Newbery Winners
This is from An Unconventional Librarian who cribbed it from Lois Lowry’s web page. I just added the winners from 2006-2010 which were not on the list. Here is the link to ALSC/ Newbery Winner plus Honor Book Winners for a more comprehensive list of chapter books.
Although most of the Newbery books are quite excellent, some have not aged to well for a more modern audience. The age appropriateness of each chapter book varies from 3th grade through middle school. To get a “just right” book for your child, here’s some sites to reference:
- Common Sense Media, a site to check both books and movies that gives good detail on age appropriateness. though it may not have all the books on the Newbery list.
- Laura Mito Life. 10-year-old Laura writes a great blog as she chugs through the Newbery list. Her book review will be more reflective of what your child will like, I suspect.
Also, I will link the books that I have read, sadly not enough, with a brief age recommendation in brackets. I noticed today that I own a bunch of these books and need to read them so I’ll keep updating.
p.s. For an excellent list of potential 2011 Newbery and Caldecott winners from School Library Journal, click here.
For another list of potential 2011 Newbery Winners by ex-Newbery Judge and Librarian Amanda Stuckmeyer, click here.
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Lois Lowry’s web page was kind enough to condense this list for me. Here are the Newbery Award Winners. Winners only. With of course, my odd comment or rating.
2012: Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos
2011: Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool
2010: When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead (Wendy Lamb Books, am imprint of Random House Children’s Books)
2009: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (Harper Collins)
2008: Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz(Candlewick)
2007: The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron (Simon & Schuster/Richard Jackson) [just an ok book, sweet spot, grades 4-6th]
2006: Criss Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins (Greenwillow Books/HarperCollins)
2005: Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata (Atheneum) [a 3rd grader is capable of reading it, but content is more appropriate for middle school]
2004: The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo (Candlewick) Four paws
2003: Crispin: The Cross of Lead by Avi (Hyperion) Four paws
2002: A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park(Clarion Books/Houghton Mifflin) [love this book, sweet spot is grade 3rd-5th]
2001: A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck (Dial) [a really fun and funny read, sweet spot grades 3rd-5th]
2000: Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis (Delacorte)
1999: Holes by Louis Sachar (Frances Foster) Four paws [boys especially love this book, sweet spot 4th-7th grade]
1998: Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse (Scholastic) Four Paws
1997: The View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg (Jean Karl/Atheneum) Four paws [such an amazing book, sweet spot is 5th-8th grade]
1996: The Midwife’s Apprentice by Karen Cushman (Clarion)
1995: Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech (HarperCollins) on my re-read list [fantastic book, sweet spot 4th-7th grade]
1994: The Giver by Lois Lowry(Houghton)
1993: Missing May by Cynthia Rylant (Jackson/Orchard)
1992: Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor (Atheneum) [required reading for my 4th grader and everyone loved it, sweet spot, 4th-6th grade]
1991: Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli (Little, Brown) Four paws [I love this book, sweet spot grades 4-7th, especially great for boys]
1990: Number the Stars by Lois Lowry (Houghton) Four paws
1989: Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices by Paul Fleischman (Harper)
1988: Lincoln: A Photobiography by Russell Freedman (Clarion)
1987: The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman (Greenwillow)
1986: Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan (Harper) Four paws
1985: The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley (Greenwillow)
1984: Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary (Morrow)
1983: Dicey’s Song by Cynthia Voigt (Atheneum)
1982: A Visit to William Blake’s Inn: Poems for Innocent and Experienced Travelers by Nancy Willard (Harcourt)
1981: Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Paterson (Crowell)
1980: A Gathering of Days: A New England Girl’s Journal, 1830-1832 by Joan W. Blos (Scribner)
1979: The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin (Dutton)
1978: Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson (Crowell) Four paws
1977: Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor (Dial) **
1976: The Grey King by Susan Cooper (McElderry/Atheneum) [a fantastic book for middle schoolers, but read it in sequence. It’s the 4th book of The Dark is Rising series. Harry Potter graduates will like this series]
1975: M. C. Higgins, the Great by Virginia Hamilton (Macmillan)
1974: The Slave Dancer by Paula Fox (Bradbury)
1973: Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George (Harper)
1972: Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O’Brien (Atheneum) ** [I oved this book as a child. Sweet spot, grades 4th-7th]
1971: Summer of the Swans by Betsy Byars (Viking)
1970: Sounder by William H. Armstrong (Harper) ** [I remember this from my childhood. It’s a great book but sad. Sweet spot middle school]
1969: The High King by Lloyd Alexander (Holt) [Read in sequence. This is the last book in The Chronicles of Prydain. Sweet spot grades 4-7th]
1968: From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg (Atheneum) ** [a wonderful book with a confusing start. You might have to read the first few chapters with your child to get him/her into it. Sweet spot grades 4-6th]
1967: Up a Road Slowly by Irene Hunt (Follett)
1966: I, Juan de Pareja by Elizabeth Borton de Trevino (Farrar) [middle school, historical fiction]
1965: Shadow of a Bull by Maia Wojciechowska (Atheneum)
1964: It’s Like This, Cat by Emily Neville (Harper)
1963: A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle (Farrar) ** [such an amazing book, sweet spot 5th-8th grade. Especially great for kids who like fantasy meets science]
1962: The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare (Houghton) [Read this as a child, sweet spot middle school and older]
1961: Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell (Houghton) Four paws [A great book, sweet spot grades 5th-8th]
1960: Onion John by Joseph Krumgold (Crowell)
1959: The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare (Houghton) [great book MUST READ, sweet spot middle school]
1958: Rifles for Watie by Harold Keith (Crowell)
1957: Miracles on Maple Hill by Virginia Sorenson (Harcourt)
1956: Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham (Houghton)
1955: The Wheel on the School by Meindert DeJong (Harper)
1954: …And Now Miguel by Joseph Krumgold (Crowell)
1953: Secret of the Andes by Ann Nolan Clark (Viking)
1952: Ginger Pye by Eleanor Estes (Harcourt) I should read this. I have this somewhere.
1951: Amos Fortune, Free Man by Elizabeth Yates (Dutton)
1950: The Door in the Wall by Marguerite de Angeli (Doubleday) [Historical fiction set in middle ages, sweet spot middle school]
1949: King of the Wind by Marguerite Henry (Rand McNally)
1948: The Twenty-One Balloons by William Pène du Bois (Viking)
1947: Miss Hickory by Carolyn Sherwin Bailey (Viking)
1946: Strawberry Girl by Lois Lenski (Lippincott) [sweet book set at turn of the century in Florida, sweet spot grades 4th-6th]
1945: Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson (Viking) [I like this book but my daughter didn’t get into it, sweet spot grades 4th-6th]
1944: Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes (Houghton) [a great classic, sweet spot grades 4th-7th]
1943: Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Janet Gray (Viking)
1942: The Matchlock Gun by Walter Edmonds (Dodd)
1941: Call It Courage by Armstrong Sperry (Macmillan) [It was kind of a sad book. I did not love this book but it could just be me. I don’t love books where the mom dies and the child suffers. Sweet spot grades 5-7th]
1940: Daniel Boone by James Daugherty (Viking)
1939: Thimble Summer by Elizabeth Enright (Rinehart)
1938: The White Stag by Kate Seredy (Viking)
1937: Roller Skates by Ruth Sawyer (Viking)
1936: Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink (Macmillan) [Love this book. Sweet spot grades 3-6th]
1935: Dobry by Monica Shannon (Viking)
1934: Invincible Louisa: The Story of the Author of Little Women by Cornelia Meigs (Little, Brown)
1933: Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze by Elizabeth Lewis (Winston)
1932: Waterless Mountain by Laura Adams Armer (Longmans)
1931: The Cat Who Went to Heaven by Elizabeth Coatsworth (Macmillan) [not sure why this book won. Grades 2-5th]
1930: Hitty, Her First Hundred Years by Rachel Field (Macmillan)
1929: The Trumpeter of Krakow by Eric P. Kelly (Macmillan)
1928: Gay Neck, the Story of a Pigeon by Dhan Gopal Mukerji (Dutton)
1927: Smoky, the Cowhorse by Will James (Scribner)
1926: Shen of the Sea by Arthur Bowie Chrisman (Dutton)
1925: Tales from Silver Lands by Charles Finger (Doubleday)
1924: The Dark Frigate by Charles Hawes (Little, Brown)
1923: The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting (Lippincott)
1922: The Story of Mankind by Hendrik Willem van Loon (Liveright)
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Thanks for posting about me! I love getting new hits on my blog, and this time I got about 50 more than usual!
Thanks for stopping by my blog. You’ve got some great content here. Love the list for reluctant boy readers.
There are a few of these Newbery books I really need to read.
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To Lorene,
Thank you so much!