I'm sad to report that the Newbery project did not start off with a bang. The very first book to ever win the Newbery Medal was The Story of Mankind by Hendrik Willem van Loon. It is an incredibly ambitious attempt to chronicle the history of the Western civilization from primitive man up to his present-day (1921).
The positives:
- I enjoyed his conversational and sometimes humorous tone.
- I appreciated the accompanying illustrations - I felt they added a lot to the text and help illustrate more difficult concepts. (See example below)
- I am impressed by the scope and ambition of this project.
The negatives:
- It is dreadfully dull in parts. I can't imagine that many modern children would have the patience to read this book.
- It's outdated and demonstrates a pervasive bias to the Western world and Christianity in particular.
My conclusion:
- This book does still have worth and I am glad to see it in print. I'm even glad to own a copy. I don't feel it is a text that is meant to read cover to cover, but instead as a handy reference as long as one is aware of the bias.
Interesting tidbits:
- There was a 1957 film based on this novel staring Hedy Lamar, the Marx brothers, and other famous 1950s actors. Now, that sounds interesting!
- This text can be read in its entirety online in a variety of locations, but I believe the best format is found on a this website. This text includes the illustrations and you can pick and choose the chapters that most interest you.
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