The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare

I wasn't sure what to expect of this 1959 Newberry award winner.  Knowing only that it was a historical novel from the American colonial period, I dove in.  I was surprised at how quickly the narrative moved and how attached I became to the central character Kit.

Kit is a young woman from Barbados fallen on hard times.  In a rash attempt to escape an unwanted marriage to a much older man, she abandons her tropical home for an unforgiving shore in colonial Connecticut.  Inserting herself into her Aunt and Uncle's (literally) Puritanical society is not easy for the free-spirited young girl.

But, I was surprised at the growth that Speare allowed her character and the richness the author gave to all her characters.  So many times children's literature can trend towards heavy-handed stereotyping in the characters.  Over the top characterization of "good" and "bad" characters was happily absent from this.  That is not to say that Speare didn't have some characters who were "bad".  But I liked that those characters were minor and not as central to the plot.

In the end, I will admit that the ending is one you can see coming a mile away, but when it did finally arrive, I enjoyed it none the less.  All the characters end happily and in a rightful place for their needs.  There is no disappointing open ending or replication of life's own lack of closure.  All in all, Speare's likable characters and well constructed story were enjoyable without being too preachy/life's lessony.

The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan

Timothy Egan's 2006 National Book Award winner for Nonfiction came in my favorite form of non-fiction.  His history of the great American Dust Bowl didn't read like a history, but like a disturbing and homey narrative. 

Egan artfully marries oral histories collected from survivors with his non-fiction factual text to bring the subject alive.  Knowing only surface information about the Dust Bowl (mostly from Grapes of Wrath), I knew little of what to expect of this history.

The text outlines most expertly the lead up to one of the greatest man-made natural disasters of all time.  Egan does not attempt to sugar coat or protect any of the agencies or groups involved in the destruction of the natural prairie of the high plains.  Yet, the personal histories of the ranchers and the settlers of the area keep the book from becoming overly preachy or accusatory.  There is a human face to both the conservators and the destructors in the book. 

I also enjoyed that he provided insightful looks into adjacent and supplementary veins of history that bring a richness to the history  he tells without bogging down his central subject with too much extra information.

I would recommend this well balanced (if frightening) history to anyone, whether or not they enjoy non-fiction writing.

A Death in the Family by James Agee

This 1958 Pulitzer Prize winner centers around Jay Follet and the void his sudden death leaves in his family.  Set in Knoxville in the early part of the 20th century, the narrative skips back and forth between Jay (pre-mortem), his wife, his young son, his wife's spinster aunt, and his young son (with a few other characters thrown in there for effect).

Agee's prose is eloquent and moving at times.  Yet I wonder if I would have read the book differently and gotten a different sense from it had I not read the introduction first.  The author of the introduction reveals that this book was not finished at the time of Agee's death (how fitting to his subject).  The book had not been altered from the final version submitted by Agee and the chapters on the end of the novel had not yet been placed where they were meant to ultimately go. 

In knowing this, I did feel a sense of the novel not really being finished.  There were times when the narrative felt a little too bloated or too frenetic.  I don't know if that was me reading too far into the prose, or trying deliberately to find those situations.  Either way, I did leave the novel with a sense of unease, like the story was not fully formed.

Agee's characters were satisfyingly human though, he expertly portrayed each one's inner monologue of doubt, anger, insecurity, and more.  I enjoyed the character studies of each one and would have loved to see them more polished.  As it was, they did each have a very raw emotional quality to them that was heartbreaking and real.

Overall impression: great characters, if a little unfinished.