Meet the Heavy Medal Bloggers
It’s great to be back! We know a lot of our readers have followed Heavy Medal for a while, but we also add new readers every year. So to start our season off, Emily and I will share a few facts about ourselves and the books we love. Emily first:
Name: Emily Mroczek (Bayci)
Job Info: Youth Services Librarian at the Arlington Heights Memorial Library in Illinois. I serve kids age birth-18 and focus on homeschool and accessible services.
Number of Years Blogging on Heavy Medal: I was on the Heavy Medal Award Committee in 2020 and this is my third year as Steven’s sidekick!
Official Newbery Experience: I was on the 2019 Newbery Committee with medalist MERCI SUAREZ CHANGES GEARS and honor books THE NIGHT DIARY and THE BOOK OF BOY.
Favorite Newbery Book as a child: I rotate between THE WESTING Game by Ellen Raskin (1978) which really inspired my love of puzzles and problem solving and HOLES by Louis Sachar (1998) because three different people gave me Holes for Christmas in 1997, so clearly we were destined to be together. (Yes, I stole this answer from last year).
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Favorite Newbery Book as an adult: If I didn’t say MERCI SUAREZ CHANGES GEARS, my committee would come find me. But really, the book truly hits all the Newbery criteria and I was a part of the team that made it a Newbery book. Can’t deny that excitement.
Why are you a part of Heavy Medal?: I love being a librarian and yes, I know it is much more than books… but I love the book portion. Heavy Medal keeps me up on my readers advisory game and helps me maintain my “always surrounded by books” image.
Something Fun You Did this Summer: My family went to New York City for my sister-in-law’s wedding. Riding the subway with two toddlers and a baby, roaming the streets of New York and seeing the Statue of Liberty… we’ll always remember it (not so much the small humans!)
Favorite Newbery memory: My first full year as a librarian and first year involved in a Mock Newbery, I was a huge advocate for ROLLER GIRL It was the first year I watched the livestream and in the moment ROLLER GIRL won an honor I truly understood how it was the WORLD’S MOST EXCITING POWER POINT!
Name: Steven Engelfried
Job Info: On-Call Librarian at the Wilsonville Public Library and the Tigard Public Library in Oregon. I was a full-time librarian for 35 years and retired from that in 2022. Now I mostly help kids find books at the children’s desk (aka: the fun part)
Number of Years Blogging on Heavy Medal: This will be my 7th year. And in 5 of the 6 preceding years, the Newbery announcement has been a complete surprise to me (we all saw NEW KID coming). I just remind myself that it’s all about book discussion, not picking a winner, and will try again this year.
Official Newbery Experience: I was on the 2010 Committee (WHEN YOU REACH ME) and chaired the 2013 Committee (THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN).
Favorite Newbery Book as a child: I named THE HIGH KING last year, and it’s probably cheating to then go to THE BLACK CAULDRON, so I’ll pick MR. POPPER’S PENGUINS (1939 Honor). It must have been 30 years old already when I read it, but I remember thinking it was very fun. Penguins were my favorite animals as a kid, maybe because of that book.
Favorite Newbery Book as an adult: First I have to take a moment to come to terms with the fact that Emily read HOLES “as a child” when I was well into my second decade as a librarian. One of my favorites that I don’t think gets read much these days: WHAT HEARTS by Bruce Brooks (1993 Honor). It’s four just-about-perfect connected short stories about a kid who’s a bit too smart for his own good. I’ve re-read it many times and it always gets to me: The baseball practice…”The Highwayman…”…those candy hearts at the end…
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Why are you a part of Heavy Medal: One reason: I really like kids’ books, and now that I’m retired, I wouldn’t have to keep up like I used to, but Heavy Medal requires that I do. I’m not sure I would have run across Beaky the Chicken, or Pedro the Mexikid, or Rebecca of Buffalo Flats if I didn’t have to work on a Mock Newbery blog, so I’m glad that I do.
Something Fun You Did This Summer: I’m not a handy kind of person, but 20 summers ago I put together an ugly but workable screened in rooftop to give our six(!) formerly-indoor cats a way to kind of be outside. A combination of the natural elements and seriously poor construction finally destroyed it for good, so this summer I dismantled what was left and replaced it with a “catio,” which you put together kind of like tinker toys. Still not easy for me, but I finished it, and our now-just-one cat (“Lola”) has a little access to the great outdoors. The things we do for cats.
Favorite Newbery memory: I was just two years into my career when JOYFUL NOISE won the Newbery. A wonderful choice, but the reason I remember it so well is that a librarian that I knew (the amazing Elizabeth Overmeyer), from my very own library system (Alameda County Library in California), was on the Committee! I hadn’t really thought about who actually chose those books…turns out it included people like me. And a mere 21 years later, I got my own chance!
So there’s a bit about us. We’d love to get to know our readers too, so if you’d like to introduce yourself in the comments below, that would be great. You can answer any or all of the questions we covered above (jobs, favorite books, summertime, etc.) and/or share anything else you’d like to. And next week we’ll start looking at the best children’s books of the year (so far)!
Filed under: Intro
About Steven Engelfried
Steven Engelfried retired from full-time library work a couple years ago and now works as a part-time Youth Librarian at the West Linn Public Library in Oregon. 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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First, thank you both for doing this. I am finishing my 19th year as a children’s librarian, a late in life career and the best job ever. I will soon be retiring and then will start catching up on all the adult reading I have not done for the past 2 decades.
I love participating in this blog because it helps guide my reading for reader’s advisory and satisfies my appetite for serious conversation about children’s literature.
Name: Quade Kelley
Job info: Student-Athlete (San Diego, CA)
About me: In 5th grade I won the first national Who Was? History Bee after reading over 350 biographies. From 2020-23 I was a kid reporter for Scholastic Kids Press, and interviewed many award-winning authors.
How did I get to Heavy Medal: I am a ARC reader for multiple publishers and have served as a Youth Reviewer for Bank Street College of Education Children’s Book Committee since 2020. I started volunteering in my local public library in 2022.
Last year, I started a book blog as a part of my Congressional Award personal development project. I named it the Reading Athlete, and I hope it is an example to kids about the importance of exercising the mind and body with daily reading and movement. I wanted to know how the Newbery and Caldecott awards were chosen and why there were no youth members of the selection committee, so I attended the Mock Newberry in January 2023.
Summer Project: Junior Olympics for Waterpolo (my team was #18 in the USA for 14u) and Outward Bound as an expedition for the Congressional Award.
Favorite Newbery story: A few years ago one of my friends invited me to his Bar Mitzvah. His favorite book was The Giver by Lowis Lowry (Newbery 1994) . I thought about the book Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary (Newbery 1984) and then I wrote to Lowis Lowry and asked if I sent a book, would she would sign a book for my friend? She did! It was really cool!
I have read thirty-three of the past John Newbery Award Winners.
Favorite Newbery Medal book as a child : A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park (2002)
Favorite Newbery Medal book (Young Adult): The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin(1979)
I am happy to follow the Mock Newberry and will post to the discussion when I can.
We’re happy to have you with us Quade. So cool that Lois Lowry signed your book! Totally worth reaching out to authors! I also need to know more about this who Was history bee… did you read only Who Was books? or any biographies?!
Name: Susan N.
Job Info: Adult Programs and Services Librarian in Santa Cruz (CA) County. After being a children’s librarian for 14 years, I now provide library service to our local Juvenile Hall and Adult Jail facilities– and get to work a couple shifts a week on the youth services desk too!
Heavy Medal Connection: I was on the Heavy Medal Committee in 2018– when Merci Suarez Changes Gears was the winner. We had such a great crop of books that year, and I wound up tracking down and buying a T-shirt with Maria Merian’s beautiful butterfly art after falling in love with Joyce Sidman’s The Girl Who Drew Butterflies.
Favorite Newbery Book as a child: From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.
Is this book responsible for my love of going to museums? Quite possibly!
Favorite Newbery Book as an adult: When You Reach Me. I love recommending it to adults.
Favorite Newbery Honor book: The War that Changed My Life (another one I find that adults love.)
Why are you a part of Heavy Medal?: Challenging myself to read as many of the nominated books as possible each year is great fun and keeps my reader’s advisory skills honed– so thank you!
Something Fun I Did this Summer: Participating in the Santa Cruz Public Library Precision Book Truck Drill Team in our local Pride parade was pretty wonderful.
Favorite Newbery memory: Jumping and shouting alone in my living room when Merci Saurez won!!! Thrilling!
welcome Susan! I definitely read your comment and did a double take that you were on the Newbery with me. But I’m very glad you have so much love for Merci! And such a cool story about the butterfly t-shirt!! It was very nice to see THE GIRL WHO DREW BUTTERFLIES win the Sibert!
Hi, I’m Destinee. I’m a children’s librarian in the Seattle area. It warms my heart to see so much love for THE WAR THAT SAVED MY LIFE and ROLLER GIRL as I served on the 2016 committee.
One of my other favorite honor books is FROG AND TOAD TOGETHER. I think more books for younger readers should be recognized — they are difficult to do well. I got super into Heavy Medal in the days when Jonathan Hunt was advocating for Elephant & Piggie to get Newbery recognition. I also really enjoyed the discussions about what role illustrations play in choosing a Newbery winner, particularly insights from Nina Lindsay.
I’m currently reading The EYES AND THE IMPOSSIBLE and I had to laugh when I saw this blurb:
“The Eyes and the Impossible is hilarious, bighearted, and beautifully written. If you want to know what I think, this book right here is a significant contribution to children’s literature.”
—New York Times–bestselling author Mac Barnett, three-time winner of the E.B. White Read Aloud Award
Gotta love Mac Barnett speaking directly to the Newbery committee.
Agreed, Destinee, on FROG AND TOAD TOGETHER. I sometimes wonder if the Honor that book received somehow set the Newbery bar too high for early readers that came after? I mean, it’s about as perfect as you can get in that form, so even a truly distinguished book might not match it. I wonder what other early readers might have been close over the years since? Here’s Jonathan H’s persuasive argument for I BROKE MY TRUNK. Not just a justification for that book, but a great example of how to apply the Newbery Criteria to books that don’t fit the standard middle-grade fiction form.
I remember thinking ANT PLAYS BEAR by Betsy Byars (1997) was pretty close to perfect as well, and could have gotten some Newbery recognition (but didn’t). More recently, I thought SEE THE CAT by David LaRochelle (2020) was excellent (and it did win the Geisel). But even in my review of it, I wrote “I’m not sure it stands so far above the best early readers that it would merit true Newbery consideration.” With that “best early readers” was I subconsciously (and unfairly) comparing it to “Frog and Toad?”…I shouldn’t have been, but maybe so.
I love Mac so much, haha.
Hello, I’m Rachel! I’ve been a heavy medal stalker for a number of years now, though I have rarely commented, in part because I don’t have ready access to a large number of current year releases (kind of at the whims of my county library), and actually for the last six years or so have spent a lot more time reading picture books. I rarely feel “caught up” enough to weigh in.
But I remember posters of Newberys as a child and how I wanted to read through all of them (I loved lists and sets), and I’m still really invested in middle grade as well. I majored in history and have been pretty obsessed my whole life, so I’m also a big fan of the surge in narrative nonfiction (led by my hero, Steve Sheinkin) and how much better a lot of the history stuff coming out is than what I could find on library shelves as a kid.
My favorite Newbery as a child was either MRS. FRISBY AND THE RATS OF NIMH or THE MIXED-UP FILES OF MS. BASIL E. FRANKWEILER. Probably the latter, but it’s hard to remember exactly because that’s definitely my favorite of the two in the modern day (still love Mrs. Frisby, though!).
My favorite “modern” Newbery award/honor is THE INQUISITOR’S TALE. As a medievalist, it was everything I ever wanted out of historical fiction set in the Middle Ages. Also a huge fan of BOMB (my first Sheinkin)– I really love it when nonfiction and picture books get those rare Newbery stickers. It should happen more often.
The reason I follow Heavy Medal and am in general fascinated by the Newbery is not only that helps point to excellent children’s literature (often I prefer books that DIDN’T win–but that I read because they were on my radar due to places like this), but I find it an interesting display of subjectivity in art and what each year’s Newberys “say” about the times they were written and (especially) awarded in.
I’ve been a judge in a small novel contest for teenagers for 10 years so I’m also aware of how much little things can tip results–who is there, what the competition is, the need for compromise–and I just find that fascinating to follow year after year, even if I don’t actually get to see behind the curtain in this case.
My favorite memory is the first year I watched the livestream, though I can’t now remember which it was. 2019 seems like a good bet, as it was definitely before COVID. Anyway, I was just delighted to hear everyone in the crowd be SO EXCITED about children’s books and cheering when titles were announced. And then getting to run over to my library account and max out my holds trying to get ahead of everyone on the books I hadn’t read that were being catapulted into stardom. A super bowl for librarians and the librarian-adjacent fans of children’s literature.
I’ll end by saying I’m still trying to read all of the Newberys ever. At 152/435 by my count. 🙂 One fun part of reading current year releases is the knowledge that I might preemptively snag one from the future.
It’s great to hear from you Rachel and welcome!! Impressive that you’ve made it to 152 Newbery’s. and you are always welcome to join in conversation, even if you don’t feel the most informed!