_Out of the Dust_ by Karen Hesse

This is a Newbery Medal winner, and I did like it. Through poetry, Hesse chronicles a year or so in the life of Billy Jo, a 14-year-old girl living out the Dust Bowl in Oklahoma. It’s not a pretty story; it’s a tale of hardship and sadness. But in the end, there’s hope and healing.

My biggest caution is that I wouldn’t recommend this to a child much younger than the 14 of the main character. It is emotionally intense in some spots.

_A Gathering of Days_ by Joan W. Blos

This is a Newberry one. It's subtitle is "A New England Girl's Journal, 1830-32." The front cover clarifies this by telling us it is "a novel by Joan W. Blos." That's good to know.

Anyway, to be honest, it's kind of hokey. I really doubt that even in 1830 a 14-year-old girl would write this formally in a journal. Then again, maybe she would, but it's a bit difficult at first to "bond" with Catharine Cabot Hall, the main character. Later, I tried to pretend I wasn't reading a "journal," and that helped me enjoy the story without dwelling on what a lame journal it was.

The issues of slavery, adapting to a step-parent, and death of a loved one are prominent in this novel. As a plus, nothing jumped out at me as majorly offensive or inappropriate. I guess I would recommend A Gathering of Days, but I do wish a Newberry Medal meant that it was completely delightful literature. 

And really, I guess it's not as bad as I make it out to be. When I was younger, I probably would have enjoyed reading it more than I do now.