Newbery Honor Books of 1928

[osprey_archer]

When I posted about Thistle and Thyme, luzula noted that it was on archive.org, and in this way I realized that the Internet Archive/Open Library (they are related in some arcane way) hosts MANY Newbery books, which has allowed me to push through the Newbery Honor books of 1928.

Specifically, it has Ella Young’s The Wonder-Smith and His Son, a collection of Irish folk tales about the Wonder Smith (mostly called the Gubbaun Saor within the book) and… well, actually much more about his daughter Aunya than his son; Aunya is the clever one who is always solving riddles and saving the day, while the son doesn’t even get a name.

After Thistle and Thyme I was quite looking forward to more folk stories, but unfortunately I didn’t enjoy the style of The Wonder-Smith and His Son nearly as much: I found the stories hard to follow, and many of them end abruptly. My impression is that Young set them down exactly as she heard them, which is admirable in its way, but not necessarily satisfying as a literary experience.

The Internet Archive doesn’t have Caroline Snedeker’s Downright Dencey, but as Snedeker was an Indiana writer (a descendent of the founders of the utopian community at New Harmony, in fact!), I ran the book to ground at the Indiana State Library.

This story takes place in Nantucket in the early 19th century, a fascinating setting beautifully realized. Dionis (Dencey) Coffin is a daughter of one of the most prominent Quaker families on the island; Sammy Jetsam is a foul-mouthed, bad-tempered foundling boy, given the name Jetsam because he washed ashore after a shipwreck, more or less. (I fully expected him to turn out to be the son of a stalwart whaling captain, if not a full-blown aristocrat, but his parentage remains a mystery to the end.)

Goaded by her classmates and Jetsam’s own rotten behavior, Dencey hurls a rock at Jetsam. Soon after, she’s overcome by remorse, and seeks him out to beg his forgiveness - only for Jetsam, realizing that he has Dencey over a barrel, to refuse to grant it. He will forgive her, he announces, only if she teaches him how to read! For Jetsam has never had the opportunity to learn, having gotten nothing but abuse from his guardian (who might be his real mother) Injun Jill.

Yes, I know. I know.

Do Dencey and Jetsam fall in love? Well, he was a boy, she was a girl, so… No, that’s unfair, and really undersells the thorniness of their relationship, the almost Renaultian vibe of a love affair where one party falls in love and the other succumbs to compassion. “Yet, as she ran, there came upon her again that sense of belonging to Jetsam - the terrible, intimate responsibility for him. She could not tell whether it was intense gladness or intense sorrow.”

Comments

[sovay]

the terrible, intimate responsibility for him. She could not tell whether it was intense gladness or intense sorrow.

That is very Renault.

[osprey_archer]

I can't imagine that these two authors ever read each other, so it must have been something in the water.

[asakiyume]

the terrible, intimate responsibility for him. --Help; I feel like I have a poisoned shirt on me that's burning me alive--getitoff, getitoff, getitoff....

[osprey_archer]

Sometimes old books (probably some newer books too, but perhaps especially old books) make love sound like a basket trap that descends on your head when you're just traipsing quietly through the forest. All you wanted to do was pick some blackberries and now there's this basket over you and you can't get out!

[asakiyume]

Hahaha, excellent analogy!

[troisoiseaux]

well, actually much more about his daughter Aunya than his son; Aunya is the clever one who is always solving riddles and saving the day, while the son doesn’t even get a name.

Huh, interesting. Do you think it's because the publishers thought The Wonder-Smith and his Daughter would be less of a sell...?

the almost Renaultian vibe of a love affair where one party falls in love and the other succumbs to compassion

Oof!

[osprey_archer]

Re: The Wonder-Smith and His Son, that might be it? If it had been published a few decades later they could have called it The Wonder-Smith's Daughter, but I don't think that construction had been popularized yet in the 1920s...

Compassion is a dark force in Renault! Always pushing people to stay in love affairs they'd maybe be better off leaving...

[regshoe]

The Internet Archive is excellent for obscure books—their Open Library stuff especially for books that are old but not old enough to be out of copyright and freely available. Although the borrowable books sometimes disagree with my e-reader, it's still a great resource.

Renaultian romance in early nineteenth century Nantucket sounds like an interesting experience! o_O

[osprey_archer]

I'm excited to poke around the internet archive more! Perhaps I can stop bothering the interlibrary loan office all the time... I realize they are literally there to be bothered, but still...

I don't want to oversell the Renaultian aspects of Downright Dencey - Snedeker is interested in completely different aspects of Quakerism than Renault, for instance - but it's weird to find Renaultian vibes at all outside of Renault!

[regshoe]

Always good to have more options!

Well, if it's not that much like Renault, perhaps that's better... :P What aspects of Quakerism is Snedeker interested in?

[osprey_archer]

Snedeker is mostly not concerned about pacifism (except in the personal sense that Dencey knows she shouldn't be throwing rocks at people). She's much more interested in Quakerism as an organizing principle of community, especially a community like Nantucket that has grown wealthy in a way that puts a lot of stress on traditional Quaker values of simplicity and humility. Also Quakerism as a spiritual experience, as a direct communication from God (one of Dencey's aunts is accused of "going before," that is, preaching without a leading from God): Quakerism as an irresistible revelation of truth, like Dencey's realization of her sin in casting stones at Jetsam.

[luzula]

Glad to pass on the knowledge about the Internet Archive's library! It is truly a wonderful resource. \o/

[osprey_archer]

I think you (or someone?) linked it before, but somehow it never occurred to me to check it for Newbery books till you mentioned that they had Thistle and Thyme! Truly an unexpected delight.