Here are the Newbery Medal Winners for the Twenty-teens. This list includes book descriptions and other information like reading
levels, book points, quiz numbers, and reader ratings.
**all ratings from GoodReads
2000's
2009: The
Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
2008:
Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz
2007:
The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron
2006:
Criss Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins
2005:
Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata
2004:
The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread by Kate DiCamillo
2003:
Crispin: The Cross of Lead by Avi
2002:
A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park
2001:
A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck
2000:
Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis
2009
The Graveyard Book
by Neil Gaiman
Dave McKean (Illustrations)
Hugo Award for Best Novel (2009)
**Starred Review** SchoolLibraryJournal
**Starred Review** PublishersWeekly
**Starred Review** Kirkus
**Starred Review** ALA BookList
**Starred Review** Horn
4.09 avg rating — 142,394 ratings
When
Bod's parents are murdered, he flees to a graveyard, where the ghosts
decide to be his guardians. There are adventures in the graveyard but
Bod must be careful of the dead and the undead who want to silence him.
Common Core Aligned
Reading Information:
Word Count: 67,380
Page Count: 312
Accelerated Reading level:
5.1 / points: 10.0
AR quiz: 125535
Lexile: 820L
--sample pages and other reviews available
Espanole
Libro Del Cementerio
2008
Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!
Voices from a Medieval Village
by Laura Amy Schlitz
Robert Byrd (Illustrator)
**Starred Review** PublishersWeekly
**Starred Review** Kirkus
**Starred Review** ALA BookList
3.62 avg rating — 3,516 ratings
22 brief monologues that provide insight into life in a medieval village.
Common Core Recommended
Word Count: 12,495
Page Count: 85
Accelerated Reading level:
5.6 / points: 2.0
AR quiz: 115900
Lexile: NP
--sample pages and other reviews available
2007
The Higher Power of Lucky
(The Hard Pan Trilogy, #1)
by Susan Patron
ALA Notable Book For Children
**Starred Review** Kirkus
3.52 avg rating — 6,312 ratings
Lucky
is a girl full of fear. Her mother died young and her father never
wanted children which leaves her, oddly enough, with her dad's first
wife, Brigitte, who is French. That wouldn't be a problem except that
Lucky fears Brigitte might return to France.
Trying
to cope, Lucky listens to a 12 Step Program from which she gathers that
she needs to run away in order to 'reach her higher powers'.
Common Core Recommended
Word Count: 29,977
Page Count: 160
Accelerated Reading level:
5.9 / points: 5.0
AR quiz: 110101
Lexile: 1010L
--sample pages and other reviews available
Espanole
Poder Superior De Lucky
2006
Criss Cross
by Lynne Rae Perkins
3.27 avg rating — 4,338 ratings
Criss-Cross
is one of Perkins' more subtle stories. As a consequence some people
hate it, while others just love it. The story is about regular people.
The theme is how we try to communicate, and fail; and how we love and
yet frequently work at cross purposes.
Common Core Aligned
Word Count: 48,221
Page Count: 337
Accelerated Reader:
5.5 / points: 7.0
AR quiz: 101361
Lexile: 820L
--
sample pages and other reviews available
2005
Kira-Kira
by Cynthia Kadohata
**Starred Review** ALA BookList
3.85 avg rating — 9,477 ratings
kira-kira (kee' ra kee' ra) means glittering; shining in Japanese.
Katie
and her sister move from a Japanese community in Iowa to southern
Georgia where they are an oddity. Lynn explains to her little sister why
people stop and stare at them on the street, and she keeps Katie's
spirits up in the midst of all the change their family is experiencing.
When
Katie is 10, Lynn falls ill, and slowly their roles become reversed.
Katie becomes the caregiver and together they prepare for Lynn's death.
A tale of small beautiful moments.
Common Core Recommended
Word Count: 44,326
Page Count: 272
Accelerated Reader:
4.7 / points: 7.0
AR quiz: 74071
Lexile: 740L
--sample pages and other reviews available
Espanole
Kira-Kira
Word Count: 44,613
Accelerated Reader:
4.8 / points: 7.0
AR quiz: 74071
2004
The Tale of Despereaux
Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread
by Kate DiCamillo
3.96 avg rating — 56,924 ratings
An interesting tale that involves a princess, a servant girl, a mouse, and a devious rat.
The mouse, Despereaux, is in love with the princess, Pea, who is sad because her mother just died. The servant girl, Miggery Sow, who is unattractive, longs to be a princess. And the rat, Roscuro,
tries to take advantage of all this to take Pea hostage in the
dungeon. Despite some dark themes, the book manages to reward readers
with a tale where good eventually overcomes evil.
Common Core Recommended
Word Count: 32,375
Page Count: 267
Accelerated Reader:
4.7 / points: 5.0
AR quiz: 70401
Lexile: 670L
--
sample pages and other reviews available
Espanole
Despereaux
2003
Crispin: The Cross of Lead
by Avi
3.57 avg rating — 10,198 ratings
Personally,
I'm not a huge fan of this book and I wouldn't recommend it to Adults
or Young Adults who are widely read. The characters are predictable and
flat, as is the plot.
Tweens and Middle-schoolers might enjoy this book, and it would be a nice accompanying piece
for a history unit on the 14th Century. I think Avi recreates the
historical era very accurately.
The
story is about a boy who is born out of wedlock, and who lives in
almost unbearable poverty with his mother. When she dies great events
are set into motion. Asta's son learns from the village priest that his
Christian name is Crispin, and that his mother could read and write.
He also learns that he must leave the estate because the steward means
to have him murdered.
Escaping he meets up with a
red-haired juggler who becomes a teacher and protector. A 'satisfying'
ending awaits readers in the right age range, as the pauper becomes much
more.
Word Count: 48,194
Page Count: 320
Accelerated Reading level:
5.0 / points: 7.0
AR quiz: 58513
Lexile: 780L
--sample pages and other reviews available
A Guide for Using Crispin: The Cross of Lead in the Classroom
Page Count: 48 pages
2002
A SINGLE SHARD
by Linda Sue Park
**Starred Review** SchoolLibraryJournal
**Starred Review** PublishersWeekly
**Starred Review** Kirkus
**Starred Review** ALA BookList
3.85 avg rating — 14,892 ratings
The
setting is 12th century Korea. In this story Tree-ear is a 12-year-old
orphan who lives in a seaside village where he longs to make something
of himself. In short order he becomes interested in the celadon pottery
that his village is famous for. And he becomes the apprentice of Min, a
short-tempered and difficult potter. He works hard and eventually gains
his master's approval.
When
tasked to deliver sample pottery to the royal court in order to
convince the king's representative to give Min a commission Tree-ear
sets off, only to run into difficulties so that he arrives at the court
with only a single shard to show them.
Common Core Recommended
Word Count: 33,726
Page Count: 176
Accelerated Reading level:
6.6 / points: 6.0
AR quiz: 49768
Lexile: 920L
--
sample pages and other reviews available
2001
BUD, NOT BUDDY
by Christopher Paul Curtis
Coretta Scott King Award
3.82 avg rating — 37,697 ratings
Bud
--"not Buddy"-- Caldwell is 10 year's old and an orphan on the run.
It's the 1930s and Bud has gotten the notion that Herman E. Calloway, a
standup-bass player, is his father.
Being
10, Bud heads out to track down Calloway, and on the way gets into all
sorts of trouble. He barely manages to escape a monster-infested
woodshed, and he ends up stealing a vampire's car... and more. Humorous
and touching.
Common Core Recommended
Word Count: 52,179
Page Count:: 256
Accelerated Reading level:
5.0 / points: 8.0
AR quiz: 29554
Lexile: 950L
--sample pages and other reviews available
Espanole
Me Llamo Bud, No Buddy
compiled by Pam
updated September 2013
BACK TO -> NEWBERY WINNERS from 1920's to the Present
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