< Newbery Medal and Honor Books
Given the Newbery Award's prestige it would be easy to assume that the award winners are all excellent books for children. The Biblioguides Team has not found this to be the case. We always want to provide parents with the information they need to make the best book decisions for their families. With that goal in mind, we've put together a complete list of all medal winners and honor books since inception, and the Biblioguides Review Team is working together to read our way through the winners and to provide a review. Where we have not yet reviewed a book, a description directly from the dust jacket or from the publisher has been provided. In some cases, we have shared a brief synopsis from The Newbery and Caldecott Awards: A Guide to the Medal and Honor Books (1999).
Reviews are the thoughts and opinions of the particular reviewer and do not necessarily represent all members of the team. Reviews will continue to be added as the team reads more of the Newbery books. We hope this list will help you familiarize yourself with the various winners and provide the necessary information to determine which books would be a good fit for your family!
★
REVIEW TEAM FAVORITE
Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
By: Jean Lee Latham
Illustrated by: John O'Hara Cosgrave, II
Medal Winner
Reviewed by: Lara Lleverino
Recommended age: 11+
Also read and recommended by: Deanna Knoll, Diane Pendergraft, Sandy Hall, Sherry Early, Tanya Arnold
Nathaniel Bowditch is a somewhat fictionalized story of a real life person. Set in New England post Revolutionary War the story gives a living look into the birth pangs suffered by a new country trying to stand on its own two feet. The hardships that come with establishing it’s own currency and discovering the best use of its natural resources. Hunger and illness is a constant threat and it takes a special character to carve out the will to not only survive but thrive and make discoveries that easy the burden for others. Nat Bowditch is a shining example of someone who owned his own education and who never used his circumstances as an excuse to remain ignorant. From teaching himself multiple foreign languages and math one might just write him off as a genius with his head in the clouds but Nat takes the time to always help those around him. The real books Nat left behind can be found online and are shining examples of what dogged persistence can do and the spirit of gaining and sharing knowledge for progress.
The Golden Name Day
By: Jennie D. Lindquist
Illustrated by: Garth Williams
Honor
NOT REVIEWED
A NAME DAY all her own! Nancy had never heard of this Swedish custom until she came to live for a year with Grandma and Grandpa Benson because her mother was sick. To her intense disappointment, Nancy finds that her name is not listed in the Swedish Almanac, so there is no day set aside especially for her.
Although the problem of a name day for Nancy is never far from anyone's mind, her life with the Bensons is filled with a shining, spontaneous delight. In a household where the slightest occasion calls for a celebration—complete with grandparents, cousins, uncles, aunts, and animals—it is impossible to be unhappy. But, of course, it is equally impossible to be the only one without a name day.
The many exquisite and delicate pictures by Garth Williams help to make this book as fresh and sunny as the yellow roses Nancy loves, and as memorable as the marvelous day on which she finally gets a name day all her own.
From the dust jacket
★
REVIEW TEAM FAVORITE
Men, Microscopes and Living Things
By: Katherine B. Shippen
Illustrated by: Anthony Ravielli
Honor
Reviewed by: Deanna Knoll
Recommended age: Age 12+
Also read and recommended by: Sandy Hall, Sarah Kim
Providing an overview of scientists from the beginning of written history, this book is a great introduction to comprehending the progress humankind has made in understanding the natural world. While I got bogged down occasionally in the in mundane descriptions of scientific discoveries, overall, it is a worthwhile book to have on your library shelf.
The Secret River
By: Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
Illustrated by: Leonard Weisgard
Honor
NOT REVIEWED
Come into the forest with Calpurnia, a little girl who loves to make poems. Her dog Buggy-horse is with her, for he goes wherever she does.
It is a sunny day as Calpurnia starts out. Hard times have come to the forest, and her father has no fish to sell. She must find a place where there are fish...
So we go with her as she finds her secret river, and come back with her when it is all moonlight and mystery in the forest and:
The little night things
Have songs and wings.
In time of need Calpurnia has found her secret river. Can she find it again? Where is this secret river? And do we all have secret rivers of our own?
This story means something to everyone who reads it, and to everyone who has imagination.
When she died, The Secret River was found among her papers. Julia Scribner Bigham, her literary executor, tells about it in her preface to the book.
This is the only story that MARJORIE RAWLINGS wrote directly for children. Her letters show that she wanted the story to stand as a conception of the universal child and of the imagination of childhood.
From the dust jacket
