Mock Newbery Reader’s Poll Winner: FIGHTING WORDS by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

155 participants cast a vote in the Heavy Medal Reader’s Poll, and FIGHTING WORDS by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley is the winner. Three other titles are grouped fairly closely following the leader, so these would earn Honors.
- Winner: FIGHTING WORDS by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
- Honor: EVERYTHING SAD IS UNTRUE by Daniel Nayeri
- Honor: WHEN STARS ARE SCATTERED by Victoria Jamieson & Omar Mohamed
- Honor: ECHO MOUNTAIN by Lauren Wolk
The Reader’s Poll included a write-in option, where 13 books were named. Two of these received two write-in votes: A WISH IN THE DARK by Christina Soontornvat and WE DREAM OF SPACE by Erin Entrada Kelly. Reader’s Poll results are listed below.
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One day before the Reader’s Poll closed, the Heavy Medal Award Committee selected a different winner. Details of their live discussion and balloting are in this post.
And of course, the actual Newbery Medal winner will be announced on January 25th during the American Library Association’s Youth Media Awards presentation, which starts at 9:00 am EST / 6:00 am PST.
Title | Votes | % |
FIGHTING WORDS | 24 | 17% |
EVERYTHING SAD IS UNTRUE | 20 | 14% |
WHEN STARS ARE SCATTERED | 16 | 11% |
ECHO MOUNTAIN | 15 | 11% |
SHOW ME A SIGN | 10 | 7% |
SNAPDRAGON | 10 | 7% |
KING AND THE DRAGONFLIES | 9 | 6% |
PRAIRIE LOTUS | 8 | 6% |
A GAME OF FOX AND SQUIRRELS | 7 | 5% |
SKUNK AND BADGER | 7 | 5% |
CHANCE | 5 | 4% |
THE LIST OF THINGS THAT WILL NOT CHANGE | 4 | 3% |
WHEN YOU TRAP A TIGER | 3 | 2% |
THE RISE AND FALL OF CHARLES LINDBERGH | 2 | 1% |
OVERGROUND RAILROAD | 0 | 0% |
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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