Wednesday Roundup: Middle Grade Fiction: the Newbery Sweet Spot?
This week's "Wednesday Roundup" looks at the many excellent titles from this year that fall into the broad and often-recognized category of middle grade fiction.
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Battle of the books: Compare two Newbery 2025 contenders
With so many excellent books on our Mock Newbery list, we need to really look at what books stand out. Today we do an exercise called "Battle of the Books" where we pin two books against each other.
Fortunately / Unfortunately: The best and worst qualities of Newbery contenders
With so many excellent books on our Mock Newbery list, how do we separate the very good from the truly great? One exercise that might help: the "Fortunately/Unfortunately" game.
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Book Discussion
Wednesday Roundup: Middle Grade Fiction: the Newbery Sweet Spot?
This week's "Wednesday Roundup" looks at the many excellent titles from this year that fall into the broad and often-recognized category of middle grade fiction.
Fortunately / Unfortunately: The best and worst qualities of Newbery contenders
With so many excellent books on our Mock Newbery list, how do we separate the very good from the truly great? One exercise that might help: the "Fortunately/Unfortunately" game.
Distinctive Settings from 2025 Newbery Contenders
A hotel lobby, a marsh with hidden birds, and a midwestern farm are among the many evocative settings from this year's possible Newbery contenders. Will excellence in "delineation of setting" help to earn the 2025 Newbery Medal?
More Recent Posts
The Early 6: The First Sure Things for Our Mock Newbery Book List
We've picked 6! The "Early 6" are titles that we've selected to be part of our Mock Newbery Book List. We'll eventually have about 15 titles on that list, but here's your chance to get started early with reading.
November Nomination Results: Forty five potential Mock Newbery titles
The quest to find the 2025 Heavy Medal Mock Newbery winner continues as the second round of nominations closed last Saturday. Eleven new titles were nominated for a total of 45 Mock Newbery potentials.
Distinctive Settings from 2025 Newbery Contenders
A hotel lobby, a marsh with hidden birds, and a midwestern farm are among the many evocative settings from this year's possible Newbery contenders. Will excellence in "delineation of setting" help to earn the 2025 Newbery Medal?
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Wednesday Roundup: Pointing at Poetry
In this week’s Wednesday roundup, we take a look at a tough topic with a tough Newbery crowd- poetry. Are there any major 2025 Newbery poetry contenders?
Two more titles: November Mock Newbery Nominations
It's time for the second round of nominations. Pick two titles you think are deserving of the 2025 Newbery. Medal.
Are We Up to Date?: Recently Released Books to Consider for Our Mock Newbery
We're less than three months from the announcement of the 2025 Newbery Medal, and the excellent books just keep coming. Today we highlight recently published titles that should be part of this year's awards discussions.
Wednesday Roundup: YA Books as Newbery Contenders?
The age range for Newbery eligibility goes as high as 14-year-olds. Yet most books chosen are aimed at younger readers. Are there any Medal contenders this year that might push the upper limits in terms of reader age and maturity level?
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Recent Comments
Nov 20, 2024
Owen Ridings on Battle of the books: Compare two Newbery 2025 contenders
"I understand what you're saying about the ending of HANK. I would like to argue, however, that a little detail prevents ..."
Nov 20, 2024
Quade Kelley on Battle of the books: Compare two Newbery 2025 contenders
""Authorial artifice." That's excellent. Cool review. So I have a question for Steven. What makes a Newbery "distingu ..."
Nov 19, 2024
Leonard Kim on Battle of the books: Compare two Newbery 2025 contenders
"Quade called QUAG, MAX’s “book art twin”, and I think HANK shares that resemblance, so I’ll pit them against eac ..."
Nov 19, 2024
Owen Ridings on Battle of the books: Compare two Newbery 2025 contenders
"I also agree with you. I was initially enamored with LOUDER THAN HUNGER (and I still think it's a great book), but it fe ..."
Nov 19, 2024
Steven Engelfried on Fortunately / Unfortunately: The best and worst qualities of Newbery contenders
"Thanks for the insight into ACROSS, Bina...I was wondering why I didn't rate this book a bit higher and I think that's i ..."
Nov 19, 2024
Steven Engelfried on Battle of the books: Compare two Newbery 2025 contenders
"Good points about LOUDER, Dest. I appreciated the simplicity in some ways, and the direct way it addressed the issues, b ..."
Nov 18, 2024
Sabrina "Bina" Ponce on Fortunately / Unfortunately: The best and worst qualities of Newbery contenders
"I've been talking a lot about WRONG WAY HOME, so for this exercise I'll do ACROSS SO MANY SEAS. Fortunately, ACROSS ..."
Nov 18, 2024
Brie on Fortunately / Unfortunately: The best and worst qualities of Newbery contenders
"I did not know there was another book in the series and still really enjoyed the book. I did not know what I was missing ..."
Nov 18, 2024
Dest on Battle of the books: Compare two Newbery 2025 contenders
"THE TENTH MISTAKE OF HANK HOOPERMAN VS. LOUDER THAN HUNGER I didn't personally enjoy either of these books, but I see ..."
Nov 18, 2024
Sabrina "Bina" Ponce on The Early 6: The First Sure Things for Our Mock Newbery Book List
"You really nailed it with the goal of not including books that a lot of people have read - for me at least, because I ha ..."
Nov 18, 2024
Emma Roth Smith on Fortunately / Unfortunately: The best and worst qualities of Newbery contenders
"I wish either the story had all fit into one book OR this book had been split into two--one with the Montagu family, end ..."
Nov 18, 2024
Steven Engelfried on Battle of the books: Compare two Newbery 2025 contenders
"THE WRONG WAY HOME vs A STRANGE THING HAPPENED AT CHERRY HALL I appreciate the way both of these books have strong, inv ..."
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