losing faith in Newbery winners

Some time back I finished another Newbery award winner, The Midwife's Apprentice, a book I was looking forward to both in its plot and brevity, but finished it feeling nothing but relief. I like the idea of the story: a nameless girl wanders from place to place eventually finding herself in the job of being, yep, you guessed it, the midwife's apprentice; a girl who learns how to stand up to the things that confront themselves as challenges (both people and situations in her life)...but I just didn't like it.

I was so glad to be done with it, excited to move on to another book...though now I am reading The Wheel on the School, Meindert DeJong, illus. Maurice Sendak--this is proving to be terrible...not quite Miss Hickory bad, but pretty close...I am losing faith in Newberry winners, seems like the bads are outweighing the goods...

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