< 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!
The Graveyard Book
By: Neil Gaiman
Illustrated by: Dave McKean
Medal Winner
NOT REVIEWED
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.
From the publisher
After Tupac and D Foster
By: Jacqueline Woodson
Honor
NOT REVIEWED
The day D Foster enters Neeka and her best friend's lives, the world opens up for them. Suddenly they're keenly aware of things beyond their block in Queens, things that are happening in the world—like the shooting of Tupac Shakur—and in search of their Big Purpose in life. When—all too soon—D's mom swoops in to reclaim her, and Tupac dies, they are left with a sense of how quickly things can change and how even all-too-brief connections can touch deeply.
From the publisher
Savvy
By: Ingrid Law
Honor
NOT REVIEWED
Thirteen is when a Beaumont’s savvy hits—and with one brother who causes hurricanes and another who creates electricity, Mibs Beaumont is eager to see what she gets. But just before the big day, Poppa is in a terrible accident. And now all Mibs wants is a savvy that will save him. In fact, Mibs is so sure she’ll get a powerful savvy that she sneaks a ride to the hospital on a rickety bus with her sibling and the preacher’s kids in tow. After this extraordinary adventure—full of talking tattoos and a kidnapping—not a soul on board will ever be the same.
From the publisher
The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba's Struggle for Freedom
By: Margarita Engle
Honor
NOT REVIEWED
It is 1896. Cuba has fought three wars for independence and still is not free. People have been rounded up in reconcentration camps with too little food and too much illness. Rosa is a nurse, but she dares not go to the camps. So she turns hidden caves into hospitals for those who know how to find her.
Black, white, Cuban, Spanish—Rosa does her best for everyone. Yet who can heal a country so torn apart by war?
Using the true story of the folk hero Rosa la Bayamesa, acclaimed poet Margarita Engle gives us another gripping, breathtaking account of a tumultuous period in Cuban history.
From the publisher
The Underneath
By: Kathi Appelt
Honor
Reviewed by: Sherry Early
Recommended age: 10+
It’s set in the Big Thicket and the piney woods of East Texas. It has snake-women, a bird-man, a hundred foot long alligator, kittens, trees that witness history, Caddo Indians, a villain, and an old hound dog. The writing is both lyrical and engaging. The sense of place and the atmosphere are palpable. What more could one ask for in a debut children’s novel?
If you like animal stories, The Underneath is a fantastic animal story about a cat, two kittens, and an old hound dog who sings the blues. If you enjoy Native American legends, The Underneath draws on the stories of the Caddo Indians and the mythology of other Native American peoples and even ancient Egypt and India. If you’re a nature lover, The Underneath has nature in spades.
Read full review