Suggest now or forever hold your peace: Heavy Medal 2024 Mock Newbery
And here goes another summer and our final suggestion piece for Heavy Medal! It’s your last time to suggest books to consider for our 2024 Mock Newbery, but don’t worry we will still be able to nominate books later in the year!
Our official Heavy Medal season starts after Labor Day and Steven and I are very excited to get started talking about books ALL FALL LONG!
But for now, let’s build that suggestion list just a little more.
These suggestions serve as a guidepost for our future discussions, when Steven and I start posting three times a week.
By now, most people are aware of our suggestion process- but read this post from March for more information on the details. (Basically- suggest five or less already published titles and feel free to tell us why!) And check out our cumulated list of suggestions here.
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Suggestions are open until the end of the day Saturday September 2.
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.
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I’d love to recommend the poetry in verse novel: The Song of Us by Kate Fussner.
It is a middle grade retelling of Orpheus and Eurídice, and truly captures the highs and lows of middle school love. The poems are beautiful and several pack a punch to the soul.
In no particular order:
Simon Sort of Says
The Labors of Hercules Beal
The Lost Year
Stateless
Superpod
I echo the suggestion for The Song of Us by Kate Fussner! It is one of those middle grade novels that truly captures the range and complexity of middle school life—it is earnest, sad, and honest and will definitely make you cry (but in a beautiful way!)
GOOD DIFFERENT by Meg Eden Kuyatt – Insightful verse novel about a girl who is on the autism spectrum, but doesn’t realize it.
THE FIRE OF STARS by Kirsten Larson – Excellent picture book biography with an effective parallel narrative about the science of stars.
THE RED EAR BLOWS ITS NOSE by Robert Schechter – Another excellent collection of humorous verse with two body parts in the title (see also MY HEAD HAS A BELLYACHE).
THE SONG OF US by Kate Fussner – Among many verse novels this year, this one might have the most impressive use of language.
Wow, thank you so much for mentioning my book, THE RED EAR BLOWS IT NOSE: Poems for Children and Others, which received starred reviews from SLJ, Kirkus Reviews, and Booklist, and is also a Common Sense Media Selection. I hope you order it for your library!
This is my top list for award consideration. I read 13 of the July Heavy Medal top 20 list. I am going into 9th grade and am a book blogger and youth reviewer. Thank you for listing to youth reviews.
1. The Labors Of Hercules Beal by Gary D. Schmidt
2. A First Time for Everything by Dan Santat *
3. The Lost Year by Katherine Marsh F: Historical Fiction *
4. Nearer My Freedom by Monica Edinger and Lesley Younge
5. An American Story by Kwame Alexander, art by Dare Coulter.
I really think that the art for this book is awesome and will help kids understand a difficult message. It is also important to learn about history from many perspectives, and I think young kids need that too. I reviewed many picture books this year, and this one just stands out. I think its more of a Caldecott book, but its so good I am putting it on the list.
* repeat from July
I really hope that a Graphic Novel is on the final list for review discussion. While most of my classmates don’t read books unless they are for class, Graphic Novels are very popular.
Thanks for posting Quade. We already added A First Time for Everything and The Lost Year to the list for you, so you’re welcome to suggest two others if you want.
Graphic novels are definitely “crowd pleasers.” I am glad they are getting more and more recognition, Roller Girl is still one of the top books I recommend.
(2) The Eyes and the Impossible by Dave Eggers
(3) My Head Has a Bellyache by Chris Harris
I am reading The Story of Us right now. It’s really good and will probably be on my list later.
I know this is for Newberry, but if librarians are looking for more new recommendations, these are my top lists for kids (Caldecott):
F/ original Stories:
1. Evergreen by Matthew Cordell
2. Nell Plans a Tree by Anne Wynter & Daniel Miyares
NF/ Science, Environment
1. The Last Plastic Straw BY Deel Romino and Ziyue Chen
2. The Tree and the River by Aaron Becker
3. Jumper by Jessica Lanan
NF/ Biography
1. The Fire of Stars by Kirsten Larson and Katherine Roy
2. The Indestructible Tom Crean by Jennifer Thermes
Thanks, bye.
Have you read Mexikid?? It’s my favorite graphic novel of the year!!
Thank you so much. I will read it right away!
The Song of Us by Kate Fussner. I’m a teacher and so I read a lot of YA but this one tops the list for 2023!
A few of my top MG reads of the year that I haven’t seen mentioned yet:
WILD BIRD by Diane Zahler
OPINIONS & OPOSSUMS by Ann Braden
HALF MOON SUMMER by Elaine Vickers
and like many others, I loved THE LOST YEAR by Katherine Marsh.
My recommendations are:
The Labors of Hercules Beal, by Schmidt
Simon Sort of Says, by Bow
Dust, by Dusti Bowling
Finally Seen, by Yang
I wish I could add this one, but I don’t think it’s eligible, since it’s by multiple authors?
You Are Here: Connecting Flights, edited by Ellen Oh
MANY ASSASSINATIONS OF SAMIR, THE SELLER OF DREAMS by Daniel Nayeri
Eloquent language and strong character development provide the foundation for this historical novel about life on the Silk Road
LOST YEAR by Katherine Marsh
Authentic description of life during Covid lockdown intertwines with stories of famine in Ukrainian famine in 1933
Thanks for noting the multiple authors of YOU ARE HERE, Rebecca. 8 people (including me) have suggested it, but you’re correct, it does appear to be ineligible according to the newly revised (march 2023) Newbery Manual. Anthologies weren’t really addressed in the Newbery Manual previously, but the updated version has an expanded section of “Book Eligibility Issues.” It directly addresses this:
“Anthologies and compilations of works by many authors are not eligible. Books of this nature
consist of multiple distinct elements and are generally not a unified whole. As such, they do not
constitute a single work and are therefore ineligible.” (p 62)
Based on that, we’ll remove YOU ARE HERE from our Heavy Medal discussion this year.
But……..even based on the Manual’s guidance, you could make the argument that the stories in YOU ARE HERE actually do “constitute a single work,” since they fit together so neatly, sharing the same setting and often the same characters. The example cited in the Manual is FLYING LESSONS from 2017, also edited by Ellen Oh, but it’s a different kind of book. The stories in that one didn’t overlap the way the ones in YOU ARE HERE do. Still, the “compilations…are not eligible” from the Manual is pretty direct, so we’ll drop YOU ARE HERE from our Mock Newbery.
Boo! Oh this makes me sad. But I get it.
I haven’t voted for anything yet even though I’ve read so many wonderful books this year! I can’t WAIT for the Heavy Medal discussions to begin!
MANY ASSASSINATIONS OF SAMIR, THE SELLER OF DREAMS by Daniel Nayeri
THE EYES AND THE IMPOSSIBLE, by Dave Eggers
(the language and the emotion in this one is so beautiful. He makes every choice of word he uses mean something)
DUST, by Dusti Bowling
(I would so love to see her get some Newbery love! This book, literally, took my breath away!)
I would like to suggest The Eyes and the Impossible by Dave Eggers. It’s so well-written and such a fun read. It captures the magic of a book from the perspective of animals without feeling too childish. It is just so grounded in realism, and the characterization is quite strong!
Don’t Call Me Hurricane
It Happened on Saturday
No Place Like Home (James Bird)
Mexikid graphic novel
The Labors of Hercules Beal by Gary D. Schmidt
The Many Assassinations of Samir… by Daniel Nayeri
I would recommend The Song of Us by Kate Fussner. It’s a beautiful story of middle school love, filled with with so many emotions! I really enjoyed listening to it this summer.
Just one this month:
The Impossible Escape: The True Story of Survival and Heroism in Nazi Europe by Steve Sheinkin.
This guy doesn’t write bad books. This one holds up against his other award-winning books, and in places, exceeds them.
My top two favorites are
Simon Sort of Says by Erin Bow
The Labors of Hercules by Gary Schmidt
The Many Assassinations of Samir… by Daniel Nayeri
oopps, I meant top THREE favorites
Here’s a suggestion, especially for those who love poetry:
Welcome to the Wonder House; poems by Rebecca Kai Dotlich and Georgia Heard; illustrations by Deborah Freedman (published July, 2023; Wordsong/Astra Books for Young Readers); suggested reading level: grades 4-6
Thanks for all the fabulous suggestions! My to-be-read list gets longer each time I read your posts.
Marilyn T.
I only had four suggestions earlier in the week, which worked out great, because I just read my fifth:
IMPOSSIBLE ESCAPE by Steve Sheinkin. Gripping true story of an amazing young man who escaped from Auschwitz. Not an easy one to read, but just first-rate nonfiction storytelling.
The Lost Year by Katherine Marsh
The Carrefour Curse by Dianne K. Salerni
My Selma by Willie Mae Brown
Once in a Blue Moon by Sharon G. Flake
Hope in the Valley by Mitali Perkins
If You Are Here: Connecting Flights is ineligible would Grounded also be ineligible?
P.S. I loved The Labors of Hercules Beal but I thought some other books should get some attention.
I think this is a lifetime first for me but I have NOTHING this month! I’ve been reading I promise, but nothing sticks out. I think I’m in a mid year slump and need to be wowed. Hopefully discussions starting this week will get me there….
And with that I’m closing comments, tota0ls will be on Monday and the fun starts WEDNESDAY