Welcome to Heavy Medal

Heavy Medal, Year 17

Hard to believe, but this Mock Newbery blog has been around for 17 years! It was started by Nina Lindsay and Sharon McKellar in 2008 and has been supported by School Library Journal every year since. Bloggers, contributors, and readers have changed over the years, but the original idea still drives the blog: Conduct n-depth discussions of the best children’s books of the year, aligning as closely as possible to the process that the real Newbery Committee follows. 

About the Bloggers:

I’m starting my eighth year on this blog. My partner Emily Mroczek is now in year number four. That seems like long enough to forego any extended introductions. But if you would like a bit more about us, you can check out our post from last year. And here’s a brief update from each of us:

• Last year, Emily wrote about traveling with two toddlers and a baby. Add one more child to that total! She’s now raising four kids under the age of six.
• I’m still retired from full-time work and working on-call, but have a new library. Actually it’s my old library. I was the Children’s Librarian at the West Linn Public Library for six years in the 90’s. Now I’m back working there three half-days a week, 25 years after I left.

About the Books:

We hope to discuss as many potential Newbery contenders as possible between now and January. We identify the books in a variety of ways:

• Suggestions:  Following the practice of the real Committee, we solicit suggestions from Heavy Medal readers every month from March through the end of August. You can view that cumulated list of 83 titles here. We haven’t discussed these books yet, but the list gives us an idea of what people are reading and rating highly.
• Nominations:  Starting in October, we’ll ask readers to name a total of seven titles that they feel are the strongest contenders. The real Committee does this too. This will give us a shorter (but not short) list of top books.
• Blog Posts:  Emily and I will highlight books throughout the fall, initiating discussions that we hope will be joined by many readers. Some of these will be themed and scheduled (see below) and some will just be titles or topics that we think are discussion-worthy. We do pay attention to the Suggestion and Nomination lists, but reserve the right to champion any books we think might merit closer looks.
• Heavy Medal Book List: In early December we’ll announce the official Heavy Medal Book List (HBML). These will be the 12-15 titles that will vie for our Mock Newbery.
• Heavy Medal Winner:  Just before the actual 2025 Newbery winner is announced on January 27th, we’ll hold a live webcast where members of our Heavy Medal Award Committee (HMAC) discuss and vote for the Mock Newbery winner. All readers will also be invited to vote for a winner; so will viewers of the live discussion. So we actually end up with three separate votes. 

How to Participate

• Comment: While Emily and I both have our opinions on books, authors, and Newbery stuff, we love to hear what others think as well. The comments section has led many readers (including us) to look at books with greater insight and understanding. This happens on the real Committee too….so the more comments the better.
• Nominate: As mentioned above, we invite readers to nominate their top seven Newbery contenders over the course of the fall. Like the real Committee, everyone can submit three titles in October, two in November, and the final two in September.
• Volunteer for HMAC: In December we’ll form the Heavy Medal Award Committee (HMAC). This is a group of about 15 people who will commit to reading all of the books on our HMBL, then participating it daily discussions during 2-3 intense weeks in January. This group will also discuss a final list of books in a live Zoom discussion in late January. We’ll share details about how to volunteer for the HMAC later in the fall. 
• Vote:  Our online Heavy Medal Reader’s Poll will take place in late January and we’ll announce our Mock Newbery winner just before the real winner is announced. The HMAC will also select a winner in a separate vote.
• Just Read: We appreciate all of the online participation we get on Heavy Medal, but we know that’s not for everybody. We often hear from people who avidly read books from our lists and enjoy the online discussions, but prefer not to comment themselves.  That’s fine too of course.

This Year’s Features

Emily or I will usually post three times a week. Sometimes we’ll initiate discussion of particular books or themes; other times we might ask readers for quick responses to a prompt (like: “Top two books so far” or “Most memorable character”…) We also have some scheduled topics:

• Wednesday Roundups:  On most Wednesdays we’ll look at a particular category of book, based on age level, format, or genre. We’ll highlight notable examples from this year and maybe also look back at past winners from the featured genre in hopes of identifying the qualities that Newbery-level books of that type might share. Here’s our tentative schedule:
  • September 18:  Nonfiction
  • September 25:   Graphic Novels
  • October 2:   Novels in Verse
  • October 9:  Early Readers/Short Chapter Books
  • October 16:  Picture Books
  • October 30:  Young Adult/Upper Age Range
  • November 6:  Poetry
  • November 20:   Middle Grade Fiction

• Looking Back: Author Spotlights:  We like to mix in a little Newbery history every year. This time we’ll focus on some Newbery authors of the past. This “Author Spotlight” series will happen on one Fridays per month, on these dates:
  • September 27
  • October 25
  • November 22
  • December 20

• E-mail list: We have a very casual e-mail list that features blog updates and alerts you when new surveys or nominations are posted. If you want to join in, please comment below and we’ll contact you by email.

So there’s a general look at what’s coming up over the next few months. It’s the books themselves that really fill in the blanks, though, and we look forward to hearing what you all think of this year’s possible Newbery contenders. If you have any questions or comments you can post them below or email Emily and myself directly…

Filed under: Intro