Three to read, but not for Newbery

Year of the Dog, The Green Glass Sea, Bread and Roses Too. All great books, but just not up to par with other contenders. I could go into quibbles, but they're all symptomatic of the authors' hand being just a little too present in the characters. I didn't quite believe in these people the same way I do in Meg or Sumiko or Gen.

(BTW, Powell's still has the orignal cover art on their page: clearly a bad idea that Clarion fixed before going to press. So I'll deign to direct you to the dreaded amazon for the new cover--)