2001 A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck
This was a nice feel-good novel about a girl from Chicago doing to stay with her grandmother for a year while her parents regain some ground during the Depression era. Grandma Dowdel lives in a "hick town" in southern Illinois. Grandma is quite a character and gets up to all sorts, never allowing herself to be taken for a fool. She is a tough woman who seems to take advantage of situations and turn them around to suit her own personal needs. At the end of the year when it is time to go back to her parents, Mary Alice wants to stay with Grandma.  She has come to know how compassionate her grandmother really is during a tornado.
This endearing story put me in mind of stories I heard as a child about my great-great-grandmother Kate White. She lived on Prince Edward Island outlived two husbands and raised over 20 children. My grandfather's parents died in the 1918 Flu epidemic and she was left to raise her daughter's 5 children. My grandfather said she was as strong as an ox and no one got in her way. She could hoist a barrel of flour on her knee and load it onto the wagon while the mill's workers looked on in amazement. Both these grandmothers had to be tough to survive the lives they led.

Here are a few of the Newbery Medal winners that I have read and probably won’t reread as they are still pretty fresh in my mind. So, I’ll cross them off the list of books to read.

1978 Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
This really is a timeless book that reaches beyond the year it was published making it a true classic. Paterson’s own son lost a friend who was struck and killed by lightning at age 8. Trying to make sense of this tragedy she wrote Bridge to Terabithia. Sad and misunderstood, Jesse Aarons befriends his new neighbour, tomboyish Leslie Burke. She is lively, artistic and has the most incredible imagination. The two bond over a magical place they create. Both are artistic and outside the realm of “fitting in” at school. It is a wonderful story full of friendship, imagination and heartache.

1991 Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli
This story reads like a folk tale. Jeffrey Lionel "Maniac" Magee must be a maniac says the people of his home town. He can outrun dogs, hit amazing home runs and untie any knot. He runs away from his loveless aunt and uncle and endures racism and many trials until finding somewhere he can finally call home.

1994 The Giver by Lois Lowry
In a beautiful Utopia, no one feels pain or is sick. There is no war. Everyone is chosen for a particular job and the community runs smoothly. At age 12 Jonas is chosen for the job of Giver. As he is being trained, one begins to see that the giver is almost a Christ-like figure who endures all the pain and memories for the people. He begins to see through his training, that by giving up pain, sickness etc… the people have also given up what it means to be human. A fantastic dystopian novel The Giver, prepares young adults for similar novels, Brave New World, 1984 and The Handmaid’s Tale.

The Secret Daughter by Shilipi Somaya Gowda

Well I just finished The Secret Daughter by Shilpi Somaya Gowda. I was excited to read this as it is on my very long list of books to read. I really liked the way it started out with one chapter told from the point of view of one woman in India and then the next by a woman in America. The reader knows that somewhere along the line the two stories are going to meet up somehow. The story did not carry on this way. Later on in the book the story is told from the husband's point of view and then the daughter. I found there was a lot of unnecessary descriptions of food, wedding preparations and how to wear a sari. I felt as if the author needed to explain everything to me. I know what a sari is and I know that Indian food is hot, now get on with the story! I really didn't need it spelled out for me in so much detail. I found it predictable and therefore disappointing.