Mock Newbery 2026 discussion

What are your top favorite Newbery titles of all time and which 5 were head-scratchers? Please put how many of the 99 winners that you have read.

My top favorites:

Dead End to Norvelt
Bridge to Terabithia
Roll of Thunder
The Giver
A Single Shard

So many more fantastic titles but today these titles came to mind
(On My Honor and Old Yeller are some of my favorite honor titles that didn’t win- of course Charlotte’s Web too)

Head Scratchers

Hello, Universe
Higher Power of Lucky
Criss Cross
Daniel Boone and most of the 1940 winners
Whipping Boy

I’ve read all the winners

It would be fun to Zoom and discuss the winners through the decades!! Happy reading !!

I have listened to or read all the winners and honor books, except The Story of Mankind, and I’m listening to it right now. I tried reading it once and gradually stopped. Now I have only 2 hours left, and am listening to it for about 30 minutes every night.

I very much dislike the narrator, but the audio is working better than the print for me. Hendrik Willem van Loon is talking down to his audience, probably 12 year olds, and the narrator sounds like she is talking to 4 year olds.

Apparently there is a new narrator, but my library has only the older audio version.

Wow all the honors too! What an accomplishment- I have a lot of honors to go - I hope to have the last 25 year honors read by the 100 anniversary-4 more to go. I saved Story if Mankind for the last one-definitely think the audio is the way to go on that title- what are your favorites?

Shella, I very much like your top favorites :-)

My very favorite Newbery winners:
A Wrinkle in Time
Jacob Have I Loved
The Westing Game
The High King
When You Reach Me
Hero and the Crown
A Year Down Yonder
Crispin
King of the Wind
Adam of the Road

I only have 4 head scratchers:
A Single Shard
Maniac Magee
M. C. Higgins the Great
Dobry

I have read 86 of the Newbery Awards. The ones that I have not read hold no interest for me.

Beverly- I totally forgot about MC Higgins!! That scene with the knife and the girl was very puzzling to me. I know I’m in the minority for Single Shard- I expected to hate it and for some reason I really connected to and admired the protagonist’s loyalty. The book made me want to learn more about ancient Korean pottery lol. There were many titles that held no interest to me- especially the 20s and 30s. Looking back I’m not sure it was a wise choice or not to push through- there are so many great books- not worth the time to force certain books.

Shella wrote: "Beverly- I totally forgot about MC Higgins!! That scene with the knife and the girl was very puzzling to me. I know I’m in the minority for Single Shard- I expected to hate it and for some reason I..."

All four of my head scratchers were because I personally found them extremely dull and boring.

Each book mentioned brings back good memories. I loved the whole Crispin series and I will forever remember a story Katherine Paterson told at her Newbery speech about her mother.

Shella wrote: "Beverly- I totally forgot about MC Higgins!! That scene with the knife and the girl was very puzzling to me. I know I’m in the minority for Single Shard- I expected to hate it and for some reason I..."

I just loved "The Single Shard" in my top 5

My favorite Newbery titles are the ones I read as a child. The feelings haven't changed. I may understand them a little deeper now. My list of favs are too numerous. Stopping at 10.

1. Little Town on the Prairie by Ingalls Wilder
2. Misty of Chincoteague by Henry
3. King of the Wind by Henry (I sure do love my horse books)
4. Rabbit Hill by Lawson
5. Strawberry Girl by Lenski
6. Miss Hickory by Sherwin Bailey
7.Rascal by North
8.The Tale of Despereaux by DiCamillo
9.Ella Enchanted by Carson Levine
10. My Father's Dragon by Gannett

Scratching my head:

The Whipping Boy by Fleischman
Wolf Hollow by Wolk
The Undefeated by Alexander

I have read most of the Newbery and Newbery Honor books at least once.

Interesting that you had so many favorites that were honor books!

Oh man, I LOVED A Single Shard. I remember the year it came out - I predicted it would win the Newbery. It's the only time I've ever correctly predicted the winner. It wasn't my usual sort of book, but I just thought it was fantastic.

Beverly wrote: "My very favorite Newbery winners:
A Wrinkle in Time
Jacob Have I Loved
The Westing Game
The High King
When You Reach Me
Hero and the Crown
A Year Down Yonder
Crispin
King of the Wind
Adam of the Ro..."

My favorites: Maniac Magee, Holes, Caddie Woodlawn, Up a Road Slowly (have reread over 10 times!), The High King, The Grey King, Dicey's Song, Bridge to Terabithia and Dear Mr. Henshaw! My new resolution is to go back and read the Newbery winners I have not read yet.

My top favorite Newbery books are A single Shard, Mrs. Frisby and the rats of NIMH, One and Only Ivan, The Giver, and A Wrinkle in Time. As for head scratchers ones I didn't like M. C. Higgins the Great, The Dark Frigate, Tales from Silver Lands, The Trumpeter of Krakow, and Daniel Boone. I have read all 100 Newbery books at least once just finished in August. As for honer books I've read quite a few but theirs still a lot I haven't. Favorite honers are all the Little House ones, Banner in the Sky, and Because of Winn-Dixie.

I'm just focusing on the winners here. The honor books are too much to sift through.

Favorites:

Giver
Wrinkle in Time
Bridge to Terabithia (just assigned it to some 6th graders last week!)
Mixed Up Files of Mrs. BEF
Island of the Blue Dolphins
Witch of Blackbird Pond
Graveyard Book
Rats of NIMH
When You Reach Me
Out of the Dust (taught this one in October)
Midwife's Apprentice
Dear Mr. Henshaw
Whipping Boy
Door in the Wall
Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices
Lincoln: A Photobiography
Call It Courage
Dead End in Norvelt
Missing May
Rifles for Watie
Adam of the Road
Young Fu of the Upper Yang Tze
Criss Cross

These books are terrible:

Gay Neck
Shen of the Sea
Rabbit Hill
Strawberry Girl
Daniel Boone

I have read all the winners.

I am surprised to see that I gave 24 books five stars. I am a picky reader, and I only give out a handful of five star reviews each year.

As a teacher, many of the books on my personal favorites list will never get used in the classroom for various reasons. I know this is a controversial view, but the older a book gets the harder it is to interest a child in it. So even though I love Adam of the Road, I will probably never hand it to a child.

If the purpose of the Newbery medal is to recognize books that children will actually read, then many of my favorites are obsolete and no longer fill that function.

I saw some comments up the thread about Single Shard. That is a good example of a book that I enjoyed personally, but it turned out to be too slow-paced for many of my students.

Rabbit Hill and Strawberry Girl are two of my absolute favorite Newbery Award winners. I love Robert Lawson (Rabbit Hill) and Lois Lenski’s (Strawberry Girl) illustrations as well. The cover art and interior drawings added so much to my enjoyment of these titles. Just marvelous!

I would love to Zoom- it would be so great to hear why some people love titles while others have them in a head scratcher category. It is fun to see the titles put on favorites lists while others put the same titles on the most disliked lists. One reason why Newbery discussions are never dull.

Laura wrote: "Rabbit Hill and Strawberry Girl are two of my absolute favorite Newbery Award winners. I love Robert Lawson (Rabbit Hill) and Lois Lenski’s (Strawberry Girl) illustrations as well. The cover art an..."

My forced me to read Strawberry Girl "for my own good" when I really wanted to read more trashy Edgar Rice Burroughs novels.

I read Rabbit Hill at camp immediately after Witch of Blackbird Pond and it suffered by comparison. I distinctly remember the disappointment and my feeling that I was way too old (ten) to be reading this book.

I would love a Zoom call. December 17 is my last day of school before winter break, so I will be in a more social/less stressed out mood after that.

Favorite Winners Holes, Despereaux, Maniac Magee, Norvelt
Favorite Honors Charlottes Web, A Long Way from Chicago,
Head Scratchers Flora and Ulysses, Criss Cross, Moon Over Manifest

Oooh buddy, I have plenty of head-scratchers from the early years. I told people for YEARS that my all-time favorite book was Vaino: A Boy of New Finland by Julia Davis Adams, an honor book from the early 30s, and man alive was that hard to get into as an adult.

A few I didn't care for include The White Stag, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, The Giver, and Out of the Dust (which I am currently required to teach...)

A few favorites include A Wrinkle in Time, Ginger Pye, The Hero and the Crown, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (I majored in art history thanks to that book we read in fifth grade!), and New Kid

I hate to hear teachers are forced to teach a title- I have a choice and do two mentor texts for the year so we all have a common story to refer back to- I much prefer book clubs and really believe in voice in choice. Sorry you are in that position to have a forced title.

Andrew wrote: "Oooh buddy, I have plenty of head-scratchers from the early years. I told people for YEARS that my all-time favorite book was Vaino: A Boy of New Finland by Julia Davis Adams, an honor book from th..."

What's up, Andrew? W&W Grade 6? That's why I'm required to teach Out of the Dust.

My students are about 95% African-American and a lot of them know where Michigan is, so Bud Not Buddy (the first required book) went over pretty well. Out of the Dust was more of a reach. If I end up doing it again, I will introduce it as a book about how to deal with trauma. I think that would be good hook for at least some of my students.

I would prefer to choose my own books. I am looking for ways to make upgrades here and there. For example, I refuse to teach Ramayana: Divine Loophole and use Hanuman: Based on Valmiki's Ramayana instead. I would also like to swap out Blood on the River at some point, but I'm not sure what I would use instead just yet.

What do you think about this article?

https://slate.com/culture/2022/01/new...


To me, children's literature has greatly improved through time.
While I like to keep the old titles around, for historical context, new titles provide diversity and are more presentable to children.

Even as bad as some of the older books may be, having a historical reference is important. Students should not be made to read any books- ever. Voice in choice is so vital. While some winners may only have a small audience, this award is critical so corporate bottom lines are not the only driving force in children’s literature. It is a bonus when a popular book happens to win, but popularity should never be considered. There is a danger out there where in the name of diversity, some books are pushed, but the quality is not there. Diversity and quality must go hand-in-hand. To me Starfish did that this year- fat-shaming and serious bullying are rarely featured. This book did this on a distinguished level. I happened to like the verse as a vehicle to depict the characters and story. I know many others did not like it in verse. Thanks for posting this article!!

Kristen wrote: "What do you think about this article?

https://slate.com/culture/2022/01/new...


To me, children's literature has greatly improved through time.
While I like..."

I thought it was an okay article. I thought it was a bit hard on Island of the Blue Dolphins.

Something I've realized is that some books just don't age well because of the writing style. It's harder for a child in 2022 to read Johnny Tremain than it was for me in 1990. 32 years have passed, and we don't talk about things the same way or tell stories the same way that we used to. The difficulty level of books increases over time. Look at The Dark Frigate, for example. 90+ years ago, that was considered a children's book.

Phil wrote: "Kristen wrote: "What do you think about this article?

https://slate.com/culture/2022/01/new...


To me, children's literature has greatly improved through ti..."

I preferred National Review's rebuttal to the Slate article:
https://www.nationalreview.com/corner...

First, I agree with a great deal of the Slate article.

As far as older books becoming more challenging for modern readers: while I don't doubt there's truth to that, I think sometimes it's less that the older literature has become more challenging as opposed to shifts in our idea of what constitutes "good writing." My favorite example is "The Apprentice of Florence" by Ann Kyle, a Newbery Honor recipient from the 1930s. Truly, that book may have been deemed exceptional for the time it was written but to me it reads like a book in desperate need of an editor. It feels unfocused and wildly overwritten.

Some of it may also relate to target demographic. "Smoky the Cowhorse," which won a Newbery Medal, was written for adults, and the author was confused as to why it was chosen for the award. "Enchantress from the Stars" (Newbery Honor, 1971, and one of my all-time favorites) was written for older teenagers and the author has expressed discomfort with its designation as children's literature.

I think, on the whole, children's literature has and continues to improve.

Westing Game
Wrinkle in Time
View from Saturday
From the Mixed up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
Number the Stars
The Giver
Last Stop on Market Street
The Eyes and the Impossible

My favorites:

High King
Last Cuentista
The Girl Who Drank the Moon
The Bronze Bow
A Wrinkle in Time
Holes
Joyful Noise
Westing Game
Dear Mr. Henshaw
Mrs. Frisby & the Rats of NIMH

So MANY favorites for me; it’s hard to narrow down to 5:
Walk Two Moons
Number the Stars
The Giver
Tale of Despereaux
A Single Shard

A few head scratchers:
Last Stop on Market Street (young audience imo - K-2)
Higher Power of Lucky
Dear Mr Henshaw

I’ve always been amazed that Charlotte’s Web didn’t win the Newbery - it’s one of my most memorable, endearing and impacting childhood reads (and I’ve reread it several times) ❤️

With the exception of Across So Many Seas, I thought the rest of the 2025 Newbery Honor books were head scratchers.

Kathleen wrote: "I have listened to or read all the winners and honor books, except The Story of Mankind, and I’m listening to it right now. I tried reading it once and gradually stopped. Now I have ..."

You are right he talks down to his audience. My favorite quote from the story of mankind.

"As for Sulla, he became "Dictator," which meant sole and supreme ruler of all the Roman possessions. He ruled Rome for four years, and he died quietly in his bed, having spent the last year of his life tenderly raising his cabbages, as was the custom of so many Romans who had spent a lifetime killing their fellow-men."

Phil wrote: " I thought it was a bit hard on Island of the Blue Dolphins..."

I actually think the article's suggestion was brilliant - not to censor or belatedly edit a title, but to give it an introduction that incorporates some critical analysis and framing.

The article was referring to an edition titled "Sara L. Schwebel’s Island of the Blue Dolphins: The Complete Reader’s Edition", which "situates Scott O’Dell’s 1961 Newbery winner within the “Vanishing Indian” tradition, demonstrating how the book has participated in the projects of settler colonialism and national mythmaking."

That seems very helpful!

It seems to me, that even if you disagree with the point made in the new edition's analysis, the introduction of an alternate view fairly invites future readers to come up with their own alternate view of the book as well as all other books they read.