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The Noonday Friends
The Noonday Friends by Mary.Stolz is a children's book published in 1965. It also was a Newbery Medal recipient in 1934. The Noonday Friends is classic older story offering a well-rounded look into a poor working class family through the eyes of the 11-year-old girl.

Main characters

 * Franny Davis, a main character who had a very hard life. Mrs. Davis lives in a very small apartment with her parents and two brothers.

Plot
This book write about mid teens, and it is mainly about a girl named fran who lives in a nice middle class neighborhood, but her parents are poor.They cannot offer clothes or shoes, and often struggle to make groceries stretch the whole week. Franny's father is, at heart, an artist who bounces from low-wage job to low-wage job, with long term of unemployment in between. Mrs. Davis works in a laundry. Her salary not only supports the family, but also pays the bills that Mr. Davis incurred during a serious and lengthy illness a couple of years ago.

Description
This book is about an eleven-year-old Franny Davis and her best friend share school and family problems in this realistic, often humorous story set in New York's Greenwich Village.

Reference
1.^Newbery Medal and Honor Books, 1922-Present.

Moon Over Maniest
Moon Over Maniest by Clare Vanderpool is a children's novel written by an American author Clare Vanderpool. In 2011, this book was awarded the Newbery Medal for excellence in children's literature. The Spur Award for the best Western juvenile fiction, and it was named a Kansas Notable Book. The story followd a young and adventurous girl named Abilene who was sent to Manifest, Kansas by her father in the summer of 1936.

Plot
Abilene Tucker was the main character in this book, and she learned the history about the town ofManiest, Kansa. when she was 12 years old, her father sent her to a small town called Manifest, Kansas while he worked a railroad job somewhere else. She arrived there to find that it was run-down and totally affected by the Great Depression. A pastor took her in, and she discovered a box of momentos and letters stashed away under a floorboard in that house. One letter mentioned the "Rattler," someone Abilene and her two friends, Lettie and Ruthanne believed that was a German spy in 1918. After some surveies, they received a note that told them to "leave well enough alone." Realizing that she had lost her father's compass while searching for the spy. Abilene walked down the Path to Perdition to search for it and accidentally broke a diviner's vase. in order to pay off her debt and earn her compass back from the diviner, Abilene did odd jobs for her. For instance, she tilled dry soil during a drought and planted seeds in it, and she hunted for strange plants, all of which seemed to have no beneficial purpose.

Abilene felt abandoned by her father, the diviner told her a story about two boys in Manifest in 1918 called Jinx and Ned. Jinx was a twelve-year-old con artist who left his partner after thinking he accidentally killed a man, and Ned was a fifteen-year-old boy who used Jinx's skills to sign up for the army underage. At that time, the town was controlled by the owner of the mine because there were no jobs or money without them during the war; the owner paid the poor workers a little bit of money but requested them to work more shifts.

After a land-owning man died, the mine owners desired that piece of land for their own profit. However, the town had first pick, and they needed to raise a $1,000 for it before the deadline. They didn't want the mine owners to know about it, so everyone feigned illness and put the town under quarantine to get rid of the mine owners. They sold a healing elixir and raised most of the money, but someone revealed their plans to the mine owners, causing them to return and putting everyone back to work.

Abilene heard the story and matched the letters and momentos she had to the story the diviner told her. She put the pieces together and discovered that Jinx was her father; when she got a cut and became very ill, her father began acting differently around her because he thought it was his fault. That was the reason he left her in Manifest. After sending a telegram to her father, feigning ill herself, she discovered that the Rattler was a story someone made up after seeing a nun and her rattling rosary in the woods at night. The "spy" they happened to find was the undertaker, the person who had revealed the town's trick to the mine owners almost twenty years ago. He was afraid that the kids had found out about that, so he sent them the note to scare them. Abilene's father returned to Manifest and found that his daughter wasn't ill. After she told him about knowing about his past, he understood her when she asked him to stay.

Miracle on Maple Hill
Miracles on Maple Hill is a 1956 novel by Virginia Sorensen that won the 1957 Newbery Medal for excellence in American children's literature. The Miracles on Maple Hill is one of the excellent novel in 1956 by Virginia Sorensen and illustrated by Beth and Joe Krush.

The settings and characters for the book were inspired by real people and locations the author encountered during her stay in Edinboro, Pennsylvania between 1952-1958.

Plot
Marly's family moves to the country so that her father, a prisoner of war suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), can learn to function once more. They are supported by a neighbor couple, Mr and Mrs. Chris, who make their living with maple syrup. Marly and her brother adapt to living in the country, and eventually become happier there. Their father's condition also improves dramatically. Marly, her parents, and her brother go to a place where their grandmother use to live, and it's called the Maple Hill. Over there, the people are so nice to each other that they know everybody's name, and they are very kind to each other. They help each other when anyone is needed. It's unlike the city, people barely talk to each other and like to gossip behind other's back. Therefore, it is very easy to make people feel tired and upset. Marly's father is back from the war and suffering from mood swings and depression and seems to be tired all the time. Lee, Marly's mother decides to moves to Maple Hill so that her father would not suffer as much as in the city, and he will be able to get rid of thepost-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). They are supported by a neighbor couple, Mr.Chirs and Mrs. Chris, who make their living with maple syrup. one of the things that is good about the country is that Marly and her brother adapt to living in the country very well, and eventually become happier there. Their father's condition also gets a lot more better, or his condition improves dramatically. When Mr. Chris has a heart attack during sugaring time, Marly's family steps forward to return the kindness that the Chrises have shown them. They collect the entire crop of sap and boil it down, but they are certain that they lack Mr. Chris's deft touch with making syrup. When Mr. Chris is allowed to return home, it is the moment of truth; was their syrup as good as Mr. Chris? Mr. Chris himself is unable to detect any difference. Marly reflects that the recovery of her father and Mr. Chris, the growing strength of bonds within her family, and the second chances for life and love are the true miracles of Maple Hill.

Main characters

 * Marly, a young girl, the main character, who discovers the miracles of nature at her grandmother's cabin.
 * Joe, Marly's older brother who wants to return to the city until he makes his own discoveries.

Minor characters

 * Marly's mom, decides that the family needs an extended stay away from the city at Grandmother's house.
 * Marly's dad, a World War II veteran who is physically and spiritually damaged finds healing in the countryside.
 * Mr. Chris, the friendly older neighbor and maple farmer who shares the joys of country life with Marly's family.
 * Mrs. Chris, takes care of the two families and all the remaining farm work.
 * Harry, a mysterious hermit eventually befriended by Joe.

Audiobook
A full cast audio adaptation narrated by Cynthia Bishop was released in 2005 with each character brought to life by a unique personality and voice.

In popular culture

 * The Hurry Hill Maple Farm Museum located in Edinboro, Pennsylvania has an exhibit dedicated to the book and its author, titled "Miracles on Maple Hill: Where the seasons take on new meaning."

Reception
Kirkus Reviews wrote "this is a complete and realistic family story." while the School Library Journal found it "skillfully dramatized" and an"inspiring American classic"

Description
The story, written by Virginia Sorensen, is told in past tense and uses the third person. Words use are simple and easy to understand. Mostly are conversations between Marly and her family, as well as other people in the countryside of Maple Hills. This story includes fourteen chapters and each chapter is very short. The total pages are less than 250.

Critical Reception
Miracle on Maple Hill was published a very strong reviews. The New York Time Book Reviewed called " Warm and Real," And Mrs. claimed that "Warm and real as her two previous books centering about a 10-year-old 'curious Missle' and 'Plain Girl'-this one packed with incident, country magic, family love and people to remember; it has substance and spiritual worth."