Heavy Medal Mock Newbery Reader’s Poll Results
The votes are in on our Heavy Medal Reader’s Poll, which was open for the past week. 219 people voted, ranking their top three picks for the 2024 Newbery. We followed the Newbery formula for tabulating the results: 4 points for each 1st place vote, 3 points for 2nd, and 2 points for 3rd. And the winner is…
- THE LABORS OF HERCULES BEAL by Gary Schmidt
The next four titles were fairly close in their point totals, but we wound up naming two Honor Books:
- SIMON SORT OF SAYS by Elizabeth Bow
- THE LOST YEAR by Katherine Marsh
Earlier today, we held our live Zoom discussion which included a Heavy Medal Award Committee vote (THE LOST YEAR won) and a Viewer’s poll (THE MONA LISA VANISHES won). So: three polls, three different winners! More details can be found here. And you can view the recording of that webcast here.
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Participants cast votes on the 16 books on our Heavy Medal Book List. We also asked for write-ins of Newbery-worthy titles that were not among those 16. 47 different books were named, most of which just had one vote. The leading write-in books:
- REMEMBER US (4 votes)
- GATHER (3 votes)
- A BIT OF EARTH (2)
- THE FIRE, THE WATER, AND MADDIE MCGUIN (2)
- HOW TO STAY INVISIBLE (2)
- THE LOST LIBRARY (2)
- NOT AN EASY WIN (2)
- NOTHING ELSE BUT MIRACLES (2)
- ONCE THERE WAS (2)
The real Newbery gets announced on Monday. Watch the livestream where all of the Youth Media Awards (including Newbery, which comes last) are revealed, starting at 8:00 am EST on January 22nd. Emily and I will share our reactions to those announcement here on Heavy Medal Monday morning…
Here are the full results of our Reader’s Poll:
| Title | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Points |
| THE LABORS OF HERCULES BEAL | 48 | 29 | 22 | 323 |
| SIMON SORT OF SAYS | 37 | 24 | 31 | 282 |
| THE LOST YEAR | 29 | 22 | 17 | 216 |
| A FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING | 20 | 21 | 29 | 201 |
| THE MONA LISA VANISHES | 23 | 25 | 10 | 187 |
| THE EYES AND THE IMPOSSIBLE | 14 | 12 | 14 | 120 |
| THE SKULL | 7 | 17 | 17 | 113 |
| MEXIKID | 7 | 15 | 14 | 101 |
| THE MANY ASSASSINATIONS OF SAMIR… | 8 | 12 | 8 | 84 |
| AN AMERICAN STORY | 7 | 8 | 11 | 74 |
| EB & FLOW | 3 | 8 | 6 | 48 |
| CHINESE MENU | 1 | 7 | 10 | 45 |
| ALEBRIJES | 6 | 4 | 4 | 44 |
| GONE WOLF | 5 | 4 | 2 | 36 |
| MY HEAD HAS A BELLYACHE | 3 | 3 | 6 | 33 |
| A WALK IN THE WOODS | 1 | 3 | 10 | 33 |
Filed under: Heavy Medal Mock
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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Thank you Steven and Emily for your fabulous job on Heavy Medal!
I am listening to the webcast what’s it really like? And had a question. Keep in mind that this is coming from someone who used to help run a Mock Newbery club. During the webinar, the group was discussing A First time for Everything. Many of the group’s comments talked about the illustrations and how they helped communicate the setting or the tone. However, I was always told that the Newbery award is for writing, so even if a book is illustrated, you can’t base a book’s Newbery merit on illustrations. Is that something your group subscribes to as well? Or have you found it necessary to bend those rules and now include illustrations when comparing books or measuring its impact?
Great question about illustrations and the Newbery, Lindsey. It’s one that we (or at least I) struggle with every year on Heavy Medal. We do try to follow the Newbery Criteria, which state that “The committee is to make its decision primarily on the text.” We’ve talked about how we might use a broader definition of “text,” where it’s more than just words on the page but also could include the meaning of the book, some of which might come through in the pictures, but could be seen as originating from the author’s creativity.
I’m copying a comment I made earlier in the year with an example of how that interpretation might work, using the graphic novel SCHOOL TRIP:
“One way to apply those Newbery criteria to graphic novels is to broaden our definition of “text” to include, not just words, but the substance and meaning of a story that come from the author’s choice, even when they’re delineated through the pictures. In SCHOOL TRIP, for example, the mostly black-and-white comics that open each chapter directly address an issue that’s about to be highlighted in the story, from ways kids develop goals (“how do you give someone a dream when they don’t even know they’re allowed to dream?” (131) to “airplane etiquette” (76-77). We notice the dramatic shift in artistic style, but also can identify the ways that the shift relates to plots, themes, and characters. The comics are a visual element (not a Newbery thing), but we can see them as a writer’s text-related accomplishment, which is what the Newbery needs.”
I’m never quite sure if I’ve convinced even myself, but that’s how I try apply that “text” direction from the criteria to books that are heavily illustrated as well…