Match the Newbery Plot: Part 7 Quiz

Answer: Number the Stars

From 1989, "Number the Stars" by Lois Lowry is one of my favorite Newbery Medal books. Annemarie's best friend is Ellen, whose family is Jewish. Annemarie and her family help them escape Denmark when the Nazis come after them. The method used to help them escape via boat, which includes an unusual handkerchief, was really used to save Jews.

Answer: A Door in the Wall

The meaning of the title of Marguerite de Angeli's 1949 novel refers to challenges: the wall is whatever problem you have, and the door is the way you overcome it. Robin is supposed to become a knight like his father, but those dreams are shattered when he loses the use of his legs.

A monk teaches him to read, whittle, swim, and have confidence that he'll find a way to deal with this dilemma.

Answer: Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze

Elizabeth Foreman Lewis won for her first book, which is from 1932. When Young Fu's father dies, he and his mother must move to the city, where he becomes an apprentice to a coppersmith. Over the next several years, we see various episodes in his life, such as a confrontation with bandits, clearing a man suspected of drug smuggling, and finding a creative way to earn money after going into debt.

Answer: Sarah, Plain and Tall

Sarah is a mail-order bride who comes to live on a farm in the 19th century. The children begin to like her but fear she'll leave because she misses the sea. Patricia MacLachlan wrote other books to follow this short book from 1985.

Answer: The Dark Frigate

Philip joins the crew of a ship after a gun accident. All goes well until the ship's taken over by pirates. And not the fun, storybook kind either, but the ruthless, violent kind, and Philip tries to survive. Charles Hawes died before his book was published, so he never knew that his book won the Medal in 1924.

Answer: Caddie Woodlawn

Caddie is a tomboy who loves exploring the wild. Among other things, she helps save a group of Indians from a massacre. The novel stops just as she has to leave her wild ways behind and grow up. Carol Ryrie Brink based this 1935 novel on her grandmother's experiences. She published a sequel, "Magical Melons", in 1939.

Answer: The Witch of Blackbird Pond

Kit has lived in warm Barbados all her life but must go to live with her aunt and uncle in cold Connecticut when her grandfather dies. She becomes friends with a Quaker woman, whom her Puritan neighbors believe is a witch...and by association, think Kit may be one too. Elizabeth George Speare won her first Newbery Medal for this 1958 book, her second being for "The Bronze Bow" a few years later.

Answer: I, Juan de Pareja

In Elizabeth Borton de Trevino's book, Juan is born a slave in Spain in the 17th century. As a slave, he can prepare an artist's supplies, but he can't paint. He's a slave to Diego Velazquez, a court painter who finally gives Juan freedom so Juan can paint for himself. My enjoyment of this 1965 book was a bit hampered by the continual mispronunciation of "Velazquez" by the audiobook reader.

Answer: The Slave Dancer

This was Paula Fox's first historical novel and was published in 1973. The dancer of the title is not a dancer who's a slave, but a boy, Jessie, who's kidnapped by slavers. He's then forced to play music for slaves to dance to on the slave ships from Africa so that they can exercise, thus he's the one who "dances" the slaves.

The experience is so traumatizing that, though he loved music before, he can never get pleasure out of music again.

Answer: The White Stag

Kate Seredy's 1937 book is a mythological version of European history. Two sons, Magyar and Hunor, follow a white stag to a different land where their people can live. Their people fight first other groups, and then each other as they each choose a different brother to follow. Magyar's grandson is Atilla the Hun.