Our Mid-Year Mock-Newbery Book List: 49 Possible Contenders
Our July suggestion period just finished up. Thanks to all of the readers who put forward recommendations for our Heavy Medal Mock Newbery Book List. Six new titles were added to our list, with one in particular, THE TENTH MISTAKE OF HANK HOOPERMAN, catching the attention of many. Our updated list is below, with new titles noted by an asterisk. We appreciate all of the reading and thinking everyone is doing and look forward to seeing how this list continues to grow when we open suggestions again next month on August 6th….
| TITLE | AUTHOR | TOTAL |
| FERRIS | DiCamillo | 17 |
| THE FIRST STATE OF BEING | Kelly | 14 |
| NOT QUITE A GHOST | Ursu | 14 |
| LOUDER THAN HUNGER | Schu | 13 |
| TREE. TABLE. BOOK | Lowry | 11 |
| MAX IN THE HOUSE OF SPIES | Gidwitz | 9 |
| THE COLOR OF SOUND | Isler | 8 |
| AND THEN, BOOM! | Fipps | 7 |
| THE GIRL WHO SANG | Nadel | 7 |
| KYRA, JUST FOR TODAY | Zarr | 7 |
| LIGHT AND AIR | Wendell | 7 |
| THE NIGHT WAR | Bradley | 7 |
| MID-AIR | Williams | 6 |
| OLIVETTI | Millington | 6 |
| * THE TENTH MISTAKE OF HANK HOOPERMAN | Choldenko | 6 |
| AMIL AND THE AFTER | Hiranandani | 4 |
| DEEP WATER | Sumner | 4 |
| THE ENIGMA GIRLS | Fleming | 4 |
| THE SECRET LANGUAGE OF BIRDS | Kelley | 4 |
| THE SECRET LIBRARY | Magoon | 4 |
| THE WRONG WAY HOME | O’Shaughnessy | 4 |
| BLACK GIRL YOU ARE ATLAS | Watson | 3 |
| ISABEL IN BLOOM | Respicio | 3 |
| ONE BIG OPEN SKY | Cline-Ransome | 3 |
| PLAIN JANE AND THE MERMAID | Brosgol | 3 |
| SHARK TEETH | Winston | 3 |
| SONA AND THE GOLDEN BEASTS | LaRocca | 3 |
| TELEPHONE OF THE TREE | McGhee | 3 |
| ACROSS SO MANY SEAS | Behar | 2 |
| COYOTE LOST AND FOUND | Gemeinhart | 2 |
| LEAFY LANDMARKS | Schaub | 2 |
| * MAGNOLIA WU UNFOLDS IT ALL | Miller | 2 |
| AMERICAN WINGS | Smith & Wein | 1 |
| * BREAKING INTO SUNLIGHT | Cochran | 1 |
| CLIMBING THE VOLCANO | Manley | 1 |
| CONTINENTAL DRIFTER | MacLeod | 1 |
| * A FLICKER OF HOPE | Harmony | 1 |
| FORCE OF NATURE | Burg | 1 |
| GREAT GUSTS | Crower & Benedict | 1 |
| THE HOUSE BEFORE FALLING INTO THE SEA | Wang | 1 |
| KEEP IT LIKE A SECRET | Anderson | 1 |
| KEEPING PACE | Morrison | 1 |
| * THE LAST APPLE TREE | Mills | 1 |
| * MEDUSA | Marsh | 1 |
| THE MISFITS #1: A ROYAL CONUNDRUM | Yee | 1 |
| NOT THE WORST FRIEND IN THE WORLD | Rellihan | 1 |
| WALKIN’ THE DOG | Lynch | 1 |
| * WITCH HUNT | Balis & Levy | 1 |
| WITH TWICE THE LOVE, DESSIE MEI | Chen | 1 |
Filed under: Suggestions
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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We’ll start our in-depth discussion of possible Newbery contenders in September here on Heavy Medal. But if you just can’t wait to hear opinions about the best children’s books of 2024, ALSC’s 2025 Notable Books Committee invites observers to their public discussions over the next two weeks. You can register by Zoom for any or all of the three open meetings on July 15th, 16th, and 23rd. More information and the registration links are here.
Hello,
I just read a book that I would love some other opinions on, Ultraviolet by Salazar. It is written in verse and from the point of view of a young Latino boy and puberty. We have no books like this. It is wonderfully written, easy to follow, and absolutely on point for growing boys and dealing with their feelings and relationships but in a sweet way and for middle-grade readers. Check it out!
Just finished Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman. Definitely one of the best I’ve read this year (and that says a lot, since so many of the suggestions here are excellent reads).
I read and listen to many middle grade realistic fiction books each year and could not agree with you more
Can we get Ultraviolet on this list by Salazar. It is quite worth of an award and there isn’t much out there for the topic of male puberty written in verse and extremely well written. I would love more people to read this book. Meanwhile I’m having a great time getting through this large list. Loved Choldenko’s newest one along with Lisa Fipps and Across the Many Sea is also worthy.
I’ll be surprised if ULTRAVIOLET doesn’t get added next round. The August suggestion period opens up pretty soon: August 5th.
Ultraviolet feels more Printz to me. I am still struggling with the author’s use of the term ped* so casually. Especially by the parent to the child.
I would love someone’s thoughts on Light and Air by Wendell. I’m not sure I’m loving it as much as others are and I would love to know why.
We’re just about a month away from starting our full Mock Newbery discussions on Heavy Medal. For now we’re still mainly building our list of titles. We typically make sure to highlight the books with multiple suggestions (and many that don’t). LIGHT AND AIR has enough support so far that it will almost certainly be part of our fall discussions…