85 Books to Consider: Mock Newbery Suggestions Updated
Our last suggestion period ended on Saturday. Thanks to everyone who shared their picks for possible Newbery contenders over the past several months. A few notes on the list:
- We wound up with 85 titles receiving 241 suggestions.
- At this point last year we only had 59 titles, so either there are even more excellent books out so far in 2022, or maybe we’re all just reading more widely.
- 35 titles received suggestions this round, and 15 of those are titles that weren’t previously on the list. The new ones are marked with an asterisk.
- The rankings are interesting, but can be deceptive. About 1/3 of eligible titles haven’t even been published yet, so early-year books always look better at this point.
The real Newbery Committee will continue to send in monthly suggestions through the end of the year, but we stop here on Heavy Medal, just to streamline things a bit. Fall publications will definitely be a part of our process, though. In a couple days we’ll take a look at what we have planned for Heavy Medal this year. For now, here’s the list of books that Heavy Medal readers have suggested through the first eight months of 2022:
| TITLE | AUTHOR | SUGs |
| AIN’T BURNED ALL THE BRIGHT | Reynolds | 14 |
| I MUST BETRAY YOU | Sepetys | 12 |
| THE OGRESS AND THE ORPHANS | Barnhill | 12 |
| THOSE KIDS FROM FAWN CREEK | Kelly | 12 |
| THE LAST MAPMAKER | Soontornvat | 11 |
| JENNIFER CHAN IS NOT ALONE | Keller | 10 |
| ANYBODY HERE SEEN FRENCHIE | Connor | 9 |
| NEW FROM HERE | Yang | 8 |
| LOUISA JUNE AND THE NAZIS IN THE WAVE | Elliott | 6 |
| LOVE IN THE LIBRARY | Tokuda-Hall | 6 |
| ALIAS ANNA: A TRUE STORY ABOUT OUTWITTING THE NAZIS | Hood | 5 |
| AND WE RISE | Martin | 5 |
| MY OWN LIGHTNING | Wolk | 5 |
| SOLIMAR | Ryan | 5 |
| CRESS, WATERCRESS | Maguire | 4 |
| DREAM ANNIE DREAM | Brown | 4 |
| FALLING SHORT | Cisneros | 4 |
| HOW TO BUILD A HUMAN | Turner | 4 |
| LITTLE MONARCHS | Case | 4 |
| MAIZY CHEN’S LAST CHANCE | Yee | 4 |
| NORTHWIND | Paulsen | 4 |
| OMAR RISING | Saeed | 4 |
| A DUET FOR HOME | Van Glaser | 3 |
| AFRICAN TOWN | Latham and Water | 3 |
| COMB OF WISHES | Stringfellow | 3 |
| DIFFERENT KINDS OF FRUIT | Lukoff | 3 |
| HEALER AND WITCH | Werlin | 3 |
| THE PASSPORT PROJECT * | McIntyre | 3 |
| THE PATRON THIEF OF BREAD | Eager | 3 |
| THE WOMAN WHO SPLIT THE ATOM | Moss | 3 |
| WHEN WINTER ROBESON CAME | Woods | 3 |
| AVIVA VS. THE DYBBUK | Lowe | 2 |
| FREEWATER | Luqman-Dawson | 2 |
| IN THE KEY OF US | Lockington | 2 |
| MARSHMALLOW CLOUDS | Kooser and Wanek | 2 |
| MOONWALKING | Elliot | 2 |
| TURTLE OF MICHIGAN | Nye | 2 |
| WISHING UPON THE SAME STARS | Feldman | 2 |
| YONDER | Standish | 2 |
| A SONG CALLED HOME | Zarr | 1 |
| AIR | Roe | 1 |
| ALICE AUSTEN LIVED HERE * | Gino | 1 |
| ALL MY RAGE | Tahir | 1 |
| ANSWERS IN THE PAGES * | Levithan | 1 |
| AT THE END OF EVERYTHING | Nijkamp | 1 |
| AUGUSTA SAVAGE * | Nelson | 1 |
| AWAY WITH WORDS | Hoberman | 1 |
| BARE TREE AND LITTLE WIND | Perkins | 1 |
| BEAUTY WOKE | Ramos | 1 |
| BERRY SONG * | Goade | 1 |
| BIG AND SMALL AND IN-BETWEEN | Higgins | 1 |
| BIG RIG * | Hawes | 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 | 1 |
| GIBBERISH | Vo | 1 |
| GOLDEN GIRL * | Faruqi | 1 |
| HUMMINGBIRD | Lloyd | 1 |
| IN THE BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY | Kuo | 1 |
| INVISIBLE * | Gonzalez | 1 |
| THE LAST BEEKEEPER * | Cartaya | 1 |
| LAWLESS SPACES | Haydu | 1 |
| THE LEGEND OF GRAVITY | Palmer | 1 |
| LITTLE HOUSES * | Henkes | 1 |
| LOYALTY | Avi | 1 |
| THE LUCKY ONES | Jackson | 1 |
| THE MIDNIGHT CHILDREN * | Gemeinhart | 1 |
| MY LIFE BEGINS * | Maclachlan | 1 |
| OSMO UNKNOWN AND THE EIGHTPENNY WOODS | Valente | 1 |
| OUT OF RANGE | Lang | 1 |
| QUEER DUCKS (AND OTHER ANIMALS) * | Schrefer | 1 |
| THE RED PALACE | Hur | 1 |
| RED SCARE | Walsh | 1 |
| THE SECRET BATTLE OF EVAN PAO | Shang | 1 |
| THE SHEEP, THE ROOSTER, AND THE DUCK * | Phelan | 1 |
| SINGING WITH ELEPHANTS | Engle | 1 |
| STAR CHILD | Zoboi | 1 |
| THE STAR THAT ALWAYS STAYS * | Johnson | 1 |
| TINY DINO | Freedman | 1 |
| TO THE FRONT | Friddell | 1 |
| THE UNFORGETTABLE LOGAN FOSTER | Peters | 1 |
| VINYL MOON | Browne | 1 |
| WAYWARD CREATURES | Lorentz | 1 |
Filed under: Uncategorized
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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I finally caught up and read all the suggested titles and here we have 15 more. #newberyproblems Thanks for the suggestions all!
The World Belonged to Us – Jacqueline Woodson