The Newbery Medal was named for eighteenth-century British bookseller John Newbery. It is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.
The first year it was awarded was in 1922. (That means there are 88 of them as of last month.)My mom introduced me to Newbery books when I was young--we would often receive a Newbery book as a Christmas or birthday present (thanks, Mom!) I soon learned that even though these books were all very different stories about different people in different times and places, they all had one thing in common--they were all really good books that I loved. So in my teenage years, I decided to set a goal to read them all. That was the plan--once I had read them all, I could just read the new one each year as it was awarded. So yesterday, at the age of 40-something, I finally reached my goal! I finished reading the book that was awarded the Newbery for this year, "When You Reach Me" by Rebecca Stead. It took me a bit longer to reach this goal than I originally planned. But I did it. (Now I can get back to reading books written for adults!)
If you want a check out a list of all the winners up to 2009, here is the link:
And the link to the 2010 winner is here:
Check out the list and see how many you've read!
Here's my own list of a few interesting things about them:
1. read the most times: "Carry On, Mr. Bowditch" by Jean Lee Latham 1956
2. least favorite: "Tales from Silver Lands" by Charles Finger 1925
3. hardest to find: "Dobry" by Monica Shannon 1935 (it's currently out of print)
4. books I own: 43
5. fastest reads: "The Whipping Boy" by Sid Fleischman 1987, "Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices" by Paul Fleischman 1989 (yes, they are related!) and "When You Reach Me" by Rebecca Stead 2010
6. longest: I think it is "The Story of Mankind" by Hendrik Willem Van Loon 1922
7. most fun: "The Westing Game" by Ellen Raskin 1979, "Holes" by Louis Sacher 1999, "Maniac Magee" by Jerry Spinelli 1991, and "From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler" by E. L. Konigsburg 1968
8. most unique: "Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices of a Medieval Village" by Laura Amy Schlitz 2008
9. favorites in addition to the most fun and unique listed above (I can never choose just one): "Carry On, Mr. Bowditch" by Jean Lee Latham 1956, "The Bronz Bow" by Elizabeth George Speare 1962, "A Wrinkle in Time" by Madeleine L'Engle, "The Twenty-One Balloons" by William Pene du Bois 1948, "King of the Wind" by Marguerite Henry 1949, "Amos Fortune, Free Man" by Elizabeth Yates 1951, "I, Juan de Pareja" by Elizabeth Borton de Trevino 1966, "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH" by Robert C. O'Brian 1972, "Number the Stars" by Lois Lowry 1990, "A Single Shard" by Linda Sue Park 2002, and Smoky the Cowhorse by Will James 1927--to name a few!
10. ones I read long ago and remember almost nothing about so need to read again: "Adam of the Road" by Elizabeth Janet Gray 1943, "The Matchlock Gun" by Walter Edmonds 1942 I remember that I liked both of them, but don't remember them other than that!
11. Authors who have won multiple Newbery Medals: Joseph Krumgold (2), Elizabeth George Speare (2), E.L Konigsburg (2), Katherine Paterson (2), Lois Lowry (2)
12. Authors who won multiple Newbery Honors but never the Newbery Medal (not sure this includes everyone): Laura Ingalls Wilder (5), Julia Davis Adams (2), Hildegard Swift (2), Agnes Hewes (3), Wanda Gag (2), Genevieve Foster (4), Anne Parrish (2), Jeanette Eaton (2), Julia Sauer (2), Holling C. Holling (2), Mary & Conrad Buff (3), Alice Dalgliesh (2), Katherine Shippen (2), Gerald W. Johnoson (2), Mary Stolz (2), Isaac Bashevis Singer (3), Zilpha Keatley Snyder (3), Laurence Yep (2), William Steig (2), Gary Paulsen (3), Nancy Farmer (3), Patricia Reilly Giff (2), Gary D. Schmidt (2), Jacqueline Woodson (2)
13. Authors who won Newbery Medals and Newbery Honors (not sure this includes everyone): Cornelia Meigs (1 medal, 3 honors), Elizabeth Janet Gray (1 medal, 3 honors), Rachel Field (1 medal, 1 honor), Kate Seredy (1 medal, 2 honors), Lois Lenski (1 medal, 2 honors), Armstrong Sperry (1 medal, 1 honor), Eleanor Estes (1 medal, 3 honors), Elizabeth Yates (1 medal, 1 honor), Marguerite Henry (1 medal, 2 honors), Meindert Dejong (1 medal, 3 honors), Marguerite de Angeli (1 medal, 1 honor), Elizabeth Enright (1 medal, 1 honor), Jean Craighead George (1 medal, 1 honor), Irene Hunt (1 medal, 1 honor), Scott O'Dell (1 medal, 3 honors), Lloyd Alexander (1 medal, 1 honor), E.L. Konigsburg (2 medals, 1 honor), Virginia Hamilton (1 medal, 3 honors), Ellen Raskin (1 medal, 1 honor), Susan Cooper (1 medal, 1 honor), Beverly Cleary (1 medal, 2 honors), Katherine Paterson (2 medals, 1 honor), Madeleine L'Engle (1 medal, 1 honor), Robin McKinley (1 medal, 1 honor), Paul Fleischman (1 medal, 1 honor), Cynthia Voigt (1 medal, 1 honor), Elizabeth George Speare (2 medals, 1 honor), Paula Fox (1 medal, 1 honor), Avi (1 medal, 2 honors), Russell Freedman (1 medal, 3 honors) Cynthia Rylant (1 medal, 1 honor), Karen Cushman (1 medal, 1 honor) Christopher Paul Curtis (1 medal, 2 honors), Jerry Spinelli (1 medal, 1 honor) Sharon Creech (1 medal, 1 honor), Kate DiCamillo (1 medal, 1 honor), Richard Peck (1 medal, 1 honor)
14. Author who won the Newbery Medal and a Newbery Honor in the same year: E.L. Konigsburg the 1968 Newbery Medal for "The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler" and the 1968 Newbery Honor for "Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth" (I've read them both and loved them both. Cranked out two great books in one year--pretty impressive!)
I've read many of the Newbery Honor Books. Question is, should I go back and read all the rest of them?? What was your favorite children's book? Your favorite Newbery?
5 comments:
I remember liking Scott O'Dell's books and of course the Chronicles of Prydain, which I'm in the middle of reading to the younger boys. I also liked Kate Seredy's The White Stage, although the book of hers I liked best, The Chestry Oak, isn't on the Newbery list.
Oops. That should have been The White Stag.
I feel like more of Lloyd Alexander's books, Avi's books and Shannon Hale's books should have gotten more honors! I like too many Newbery's to pick a favorite. You are truly amazing! I am not sure I want to read all of them!:)
Oh, you put me to shame! I have the same goal but I'm a long way from reaching it still! I loved all the trivia in this post; how on earth did you track down all that info? I liked a lot of the ones you mentioned. I also loved Thimble Summer and Up a Road Slowly. I agree with Curtis...liked the White Stag but LOVED The Chestry Oak...why didn't that one win a medal?
Should you read all the honors? Well, that could take a while...but I say go for it! Maybe you'll manage it by the time you're 80!
I agree, the Chestry Oak was wonderful--and it didn't even get an honor award. I don't understand that. I also think Lloyd Alexander should have got at least honors for all of his and a lot of Avi's books, too. I also don't understand why more of Shannon Hale's books didn't get at least honors. Princess Academy did--and I don't think that was her best book. Who knows? Annette, I got most of the author info from the American Library Association site--just studying it closely because I am interested in that kind of stuff. I am sure, like I said, that the lists were not all-inclusive. I probably missed some.
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