Child/Young Adult

Newbery Books Reading Challenge

Newbery award

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Note: I occasionally accept review copies from the publisher. Posts written from review copies are labeled. All opinions are my own. Posts may contain affiliate links. I may receive compensation for any purchased items.

The John Newbery Medal is a literary award given by the Association for Library Service to Children of the American Library Association (ALA) to the author of the Outstanding American book for children. (Wikipedia, Newbery Medal)

Newbery Medal Winners and Honors


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2020s

2025 - The First State of Being by Erin Entrada Kelly 2024

2024 - The Eyes and the Impossible by David Eggers 2024

2023 - Freewater by Amina Luqman-Dawson 2023

2022 - The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera 2025

  • Red, White, and Whole by Rajani LaRocca
  • A Snake Falls to Earth by Darcie Little Badger
  • Too Bright to See by Kyle Lukoff
  • Watercress by Andrea Wang, illus. by Jason Chin 

2021 - When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller 

  • All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys’ Soccer Team by Christina Soontornvat 2022
  • BOX: Henry Brown Mails Himself to Freedom, by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Michele Wood 2025
  • Fighting Words by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley 
  • We Dream of Space by Erin Entrada Kelly, illustrated by Erin Entrada Kelly and Celia Krampien
  • A Wish in the Dark by Christina Soontornvat

2020 - New Kid by Jerry Craft 

  • Genesis Begins Again by Alicia D. Williams
  • Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga 2023
  • Scary Stories for Young Foxes by Christian McKay Heidicker
  • The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander, illustrated by Kadir Nelson 

2010s

2019 - Merci Suárez Changes Gears by Meg Medina 2022

2018 - Hello, Universe by Erin Entrada Kelly

  • Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut written by Derrick Barnes, illustrated by Gordon C. James 
  • Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds 2023
  • Piecing Me Together by Renée Watson 

2017 - The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill

  • Freedom Over Me: Eleven Slaves, Their Lives and Dreams Brought to Life by Ashley
    Bryan 
  • The Inquisitor’s Tale: Or, The Three Magical Children and their Holy Dog written by Adam Gidwitz, illustrated by Hatem Aly 2019
  • Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk 

2016 - Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Peña

2015 - The Crossover by Kwame Alexander 

2014 - Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures by Kate DiCamillo

2013 - The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate 2014

2012 - Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos

2011 - Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool 

  • Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer L. Holm 
  • Heart of a Samurai by Margi Preus 
  • Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night by Joyce Sidman, illustrated by Rick Allen
  • One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia 

2010 - When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

2000s

2009 - The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, illus. by Dave McKean 2009

  • The Underneath by Kathi Appelt, illus. by David Small 
  • The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba's Struggle for Freedom by Margarita Engle 
  • Savvy by Ingrid Law 2010
  • After Tupac & D Foster by Jacqueline Woodson 

2008 - Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz 2008 

2007 - The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron, illus. by Matt Phelan 

  • Penny from Heaven by Jennifer L. Holm
  • Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson
  • Rules by Cynthia Lord

2006 - Criss Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins 

  • Whittington by Alan Armstrong, illustrated by S.D. Schindler
  • Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow by Susan Campbell Bartoletti 
  • Princess Academy by Shannon Hale
  • Show Way by Jacqueline Woodson, illustrated by Hudson Talbott

2005 - Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata 

  • Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko 
  • The Voice that Challenged a Nation: Marian Anderson and the Struggle for Equal Rights by Russell Freedman 
  • Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy by Gary D. Schmidt

2004 - The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread by Kate DiCamillo, illustrated by Timothy Basil Ering 

  • Olive's Ocean by Kevin Henkes 2024
  • An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 by Jim Murphy 

2003 - Crispin: The Cross of Lead by Avi 

  • The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer 
  • Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff 
  • Hoot by Carl Hiaasen 
  • A Corner of The Universe by Ann M. Martin 
  • Surviving the Applewhites by Stephanie S. Tolan 

2002 - A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park

  • Everything on a Waffle by Polly Horvath 
  • Carver: A Life In Poems by Marilyn Nelson

2001 - A Year Down Yonder by by Richard Peck 

2000 - Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis 

  • Getting Near to Baby by by Audrey Couloumbis 
  • Our Only May Amelia by Jennifer L. Holm 
  • 26 Fairmount Avenue by Tomie dePaola 

1990s

1999 - Holes by Louis Sachar

  • A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck 

1998 - Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse  2015

  • Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine 2008
  • Lily's Crossing by Patricia Reilly Giff 
  • Wringer by Jerry Spinelli 

1997 - The View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg 

  • A Girl Named Disaster by Nancy Farmer
  • Moorchild by Eloise McGraw 
  • The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner
  • Belle Prater's Boy by Ruth White 

1996 - The Midwife's Apprentice by Karen Cushman  2009

  • What Jamie Saw by Carolyn Coman 
  • The Watsons Go to Birmingham: 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis 
  • Yolonda's Genius by Carol Fenner 
  • The Great Fire by Jim Murphy 

1995 - Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech 

  • Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman 
  • The Ear, the Eye and the Arm by Nancy Farmer 

1994 - The Giver by Lois Lowry  1990s, 2011

  • Crazy Lady by Jane Leslie Conly 
  • Dragon's Gate by Laurence Yep 
  • Eleanor Roosevelt: A Life of Discovery by Russell Freedman 

1993 - Missing May by Cynthia Rylant 

  • What Hearts by Bruce Brooks 
  • The Dark-thirty: Southern Tales of the Supernatural by Patricia McKissack 
  • Somewhere in the Darkness by Walter Dean Myers 

1992 - Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor 

  • Nothing But The Truth: a Documentary Novel by Avi 1990s
  • The Wright Brothers: How They Invented the Airplane by Russell Freedman 

1991 - Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli  1990s, 2015

  • The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi 1990s

1990 - Number the Stars by Lois Lowry 1990s

  • Afternoon of the Elves by Janet Taylor Lisle 
  • Shabanu, Daughter of the Wind by Suzanne Fisher Staples 
  • The Winter Room by Gary Paulsen 

1980s

1989 - Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices by Paul Fleischman 1989

  • In The Beginning: Creation Stories from Around the World by Virginia Hamilton 
  • Scorpions by Walter Dean Myers 

1988 - Lincoln: A Photobiography by Russell Freedman 2009

  • After The Rain by Norma Fox Mazer 
  • Hatchet by Gary Paulsen 1990s

1987 - The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman 

  • A Fine White Dust by Cynthia Rylant 
  • On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer 
  • Volcano: The Eruption and Healing of Mount St. Helens by Patricia Lauber

1986 - Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan 1980s, 2013

  • Commodore Perry In the Land of the Shogun by Rhoda Blumberg
  • Dogsong by Gary Paulsen

1985 - The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley

  • Like Jake and Me by Mavis Jukes
  • The Moves Make the Man by Bruce Brooks
  • One-Eyed Cat by Paula Fox

1984 - Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary

  • The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare 2019?
  • A Solitary Blue by Cynthia Voigt 
  • Sugaring Time by Kathryn Lasky
  • The Wish Giver: Three Tales of Coven Tree by Bill Brittain

1983 - Dicey's Song by Cynthia Voigt 

  • The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley 
  • Doctor DeSoto by William Steig
  • Graven Images by Paul Fleischman
  • Homesick: My Own Story by Jean Fritz
  • Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush by Virginia Hamilton

1982 - A Visit to William Blake's Inn: Poems for Innocent and Experienced Travelers by Nancy Willard

  • Ramona Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly Cleary 1980s
  • Upon the Head of the Goat: A Childhood in Hungary 1939-1944 by Aranka Siegal

1981 - Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Paterson 1990s

  • The Fledgling by Jane Langton
  • A Ring of Endless Light by Madeleine L'Engle

1980 - A Gathering of Days: A New England Girl's Journal, 1830-1832 by Joan W. Blos (Scribner)

  • The Road from Home: The Story of an Armenian Girl by David Kherdian 

1970s

1979 - The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin 1990s, 2019

  • The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson

1978 - Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson 1990s

  • Ramona and Her Father by Beverly Cleary 1990s
  • Anpao: An American Indian Odyssey by Jamake Highwater

1977 - Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor 1990s

  • Abel's Island by William Steig 
  • A String in the Harp by Nancy Bond 

1976 - The Grey King by Susan Cooper 

  • The Hundred Penny Box by Sharon Bell Mathis
  • Dragonwings by Laurence Yep 

1975 - M. C. Higgins, the Great by Virginia Hamilton

1974 - The Slave Dancer by Paula Fox 

  • The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper 

1973 - Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George

  • Frog and Toad Together by Arnold Lobel 1980s
  • The Upstairs Room by Johanna Reiss 
  • The Witches of Worm by Zilpha Keatley Snyder

1972 - Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien 1990s, 2024

  • Incident At Hawk's Hill by Allan W. Eckert 
  • The Planet of Junior Brown by Virginia Hamilton 
  • The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. LeGuin
  • Annie and the Old One by Miska Miles 
  • The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Keatley Snyder 1990s

1971 - Summer of the Swans by Betsy Byars 

  • Knee Knock Rise by Natalie Babbitt 
  • Enchantress From the Stars by Sylvia Louise Engdahl
  • Sing Down the Moon by Scott O'Dell 

1970 - Sounder by William H. Armstrong 

  • Our Eddie by Sulamith Ish-Kishor 
  • The Many Ways of Seeing: An Introduction to the Pleasures of Art by Janet Gaylord Moore 
  • Journey Outside by Mary Q. Steele 

1960s

1969 - The High King by Lloyd Alexander 

1968 - From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg 2018

  • Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth by E. L. Konigsburg 
  • The Black Pearl by Scott O'Dell 
  • The Fearsome Inn by Isaac Bashevis Singer 
  • The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder 2019

1967 - Up a Road Slowly by Irene Hunt 1990s

  • The King's Fifth by Scott O'Dell 
  • Zlateh The Goat and Other Stories by Isaac Bashevis Singer 
  • The Jazz Man by Mary Hays Weik 

1966 - I, Juan de Pareja by Elizabeth Borton de Trevino 

  • The Black Cauldron by Lloyd Alexander 
  • The Animal Family by Randall Jarrell 
  • The Noonday Friends by Mary Stolz 

1965 - Shadow of a Bull by Maia Wojciechowska 

  • Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt

1964 -It's Like This, Cat by Emily Neville 

  • Rascal: A Memoir of a Better Era by Sterling North 
  • The Loner by Ester Wier

1963 - A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle 1990s, 2008

  • Thistle and Thyme: Tales and Legends from Scotland by Sorche Nic Leodhas, pseud. for Leclaire Alger
  • Men of Athens by Olivia Coolidge 

1962 - The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare 2015

  • Frontier Living by Edwin Tunis 
  • The Golden Goblet by Eloise Jarvis McGraw 
  • Belling The Tiger by Mary Stolz 

1961 - Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell 1980s

  • America Moves Forward: A History for Peter by Gerald W. Johnson 
  • Old Ramon by Jack Schaefer
  • The Cricket In Times Square by George Selden, pseud. (George Thompson) 1980s

1960 - Onion John by Joseph Krumgold 

  • My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George 1990s
  • America Is Born: A History for Peter by Gerald W. Johnson 
  • The Gammage Cup by Carol Kendall 

1950s

1959 - The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare 2020

  • The Family Under The Bridge by Natalie Savage Carlson 2017
  • Along Came A Dog by Meindert Dejong 2014
  • Chucaro: Wild Pony of the Pampa by Francis Kalnay 
  • The Perilous Road by William O. Steele 

1958 - Rifles for Watie by Harold Keith 2017

  • The Horsecatcher by Mari Sandoz 
  • Gone-Away Lake by Elizabeth Enright 
  • The Great Wheel by Robert Lawson 
  • Tom Paine, Freedom's Apostle by Leo Gurko 

1957 - Miracles on Maple Hill by Virginia Sorensen  2017

  • Old Yeller by Fred Gipson 
  • The House of Sixty Fathers by Meindert DeJong 
  • Mr. Justice Holmes by Clara Ingram Judson 
  • The Corn Grows Ripe by Dorothy Rhoads 2020
  • Black Fox of Lorne by Marguerite de Angeli 

1956 - Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham 1990s

1955 - The Wheel on the School by Meindert DeJong

  • Courage of Sarah Noble by Alice Dalgliesh 2017, 2024
  • Banner In The Sky by James Ullman 

1954 - …And Now Miguel by Joseph Krumgold 

  • All Alone by Claire Huchet Bishop 
  • Shadrach by Meindert Dejong 
  • Hurry Home, Candy by Meindert Dejong
  • Theodore Roosevelt, Fighting Patriot by Clara Ingram Judson
  • Magic Maize by Mary & Conrad Buff 

1953 - Secret of the Andes by Ann Nolan Clark 

  • Charlotte's Web by E. B. White 1980s, 2009 (plus a dozen more times)
  • Moccasin Trail by Eloise Jarvis McGraw 
  • Red Sails to Capri by Ann Weil 
  • The Bears on Hemlock Mountain by Alice Dalgliesh 2017
  • Birthdays of Freedom, Vol. 1 by Genevieve Foster 

1952 - Ginger Pye by Eleanor Estes 

  • Americans Before Columbus by Elizabeth Baity
  • Minn of the Mississippi by Holling C. Holling 2017
  • The Defender by Nicholas Kalashnikoff 
  • The Light at Tern Rock by Julia Sauer 
  • The Apple and the Arrow by Mary & Conrad Buff 2018

1951 - Amos Fortune, Free Man by Elizabeth Yates 

  • Better Known as Johnny Appleseed by Mabel Leigh Hunt 
  • Gandhi, Fighter Without a Sword by Jeanette Eaton 
  • Abraham Lincoln, Friend of the People by Clara Ingram Judson 
  • The Story of Appleby Capple by Anne Parrish 

1950 - The Door in the Wall by Marguerite de Angeli  2015

  • Tree of Freedom by Rebecca Caudill 
  • The Blue Cat of Castle Town by Catherine Coblentz 
  • Kildee House by Rutherford Montgomery 
  • George Washington by Genevieve Foster 
  • Song of The Pines: A Story of Norwegian Lumbering in Wisconsin by Walter & Marion Havighurst 

1940s

1949 - King of the Wind by Marguerite Henry 

1948 - The Twenty-One Balloons by William Pène du Bois 1990s

  • Pancakes-Paris by Claire Huchet Bishop 
  • Li Lun, Lad of Courage by Carolyn Treffinger 
  • The Quaint and Curious Quest of Johnny Longfoot by Catherine Besterman
  • The Cow-Tail Switch, and Other West African Stories by Harold Courlander 
  • Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry 

1947 - Miss Hickory by Carolyn Sherwin Bailey 

  • Wonderful Year by Nancy Barnes
  • Big Tree by Mary & Conrad Buff 
  • The Heavenly Tenants by William Maxwell 
  • The Avion My Uncle Flew by Cyrus Fisher, pseud. (Darwin L. Teilhet) 
  • The Hidden Treasure of Glaston by Eleanor Jewett 

1946 - Strawberry Girl by Lois Lenski 

  • Justin Morgan Had a Horse by Marguerite Henry 
  • The Moved-Outers by Florence Crannell Means 
  • Bhimsa, the Dancing Bear by Christine Weston 
  • New Found World by Katherine Shippen 

1945 - Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson 

  • The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes 2019
  • The Silver Pencil by Alice Dalgliesh 
  • Abraham Lincoln's World by Genevieve Foster 
  • Lone Journey: The Life of Roger Williams by Jeanette Eaton 

1944 - Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes 1990s, 2009

1943 - Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Janet Gray 

  • The Middle Moffat by Eleanor Estes 
  • Have You Seen Tom Thumb? by Mabel Leigh Hunt  OOP - cannot find

1942 - The Matchlock Gun by Walter Edmonds 

1941 - Call It Courage by Armstrong Sperry 

1940 - Daniel Boone by James Daugherty 

1930s

1939 - Thimble Summer by Elizabeth Enright 

  • Nino by Valenti Angelo 
  • Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard & Florence Atwater 1980s
  • Hello the Boat! by Phyllis Crawford 
  • Leader By Destiny: George Washington, Man and Patriot by Jeanette Eaton 
  • Penn by Elizabeth Janet Gray 

1938 - The White Stag by Kate Seredy 

1937 - Roller Skates by Ruth Sawyer 

  • Phebe Fairchild: Her Book by Lois Lenski 
  • Whistler's Van by Idwal Jones  
  • The Golden Basket by Ludwig Bemelmans 
  • Winterbound by Margery Bianco 
  • The Codfish Musket by Agnes Hewes 
  • Audubon by Constance Rourke 

1936 - Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink 2015

  • Honk, the Moose by Phil Stong 
  • The Good Master by Kate Seredy 
  • Young Walter Scott by Elizabeth Janet Gray 
  • All Sail Set: A Romance of the Flying Cloud by Armstrong Sperry 

1935 - Dobry by Monica Shannon 

  • Pageant of Chinese History by Elizabeth Seeger 
  • Davy Crockett by Constance Rourke 
  • Day On Skates: The Story of a Dutch Picnic by Hilda Van Stockum 

1934 - Invincible Louisa: The Story of the Author of Little Women by Cornelia Meigs 

  • The Forgotten Daughter by Caroline Snedeker 
  • Swords of Steel by Elsie Singmaster  OOP - cannot find
  • ABC Bunny by Wanda Gág 
  • Winged Girl of Knossos by Erik Berry, pseud. (Allena Best) 
  • New Land by Sarah Schmidt 
  • Big Tree of Bunlahy: Stories of My Own Countryside by Padraic Colum 
  • Glory of the Seas by Agnes Hewes 
  • Apprentice of Florence by Ann Kyle 

1933 - Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze by Elizabeth Lewis 

  • Swift Rivers by Cornelia Meigs 
  • The Railroad To Freedom: A Story of the Civil War by Hildegarde Swift 
  • Children of the Soil: A Story of Scandinavia by Nora Burglon  

1932 - Waterless Mountain by Laura Adams Armer 

  • The Fairy Circus by Dorothy P. Lathrop [Northwestern University]
  • Calico Bush by Rachel Field
  • Boy of the South Seas by Eunice Tietjens [Newbery Library, Chicago]
  • Out of the Flame by Eloise Lownsbery OPP - cannot find
  • Jane's Island by Marjorie Allee 
  • Truce of the Wolf and Other Tales of Old Italy by Mary Gould Davis [Dominican University?]

1931 - The Cat Who Went to Heaven by Elizabeth Coatsworth 

  • Floating Island by Anne Parrish 
  • The Dark Star of Itza: The Story of A Pagan Princess by Alida Malkus [Northwestern?]
  • Queer Person by Ralph Hubbard 
  • Mountains are Free by Julie Davis Adams 
  • Spice and the Devil's Cave by Agnes Hewes
  • Meggy MacIntosh by Elizabeth Janet Gray
  • Garram the Hunter: A Boy of the Hill Tribes by Herbert Best 
  • Ood-Le-Uk the Wanderer by Alice Lide & Margaret Johansen 

1930 - Hitty, Her First Hundred Years by Rachel Field 2024

1920s

1929 - The Trumpeter of Krakow by Eric P. Kelly 2020, 2024

1928 - Gay Neck, the Story of a Pigeon by Dhan Gopal Mukerji 2008, reread review 2024

1927 - Smoky, the Cowhorse by Will James  2024

1926 - Shen of the Sea by Arthur Bowie Chrisman 2024 

1925 - Tales from Silver Lands by Charles Finger 2024

1924 - The Dark Frigate by Charles Hawes 2023

1923 - The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting 2023

1922 - The Story of Mankind by Hendrik Willem van Loon 2023

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Reviewed on January 1, 2000
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Rebecca Reid

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Rebecca Reid is a homeschooling, stay-at-home mother seeking to make the journey of life-long learning fun by reading lots of good books. Rebecca Reads provides reviews of children's literature she has enjoyed with her children; nonfiction that enhances understanding of educational philosophies, history and more; and classical literature that Rebecca enjoys reading.

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