Farewell – The Heavy Medal Mock Newbery Process of 2020 Is Officially Over

Now that the 2020 Newbery winners and honors have been revealed and we no longer have to guess and wait, here are some final musings and looking ahead.

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Roxanne: 

I am delighted (and not surprised) at this rare occurrence: that Heavy Medal Award Winner matches the official Newbery pick! Hooray for New Kid! for making Newbery history as the first graphic novel to win the award.  Given that Undefeated received an Honor citation, I guess the text is eligible after all.  Was that a surprise to anyone?  

Steven:

All I can figure is that “previously published” might apply only to print, and not online?  The poem was used to promote ESPN’s “The Undefeated” website in 2016, in a form very close to the book. The Newbery Manual requires that “the text is presented here for the first time and has not been previously published elsewhere in this or any other form.”  Whatever the reason, I was very happy to learn that it was eligible and won the Honor!

Annisha:

I was definitely surprised. I did not think it met the requirements as far as the Newbery criteria, and like Steven mentioned, it was eligible. That win caught me off guard. In a very good way.

Roxanne:

Are there any title that you wished could have made the honors list? Mine are This Promise of Change and Lalani of the Distant Sea, which is our Readers’ choice winner, did not even garner a nod from the Asian/Pacific American Library Association’s literary award. 

Steven:

My biggest disappointment is for Torpedoed. I thought it was just about as engaging and informative as a nonfiction book for kids can be.  But that disappointment was offset by the Honor for Scary Stories for Young Foxes.

Annisha:

I was hoping that A Good Kind of Trouble would have made the honors list, and also This Promise of Change. I’m a little heartbroken The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise wasn’t acknowledged. I felt consolation with Genesis Begins Again and Other Words From Home receiving honors.

Roxanne:

I hope the many other outstanding titles suggested and nominated by our readers, such as Line Tender and To Night Owl from Dogfish will be embraced and loved by many young readers.

A few upcoming books by previous award winning authors will definitely receive some attention: Erin Entrada Kelly’s We Dream of Space, Rebecca Stead’s The List of Things That Will Not Change, Mildred Taylor’s All the Days Past, All the Days to Come, and Jerry Craft’s Class Act.  I can’t wait to read them and also to start seeing suggestions on Heavy Medal.  Monthly suggestions will start in late February. Come back and share your reads!

Steven: 

Also:  The One and Only Bob by Katherine Applegate (a sequel to Ivan, which won the year Roxanne and I were on Newbery).  And Return of the Thief by Megan Whalen Turner is supposed to finally come out this year.

Roxanne:

Right. And don’t forget that these two prequels are coming out, too: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (Hunger Games) and The Enigma Game (Code Name Verity.) Probably long shots for Newbery, but one never knows.

Annisha:

Some upcoming books I am anticipating are: Tristan Strong Destroys the World by Kwame Mbalia, Something to Say by Lisa Moore Ramee, Black Brother, Black Brother by Jewell Parker Rhodes and Stand Up, Yumi Chung by Jessica Kim.

As mentioned above, the 2021 Heavy Medal season will start in late February. Friends and readers, please keep on the lookout for outstanding titles and share with our community in the upcoming months. Now we bid you farewell and happy reading trail!

Filed under: Process