Who Will Win? 2023 Newbery Predictions
As we narrow down our Heavy Medal Mock list and prepare for our Zoom conversation, the 2023 Newbery committee is also rereading titles before their big discussions. We touched base to determine our predictions.
HMAC Newbery Winner:
Emily’s Pick: AIN’T BURNED ALL THE BRIGHT by Jason Reynolds. Yep,I think the committee sees a lot of strength in this one and is going to come to a consensus that Jason Reynolds made the magic happen.
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Steven’s Pick: I’m guessing a tight race between THE LAST MAPMAKER and THE OGRESS AND THE ORPHANS, and give the nod to OGRESS.
Heavy Medal Zoom Viewers Poll Winner: (sign up for Friday’s Zoom session here)
Emily’s Pick: THE LAST MAPMAKER. I feel like the votes are gonna come in heavy for this one.
Steven’s Pick: THE OGRESS AND THE ORPHANS. Since it’s also my HMAC pick, and I believe the viewers of the discussion will be heavily influenced by the words and insights of our amazing committee.
Heavy Medal Readers Poll Winner:
Emily’s Pick: THE OGRESS AND THE ORPHANS. (I promise I did not cheat and look at any poll results)
Steven’s Pick: THE LAST MAPMAKER by a nose over OGRESS (I also did not cheat). Not everyone’s favorite, but lots of people like it a lot. It’s been a favorite with HM readers all year and has held up pretty well in discussion.
2023 Newbery Winner
Emily’s Pick: Is it a cop out to say I HAVE NO IDEA? OK fine, FARMHOUSE! Sophie Blackall making history with her one sentence picture book.
Steven’s Pick: THE DOOR OF NO RETURN by Kwame Alexander. Important story, powerful themes, riveting plot. And the verse form works very well.
The One You Wish Would Win, But Probably Won’t:
Emily’s Pick: AFRICAN TOWN, love, love, love. And watch it doesn’t win anything anywhere.
Steven’s Pick: BUZZKILL. And if that’s too much of a longshot, maybe AVIVA VS. THE DYBBUK.
We Discussed on HM, but Maybe Another Award if Not Newbery [Printz, Sibert, Belpre, etc.]
Emily’s Pick: I MUST BETRAY YOU for the Printz! I’m still in shock this one didn’t make our final five.
Steven’s Pick: I’m thinking about BLUE for the Caldecott. And I would be happy to see BUZZKILL or HOW TO BUILD A HUMAN (or both) on the Sibert list.
Final Comments:
Emily: I’m actually the most curious about what title (s) we totally missed this year… last year it was A SNAKE FALLS TO EARTH… We’ll see what happens!
Steven: I’m always interested to see what makes it outside traditional fiction. Will there be any nonfiction (BUZZKILL! BUZZKILL!), graphic novels, or picture books?
And as always, please leave your predictions in the comments- we love to see them!
Filed under: Book Discussion, Heavy Medal Mock
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.
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I’m an OGRESS girl here, so that’s my hope, desire, one true wish, etc.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Ain’t Burned All the Bright wins a Newbery honor, but I also think this might be Jason Reynolds’ year to win the Edwards.
For the Caldecott, if Blue doesn’t win an honor, at least, I’ll eat my shoe.
I would love to see FARMHOUSE get both Newbery and Caldecott awards!
I see Three Strike Summer by Skylar Schrempp on some Mock results and it was highlighted by Betsy Bird. I don’t think we discussed it here.
Kate, I just finished reading THREE STRIKE SUMMER, and it definitely meets Newbery criteria. It was not on my radar, but is an excellent read.
I’m still hoping for a huge surprise – that the medal and the honors will go to folks who’ve never won before… similar to last year’s choices (even though I only loved WATERCRESS and was underwhelmed by everything else in the slate).
This is not to say that MAPMAKER and OGRESS and BURNED aren’t good books (exemplary in the case of the latter), but I worry that often times we (librarians) focus on previous winners’ output in our predictions.
My 5th grade Mock Newbery voted today for the following:
Winner—The Last Mapmaker
Honor—Blue
Honor—Ain’t Burned All the Bright
Honor—Maízy Chen’s Last Chance
I thought those were solid choices and would be thrilled if any of them have shiny stickers on them in the near future. Personally, I’m rooting for Blue to win big on Monday and Ain’t Burned All the Bright to win the Newbery gold.
I also was shocked I MUST BETRAY YOU did not get in our Top 5. I loved that book. I’m hopeful it gets something. Same with MAIZY CHEN.
Blue needs Sibert
Farmhouse needs something…..
And I won’t say anything else about mock Newbery until after tomorow.
I just finished Yonder, by Ali Standish. I’m really surprised that it hasn’t been discussed at all anywhere that I’ve seen. I thought it was right on target for an awards mention!
My top pick, though, is The Rover’s Story! Oh how I loved that book! I don’t think I’ve ever really read anything quite like it that was not gimmicky or too sentimental.
There have really been so many great books this year, though! I can hardly wait to see which one gets the big one!
I’ve thoroughly enjoyed reading this blog over the years! I look forward to it every September!
I loved Yonder! I liked that it was historical fiction but focused on something a little different than what historical fiction is usually about.
I know the awards aren’t based on what real kids like, but I just have to say that my 9-year-old LOVES Buzzkill! She is really particular about books and mostly reads graphic novels so I was surprised by how much she liked it! She wants to try cricket flour now. Her other favorite from last year was ODDER, which I know got some love on here, but didn’t make it into the final 15.
Your comment raises an intriguing point–what if the Newbery was decided by votes from kids? That would certainly be interesting!
Loved I Must Betray You (10/10). And I so wanted to love Ogress, but for me it was too wordy (8/10). I wanted the pace to pick up. Burned I liked but probably wouldn’t give it the Newbery (9/10). The others mentioned are on my list to read. Our local libraries didn’t have The Last Mapmaker on their radar so I put in a request to be ordered.