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 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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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/