JJ POWer POWer itibaren Atico, Riohacha, La Guajira, Colombia
Oh my, what to say about this book? I think perhaps the members of the Newbery committee were smoking crack the year they awarded this a notable "Honor." It's not that it was awful - from a middle aged woman's perspective at least. It's just that it's one of those dry, slow, and very, very dull stories that teachers assign to kids in school, ensuring that they grow up to hate reading and groan the next time they're forced to pick up a book. That being said, I happened to almost enjoy the long rants describing the Welsh countryside, and even tolerated the somewhat lame story of the ancient bard, Taliesin. And even though the kids spoke like miniature adults from England (when in fact they were a tween and two teens from America), I grew to care for them a bit, too. So all in all, I didn't want to kill myself over this one. Still, never make your kid read it - or else, suffer the inevitable consequences (see paragraph 1.)