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Intro

September 9, 2022 by Emily Mroczek-Bayci

Meet Steven & Emily: Your Heavy Medal Hosts

Learn a little about Emily and Steven, this year's Heavy Medal Bloggers, and tell them about yourself!

September 7, 2022 by Steven Engelfried

Heavy Medal’s 2023 Mock Newbery: A Look Ahead

For the next five months, Heavy Medal will be taking an in-depth look at the best children's books of the year as part of our 2023 Mock Newbery process. Here's a preview of what's in store....

February 2, 2022 by Emily Mroczek-Bayci

Goodbye For Now

With the announcement of the 2022 Newbery Medal, this season of Heavy Medal comes to a close. We’ll return in September to look at contenders for the 2023 Newbery Medal. Between now and then, we’ll build a reading list of the top 20212 titles by asking readers to submit monthly discussions.

Popular Posts

Final Nomination List: 68 possible contenders for the 2023 Newbery Medal

2023 Heavy Medal Mock Newbery Book List

85 Books to Consider: Mock Newbery Suggestions Updated

Mock Newbery Update – Our List of First Half Suggestions

The Results Are In! Here’s our updated list of Heavy Medal Mock Newbery nominations

Who Will Win? 2023 Newbery Predictions

FREEWATER wins the Newbery Medal, live reactions from Heavy Medal bloggers

March suggestions: early Mock Newbery possibilities

March Forward: Heavy Medal 2024 Mock Newbery Suggestions

What’s Coming in 2023, A Feedback Poll, and Goodbye for Now…

Heavy Medal Mock Newbery Readers’ Poll Results

Heavy Medal Mock Newbery Webcast Results

Cast Your Vote in the Heavy Medal Reader’s Poll

Heavy Medal 2023 Mock Newbery: FINAL FIVE CONTENDERS

Heavy Medal Mock Newbery Finalist: THE LAST MAPMAKER by Christina Soontornvat

Heavy Medal Mock Newbery Finalist: BERRY SONG by Michaela Goade

Mock Newbery Finalist: ATTACK OF THE BLACK RECTANGLES by Amy Sarig King

Heavy Medal Mock Newbery Finalist: AIN’T BURNED ALL THE BRIGHT By Jason Reynolds

Heavy Medal Mock Newbery Finalist: AVIVA VS. THE DYBBUK by Mari Lowe

Heavy Medal Mock Newbery Finalist: VIOLET AND JOBIE IN THE WILD by Lynn Rae Perkins

Heavy Medal Mock Newbery Finalist: THE DOOR OF NO RETURN by Kwame Alexander

Heavy Medal Mock Newbery Finalist: MARSHMALLOW CLOUDS by Ted Kooser and Connie Wanek

Heavy Medal Mock Newbery Finalist: THE OGRESS AND THE ORPHANS by Kelly Barnhill

Heavy Medal Mock Newbery Finalist: FARMHOUSE by Sophie Blackall

Heavy Medal Mock Newbery Finalist: HOW TO BUILD A HUMAN by Pamela S. Turner

Heavy Medal Mock Newbery Finalist: A ROVER’S STORY by Jasmine Warga

Heavy Medal Mock Newbery Finalist: SWIM TEAM by Johnnie Christmas

Heavy Medal Mock Newbery Finalist: I MUST BETRAY YOU by Ruta Sepetys

Heavy Medal Mock Newbery Finalist: BLUE: A HISTORY OF THE COLOR AS DEEP AS THE SEA AND AS WIDE AS THE SKY by Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond

Heavy Medal Mock Newbery Finalist: BLACK BIRD, BLUE ROAD by Sofiya Pasternack

The Final Month: Newbery Committee Inside Insights

Maizy Chen’s Last Chance: A Practice Discussion

A Question of Style: Newbery Criteria Deep Dive

Meet the 2023 Mock Newbery Heavy Medal Award Committee

The Heavy Medal Mock Newbery Book Discussion Schedule

The Tough Goodbyes: Books Left off the Heavy Medal Book List

Looking at the Lists:  A round-up of the “Best Children’s Books of the Year” lists

Calling all Mock Newbery Enthusiasts: Join the 2023 Heavy Medal Award Committee

What books should be on our 2023 Heavy Medal Mock Newbery Book List?

Sensing the Setting: Newbery Criteria Deep Dive

What About All That Buzz?: Newbery Committee Inside Insights

Final Call for Mock Newbery Nominations: Select two final books for December

How to Pick the Last Two:  Ideas and Strategies for the Final Mock Newbery Nomination

Battle of the Books: Compare/ Contrast Two Newbery Contenders

OGRESS vs. MAPMAKER: Battle of the Fantasies

Friendship isn’t easy but readers are: an Easy Reader for Newbery 2023?

Marshmallows, Wordplay, and a School Garden: Poetry Collections for Newbery Medal Consideration

The Early Six: The half-dozen books that will definitely be part of our Heavy Medal Book List

Early Chapter Books: Short, Sweet, but Enough for Newbery 2023?

Talking About Theme: Newbery Criteria Deep Dive

Graphic Novels + Middle School: A Newbery Medal Combination?

Two More Titles: November Nomination Time

That’s Classified: Newbery Committee Inside Insights

A Look Ahead:  The Heavy Medal Award Committee, the Final Book List, and the Selection of the Mock Newbery Winner

Picture Book Palooza: 32 page Newbery 2023 Contenders

Newbery Criteria Deep Dive:  Presentation of Information

Looking Backwards: Mock Newbery Historical Fiction Contenders

Mock Newbery Fantasy Contenders: Mapmaker, Ogress and Windswept

The Plot Thickens: Newbery Criteria Deep Dive

Mock Newbery Nomination Surprises: SWIM TEAM and LOVE IN THE LIBRARY

October Nomination Results: a mapmaker’s apprentice, the Romanian revolution, and human evolution lead the way

Don’t forget the little titles! One Suggestion Contenders

Riots, Revolts, Racism: Historical Fiction and 2023 Mock Newbery Candidates

The Stakes Have Risen: It’s Nomination Season

Newbery Committee Inside Insights: How members organize, store, track, and evaluate hundreds of books in a year

#Readmore #Readsmarter How are we doing? What are we missing?

One Plus / One Minus: Name the strengths and weaknesses of Newbery contenders

Newbery Criteria Deep Dive: Delineation of Characters

New Kids in Town:  Mock Newbery books about leaving one place for another

NBA Longlist vs. HM Longlist… Battle of the Awards?!

Early Year Favorites: Ogresses, Betrayal and Love

If You Had to Pick a Pair: Share your top 2 Newbery contenders so far

Mock Newbery Favorites So Far: Take our “Beginning of the Year Check-In” Survey and join the discussion of current front-runners

Meet Steven & Emily: Your Heavy Medal Hosts

Heavy Medal’s 2023 Mock Newbery: A Look Ahead

It’s the Final Suggestions

And now there are 70 Heavy Medal Mock Newbery Suggestions

Adding to the Mock Newbery List: Submit your August suggestions

Continuing the Mock Newbery Process: Time for July Suggestions

Time for June Suggestions

Many May Suggestions: First Quarter Mock Newbery Possibilities

Let’s Make Some May Suggestions!

Doubling the titles: April Heavy Medal Suggestions

Looking Ahead to the 2023 Newbery Medal

Mid-Summer Update: 63 titles on our Mock Newbery list

A Good Kind of Trouble by Lisa Moore Ramee.

FREEWATER wins the Newbery Medal, live reactions from Heavy Medal bloggers

Heavy Medal Mock Newbery Readers’ Poll Results

Heavy Medal Mock Newbery Webcast Results

March suggestions: early Mock Newbery possibilities

March Forward: Heavy Medal 2024 Mock Newbery Suggestions

What’s Coming in 2023, A Feedback Poll, and Goodbye for Now…

Who Will Win? 2023 Newbery Predictions

Cast Your Vote in the Heavy Medal Reader’s Poll

Heavy Medal 2023 Mock Newbery: FINAL FIVE CONTENDERS

Heavy Medal Mock Newbery Finalist: THE LAST MAPMAKER by Christina Soontornvat

Heavy Medal Mock Newbery Finalist: BERRY SONG by Michaela Goade

Mock Newbery Finalist: ATTACK OF THE BLACK RECTANGLES by Amy Sarig King

Heavy Medal Mock Newbery Finalist: AIN’T BURNED ALL THE BRIGHT By Jason Reynolds

Heavy Medal Mock Newbery Finalist: AVIVA VS. THE DYBBUK by Mari Lowe

Heavy Medal Mock Newbery Finalist: VIOLET AND JOBIE IN THE WILD by Lynn Rae Perkins

Heavy Medal Mock Newbery Finalist: THE DOOR OF NO RETURN by Kwame Alexander

Heavy Medal Mock Newbery Finalist: MARSHMALLOW CLOUDS by Ted Kooser and Connie Wanek

Heavy Medal Mock Newbery Finalist: THE OGRESS AND THE ORPHANS by Kelly Barnhill

Heavy Medal Mock Newbery Finalist: FARMHOUSE by Sophie Blackall

Heavy Medal Mock Newbery Finalist: HOW TO BUILD A HUMAN by Pamela S. Turner

Heavy Medal Mock Newbery Finalist: A ROVER’S STORY by Jasmine Warga

Heavy Medal Mock Newbery Finalist: SWIM TEAM by Johnnie Christmas

Heavy Medal Mock Newbery Finalist: I MUST BETRAY YOU by Ruta Sepetys

Heavy Medal Mock Newbery Finalist: BLUE: A HISTORY OF THE COLOR AS DEEP AS THE SEA AND AS WIDE AS THE SKY by Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond

Heavy Medal Mock Newbery Finalist: BLACK BIRD, BLUE ROAD by Sofiya Pasternack

The Final Month: Newbery Committee Inside Insights

Maizy Chen’s Last Chance: A Practice Discussion

A Question of Style: Newbery Criteria Deep Dive

Meet the 2023 Mock Newbery Heavy Medal Award Committee

The Heavy Medal Mock Newbery Book Discussion Schedule

The Tough Goodbyes: Books Left off the Heavy Medal Book List

2023 Heavy Medal Mock Newbery Book List

Looking at the Lists:  A round-up of the “Best Children’s Books of the Year” lists

Calling all Mock Newbery Enthusiasts: Join the 2023 Heavy Medal Award Committee

What books should be on our 2023 Heavy Medal Mock Newbery Book List?

Final Nomination List: 68 possible contenders for the 2023 Newbery Medal

Sensing the Setting: Newbery Criteria Deep Dive

What About All That Buzz?: Newbery Committee Inside Insights

Final Call for Mock Newbery Nominations: Select two final books for December

How to Pick the Last Two:  Ideas and Strategies for the Final Mock Newbery Nomination

Battle of the Books: Compare/ Contrast Two Newbery Contenders

OGRESS vs. MAPMAKER: Battle of the Fantasies

Friendship isn’t easy but readers are: an Easy Reader for Newbery 2023?

Marshmallows, Wordplay, and a School Garden: Poetry Collections for Newbery Medal Consideration

The Early Six: The half-dozen books that will definitely be part of our Heavy Medal Book List

Early Chapter Books: Short, Sweet, but Enough for Newbery 2023?

The Results Are In! Here’s our updated list of Heavy Medal Mock Newbery nominations

Talking About Theme: Newbery Criteria Deep Dive

Graphic Novels + Middle School: A Newbery Medal Combination?

Two More Titles: November Nomination Time

That’s Classified: Newbery Committee Inside Insights

A Look Ahead:  The Heavy Medal Award Committee, the Final Book List, and the Selection of the Mock Newbery Winner

Picture Book Palooza: 32 page Newbery 2023 Contenders

Newbery Criteria Deep Dive:  Presentation of Information

Looking Backwards: Mock Newbery Historical Fiction Contenders

Mock Newbery Fantasy Contenders: Mapmaker, Ogress and Windswept

The Plot Thickens: Newbery Criteria Deep Dive

Mock Newbery Nomination Surprises: SWIM TEAM and LOVE IN THE LIBRARY

October Nomination Results: a mapmaker’s apprentice, the Romanian revolution, and human evolution lead the way

Don’t forget the little titles! One Suggestion Contenders

Riots, Revolts, Racism: Historical Fiction and 2023 Mock Newbery Candidates

The Stakes Have Risen: It’s Nomination Season

Newbery Committee Inside Insights: How members organize, store, track, and evaluate hundreds of books in a year

#Readmore #Readsmarter How are we doing? What are we missing?

One Plus / One Minus: Name the strengths and weaknesses of Newbery contenders

Newbery Criteria Deep Dive: Delineation of Characters

New Kids in Town:  Mock Newbery books about leaving one place for another

NBA Longlist vs. HM Longlist… Battle of the Awards?!

Early Year Favorites: Ogresses, Betrayal and Love

If You Had to Pick a Pair: Share your top 2 Newbery contenders so far

Mock Newbery Favorites So Far: Take our “Beginning of the Year Check-In” Survey and join the discussion of current front-runners

Meet Steven & Emily: Your Heavy Medal Hosts

Heavy Medal’s 2023 Mock Newbery: A Look Ahead

85 Books to Consider: Mock Newbery Suggestions Updated

It’s the Final Suggestions

And now there are 70 Heavy Medal Mock Newbery Suggestions

Adding to the Mock Newbery List: Submit your August suggestions

Continuing the Mock Newbery Process: Time for July Suggestions

Mock Newbery Update – Our List of First Half Suggestions

Time for June Suggestions

Many May Suggestions: First Quarter Mock Newbery Possibilities

Let’s Make Some May Suggestions!

Doubling the titles: April Heavy Medal Suggestions

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More Recent Posts

Emily is READY to Heavy Medal!

September 9, 2021 by Emily Mroczek-Bayci

Hello Heavy Medal friends! My name is Emily Mroczek (Bayci) and I am Steven’s new partner in blogging this season of Heavy Medal. I am a freelance children’s librarian in the Chicago suburbs (still figuring out what that means) and a mother of two book loving (and eating) babies! In 2019, I served on the […]

Heavy Medal 2022 – A Look Ahead to the Mock Newbery season

September 7, 2021 by Steven Engelfried

The Mock Newbery season is here on Heavy Medal. The next few months will be filled with book discussions, nominations, a Mock election, and occasional conversations about the 100 years of the Medal's history.

Welcome to Heavy Medal, 2021 Edition

September 8, 2020 by Steven Engelfried

The Heavy Medal Mock-Newbery blog returns for a 13th year of discussion about the best children's books of the year. Here's a look ahead at our plans for this year's Newbery discussion process.

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Live from Philadelphia, it’s the Youth Media Awards!

January 27, 2020 by Annisha Jeffries

The winners have been announced. It was fun and wonderful to see how HMC were in sync with the Newbery Committee. Great job everyone!

Mock Newbery Discussion Starts January 2nd

January 1, 2020 by Steven Engelfried

The 2020 Heavy Medal Mock-Newbery book discussion starts tomorrow. Here are the guidelines that the Heavy Medal Awards Committee will be following.

Music, Race, and the American Dream: Female voices will not be silenced.

November 12, 2019 by Annisha Jeffries

Who knew that when THE HATE U GIVE debuted two years ago, it will generate a film and numerous accolades to be on the New York Times Bestsellers List for more than 80 weeks. After I finished reading THUG, the first words out of my mouth was, what’s next? And watching many interviews with Ms. […]

Graphic Novels are here to stay.

October 2, 2019 by Annisha Jeffries

Graphic Novels have become an integral part of children’s literature.2015, the Newbery Honor Book was awarded to  El Deafo by Cece Bell, and the following year, the Honor Book went to, Roller Girl by Victoria Jamieson. After these books received the accolades merited, graphic novels, for teens and middle-grade readers, have been embraced as a true mark of distinguished work of […]

Read More Posts »

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