky state of American race relations:
Flapper girls and cloche hats hadn’t quite taken off yet, but flapper styles were growing in popularity. Little kids looked a lot like they do now, only with cooler skates.
Sears houses were popular, and many looked like this:
Alcohol was illegal, which of course means people drank a lot of it.
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And women had only been voting since August, 1920.
The Jazz Age, the Golden Twenties, the Roaring Twenties. It was a time of Babe Ruth and music, dancing and gin. It was a revival–both economically and socially–after the destruction of WW1.
How do you think the Newberry Medal winners will reflect the early 1920s?
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