< 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!
Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices
By: Paul Fleischman
Medal Winner
NOT REVIEWED
In this remarkable volume of poetry for two voices, a companion to I AM PHOENIX, Paul Fleischman verbally re-creates the "Booming / boisterous / joyful noise" of insects. The poems resound with the pulse of the cicada and the drone of the honeybee. Eric Beddow's vibrant drawings send each insect soaring, spinning, or creeping off the page in its own unique way.
Paul Fleischman has created not only a clear and fascinating guide to the insect world—from chrysalid butterflies to whirligig beetles—but an exultant celebration of life.
From the dust jacket
In The Beginning: Creation Stories from Around the World
By: Virginia Hamilton
Illustrated by: Barry Moser
Honor
NOT REVIEWED
The origin of the universe, and all that is in it, has always been cause for wonder. For thousands of years, people have made up stories in an attempt to explain the beginning of humankind, the earth, and the cosmos.
Beautifully told by Virginia Hamilton and splendidly illustrated by Barry Moser, In the Beginning is a collection of twenty-five creation myth stories that will engage and fascinate readers while introducing them to cultures around the world. Researched extensively by both author and illustrator, each story includes one or more illustrations—all stunning complements to the text. And each story is followed by author comments that tell about its origin.
The stories in this book reflect the wonderful range of the human imagination. In an Eskimo myth, for example, the first man pushes his way out of a pea pod. In a story from the Kono people of Guinea, death starts the world. A dramatic myth from China tells that the universe was originally in the shape of a hen's egg—and from this burst the first being.
To read the diverse beliefs of people around the world, both ancient and contemporary, broadens our understanding of others and strengthens our own spirituality. Intriguing, often humorous, and always fascinating, In the Beginning is a memorable book for readers of all ages.
From the dust jacket
Scorpions
By: Walter Dean Myer
Honor
NOT REVIEWED
The Scorpions are a gun-toting Harlem gang, and Jamal Hicks is about to become tragically involved with them in this authentic tale of the sacrifice of innocence and the struggle to steer clear of violence.
This book will challenge young men to consider their own decisions as they come of age in a complex and often frustrating society.
Pushed by a bully to fight and nagged by his principal, Jamal is having a difficult time staying in school. His home life is not much better, with his mother working her fingers to the bone to try to earn the money for an appeal for Jamal's jailed older brother, Randy.
Jamal wants to do the right thing and help earn the money to free his brother by working, but he's afraid to go against the Scorpions. Jamal eventually pulls free of the gang's bad influence, but only through the narrowest of escapes.
From the publisher
