Introducing the Scott O'Dell Challenge

Why read all the Scott O’Dell Award winners?

–because historical fiction is the closest I’ll ever get to a trip in the TARDIS

–because only 30 books have won the award, so the challenge isn’t nearly as intimidating as, say, the Newbery reading list (91 books). Plus, I’ve already read 7 of the winning books

–because there are Newbery and Caldecott Challenges galore (including people ambitious enough to read all the Caldecott winners in one day!), and this is a chance to try something different

My plan is to read/re-read all of the books in order–not by date of publication, but in order of when the book takes place. Each time I finish a book, I’ll post some kind of reaction or review. As always, the more the merrier, so feel free to join the challenge by posting in the comments or on your own blog (and provide a link!). (Note: I just added the 2013 winner, Chickadee by Louise Erdrich, on Jan. 18. I hope I can get through a good chunk of the list before Jan. 2014).

The official award description reads:

Established by Scott O’Dell and Zena Sutherland in 1982, the Scott O’Dell Award is given for a distinguished work of historical fiction. To be eligible, a book must be published by a U.S. publisher; the setting must be South, Central or North America; and the author must be a U.S. citizen. Books published during each calendar year are eligible for the following year’s award.

Here’s the list of books and their settings:

Morning Girl by Michael Dorris (1492)

The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare (1769)

Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson (1776)

The Fighting Ground by Avi (1778)

Streams to the River, River to the Sea by Scott O’Dell (1804)

The Game of Silence by Louise Erdrich (1850)

Jip, His Story by Katherine Paterson (1855)

Trouble Don’t Last by Shelley Pearsall (1859)

Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis (1859)

Bull Run by Paul Fleischman (1861)

The River Between Us by Richard Peck (1861)

Charley Skedaddle by Patricia Beatty (1864)

Forty Acres and Maybe a Mule by Harriette Gillem Robinet and (1865)

Shades of Gray by Carolyn Reeder (1860′s)

Chickadee by Louise Erdrich (1860′s)

The Land by Mildred D. Taylor (1870′s)

Worth by A. LaFaye (1870′s)

Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan (1910)

Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse (1934)

The Storm in the Barn by Matt Phelan (1937)

A Time of Troubles by Pieter Van Raven (1930′s)

Under the Blood-Red Sun by Graham Salisbury (1941)

Stepping on the Cracks by Mary Downing Hahn (1942)

The Art of Keeping Cool by Janet Taylor Lisle (1942)

The Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages (1943)

Two Suns in the Sky by Miriam Bat-Ami (1944)

The Bomb by Theodore Taylor (1946)

Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos (1962)

One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia (1968)

The Honorable Prison by Lyll Becca de Jenkins (contemporary, but exact year is unclear)

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