50 Newbery Award-Winning Books & Why Your Kid Should Read Them
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Congratulations to Meg Medina’s Merci Suárez Changes Gears for winning the 2019 Newbery Medal and to both Veera Hiranandani’s The Night Diary and Catherine Gilbert Murdock’s The Book of Boy on their Newbery Honors. The Newbery Medal is awarded to the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children each year. How many Newbery Medal-winning novels have you read from the past 50 years?
2018 — Hello, Universe by Erin Entrada Kelly
Virgil Salinas is shy and kindhearted. Valencia Somerset is smart, brave, and secretly lonely. Kaori Tanaka is a self-proclaimed psychic, whose little sister, Gen, is always following her around. And Chet Bullens wishes the weird kids would just stop being so different, so he can focus on basketball. In one day, their lives will weave together as a prank Chet pulls on Virgil goes wrong and Valencia, Kaori, and Gen must team together to save him.
2017 — The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill
Every year, the people of the Protectorate leave a baby as an offering to the witch, Xan, who lives in the forest. One year, Xan accidentally feeds a baby moonlight instead of starlight, filling the ordinary child with extraordinary magic. Xan decides she must raise this girl, whom she calls Luna, as her own. But as Luna’s thirteenth birthday approaches, her magic begins to emerge — with dangerous consequences.
2016 — Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Peña and Christian Robinson
As CJ and his grandma ride the bus across town after Sunday church, he starts to wonder why they don’t own a car like his friend Colby, and why they have to get off in the dirty part of town. With each question that enters his mind, his grandma responds with an encouraging answer that helps CJ see the beauty and fun in their routine and the world around them.
2015 — The Crossover by Kwame Alexander
In this novel in verse, twins Josh and Jordan must come to grips with growing up on and off the basketball court and realize breaking the rules comes at a terrible price.
2014 — Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures by Kate DiCamillo
In this hilarious, illustrated adventure, Flora Belle Buckman saves a squirrel who is then born anew, with powers of strength, flight, and misspelled poetry.
2013 — The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate
Having spent 27 years behind the glass walls of his enclosure in a shopping mall, Ivan has grown accustomed to humans watching him. He hardly ever thinks about his life in the jungle. But when he meets Ruby, a baby elephant taken from the wild, he is forced to see their home, and his art, through new eyes.
2012 — Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos
Loosely based on the author’s own life, this book follows the incredible two months of a kid named Jack Gantos, whose plans for vacation excitement are shot down when he is “grounded for life” by his feuding parents, and whose nose spews bad blood at every little shock he gets.
2011 — Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool
Abilene Tucker feels abandoned when her father puts her on a train to live with an old friend for the summer while he works a railroad job. But when she finds a box of old, mysterious letters, she and her new friends are led on a spy hunt to uncover the secrets of the past.
2010 — When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
After a fall-out with her best friend, Miranda starts receiving mysterious notes by someone with an uncanny ability to predict the future. The notes tell her she must write a letter — a true story — and she can’t share her mission with anyone.
2009 — The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Bod would be completely normal if he didn’t live in a graveyard, being raised by ghosts, with a guardian who belongs to neither the world of the living nor the dead. There are adventures in the graveyard for a boy — an ancient Indigo Man, a getaway to the abandoned city of ghouls, the strange and terrible Sleer. But if Bod leaves the graveyard, he will be in danger from the man Jack, who has already killed Bod’s family.
2008 — Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz
Set in 1255 England, this Newbery winner outlines in dramatic vignettes twenty-two unforgettable characters from the lord’s nephew to the singing shepherdess.
2007 — The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron
Believing that her French guardian is about to abandon her to an orphanage in the city, ten-year-old Lucky runs away from her small town with her beloved dog, HMS Beagle, by her side in order to trek across the Mojave Desert to start her challenging life over one more time.
2006 — Criss Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins
Debbie wishes something would happen. So do her friends in their small hometown of Seldem. And things do happen: they meet new people (people with possibilities), they learn to do new things (like play the guitar or drive a car), and they spend time with one another (at picnics and pig roasts, on roofs and in driveways). And in the process of things happening, they begin to find themselves.
2005 — Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata
When Katie and her family move from a Japanese community in Iowa to the Deep South of Georgia, it’s Katie’s sister Lynn, who explains to her why people stop them on the street to stare. But when Lynn falls desperately ill, the whole family begins to fall apart, and Katie must find a way to remind them that there’s always something flittering in the future.
2004 — The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread by Kate DiCamillo
A mouse, a rat, and a slow-witted serving girl embark on a journey that leads them into a horrible dungeon, a glittering castle, and ultimately into each other’s lives in this tale of adventure, despair, love, and soup.
2003 — Crispin: The Cross of Lead by Avi
Known only as Asta’s Son, a thirteen-year-old boy’s life is turned upside down when his mother dies and he discovers that his real name is Crispin and that he is the son of a lord. When that lord also dies, his steward tries to kill Crispin to keep him from taking his place.
2002 — A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park
Set in 12th century Korea, a thirteen-year-old orphan Tree-ear, become fascinated with the potter’s craft. When the potter takes him on as his helper, Tree-ear is determined to prove himself despite the many obstacles in his path.
2001 — A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck
Fifteen-year-old Mary Alice moves in with her spicy grandmother for one extraordinary year filled with moonlight schemes, romances both foiled and founded, and a whole parade of fools made to suffer in unusual (and hilarious!) ways.
2000 — Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis
Set in 1936 Flint Michigan, Bud is a boy without a mother who decides to hit the road to search for his father, using a flyer advertising Herman E. Calloway and his famous band as his only clue to find him.
1999 — Holes by Louis Sachar
Unjustly sent to a boy’s detention center, Stanley Yelnats spends his days digging holes that are exactly five feet wide and five feet deep. As he digs, he begins to uncover the truth behind Camp Greek Lake and his own family history and curse.
1998 — Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse
After a terrible accident leaves Billie Jo’s life in ruins, and dust storms devastate her family farm and all the farms nearby, she must learn to find peace in the bleak landscape of Oklahoma.
1997 — The View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg
This is a tale about a team, a class, a school, a series of contests and, set in the midst of this, four jewel-like short stories — one for each of the team members — that ask questions and demonstrate surprising answers.
1996 — The Midwife’s Apprentice by Karen Cushman
The girl known only as Brat has no family, no home, and no future until she meets Jane the Midwife and becomes her apprentice. As she helps the sharp-tempered Jane deliver babies, Brat — who renames herself Alyce — gains knowledge, confidence, and the courage to want something more from life.
1995 — Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
As Sal and her grandparents travel from Ohio to Idaho, she entertains them with a story of Phoebe Winterbottom, who received mysterious messages, who met a “potential lunatic,” and whose mother disappeared. But as Sal weaves Phoebe’s outrageous story, her own story begins to unfold — the story of a thirteen-year-old girl whose only wish is to be reunited with her missing mother.
1994 — The Giver by Lois Lowry
This haunting story centers on twelve-year-old Jonas, who lives in a seemingly ideal, if colorless, world of conformity and contentment. Then he is given his life assignment as the Receiver of Memory and begins to understand the dark, complex secrets behind his fragile community.
1993 — Missing May by Cynthia Rylant
Ever since May, Summer’s aunt and good-as-a-mother for the past six years, died in the garden among her pole beans and carrots, life for Summer and her Uncle Ob has been as bleak as winter. Ob doesn’t want to create his beautiful whirligigs anymore, and he and Summer have slipped into a sadness that they can’t shake off. But Summer and Ob must learn that they can miss May and still go on with their lives.
1992 — Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
When Marty Preston comes across a young beagle in the hills behind his home, it’s love at first sight — and also big trouble.
1991 — Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli
Jeffrey Lionel “Maniac” Magee might have lived a normal life if a freak accident hadn’t made him an orphan. After living with his unhappy and uptight aunt and uncle for eight years, he decides to run — and not just run away, but run. This is where the myth of Maniac Magee begins, as he changes the lives of a racially divided small town with his amazing and legendary feats.
1990 — Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
Through the eyes of ten-year-old Annemarie, we watch as the Danish Resistance smuggles almost the entire Jewish population of Denmark, nearly seven thousand people, across the sea to Sweden. The heroism of an entire nation reminds us that there was pride and human decency in the world even during a time of terror and war.
1989 — Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices by Paul Fleischman
Funny, sad, loud, and quiet, each of these poems resounds with a booming, boisterous, joyful noise — perfect for reading alone or aloud.
1988 — Lincoln: A Photobiography by Russell Freedman
This biography follows the life of the sixteenth president of the United States through illustrations and dozens of carefully chosen photographs and prints.
1987 — The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman
Prince Brat and his whipping boy inadvertently trade places after becoming involved with dangerous outlaws. The two boys have nothing in common and even less reason to like each other. But when they find themselves taken hostage after running away, they are left with no choice but to trust each other.
1986 — Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan
After her father submits an advertisement for a wife and mother, a young girl waits and wonders about Sarah Elisabeth Wheaton who will be fulfilling the position and is coming to the prairie all the way from Maine.
1985 — The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley
Aerin has never been accepted as full royalty. Her mother, the witchwoman, was said to have enspelled the king into marrying her, then dying of despair when she bares a daughter instead of a son. But nobody, not even Aerin herself, can predict her future — or that she is the true hero who will wield the power of the Blue Sword.
1984 — Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary
After his parents separate, Leigh Botts moves to a new town with his mother. Struggling to make friends and deal with his anger toward his absent father, Leigh loses himself in a class assignment in which he must write to his favorite author. When Mr. Henshaw responds, the two form an unexpected friendship that will change Leigh’s life forever.
1983 — Dicey’s Song by Cynthia Voigt
When Momma abandoned Dicey Tillerman and her three siblings in a mall parking lot and was later traced to an asylum where she lay unrecognizing, unknowing, she left her four children no choice but to get on by themselves. They make their way to their Gram’s rundown farm, and from there Dicey must figure out who she is outside of being a caregiver for her siblings.
1982 — A Visit to William Blake’s Inn: Poems for Innocent and Experienced Travelers by Nancy Willard
Inspired by William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience, this delightful collection of poetry for children brings to life Blake’s imaginary inn and its unusual guests.
1981 — Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Paterson
Sick and tired of living in her beautiful and talented twin’s shadow, Caroline must figure out who she is and find a place to make a place for herself separate from her sister.
1980 — A Gathering of Days: A New England Girl’s Journal, 1830–1832 by Joan W. Blos
The journal of a fourteen-year-old girl, kept the last year she lived on the family farm, records daily events in her small New Hampshire town, her father’s remarriage, and the death of her best friend.
1979 — The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
When sixteen people are inviting to the reading of Samuel W. Westing’s will, any of them could become millionaires depending on how they play the tricky and dangerous Westing game. The game involves surviving blizzards, burglaries, and bombings in order to make it through.
1978 — Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
Fast friends Jess and Leslie spend most days in the woods behind Leslie’ house where they invent an enchanted land called Terabithia. But when tragedy occurs, Jess will have to learn to deal with his grief with the love of his family and the strength that Leslie has given him.
1977 — Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, Mildred D. Taylor
Set in racially-charged southern Mississippi, this novel follows one turbulent year of the Logan family as they deal with night riders and burnings and must find the courage to stand up against those who would degrade them.
1976 — The Grey King by Susan Cooper
An immortal dedicated to saving the world from the forces of evil sets out to fulfill a Welsh legend. His task is to use a golden harp to wake six slumbering figures in the Welsh hills to prepare for the last battle before the Dark and the Light.
1975 — M.C. Higgins, the Great by Virginia Hamilton
Mayo Cornelius Higgins sits on his gleaming, forty-foot steel pole, towering over his home on Sarah’s Mountain. There he dreams of escape for himself and his family. When two strangers make their way towards Sarah’s Mountain, one has the ability to make M.C.’s mother famous, and the other has the kind of freedom that M.C. has never even considered.
1974 — The Slave Dancer by Paula Fox
When Bollier finds himself aboard a slave ship, where his job is to provide music while shackles slaves “dance” to keep their muscles strong and their bodies profitable, he learns about the greed and brutality that drives the slave trade. But when he witnesses the ultimate horror, he knows his life will be changed forever.
1973 — Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
Miyax has two lives. To her friends in San Francisco, she is Julie, to her Eskimo village, she is Miyax. But when her Eskimo village becomes dangerous, Miyax finds herself lost in the Alaskan wilderness where she tries to survive by copying the ways of a pack of wolves and soon grows to love her new wolf family. When she finds her way back to civilization, Miyax is torn between her old and new lives.
1972 — Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O’Brien
A widowed mouse and her four small children must move their summer quarters of face certain death. With her youngest son ill and unable to move, Mrs. Frisby turns to the rats of NIMH, an extraordinary breed of highly intelligent creatures to help come up with a solution to her dilemma.
1971 — Summer of the Swans by Betsy Byars
One moment, Sara Godfrey is elated, the next, she’s in tears. Maybe her wildly changing moods are tied to the sudden and accountable appearance of the swans, which hold the rapt attention of her mentally handicapped brother. But when Charlie disappears, Sara must drop her own concerns to search for him, knowing that she will never be the same again if she doesn’t find him.
1970 — Sounder by William H. Armstrong
This classic novel is about a coon dog named Sounder who loyally stands by his family’s side when they fall on hard times. Set in the nineteenth-century, this book shows the courage, love, and faith that binds a family together despite the racism and inhumanity they face in the deep South.
1969 — The High King by Lloyd Alexander
The final book in The Chronicles of Prydain books by Lloyd Alexander finds heroes Taran and Gwydion rallying an army to stand up against dark forces that threaten the land of Prydain.
For more Newbery winners, visit: http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/newberymedal/newberymedal
