And the Newbery winner is….
EMILY: Ten minutes and counting until the 2025 Youth Media Awards (aka the most interesting spreadsheet in the world) We’re here, we’re up, we made it! Hey, It’s not even that early in Oregon this year, is it Steven?
STEVEN: Can’t really complain about 7:00 am…some years it’s been 5:00, and it’s possible that I may have complained a little those years.
EMILY: Do you have any knowledge on how they are going to do these announcements now that this is officially the last LibLearnX?
STEVEN: I haven’t heard anything. It’s hard to imagine anything different than that huge room filled with people. Although I guess that must have happened in 2021.
EMILY: The powerpoint is on with exciting background music and all! FIVE MINUTES!
STEVEN: It’s Cindy Hohl, ALA President, to kick it off. 21 awards to be announced.We start with the Asian-Pacific. I’m hoping to see MAGNOLIA WU.
EMILY: This is where I learn I need to up my reading game for next year.
STEVEN: Continental DRIFTER wins the Children’s Literature division. Great choice! But no MAGNOLIA…
Steven: Big year for Graphic Novels in the Asian Pacific Awards. Maybe a trend?
EMILY: I did love LUNAR NEW YEAR LOVE STORY. Now moving on to the Sydney Taylor Book Award.
STEVEN: I know we both liked ACROSS SO MANY SEAS a lot. Maybe for the Middle Grade division?
EMILY: And there it is as the first middle grade honor! I want to read FINN AND EZRA that sounds good!
STEVEN: THE GIRL WHO SANG wins the Sydney Taylor medal! Another graphic novel! And this got some good support on Heavy Medal. One of many excellent WW 2 kids’ titles from this year
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EMILY: I’m starting to think there were more WWII titles than bad mom titles this year… now we’re on Schneider Family Book Awards, adding more to my TBR list.
STEVEN: YOU’RE SO AMAZING gets a Schneider Honor. Great book to have in a picture book collection.
EMILY: These middle grade winners are reminding me of so many quality reads.. POP CORN, LOUDER THAN HUNGER, SHARK TEETH….
STEVEN: Good to see LOUDER in the middle division. There was some talk on HM that it could be for older readers and not squarely in the Newbery age range.
STEVEN: STONEWALL is up next. I thought MALLORY IN FULL COLOR could be a great candidate for this one.
EMILY: And it looks like STONEWALL had a year of many many great candidates! Next award is Coretta Scott King Awards.. A lot of big candiates here
STEVEN: It’s good to remember that different awards have different criteria. For the CSK awards, “the artistic expression of the African American experience” is part of the award.
STEVEN: CSK Picture Book award goes to MY DADDY IS A COWBOY. That could be a Caldecott contender too.
EMILY: Happy to see some love for BLACK GIRL YOU ARE ATLAS, BLACK STAR, and ONE BIG OPEN SKY as CSK author winners. And Jason Reynolds with the win for TWENTY FOUR SECONDS FROM NOW! So many excellent reads.
STEVEN: We looked at 24 SECONDS FROM NOW on HM, but in the category of Excellent book that’s probably too old for Newbery…
EMILY: :Speaking of too old for Newbery.. It’s YALSA TIME! Adult books that appeal to young adults… I can guarantee I’ve read none of these!
STEVEN: I’ve read none of the ALEX awards for sure (Adult Books for Young Adults).. But I bet they’re really good and if I didn’t read all these kids’ books I probably would love this list.
STEVEN: The Printz Awards should be interesting. We had a few titles discussed on HM that could veer into the 12-18 year old age range of this award.
EMILY: So true… BLACK GIRL, LOUDER THAN HUNGER, even ENIGMA GIRLS??? Can’t wait…I also LOVED RISING FROM THE ASHES, the nonfiction winner!
STEVEN: I meant to read that one but never got to it. Good job Emily on covering the nonfiction side!
EMILY: I always think Odyssey would be a fun committee… audiobooks have grown on me! And now I have some more audiobooks to listen to… A PLATE OF HOPE sounds amazing!
STEVEN: Renee Watson narrating her own book, BLACK GIRL YOU ARE ATLAS, gets an Odyssey Honor.
EMILY: Well haven’t read any of these Printz books… interesting… not even BROWNSTONE the winner. This is an emotional announcement, I have to read it!
STEVEN: I was also 0 for 5 on the PRINTZ books.
EMILY: I hope we do better on Newbery winners Steven!!
STEVEN: Me too….but also, what if there’s a big surprise, something we didn’t even read? Or maybe read, but didn’t think it had a chance. That can happen for sure… There’s often at least one Honor book like that. (It was EAGLE DRUMS for me last year).
STEVEN: Pura Belpre books are up now. I did not read enough in this category. But: ULTRAVIOLET was excellent! Just won an Honor. But I’m afraid I did not read LOLA, the Belpre Medal book for kids.
EMILY: So amny surprises this year, finally ALSC time
STEVEN: I love that they honor translated books every year with the BATCHELDER awards. But I rarely read them, since translated books aren’t eligible for the Newbery…
EMILy: That’s a committee we could safely be on with Heavy Medal…
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STEVEN: Our Sibert favorite just got an Honor: ENIGMA GIRLS. The winner is LIFE AFTER WHALE: this is a really good book! Good mix with the Siberts: A graphic memoir, history for older kids, picture book biography, and an illustrated science book. THAT would be a fun committee to be on.
EMILY: Hooray for Carole Boston Weatherford! She is amazing!!
STEVEN: Yes: poetry/nonfiction/history: very deserving.
EMILY: OK time for the bigwigs… Newbery and Caldecott. Four Caldecott honors! People are pumped.
STEVEN: Loved HOME IN A LUNCHBOX, the first Caldecott Honor named. CHOOCH HELPED: A great choice, (though not one I was thinking would win). I love it when a simple story wins the Caldecott.
EMILY: I LOVED ACROSS SO MANY SEAS! YES, YES, YES. ALSO MAGNOLIA AHHHH. AND ONE BIG OPEN SKY… ANOTHER GREAT BOOK… OMG THE WRONG WAY HOME THERE’S OUR BAD MOM!! AHHHHHHH AHH FIRST STATE PF BEING THAT’S MY GUILTY PLEASURE WANT TO WIN BOOK. WHOA THIS IS WHAT WE CALL SURPRISES!!!! Steven?! What are you thinking?? STEVENNNNN
STEVEN: All great choices, but I did not expect FIRST STATE with the Medal. Erin Entrada Kelly joins an elite group of two-time Medal winners…she’s number 7 And (like Kate DiCamillo and Lois Lowry) with two very different kinds of books.
EMILY: Yep, I am very much in shock right now and can’t wait to hear what everyone else has to say! Let us know in the comments!!
STEVEN: For the full list of today’s winners, click here.
Filed under: Book Discussion
About Emily Mroczek-Bayci
Emily Mroczek (Bayci) is a freelance children’s librarian in the Chicago suburbs. She served on the 2019 Newbery committee. You can reach her at emilyrmroczek@gmail.com.
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As mentioned above, Erin Entrada Kelly just won her second Newbery Medal. The only other authors to win two Newbery Medals: Joseph Krumgold, Elizabeth George Speare, Katherine Paterson, E. L. Konigsburg, Lois Lowry, Kate DiCamillo. And of those, only DiCamillo, Konigsburg, and Paterson also have an Honor…and add Erin Entrada Kelly to that list too. She won the 2018 Medal for HELLO UNIVERSE and a 2021 Honor for WE DREAM OF SPACE.
Thanks as always for the interesting facts! I believe that Elizabeth George Speare also got two medals and an honor…the honor for Sign of the Beaver.
Thanks Owen, for catching that E. G. Speare oversight. So the corrected numbers: E. E. Kelly is one of seven authors with two Medals and one of five with two Medals + an Honor.
Loved that Enigma Girls got some love as did Black Girl You are Atlas which were 2 of my favorites. I am okay with all the Newbery honors and the medal – Magnolia Wu was a surprise but it was a cute little package. There was one I was glad to see not on the list (IFKYK). Wish Louder Than Hunger had received some love. Onto 2025…
I’m really pleased to see THE WRONG WAY HOME with a Newbery Honor. Such a compelling plot, from the very start, but also a lot to think about around life choices, family, friends. The Newbery is for literary quality, but it’s hard not to think, as soon as the awards are announced: Will kids want to read these for other reasons than the seal on the cover? WRONG WAY is a definite yes.
I think my favorite moment of the morning was seeing MAGNOLIA WU UNFOLDS IT ALL as a Newbery Honor. I thought it might have a couple hurdles to clear: some reliance on the illustrations, plus it just wasn’t as weighty in terms of theme and content as many other books from this year. But it did what it was supposed to do so very well….
My 4th & 5th graders LOST THEIR MINDS when Magnolia Wu popped up, as did I! We loved that book so much. And knowing Chanel Miller’s backstory, knowing that in her darkest hour she was afraid parents would never let their kids read books by “someone like her”… I was definitely shedding a few tears. I am just so fond of her as an author and a human, and I can’t wait to read Magnolia Wu aloud with students!!
Lesa Cline-Ransome has written so many truly excellent books in past years, a few of which seemed very Newbery-worthy, so ONE BIG OPEN SKY getting an Honor is great. Three narrative voices, in verse, and a new perspective on a family moving west makes it a really interesting book.
3 of the 5 Newbery books are set in the past, but really couldn’t be more different. ACROSS SO MANY SEAS jumps around in history, looking at four generations from the same family. And of course THE FIRST STATE OF BEING goes back just to 1999 (and jumps forward to 200 year later).
I’m happy with all these Newbery choices, but it’s always interesting to think about how intense our discussions on Heavy Medal were, online and on the webcast, about really good books like LOUDER THAN HUNGER and HANK HOOPERMAN. I want to know what the real Committee conversations were around those books, as well as QUAGMIRE, and ENIGMA GIRLS, and on and on. But we don’t get to. Confidentiality rules and all…
I am THRILLED! It’s the first time I’ve read all of the books at the time of the announcement, and The First State Of Being was my top pick.
Also so so happy about Magnolia Wu and The Wrong Way Home.
It was really nice to see a number of Caldecott contenders I shared with second graders sprinkled throughout other awards — they were very excited about Joyful Song winning the Sydney Taylor. And there was so much to cheer for that my 4th & 5th grade lunchtime committee (all 50 of them!!) had read and loved: Enigma Girls, The Girl Who Sang, Louder than Hunger, etc. All of the Newbery honors were ones at least a few of my students had read, so that was nice too. All in all, a really lovely morning!! So happy for all the winners.
A good-sized handful of my students did read The First State of Being and liked it; it was in our top ten, so they were happy to see that up there too. But it didn’t get a Mock Honor from them in the end! Light and Air took the top prize at my school, with Max in the House of Spies, Shark Teeth, The Girl Who Sang, and The Color of Sound as Honors. I had to add a FIFTH honor book at the eleventh hour because three kids came to me and changed their final votes to Deer Run Home this morning! They had all read it over the weekend and switched from Light and Air. Was happy to give that one an award! What a fun year for books and reading.
When I read Light and Air, I thought it was a book that kids would like. It’s so well-structured and paced with something interesting happening in every chapter. Full-disclosure: I’m originally from the Buffalo area and also enjoyed learning about a piece of its Depression-era history.
A fun morning! Glad to see Louder Than Hunger with a Schneider honor, and disappointed (but not that surprised) that Invisible Isabel didn’t get any love. HOORAY for My Daddy Is a Cowboy! It was my pick all year for the Caldecott Medal, and it ended up with an honor and the CSK Illustrator Award. Chooch Helped looks fun…happy for an “underdog” to win (although Betsy Bird gave it a shoutout). Of the Newberies, I was thrilled to see Magnolia Wu with an honor. The First State of Being was an interesting book…it wasn’t my top choice and I wasn’t expecting it to win, but still fun to see a sci-fi winner. Congratulations to Erin Entrada Kelly! Pretty pleased that I’ve read 4/5 Newbery books.
Oh I missed that Louder Than Hunger got a Schneider honor – I was teaching and jumped in late. Hooray!!
Wow I was so shocked wen they. Said First State of Being had wone. I loved the book but was not expecting it to win. My prediction was Tenth Mistake of. Hank Hooperman it Louder then Hunger. I think I startled my dad a bit as I was yelling with excitement wen he got home from his usual Monday breakfast at a local cafe. As for the honor books I read Across so Many Seas and Magnolia Wu Unfolds it All. Magnolia Wu was cute and fun but I didn’t think it was strong enough title for awards. Across So many seas I felt was alright. I thought the concept was great it just felt slow to me and took me a while to read. Did seem like the kind of book for awards though. I have not read the other two honors but I was aware of them. As for Caldecott I have not read any of them and had never even heard of the winner. I did have home in a lunchbox on hold just hadn’t come in yet. Other notable awards was Aloha Everythig for Asian Pacific. That was my favorite picture book of last year. Didn’t get much buzz from others so was glad to see it here. Was glad to see girl who sang in sibert and Sydney Tayler. Also Enigma Girls in Sibert. Also Louder then Hunger in Shnider. I guess eating disorders count as a disability though I didn’t enitaly think of it for that catigory.
MAGNOLIA WUUUUUUU!!! I am so happy today.
I think one thing that makes a book Newbery-worthy is that it holds up or even improves after multiple re-readings. I read MAGNOLIA twice and liked it even better the second time.
I read THE FIRST STATE OF BEING just once and I’m wondering if there were subtleties I missed but would appreciate if I reread it knowing the ending. In my imagination, EEK was thinking about how a lot of kids today have climate anxiety, but she decided to write about it in a roundabout way via Y2K anxiety. The main thing I remember about that book was how the mom would answer “How was your day?” with “I took every breath.” I love that.
I wonder if someone on the committee has strong feelings about the Novikov self-consistency principle of time travel. I have feelings about it, which is why Prisoner of Azkaban was my favorite HP and Cursed Child felt like a betrayal of the internal logic of HP.
A second read of THE FIRST STATE OF BEING is a good idea, Dest. I did like the book a lot, but a second time through might reveal some plot development elements that I could easily have missed when I was caught up in what would happen next. I remember doing that with CRISS CROSS many years ago and realizing that what I thought was a good book the first time through really was outstanding….
The full list of YMA winners can be found here.
I cheered out loud so many times throughout the livestream, starting right away with the APALA books (The Rock in My Throat, Mabuhay!, Continental Drifter, Lunar New Year Love Story, Everything We Never Had) and on through Sydney Taylor and Schneider and all the rest. After so much speculation here on Heavy Medal I was excited to see what the real committee chose. Hurray for four(!) Honor books, and hurray for MAGNOLIA WU! (One of these years, Anne Ursu is going to get a medal or an honor…right???)
I was also cheering from my library watch party, Jenny! I had high hopes for MAGNOLIA WU and for THE WRONG WAY HOME and I’m just so glad they won medals. They were such wonderful reads. I don’t really know how FIRST STATE snuck in a win, but it was a nice book even if I think HELLO UNIVERSE was a better title and better book! Glad to see Erin Entrada Kelly get more medals, no matter the title. She’s such an excellent author, advocate and wonderful human.
So happy there were so many honors in so many categories! I’m with Emily where I think the more honors the better!
I watched the last ten minutes of this in the adult office while keeping an eye on the storytime room and literally FIST-PUMPED when Carole Boston Weatherford won that lifetime achievement award. So deserving.
I am so intrigued by the winner and honors, but one thing that struck me is how the Newbery can take books and turn them into bestsellers overnight because so many libraries are going to automatically buy that book if they haven’t already. With EEK being EEK it doesn’t have the same emotional and industry-wide punch as I would love.