Decades Reading Challenge DONE!

WAYYYYYY back in January, I started the "Decades '08 Reading Challenge." This weekend I finally finished the challenge, by reading Sounder by William Armstrong and Thimble Summer by Elizabeth Enright Thimble Summer replaced Invisible Louisa by Cornelia Meigs as it was unavailable in my library! So, here are the last two reviews of the Decades Challenge

Thimble Summer
This was an okay book. And, yes, I only say okay. It was an easy read, and the characters were somewhat interesting, but I was disappointed in it having read some great Newberry winners in the course of this challenge. Thimble Summer was a book that was simple, and didn't have a lot of action. Basic story: the main character finds a silver thimble in a dried creek bed and the rest of her summer goes amazingly well, hence the idea that the silver thimble is 'magic' and that it is forever going to be known as the "thimble summer."

Don't get me wrong, I didn't dislike the book, it just didn't leave an impression on me.

Sounder
I'm pretty sure I was asked to read Sounder in elementary school at some point. As I read it, it felt more and more familiar. Sounder is a short book. The copy I checked out was only 83 pages. Sounder is the story of a slave family, their dog, and how the young main character copes with life, through the arrest of his father, the disappearance of the glorious hunting dog, and the return of a very different Sounder. It is a quick book, and reads like an oral story. You can tell that the basis for the book was an oral tale passed down from people to people. Sounder is good, but again, not something I was overly moved by. The ending is fitting.

Overall, the last two books I read as a part of the challenge were my least favorite. They were short, which is why their reviews are so short. Also, they didn't really have a lot happening, at least not a lot that challenged or motivated or changed me.

So anyway, here is the list. One challenge done, one to go!


Decades 08 Reading Challenge
1920's - The Voyages of Dr. Doolittle by Hugh Lofting
1930's - Thimble Summer by Elizabeth Enright
1940's - The Twenty-One Balloons by William Pende de Bois
1950's - The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth Speare
1960's - Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell
1970's - Sounder by William Armstrong
1980's - Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary
1990's - The View from Saturday by EL Konigburg