First Contenders: The Heavy Medal Mock Newbery reading list…so far

The first round of our monthly “suggestions” is completed, leaving us with a short but interesting list of possible Newbery Medal contenders from the first couple months of 2021. The ten titles suggested so far encompass a wide variety of genres and styles, including autobiography, fantasy, mystery, science fiction, and poetry, plus there’s a story collection and a novel in verse.
Our next call for suggestions comes on April 5th. Here’s the list so far:
Title | Author | Total |
JUST LIKE THAT | Schmidt | 3 |
GONE TO THE WOODS | Paulsen | 2 |
UNSPEAKABLE | Weatherford | 2 |
ANCESTOR APPROVED | Smith | 1 |
LEGACY: WOMEN POETS OF THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE | Grimes | 1 |
LION OF MARS | Holm | 1 |
MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE OF AIDAN S. | Levithan | 1 |
ONE JAR OF MAGIC | Haydu | 1 |
RED, WHITE, AND WHOLE | LaRocca | 1 |
SEA IN WINTER | Day | 1 |
Filed under: Book Discussion, Heavy Medal Mock, Suggestions

About Steven Engelfried
Steven Engelfried was the Library Services Manager at the Wilsonville Public Library in Oregon until he retired 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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Reading One Jar of Magic right now. I love how Haydu always manages to write these beautifully intricate worlds that help children to understand grief and challenging emotions. I can’t wait to hear what everyone thinks of this book.
Thanks for getting me a good reading list.. I took a little break, but now it’s time to get started!
These titles are not on the Heavy Medal list, but I always enjoy reading Betsy Bird’s prediction lists and her Spring one came out this week– https://blogs.slj.com/afuse8production/2021/03/17/newbery-caldecott-2022-spring-prediction-edition/