The List is Final: The 15 books that will be part of Heavy Medal Mock Newbery ballot
The final Heavy Medal Book List (HMBL) is ready at last! We started with 6 books a few weeks ago. We got to 12 in early December. For the final three books, the members of the Heavy Medal Award Committee (HMAC) cast ballots, each picking three titles from a list of nine strong contenders. The three that received the most votes:
- A GAME OF FOX AND SQUIRRELS by Jenn Reese
- KING AND THE DRAGONFLIES by Kacen Callender
- PRAIRIE LOTUS by Linda Sue Park
The 15 titles below will be discussed here on Heavy Medal, beginning on Monday, December 28th. We’ll do them in alphabetical order by title, but we don’t have a day-by-day schedule just yet. We’re finalizing the date for the live Zoom discussion that will happen after the online discussions, and that will impact the schedule a bit. More details will follow soon.
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With apologies to all of the excellent books that didn’t make the list, here is the Heavy Medal Book List for 2021:
| Title | Author |
| CHANCE | Shulevitz |
| ECHO MOUNTAIN | Wolk |
| EVERYTHING SAD IS UNTRUE | Nayeri |
| FIGHTING WORDS | Bradley |
| A GAME OF FOX AND SQUIRRELS | Reese |
| KING AND THE DRAGONFLIES | Callender |
| THE LIST OF THINGS THAT WILL NOT CHANGE | Stead |
| OVERGROUND RAILROAD | Cline-Ransome |
| PRAIRIE LOTUS | Park |
| THE RISE AND FALL OF CHARLES LINDBERGH | Fleming |
| SHOW ME A SIGN | Lezotte |
| SKUNK AND BADGER | Timberlake |
| SNAPDRAGON | Leyh |
| WHEN STARS ARE SCATTERED | Jamieson & Mohamed |
| WHEN YOU TRAP A TIGER | Keller |
Filed under: Book Discussion, Heavy Medal Mock
About Steven Engelfried
Steven Engelfried was the Library Services Manager at the Wilsonville Public Library in Oregon until he retired in 2022 after 35 years as a full-time librarian. He served on the 2010 Newbery committee, chaired the 2013 Newbery Committee, and also served on the 2002 Caldecott committee. You can reach him at sengelfried@yahoo.com.
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Gotta say, I am seriously impressed with this list. This might well be one of the most impressive Mock Newbery shortlists I’ve seen in a long time. Well done!
Thanks Betsy! It is an interesting list for sure. A bunch of books that I’d be happy to see with a Medal on the cover, and some that might be long shots, but very intriguing. I see some crossover with your Fall Predictions on Fuse #8 too. I’m glad to see HERE IN THE REAL WORLD on yours…kind of wish that was on this list as well (but you have to stop somewhere).
It is quite a list! I’ve had a favorite and a runner-up in place since EARLY in the year, but in the last week and half (no kidding), I’ve read the ones I hadn’t gotten to yet, and THREE of them are threatening to take the whole thing. I cannot wait for our discussions!
PS: I’m commenting here to see if my avatar upload worked. Fingers crossed.
I am so happy to see Snapdragon on this list. It is my pick for all of it.