< 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!
A Gathering of Days
By: Joan W. Blos
Medal Winner
NOT REVIEWED
This year, more than others, has been a lengthy gathering of days wherein we lived, we loved, were moved, learned how to accept.
Born to the rigors of life on a small New Hampshire farm, thirteen-year-old Catherine Hall is keeping house for her widowed father and younger sister as she begins her journal in 1830, unaware that it is to be one of the most memorable times of her life. Her father's remarriage introduces a new mother and borther into her home; the plight of a runaway slave opens her eyes to injustice; the tragedy of early death brings her first growing-up grief. And everyday life moves on as well: quilting, berrying, the great "breaking out" after the snowbound winter, sugaring in the spring, rivalries and romances.
Joan Blos's moving novel captures the hardship as well as the tranquility of early American farm life and the sturdiness, the tenderness, of the people whose way of life it was.
From the dust jacket
★
REVIEW TEAM FAVORITE
The Road from Home: The Story of an Armenian Girl
By: David Kherdian
Honor
Reviewed by: Deanna Knoll
Recommended age: Age 12+
Also read and recommended by: Sandy Hall, Sherry Early
This story taught me a history lesson I hadn't ever learned. The extermination of the Armenian people was most likely covered in less than a paragraph in world history class. This book made history personal and helped me understand some of the conflict that has driven the unrest in the Middle East and southern Europe.
The author's deep love for his lost cultural heritage is palpable in his writing, and yet it's hopeful. What I appreciate most about this book is his willingness to split his chest wide open and share his heartaches and sadness through storytelling. The sequel, Finding Home, is also worthwhile, but shares the bewildering challenges of trying to adapt to a culture his family doesn't understand while still retaining the best parts of what they left behind.
