Mock Newbery Suggestions Updated: 15 New Titles to Consider
Our Mock Newbery list just keeps getting more and more interesting. Our May suggestions included 14 books that have been nominated for the first time, bringing our total list to 35 titles. Those new additions are marked with an asterisk in the list below. We already have three books with suggestions from 10 or more readers…front-runners for now, but we all still have a lot of reading to do. Check out the full updated list below and we’ll open up our next round of suggestions in early June.
| TITLE | AUTHOR | TOTAL |
| FERRIS | DiCamillo | 12 |
| THE FIRST STATE OF BEING | Kelly | 11 |
| NOT QUITE A GHOST | Ursu | 11 |
| MAX IN THE HOUSE OF SPIES | Gidwitz | 9 |
| LOUDER THAN HUNGER | Schu | 8 |
| * TREE. TABLE. BOOK | Lowry | 5 |
| THE ENIGMA GIRLS | Fleming | 3 |
| THE GIRL WHO SANG | Nadal | 4 |
| LIGHT AND AIR | Wendell | 3 |
| OLIVETTI | Millington | 3 |
| AMIL AND THE AFTER | Hiranandani | 2 |
| THE COLOR OF SOUND | Isler | 2 |
| KYRA, JUST FOR TODAY | Zarr | 2 |
| * MID-AIR | Williams | 2 |
| SONA AND THE GOLDEN BEASTS | LaRocca | 2 |
| ACROSS SO MANY SEAS | Behar | 1 |
| * AMERICAN WINGS | Smith & Wein | 1 |
| BLACK GIRL YOU ARE ATLAS | Watson | 1 |
| CLIMBING THE VOLCANO | Manley | 1 |
| * COYOTE LOST AND FOUND | Gemeinhart | 1 |
| * DEEP WATER | Sumner | 1 |
| * FORCE OF NATURE | Burg | 1 |
| THE HOUSE BEFORE FALLING INTO THE SEA | Wang | 1 |
| * LEAFY LANDMARKS | Schaub | 1 |
| THE MISFITS #1: A ROYAL CONUNDRUM | Yee | 1 |
| * THE NIGHT WAR | Bradley | 1 |
| * NOT THE WORST FRIEND IN THE WORLD | Rellihan | 1 |
| ONE BIG OPEN SKY | Cline-Ransome | 1 |
| * PLAIN JANE AND THE MERMAID | Brosgol | 1 |
| * THE SECRET LANGUAGE OF BIRDS | Kelley | 1 |
| * THE SECRET LIBRARY | Magoon | 1 |
| SHARK TEETH | Winston | 1 |
| WALKIN’ THE DOG | Lynch | 1 |
| * THE WRONG WAY HOME | O’Shaughnessy | 1 |
| * WITH TWICE THE LOVE, DESSIE MEI | Chen | 1 |
Filed under: Suggestions
About Steven Engelfried
Steven Engelfried was the Library Services Manager at the Wilsonville Public Library in Oregon until he retired in 2022 after 35 years as a full-time librarian. 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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Ten new suggestions? And I’ve only read one of them?! Oh my… this is going to be my catch up month! I’m in!!
Should it be The Secret Library by Kekla Magoon instead of The Library of Secrets?
It looks like THE GIRL WHO SANG is (deservedly) listed twice, so a total of 4 votes/nominations altogether?
The Girl Who Sang is on your list twice, once with an author Nadal and once with an author Nadel. 🙂
I loved Dan Gemeinhart’s The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise as well as the sequel COYOTE LOST AND FOUND. Glad it was nominated. He’s so very good at found family.
Thanks Jill, Jenny, and Ms. Abel for catching those mistakes. Corrections have been made…
Shouldn’t Max in the House of Spies have a total of 7 votes now because of the 3 votes added in last round?
You’re right Karen, thanks for catching! In fact, the totals for MAX were wrong last month too. That book actually has 9 votes. Which makes sense, because it’s excellent. It’s corrected above and next month I’ll try to a better job double checking stuff…
Thank you! Yes, I really loved the book.
Mid-Air stopped me in my tracks; it is remarkable, another poignant and achingly human story by Alicia D. Williams. It is definitely my top contender so far. Another book that I really loved that I know will not win the Newbery because of its polarizing topic of menstruation, but is definitely worth a read is Mani Semilla Finds Her Quetzal Voice.
I thought I was doing such a good job keeping up this year, but I’ve read less than half of these! I’ll have to keep catching up over Summer Break!