Here's another Newbery contender for Ruth White. And justly so. Little Audrey is the true story of White's family in 1948 when they lived in the coal mining camp of Jewel Valley, Virginia. Told in the voice of White's oldest sister, Audrey, who was 11 at the time, we hear about life in a poor mining camp. We see inside the home of a family with an alcoholic father, a mother suffering from depression brought on by the death of a baby, and the four remaining children, all daughters, and how they cope with it all. White's talent as a writer is evident in the way Audrey's vernacular descriptions and observations of her world and the people in it are childlike without being childish. She never uses the words "alcoholic" or "depression", but we clearly understand that that is what's going on. This memorable book is full of heart and soul. Maybe it will hold a place in our Newbery section here at the library.
Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs By Mo Willems New York: Balzar + Bray, 2012. Picture Book. "Once upon a time, there were three hungry Dinosaurs: Papa Dinosaur, Mama Dinosaur . . . and a Dinosaur who happened to be visiting from Norway. One day--for no particular reason--they decided to tidy up their house, make the beds, and prepare pudding of varying temperatures. And then--for no particular reason--they decided to go . . . someplace else. They were definitely not setting a trap for some succulent, unsupervised little girl. Definitely not!" --Editor Smart Vs. Strong! Written by Jill Esbaum Illustrated by Miles Thompson New York: Simon Spotlight, 2021. Easy Reader. 64 pages. "When Thunder gets stuck in quicksand, Cluck uses his smarts to free his friend." --Editor How Dinosaurs Went Extinct Written by Ame Dyckman Illustrated by Jennifer Harney New York: Brown and Company, 2023. Picture Book. "When a child in a museum asks how dinosaurs became extinct, Dad co
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