The Heavy Medal Mock Newbery Book Discussion Schedule
It’s been another busy year for Heavy Medal. Readers suggested books all year. Then nominated top titles throughout the fall. We finally decided on 16 titles for the final Heavy Medal Book List (HBML). And this past week a bunch of readers applied to take part in the Heavy Medal Award Committee (HMAC). Here’s what’s still to come as we get closer to the climax of our Mock Newbery season:
Heavy Medal Award Committee: Our roster is almost finalized; we’ll share the names of members later this week.
Practice Discussion: Before jumping into our official 16 finalists from the HMBL, we’ll try a practice round with a book that just missed the list. We’ll discuss MAIZY CHEN’S LAST CHANCE on Monday, December 26.
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Real Discussion: Beginning on Monday, January 2, the HMAC will be discussing the 16 titles on the HMBL here on the blog, with a new title almost every day. The list of dates and discussion titles is below. Heavy Medal readers who are not on the HMAC are welcome to join in.
The Final Five: Later in January, the HMAC will select five titles from the 16 as finalists. Date and method for that will be decided in a few weeks.
ZOOM Discussion: Members of the HMAC will discuss that Final Five in a live ZOOM discussion on Friday, January 27 at 1:00 pm EST. You can sign up for this free School Library Journal webcast at this link. The HMAC will select a Mock Newbery winner at the end of the Zoom event. Webcast viewers will also vote on a winner.
Youth Media Awards: Three days after we complete our Heavy Medal Mock Newbery ballots, the real Newbery winner will be announced on Monday, January 30, along with all of the other 2023 Youth Media Awards. The link to the live webcast will be added soon to the ALA Youth Media Awards page.
Emily and I will also squeeze in a couple more general posts in December, because we can’t stop writing about Newbery stuff. We’ll look at the key literary element of “style” (December 23) and also share what the last month of the Newbery season is like for the real committee members (December 30). Meanwhile, here is our schedule for discussing the books from HMBL:
| DATE | TITLE | AUTHOR |
| Mon Jan 2 | BLACK BIRD, BLUE ROAD | Pasternack |
| Tue Jan 3 | BLUE: A HISTORY OF THE COLOR… | Brew-Hammond |
| Wed Jan 4 | I MUST BETRAY YOU | Sepetys |
| Thu Jan 5 | SWIM TEAM | Christmas |
| Fri Jan 6 | A ROVER’S STORY | Warga |
| Sat Jan 7 | HOW TO BUILD A HUMAN | Turner |
| Mon Jan 9 | FARMHOUSE | Blackall |
| Tue Jan 10 | THE OGRESS AND THE ORPHANS | Barnhill |
| Wed Jan 11 | MARSHMALLOW CLOUDS | Kooser & Wanek |
| Thu Jan 12 | THE DOOR OF NO RETURN | Alexander |
| Fri Jan 13 | VIOLET AND JOBIE IN THE WILD | Perkins |
| Sat Jan 14 | AVIVA VERSUS THE DYBBUK | Lowe |
| Mon Jan 16 | AIN’T BURNED ALL THE BRIGHT | Reynolds |
| Tue Jan 17 | ATTACK OF THE BLACK RECTANLGES | King |
| Wed Jan 18 | BERRY SONG | Goade |
| Thu Jan 19 | THE LAST MAPMAKER | Soontornvat |
| Sat/Sun Jan 21/22 | Final 5 Announced | |
| Fri Jan 27 | Live ZOOM Discussion and Balloting |
Filed under: Heavy Medal Mock, Process
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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