September 24, 2011
As my mother can testify, I have never been a great
reader. As a kid, when I was caught reading a book it was always the same one.
I checked out a book called Funny Bones
so many times I knew exactly where it was on the library shelf.
Then something happened. In 2005 I discovered how
reading put me in other worlds. My desire for travel and adventure could,
somewhat, be fulfilled through the pages. I went from reading maybe 10-12 books
a year to 36 books! Reading became a pleasurable pastime.
Halfway through my grad school experience I
discovered that I missed reading for fun. The required reading for my courses
had been informative and, for the most part, interesting. Last summer, I had a
little more time on my hands, so I went to the local library. Not wanting to
read something that required too many of my overworked brain cells, I turned to
the author Lois Lowry who wrote one of my favorite childhood books, Number the Stars.
When I picked up The
Giver, I noticed that along with Number
the Stars this book had won a Newbery Medal. Out of curiosity, I looked up
the list of winners to see how many I had already read. To my surprise, I could
check off three in my late-blooming-literary life.
Then in an instant, it hit me. Why not read all of
the Newbery Medal winners? The Medal is given to the most distinguished
contribution to American literature for children speaking to the quality of the
books. As a Medal winner even the older books should be easy to find. With a
generated list, I would never have to wonder what I was going to read next. And
to top it all off, all of the Newbery books at the local library had a sticker
on the spine so I don’t even have to carry a list! How was this a bad plan?
And so my Newbery Medal Winner literary journey
began. The books in bold shown below are the ones I have read so far. Only two
thirds left!
Newbery Medal Winners
90.) 2011: Moon over Manifest by
Clare Vanderpool
89.) 2010: When
You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
88.) 2009: The
Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, illus. by Dave McKean
87.) 2008: Good
Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village by
Laura Amy Schlitz
86.) 2007: The
Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron, illus. by Matt Phelan
85.) 2006: Criss
Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins
84.) 2005: Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata
83.) 2004: The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some
Soup, and a Spool of Thread by Kate DiCamillo
82.) 2003: Crispin:
The Cross of Lead by Avi
81.) 2002: A
Single Shard by Linda Sue Park
80.) 2001: A
Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck
79.) 2000: Bud,
Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis
78.) 1999: Holes by
Louis Sachar
77.) 1998: Out
of the Dust by Karen Hesse
76.) 1997: The
View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg
75.) 1996: The Midwife's Apprentice by
Karen Cushman
74.) 1995: Walk
Two Moons by Sharon Creech
73.) 1994: The Giver by Lois
Lowry
72.) 1993: Missing
May by Cynthia Rylant
71.) 1992: Shiloh by
Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
70.) 1991: Maniac
Magee by Jerry Spinelli
69.) 1990: Number the Stars by Lois
Lowry
68.) 1989: Joyful
Noise: Poems for Two Voices by Paul Fleischman
67.) 1988: Lincoln:
A Photobiography by Russell Freedman
66.) 1987: The
Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman
65.) 1986: Sarah,
Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan
64.) 1985: The
Hero and the Crown by
Robin McKinley
63.) 1984: Dear Mr. Henshaw by
Beverly Cleary
62.) 1983: Dicey's
Song by Cynthia Voigt
61.) 1982: A
Visit to William Blake's Inn: Poems for Innocent and Experienced Travelers by
Nancy Willard
60.) 1981: Jacob
Have I Loved by
Katherine Paterson
59.) 1980: A
Gathering of Days: A New England Girl's Journal, 1830-1832 by Joan
W. Blos
58.) 1979: The
Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
57.) 1978: Bridge
to Terabithia by
Katherine Paterson
56.) 1977: Roll
of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor
55.) 1976: The
Grey King by
Susan Cooper
54.) 1975: M.
C. Higgins, the Great by Virginia Hamilton
53.) 1974: The
Slave Dancer by Paula Fox
52.) 1973: Julie
of the Wolves by Jean
Craighead George
51.) 1972: Mrs.
Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien
50.) 1971: Summer
of the Swans by Betsy Byars
49.) 1970: Sounder by William H. Armstrong
48.) 1969: The
High King by
Lloyd Alexander
47.) 1968: From
the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L.
Konigsburg
46.) 1967: Up
a Road Slowly by Irene Hunt
45.) 1966: I,
Juan de Pareja by Elizabeth Borton de Trevino
44.) 1965: Shadow of a Bull by Maia
Wojciechowska
43.) 1964: It's
Like This, Cat by
Emily Neville
42.) 1963: A
Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
41.) 1962: The
Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare
40.) 1961: Island
of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell
39.) 1960: Onion
John by Joseph Krumgold
38.) 1959: The
Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
37.) 1958: Rifles
for Watie by Harold Keith
36.) 1957: Miracles on Maple Hill by
Virginia Sorensen
35.) 1956: Carry
On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham
34.) 1955: The
Wheel on the School by
Meindert DeJong
33.) 1954: ...And
Now Miguel by
Joseph Krumgold
32.) 1953: Secret
of the Andes by Ann
Nolan Clark
31.) 1952: Ginger
Pye by
Eleanor Estes
30.) 1951: Amos
Fortune, Free Man by Elizabeth Yates
29.) 1950: The
Door in the Wall by
Marguerite de Angeli
28.) 1949: King
of the Wind by Marguerite Henry
27.) 1948: The Twenty-One Balloons by
William Pène du Bois
26.) 1947: Miss
Hickory by
Carolyn Sherwin Bailey
25.) 1946: Strawberry
Girl by Lois Lenski
24.) 1945: Rabbit
Hill by
Robert Lawson
23.) 1944: Johnny
Tremain by Esther Forbes
22.) 1943: Adam
of the Road by Elizabeth Janet Gray
21.) 1942: The
Matchlock Gun by
Walter Edmonds
20.) 1941: Call
It Courage by Armstrong Sperry
19.) 1940: Daniel
Boone by James Daugherty
18.) 1939: Thimble
Summer by
Elizabeth Enright
17.) 1938: The
White Stag by Kate Seredy
16.) 1937: Roller
Skates by Ruth
Sawyer
15.) 1936: Caddie
Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink
14.) 1935: Dobry by
Monica Shannon
13.) 1934: Invincible
Louisa: The Story of the Author of Little Women by Cornelia Meigs
12.) 1933: Young
Fu of the Upper Yangtze by Elizabeth Lewis
11.) 1932: Waterless
Mountain by Laura Adams Armer
10.) 1931: The
Cat Who Went to Heaven by Elizabeth Coatsworth
09.) 1930: Hitty,
Her First Hundred Years by
RachelThe Field
08.) 1929: The
Trumpeter of Krakow by Eric P. Kelly
07.) 1928: Gay
Neck, the Story of a Pigeon by Dhan Gopal Mukerji
06.) 1927: Smoky,
the Cowhorse by Will James
05.) 1926: Shen of the Sea by Arthur Bowie Chrisman
04.) 1925: Tales
from Silver Lands by Charles Finger
03.) 1924: The
Dark Frigate by Charles Hawes
02.) 1923: The
Voyages of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting
01.) 1922: The
Story of Mankind by Hendrik Willem van Loon
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