And now there are 70 Heavy Medal Mock Newbery Suggestions
August suggestions are now closed, with the totals for the year so far listed below. The top three titles are very different genres (dual voices/verse, fantasy, historical) which doesn’t happen very much. Seven new titles received suggestions this month, bringing our total to a solid 70. Those new titles appear in red below.
We’ve opened suggestions up on the first Monday of the month so far, but we’ll switch it up a bit next time. The call for suggestions will be from August 29th to September 5th, and then the official Heavy Medal season will start right after Labor Day. Discussion time is just around the corner!
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
| AIN’T BURNED ALL THE BRIGHT | Reynolds | 11 |
| THE OGRESS AND THE ORPHANS | Barnhill | 11 |
| I MUST BETRAY YOU | Sepetys | 10 |
| THE LAST MAPMAKER | Soontornvat | 9 |
| THOSE KIDS FROM FAWN CREEK | Kelly | 9 |
| JENNIFER CHAN IS NOT ALONE | Keller | 9 |
| ANYBODY HERE SEEN FRENCHIE | Connor | 8 |
| NEW FROM HERE | Yang | 8 |
| LOVE IN THE LIBRARY | Tokuda-Hall | 6 |
| LOUISA JUNE AND THE NAZIS IN THE WAVE | Elliott | 5 |
| ALIAS ANNA: A TRUE STORY ABOUT OUTWITTING THE NAZIS | Hood | 5 |
| MY OWN LIGHTNING | Wolk | 5 |
| DREAM ANNIE DREAM | Brown | 4 |
| FALLING SHORT | Cisneros | 4 |
| NORTHWIND | Paulsen | 4 |
| MAIZY CHEN’S LAST CHANCE | Yee | 4 |
| OMAR RISING | Saeed | 4 |
| AND WE RISE | Martin | 4 |
| SOLIMAR | Ryan | 4 |
| COMB OF WISHES | Stringfellow | 3 |
| CRESS, WATERCRESS | Maguire | 3 |
| A DUET FOR HOME | Van Glaser | 3 |
| HOW TO BUILD A HUMAN | Turner | 3 |
| LITTLE MONARCHS | Case | 3 |
| WHEN WINTER ROBESON CAME | Woods | 3 |
| AFRICAN TOWN | Latham and Water | 2 |
| DIFFERENT KINDS OF FRUIT | Lukoff | 2 |
| FREEWATER | Luqman-Dawson | 2 |
| IN THE KEY OF US | Lockington | 2 |
| WISHING UPON THE SAME STARS | Feldman | 2 |
| MOONWALKING | Elliot | 2 |
| THE PATRON THIEF OF BREAD | Eager | 2 |
| THE WOMAN WHO SPLIT THE ATOM | Moss | 2 |
| A SONG CALLED HOME | Zarr | 1 |
| AIR | Roe | 1 |
| ALL MY RAGE | Tahir | 1 |
| AT THE END OF EVERYTHING | Nijkamp | 1 |
| AVIVA VS. THE DYBBUK | Lowe | 1 |
| AWAY WITH WORDS | Hoberman | 1 |
| BARE TREE AND LITTLE WIND | Perkins | 1 |
| BEAUTY WOKE* | Ramos | 1 |
| BIG AND SMALL AND IN-BETWEEN | Higgins | 1 |
| CORNBREAD & POPPY* | Cordell | 1 |
| DREW LECLAIR GETS A CLUE | Bury | 1 |
| EACH OF US A UNIVERSE | Ferruolo | 1 |
| ELLEN OUTSIDE THE LINES | Sass | 1 |
| GARDENER OF ALCATRAZ* | Smith | |
| GIBBERISH | Vo | 1 |
| HEALER AND WITCH* | Werlin | 1 |
| HUMMINGBIRD* | Lloyd | 1 |
| IN THE BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY * | Kuo | 1 |
| LAWLESS SPACES | Haydu | 1 |
| THE LEGEND OF GRAVITY | Palmer | 1 |
| LOYALTY | Avi | 1 |
| THE LUCKY ONES | Jackson | 1 |
| MARSHMALLOW CLOUDS | Kooser and Wanek | 1 |
| OSMO UNKNOWN AND THE EIGHTPENNY WOODS* | Valente | 1 |
| OUT OF RANGE | Lang | 1 |
| THE RED PALACE | Hur | 1 |
| RED SCARE | Walsh | 1 |
| THE SECRET BATTLE OF EVAN PAO | Shang | 1 |
| SINGING WITH ELEPHANTS | Engle | 1 |
| STAR CHILD | Zoboi | 1 |
| TINY DINO | Freedman | 1 |
| TO THE FRONT | Friddell | 1 |
| TURTLE OF MICHIGAN* | Nye | 1 |
| THE UNFORGETTABLE LOGAN FOSTER | Peters | 1 |
| VINYL MOON | Browne | 1 |
| WAYWARD CREATURES | Lorentz | 1 |
| YONDER | Standish | 1 |
Filed under: Suggestions
About Emily Mroczek-Bayci
Emily Mroczek (Bayci) is a freelance children’s librarian in the Chicago suburbs. She served on the 2019 Newbery committee. You can reach her at emilyrmroczek@gmail.com.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
SLJ Blog Network
Your Fall Newbery/Caldecott 2025 ‘Hey, Keep an Eye Out’ Lists
Early Sleepy Lines: A Cover Reveal(ish) and Q&A About Wheetle by Cindy Derby
DC Announces Fall 2025 Graphic Novels | News
The Seven Bill That Will Safeguard the Future of School Librarianship
Book Review: Pick the Lock by A. S. King
ADVERTISEMENT
Thank you everyone for the giant list of recommendations. I love these posts for the many reading recommendations that help me get familiar with so many of the greatest children’s books that are published in a year. I really enjoy so many of them.
Ain’t Burned All the Bright
My Own Lightning
Midnight Children
Love in the Library
Ogress and the Orphans
Northwind
The Canteen by Eric Groce (out in October). Nonfiction
Anybody Here Seen Frenchie