In 1922 the American Library Association awarded it's first prize, and since then authors and readers have eagerly awaited the announcements of the new years winners.
**The Newbery is considered the oldest and most prestigious children's book award given in the United States.
Here are the Newbery Medal winners for the last 10 years:
- 2010: Moon Over Manifest, by Clare Vanderpool.
- 2010: When You Reach Me, by Rebecca Stead.
- 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, by Kate DiCamillo.
- 2003: Crispin: The Cross of Lead, by Avi.
- 2002: A Single Shard, by Linda Sue Park.
Moon Over Manifest
by Clare Vanderpool.
Description: Abilene Tucker feels abandoned. Her father has put her on a train, sending her off to live with an old friend for the summer while he works a railroad job. Armed only with a few possessions and her list of universals, Abilene jumps off the train in Manifest, Kansas, aiming to learn about the boy her father once was.
Having heard stories about Manifest, Abilene is disappointed to find that it’s just a dried-up, worn-out old town. But her disappointment quickly turns to excitement when she discovers a hidden cigar box full of mementos, including some old letters that mention a spy known as the Rattler. These mysterious letters send Abilene and her new friends, Lettie and Ruthanne, on an honest-to-goodness spy hunt, even though they are warned to “Leave Well Enough Alone.”
Having heard stories about Manifest, Abilene is disappointed to find that it’s just a dried-up, worn-out old town. But her disappointment quickly turns to excitement when she discovers a hidden cigar box full of mementos, including some old letters that mention a spy known as the Rattler. These mysterious letters send Abilene and her new friends, Lettie and Ruthanne, on an honest-to-goodness spy hunt, even though they are warned to “Leave Well Enough Alone.”
Abilene throws all caution aside when she heads down the mysterious Path to Perdition to pay a debt to the reclusive Miss Sadie, a diviner who only tells stories from the past. It seems that Manifest’s history is full of colorful and shadowy characters—and long-held secrets. The more Abilene hears, the more determined she is to learn just what role her father played in that history. And as Manifest’s secrets are laid bare one by one, Abilene begins to weave her own story into the fabric of the town.
- Audience: Middle Grades and up
- Hardcover: 368 pages
- Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
- ISBN-10:0385738838
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Technical data:
Word Count: 81,369
Accelerated Reading level: 5.3 / points: 12.0
AR quiz: 140091
2010: When You Reach Me
by Rebecca Stead
Description: Tree-ear is an orphan boy in a 12th-century Korean potters’ village. For a long time he is content living with Crane-man under a bridge barely surviving on scraps of food. All that changes when he sees master potter Min making his beautiful pottery. Tree-ear sneaks back to Min’s workplace and dreams of creating his own pots someday. When he accidentally breaks a pot, he must work for the master to pay for the damage. Though the work is long and hard, Tree-ear is eager to learn. Then he is sent to the King’s Court to show the master’s pottery. Little does Tree-ear know that this difficult and dangerous journey will change his life forever.
- Audience: Middle Grades and up
- Hardcover: 208 pages
- Publisher: Wendy Lamb Books
- ISBN-10: 0385737424
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Technical data:
Word Count: 39,253
Accelerated Reading level: 4.5 / points: 6.0
AR quiz: 131144
2009: The Graveyard Book
by Neil Gaiman
Description: It takes a graveyard to raise a child.
Nobody Owens, known as Bod, is a normal boy. He 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 gateway 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.
- Audience: Tween and up
- Paperback: 336 pages
- Publisher: HarperCollins
- ISBN-10: 0060530944
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Technical data:
Word Count: 67,380
Accelerated Reading level: 5.1 / points: 10.0
AR quiz: 125535
2008: Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!: Voices from a Medieval Village
by Laura Amy Schlitz.
Description: You'll step back into an English village in 1255, where life plays out in dramatic vignettes illuminating twenty-two unforgettable characters.
Maidens, monks, and millers’ sons — in these pages, readers will meet them all. There’s Hugo, the lord’s nephew, forced to prove his manhood by hunting a wild boar; sharp-tongued Nelly, who supports her family by selling live eels; and the peasant’s daughter, Mogg, who gets a clever lesson in how to save a cow from a greedy landlord. There’s also mud-slinging Barbary (and her noble victim); Jack, the compassionate half-wit; Alice, the singing shepherdess; and many more. With a deep appreciation for the period and a grand affection for both characters and audience, Laura Amy Schlitz creates twenty-two riveting portraits and linguistic gems equally suited to silent reading or performance. Illustrated with pen-and-ink drawings by Robert Byrd — inspired by the Munich-Nuremberg manuscript, an illuminated poem from thirteenth-century Germany — this witty, historically accurate, and utterly human collection forms an exquisite bridge to the people and places of medieval England.
Maidens, monks, and millers’ sons — in these pages, readers will meet them all. There’s Hugo, the lord’s nephew, forced to prove his manhood by hunting a wild boar; sharp-tongued Nelly, who supports her family by selling live eels; and the peasant’s daughter, Mogg, who gets a clever lesson in how to save a cow from a greedy landlord. There’s also mud-slinging Barbary (and her noble victim); Jack, the compassionate half-wit; Alice, the singing shepherdess; and many more. With a deep appreciation for the period and a grand affection for both characters and audience, Laura Amy Schlitz creates twenty-two riveting portraits and linguistic gems equally suited to silent reading or performance. Illustrated with pen-and-ink drawings by Robert Byrd — inspired by the Munich-Nuremberg manuscript, an illuminated poem from thirteenth-century Germany — this witty, historically accurate, and utterly human collection forms an exquisite bridge to the people and places of medieval England.
Technical data:
Word Count: 12,495
Accelerated Reading level: 5.6 / points: 2.0
AR quiz: 115900
For Teachers: Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!: A Study Guide (Novel-Ties)
2007: The Higher Power of Lucky
by Susan Patron.
Description: Lucky, age ten, can't wait another day. The meanness gland in her heart and the crevices full of questions in her brain make running away from Hard Pan, California (population 43), the rock-bottom only choice she has.
It's all Brigitte's fault -- for wanting to go back to France. Guardians are supposed to stay put and look after girls in their care! Instead Lucky is sure that she'll be abandoned to some orphanage in Los Angeles where her beloved dog, HMS Beagle, won't be allowed. She'll have to lose her friends Miles, who lives on cookies, and Lincoln, future U.S. president (maybe) and member of the International Guild of Knot Tyers. Just as bad, she'll have to give up eavesdropping on twelve-step anonymous programs where the interesting talk is all about Higher Powers. Lucky needs her own -- and quick.
It's all Brigitte's fault -- for wanting to go back to France. Guardians are supposed to stay put and look after girls in their care! Instead Lucky is sure that she'll be abandoned to some orphanage in Los Angeles where her beloved dog, HMS Beagle, won't be allowed. She'll have to lose her friends Miles, who lives on cookies, and Lincoln, future U.S. president (maybe) and member of the International Guild of Knot Tyers. Just as bad, she'll have to give up eavesdropping on twelve-step anonymous programs where the interesting talk is all about Higher Powers. Lucky needs her own -- and quick.
But she hadn't planned on a dust storm. Or needing to lug the world's heaviest survival-kit backpack into the desert.
Technical data:
Word Count: 29,977
Accelerated Reading level: 5.9 / points: 5.0
AR quiz: 110101
For teachers:
The Higher Power of Lucky - Teacher Guide by Novel Units
The Higher Power of Lucky: Grades 5 - 6 (Literature Kit)
2006: Criss Cross
by Lynne Rae Perkins.
Description: She wished something would happen. Something good. To her. Looking at the bright, fuzzy picture in the magazine, she thought, Something like that. Checking her wish for loopholes, she found one. Hoping it wasn"t too late, she thought the word soon.
Note: this one wasn't very popular with readers.
- Audience: Young Adult
- Paperback: 368 pages
- Publisher: Greenwillow Books
- ISBN-10: 0060092742
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Technical data:
Word Count: 48,221
Accelerated Reading level: 5.5 / points: 7.0
AR quiz: 101361
For Teachers: A Guide for Using Criss Cross in the Classroom
2005: Kira-Kira
by Cynthia Kadohata.
Description: Cynthia Kadohata's bracingly human, Newbery Medal-winning novel, Kira-Kira, captures the poignant family ties among two sisters, their parents, and their brother in post-WWII Georgia after they move from their Japanese community in Illinois. As her sibling Lynn falls desperately sick, young Katie grapples with mature responsibilities that she could have never before imagined.
- Audience: Middle Grades and up
- Paperback: 272 pages
- Publisher: Atheneum
- ISBN-10: 0689856407
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Technical data:
Word Count: 44,326
Accelerated Reading level: 4.7 / points: 7.0
AR quiz: 74071
For Teachers: A Guide for Using Kira-Kira in the Classroom (Literature Unit)
2004: The Tale of Despereaux
by Kate DiCamillo.
Description: Despereaux Tilling is a mouse who is in love with music, stories, and a princess named Pea. It is also the story of a rat called Roscuro, who lives in the darkness and covets a world filled with light. And it is the story of Miggery Sow, a slow-witted serving girl who harbors a simple, impossible wish. These three characters are about to embark on a journey that will lead them down into a horrible dungeon, up into a glittering castle, and, ultimately, into each other's lives.
- Audience: elementary and up
- Paperback: 272 pages
- Publisher: Candlewick
- ISBN-10: 0763625299
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Technical data:
Word Count: 32,375
Accelerated Reading level: 4.7 / points: 5.0
AR quiz: 70401
For Teachers: A Guide for Using The Tale of Despereaux in the Classroom
2003: Crispin: The Cross of Lead
by Avi.
Description: Asta's Son" is all he's ever been called. The lack of a name is appropriate, because he and his mother are but poor peasants in 14th century medieval England. But this thirteen-year-old boy who thought he had little to lose soon finds himself with even less no home, no family, or possessions. Accused of a crime he did not commit, he may be killed on sight, by anyone. If he wishes to remain alive, he must flee his tiny village. All the boy takes with him is a newly revealed name Crispin and his mother's cross of lead.
- Audience: Tween and up
- Paperback: 320 pages
- Publisher: Hyperion Book CH
- ISBN-10: 0786816589
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Technical data:
Word Count: 48,194
Accelerated Reading level: 5.0 / points: 7.0
AR quiz: 58513
For Teachers: A Guide for Using Crispin: The Cross of Lead in the Classroom (Literature Units)
2002: A Single Shard
by Linda Sue Park.
Description: Tree-ear is an orphan boy in a 12th-century Korean potters’ village. For a long time he is content living with Crane-man under a bridge barely surviving on scraps of food. All that changes when he sees master potter Min making his beautiful pottery. Tree-ear sneaks back to Min’s workplace and dreams of creating his own pots someday. When he accidentally breaks a pot, he must work for the master to pay for the damage. Though the work is long and hard, Tree-ear is eager to learn. Then he is sent to the King’s Court to show the master’s pottery. Little does Tree-ear know that this difficult and dangerous journey will change his life forever.
- Audience: Middle Graders and up
- Paperback: 192 pages
- Publisher: Yearling
- ISBN-10: 0440418518
- Look Inside
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Technical data:
Word Count: 33,726
Accelerated Reading level: 6.6 / points: 6.0
AR quiz: 49768
For Teachers: A Guide for Using A Single Shard in the Classroom (Literature Unit)