Who Will Win? 86 Mock Newbery 2024 Suggestions
We officially concluded our suggestion period on Heavy Medal. Over the past seven months readers suggested 86 2024 Newbery eligible titles. This suggestion list will guide our blog posts and discussions through the rest of the year. Starting in October, readers can nominate books that they strongly believe are Newbery contenders (more on that Wednesday). But for now, take a look at our final suggestions (new suggestions are starred) along with some fun facts:
- With five new nominations, THE LABOR OF HERCULES BEAL officially joined SIMON SORT OF SAYS as the top title
- SIMON SORT OF SAYS and THE SONG OF US each received a whopping five suggestions this month
- 217 suggestions were made, for a total of 86 titles
- 43 titles received just one suggestion
| SIMON SORT OF SAYS | Bow | 19 |
| THE LABORS OF HERCULES BEAL | Schmidt | 19 |
| THE LOST YEAR | Marsh | 10 |
| THE MANY ASSASSINATIONS OF SAMIR, THE SELLER OF DREAMS | Nayeri | 9 |
| THE SONG OF US | Fussner | 9 |
| A FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING | Santat | 8 |
| YOU ARE HERE: CONNECTING FLIGHTS | Oh | 8 |
| THE ONE AND ONLY RUBY | Applegate | 7 |
| AN AMERICAN STORY | Alexander | 7 |
| THE EYES AND THE IMPOSSIBLE | Eggers | 7 |
| NEARER MY FREEDOM | Edinger & Younge | 5 |
| ANIANA DEL MAR JUMPS IN | Mendez | 4 |
| SUNSHINE | Krosoczka | 4 |
| A WORK IN PROGRESS | Lerner | 4 |
| MY HEAD HAS A BELLYACHE | Harris | 4 |
| BIG TREE | Selznick | 3 |
| A BIT OF EARTH | Riazi | 3 |
| EBB AND FLOW | Baptist | 3 |
| THE LAST PLASTIC STRAW | Romito | 3 |
| THE SKULL | Klassen | 3 |
| WHAT HAPPENED TO RACHEL RILEY | Swinarski | 3 |
| WHEN CLOUDS TOUCH US | Lai | 3 |
| WHEN SEA BECOMES SKY | McDunn | 3 |
| GOOD DIFFERENT | Kuyatt | 3 |
| IT HAPPENED ON SATURDAY | Dunlap | 3 |
| ALL THE BEATING HEARTS | Fogliano | 2 |
| BEAKY BARNES: EGG ON THE LOOSE | Stein | 2 |
| BUFFALO FLATS | Leavitt | 2 |
| THE FIRE, THE WATER, AND MAUDIE MCGINN | Pla | 2 |
| FOR LAMB | Kline-Ransome | 2 |
| THE GHOSTS OF RANCHO ESPANTO | Cuevas | 2 |
| HENRY LIKE ALWAYS | Bailey | 2 |
| IMPOSSIBLE ESCAPE: A TRUE STORY… | Sheinkin | 2 |
| LEEVA AT LAST | Pennypacker | 2 |
| LOVE IS LOUD | Wallace | 2 |
| MY RED, WHITE, AND, BLUE | Tyson | 2 |
| NO MATTER THE DISTANCE | Baldwin | 2 |
| NOT AN EASY WIN | Giles | 2 |
| SUPERTEACHER PROJECT | Korman | 2 |
| THAT FLAG | Brown | 2 |
| THE WINDEBY PUZZLE | Lowry | 2 |
| THE CARREFOUR CURSE | Salerni | 2 |
| *DUST | Bowling | 2 |
| MEXIKID | Martin | 2 |
| STATELESS | Wein | 2 |
| SUPERPOD | Nickum | 2 |
| BEA WOLF | Weinersmith | 1 |
| A CROWN FOR CORINA | Kemp | 1 |
| CROWNED | Bethencourt | 1 |
| DOOMED… | Florio & Shapiro | 1 |
| EVERGREEN | Cordell | 1 |
| FAMILY STYLE | Pham | 1 |
| FINALLY SEEN | Yang | 1 |
| *THE FIRE OF STARS | Larson | 1 |
| THE FIRST MAGNIFICENT SUMMER | Toalson | 1 |
| GROUNDED | Saeed, et al | 1 |
| *HALF MOON SUMMER | Vickers | 1 |
| HANDS | Maldonado | 1 |
| (HOPE IN THE VALLEY | Perkins | 1 |
| HOW TO WRITE A POEM | Alexander | 1 |
| THE HUMAN KABOOM | Rubin | 1 |
| JOVITA WORE PANTS | Salazar | 1 |
| JUST JERRY | Pinkney | 1 |
| LASAGNA MEANS I LOVE YOU | O’Shaughnessy | 1 |
| THE LION OF LARK-HAYES MANOR | Hartman | 1 |
| MIRROR TO MIRROR | LaRocca | 1 |
| *MY SELMA: TRUE STORIES… | Brown | 1 |
| NELL PLANTS A TREE | Wynter | 1 |
| * NO PLACE LIKE HOME | Bird | 1 |
| ONCE UPON A BOOK | Lin & Messner | 1 |
| ONCE IN A BLUE MOON | Flake | 1 |
| *OPINIONS AND OPPOSUMS | Braden | 1 |
| THE ORDER OF THINGS | Langley | 1 |
| OUR ROOF IS BLUE | Echenique | 1 |
| PARACHUTE KIDS | Tang | 1 |
| PUSH PULL MORNING | Peters | 1 |
| RACE AGAINST DEATH | Hopkinson | 1 |
| *THE RED EAR BLOWS ITS NOSE | Schechter | 1 |
| ROCK ROSETTA ROCK… | Bolden | 1 |
| SCHOOL TRIP | Craft | 1 |
| SCIENCE EXPLORERS: SEARCH FOR A GIANT SQUID | Forrester and Musser | 1 |
| SQUISHED | Lloyd | 1 |
| THE STORYTELLER | Hobson | 1 |
| THIS IS NOT MY HOME | Yoh and Chang | 1 |
| WE GO WAY BACK | Bunting and Ben-Barak | 1 |
| *WELCOME TO THE WONDER HOUSE | Dotlich and Heard | 1 |
| *WILD BIRD | Zahler | 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.
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Oh my gosh, how did I miss two deadlines in a row when I actually had things to recommend?! Well, unofficially, here are three I loved:
The Firefly Summer by Morgan Matson
The Mona Lisa Vanishes by Nicholas Day – *Fantastic* MG nonfiction
Star Splitter by Matthew J. Kirby – YA SF that reads fairly young
Thanks Katrina, I’m just reading Mona Lisa Vanishes now and haven’t read the other two! Nominations open Monday!
Nominations are open now if you haven’t gotten in already Katrina!!