I also tried to read all the Newbery books at some point in grade school/junior high. I think at one point I was somewhere between 2/3 and 3/4 of them, and then I fell off somewhere in high school, when I tried to read only Important Books.
I’m still far, far behind, but I can tell you the medal has become more complicated and contentious in the past couple of decades due to the introduction of the Corretta Scott King award and the Pura Belpré award and many others (https://www.ala.org/news/mediapresscenter/presskits/youthmediaawards/alayouthmediaawards), which have sometimes meant that books with non-white protagonists have been shoved toward the less famous awards, leaving them out of contention for the Newbery.
My all-time favorite Newbery winner (and perhaps all-time favorite book) remains Robin McKinley’s The Hero and the Crown.
As a middle school librarian, I DEFINITELY have thoughts! And love a lot of the recent Newbery winners, and also tend toward the ones I would have loved in my youth:
- 2023 was "Freewater," a book about two enslaved children who escape and enjoy a hidden community in the Great Dismal Swamp. (Definitely would have been into this as a youth - secret community in the woods? Yes please!)
- In 2022, Donna Barba Higuera's "Last Cuentista" might be one of favorite books of the past couple of years, period. It is a sci-fi novel where space ships are taking humans from earth to an inhabitable place. The people "in charge" try to erase memories and stories, and our protagonist ("The Last Cuentista") is able to hold onto memories and retell the stories. It is a beautiful book about the importance of story and memory. She has a brand-new book this year that takes place in the same place/time - only back on earth. It is called "Alebrijes," and I might even enjoy it more. I also love the liberal use of Spanish in both of these books. (I feel like I am giving a book report now, but I obviously love these two).
- 2021's "When You Trap a Tiger" by Tae Keller is magical realism - which is my jam. A biracial girl and family move in with their grandmother, and she begins learning about Korean folklore from her. I love books with grandparents (probably because I loved my own grandparents so dearly!).
- 2020's win was a historic one - the first graphic novel, Jerry Craft's "New Kid," which follows Jordan Banks as he enrolls in a private school. He is one of the few Black kids there, and feels out of place at school and in his home community. It is a great balance of real feels and humor. (There are also two sequels to this now, both of which are similarly great).
Other more recent ones I enjoyed include:
- "Last Stop on Market Street" by Matt de la Pena (a truly great picture book about a boy and his grandma taking a ride to ... somewhere on a bus);
- "The Crossover" by Kwame Alexander (a novel in verse about twin brothers who play basketball, which plays with poetry in a fun engaging way, and is one of the most readable books ever for students that "don't like to read"); "Bud not Buddy" by Christopher Paul Curtis (an author who just won the CSK Virginia Hamilton Award for lifetime achievement - the book takes place during the depression era and sees Bud riding the rails and visiting a Hooverville after escaping a terrible foster family, and was the first book to win both the CSK and Newbery),
- "The Graveyard Book" by Neil Gaiman (about a boy raised by ghosts in a graveyard after his family is murdered, which includes Gaiman's warmth, but also is truly creepy, which is all my middle schoolers truly want);
- "The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread" by Kate diCamillo (which plays like a fairy tale, and involves a very brave mouse who tries to save a princess ... but is so much more than an actual fairy tale);
and finally, "Holes" by Louis Sachar, another amazing story with magical realism, which is still HUGELY popular despite being published in 1998 (which is eons ago for my youth). It is the story of Stanley Yelnats, a habitually unlucky child who accused of stealing a pair of famous sneakers and sent to a correctional boot camp in the middle of the desert to dig holes. It is truly delightful.
I have continued to read Newbery books past childhood - some standouts include Karen Cushman’s “The Midwife’s Apprentice” (changed the way I look at onions), & Christopher Paul Curtis’ Newbery honor book “The Watsons Go To Birmingham” (he won for “Bud, Not Buddy,” also excellent, but “Watsons” includes a road trip, which I can’t resist - both books are very funny). My kids still talk about “The One and Only Ivan.”
This brought back so many memories of reading these to my children and grandchildren long after they could read. A well written children's book appeals to adults as well as children. It's about time to start collecting them for the great-grandchildren so I can read them again.
In addition to the many great titles already mentioned, 2010’s When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead is a modern classic. Complicated, interesting, short, kids like it. The full package!
I have to put in a plug for 1994 winner _The Giver_, by Lois Lowry, whose Anastasia Krupnik series defined my tweenhood. I read it in late college or early grad school (after having resisted it for several years--I think Teen Me was anti-sci-fic / fantasy, which stance Adult Me finds weird in retrospect), and I think it is the only book that I have ever read cover to cover twice in a single sitting.
Great column. Nice to hear the news about Dave Egger's book. I will be putting myself in the queue for HWOSG, incidentally. And it's fun to learn about someone's reading history. A couple of years, when I was teaching in a middle school for my sins, I read all the Rebecca Caudill books. I saw a few familiar titles on the Newbery Honor list. I highly recommend Hitty: Her First Hundred Years by Rachel Field, the 1934 winner, and A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck, not on the Newbery list, but great anyway.
Like others, you have taken me down memory lane. I retired ten years ago from public libraries and although I did mostly adult services, I was much more aware of the Newberys when I was working. You missed some good books. I would recommend Out of the Dust and Walk Two Moons among others.
I've got a few years on you, but I remember paying attention to the Newberry winners as a kid and also a bit when my sons were kids. The two standouts for me (and at my time) that you missed were A Wrinkle in Time (how many times have I read it? good question! Oh, Meg, Oh Calvin, Oh Charles Wallace!) and also Summer of the Swans. I'm still a big fan of the Mixed-Up Files and also dreamed of having a similar adventure, and I'm sure we aren't the only ones!
I'm late to the Newbery party, but wanted to add my love for Holes, The Tale of Despereaux, and Bud, Not Buddy. And all of these were amazing audiobooks that helped make road trips with our family so much better. I still listen to The Tale of Despereaux (possibly my favourite book of all time) a few times per year, and it always cheers me and makes me want soup. And light. And darkness.
I also tried to read all the Newbery books at some point in grade school/junior high. I think at one point I was somewhere between 2/3 and 3/4 of them, and then I fell off somewhere in high school, when I tried to read only Important Books.
I’m still far, far behind, but I can tell you the medal has become more complicated and contentious in the past couple of decades due to the introduction of the Corretta Scott King award and the Pura Belpré award and many others (https://www.ala.org/news/mediapresscenter/presskits/youthmediaawards/alayouthmediaawards), which have sometimes meant that books with non-white protagonists have been shoved toward the less famous awards, leaving them out of contention for the Newbery.
My all-time favorite Newbery winner (and perhaps all-time favorite book) remains Robin McKinley’s The Hero and the Crown.
As a middle school librarian, I DEFINITELY have thoughts! And love a lot of the recent Newbery winners, and also tend toward the ones I would have loved in my youth:
- 2023 was "Freewater," a book about two enslaved children who escape and enjoy a hidden community in the Great Dismal Swamp. (Definitely would have been into this as a youth - secret community in the woods? Yes please!)
- In 2022, Donna Barba Higuera's "Last Cuentista" might be one of favorite books of the past couple of years, period. It is a sci-fi novel where space ships are taking humans from earth to an inhabitable place. The people "in charge" try to erase memories and stories, and our protagonist ("The Last Cuentista") is able to hold onto memories and retell the stories. It is a beautiful book about the importance of story and memory. She has a brand-new book this year that takes place in the same place/time - only back on earth. It is called "Alebrijes," and I might even enjoy it more. I also love the liberal use of Spanish in both of these books. (I feel like I am giving a book report now, but I obviously love these two).
- 2021's "When You Trap a Tiger" by Tae Keller is magical realism - which is my jam. A biracial girl and family move in with their grandmother, and she begins learning about Korean folklore from her. I love books with grandparents (probably because I loved my own grandparents so dearly!).
- 2020's win was a historic one - the first graphic novel, Jerry Craft's "New Kid," which follows Jordan Banks as he enrolls in a private school. He is one of the few Black kids there, and feels out of place at school and in his home community. It is a great balance of real feels and humor. (There are also two sequels to this now, both of which are similarly great).
Other more recent ones I enjoyed include:
- "Last Stop on Market Street" by Matt de la Pena (a truly great picture book about a boy and his grandma taking a ride to ... somewhere on a bus);
- "The Crossover" by Kwame Alexander (a novel in verse about twin brothers who play basketball, which plays with poetry in a fun engaging way, and is one of the most readable books ever for students that "don't like to read"); "Bud not Buddy" by Christopher Paul Curtis (an author who just won the CSK Virginia Hamilton Award for lifetime achievement - the book takes place during the depression era and sees Bud riding the rails and visiting a Hooverville after escaping a terrible foster family, and was the first book to win both the CSK and Newbery),
- "The Graveyard Book" by Neil Gaiman (about a boy raised by ghosts in a graveyard after his family is murdered, which includes Gaiman's warmth, but also is truly creepy, which is all my middle schoolers truly want);
- "The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread" by Kate diCamillo (which plays like a fairy tale, and involves a very brave mouse who tries to save a princess ... but is so much more than an actual fairy tale);
and finally, "Holes" by Louis Sachar, another amazing story with magical realism, which is still HUGELY popular despite being published in 1998 (which is eons ago for my youth). It is the story of Stanley Yelnats, a habitually unlucky child who accused of stealing a pair of famous sneakers and sent to a correctional boot camp in the middle of the desert to dig holes. It is truly delightful.
I have continued to read Newbery books past childhood - some standouts include Karen Cushman’s “The Midwife’s Apprentice” (changed the way I look at onions), & Christopher Paul Curtis’ Newbery honor book “The Watsons Go To Birmingham” (he won for “Bud, Not Buddy,” also excellent, but “Watsons” includes a road trip, which I can’t resist - both books are very funny). My kids still talk about “The One and Only Ivan.”
This brought back so many memories of reading these to my children and grandchildren long after they could read. A well written children's book appeals to adults as well as children. It's about time to start collecting them for the great-grandchildren so I can read them again.
In addition to the many great titles already mentioned, 2010’s When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead is a modern classic. Complicated, interesting, short, kids like it. The full package!
I have to put in a plug for 1994 winner _The Giver_, by Lois Lowry, whose Anastasia Krupnik series defined my tweenhood. I read it in late college or early grad school (after having resisted it for several years--I think Teen Me was anti-sci-fic / fantasy, which stance Adult Me finds weird in retrospect), and I think it is the only book that I have ever read cover to cover twice in a single sitting.
Great column. Nice to hear the news about Dave Egger's book. I will be putting myself in the queue for HWOSG, incidentally. And it's fun to learn about someone's reading history. A couple of years, when I was teaching in a middle school for my sins, I read all the Rebecca Caudill books. I saw a few familiar titles on the Newbery Honor list. I highly recommend Hitty: Her First Hundred Years by Rachel Field, the 1934 winner, and A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck, not on the Newbery list, but great anyway.
Like others, you have taken me down memory lane. I retired ten years ago from public libraries and although I did mostly adult services, I was much more aware of the Newberys when I was working. You missed some good books. I would recommend Out of the Dust and Walk Two Moons among others.
I've got a few years on you, but I remember paying attention to the Newberry winners as a kid and also a bit when my sons were kids. The two standouts for me (and at my time) that you missed were A Wrinkle in Time (how many times have I read it? good question! Oh, Meg, Oh Calvin, Oh Charles Wallace!) and also Summer of the Swans. I'm still a big fan of the Mixed-Up Files and also dreamed of having a similar adventure, and I'm sure we aren't the only ones!
Connecting two things in this one: George Saunders says reading JOHNNY TREMAIN was one of the formative events in his young reading life https://nymag.com/news/features/beginnings/george-saunders/
He has an essay in THE BRAINDEAD MEGAPHONE called “Thank you, Esther Forbes"
https://sherwoodenglishone.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/saundersforbesessay.pdf
I'm late to the Newbery party, but wanted to add my love for Holes, The Tale of Despereaux, and Bud, Not Buddy. And all of these were amazing audiobooks that helped make road trips with our family so much better. I still listen to The Tale of Despereaux (possibly my favourite book of all time) a few times per year, and it always cheers me and makes me want soup. And light. And darkness.