Newbery Books - Exodus Books

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Click here for a complete list of Newbery Medalists, organized by year with ratings, FLAWS, and links to book reviews.

Once upon a time there was a bookseller. His name was Frederic G. Melcher, and he knew in his heart that books for children were just as important as books for adults, if not more so. Why, he wondered, are they so often ignored? He thought and thought, and decided in the end that it didn't matter why; what mattered was that he did something to change all that.

He did. In 1921, he proposed the Newbery Award to the American Library Association, a prize named for 18th-century English bookseller John Newbery to be given to the most distinguished American children's book published the previous year. The Association's Executive Board approved the idea, much to the joy of children's librarians everywhere, and the first Newbery Award was given in 1922.

The express purpose of the medal was "To encourage original creative work in the field of books for children. To emphasize to the public that contributions to the literature for children deserve similar recognition to poetry, plays, or novels. To give those librarians, who make it their life work to serve children's reading interests, an opportunity to encourage good writing in this field."

Melcher's brainchild was the first children's book award in the world, and remains the measure of all the others. He went on to initiate the Caldecott Award for best illustrated children's book, and together the Newbery and the Caldecott provide an important standard for evaluating children's books in the United States and beyond.

Between 2012-2014, our friend Caleb undertook the project of reviewing ALL the medalists, which he completed (he wrote a sad summary of his journey here). While that is essentially done (we haven't managed to keep it up), we're now gathering information to compile reviews for the honor books! If you'd like to be a part of that process, we invite you to join us at the Facebook group "The Newbery Books Discussion Group."

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	Apprentice of Florence by Ann Kyle, illustrated by Erick Berry from Houghton Mifflin for 5th-8th grade 1934 Newbery Honor Book in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
	Boy Who Was by Grace Taber Hallock, illustrated by Harrie Wood from E.P. Dutton & Co. for 4th-8th grade 1929 Newbery Honor Book in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
	By the Shores of Silver Lake (Pictorial Cover) Little House Series #5 by Laura Ingalls Wilder; illustrated by Garth Williams from HarperCollins Realistic Fiction/Pioneers for 3rd-6th grade 1940 Newbery Honor Book in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC) $9.00 (2 in stock)
	Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham, illustrated by John O'Hara Cosgrave II from Houghton Mifflin Biography for 5th-9th grade 1956 Newbery Medal winner in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
	Codfish Musket by Agnes Hewes, illustrated by Armstrong Sperry from Doubleday, Doran & Company Inc. for 8th-12th grade 1937 Newbery Honor Book in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC) $45.00 (1 in stock)
	Dark Star of Itza The Story of A Pagan Princess by Alida Malkus, illustrated by Lowell Houser 1^st edition from Harcourt, Brace & Company for 5th-8th grade 1931 Newbery Honor Book in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
	Daughter of the Seine The Life of Madame Roland by Jeanette Eaton from Harper & Brothers for 9th-Adult 1930 Newbery Honor Book in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
	Davy Crockett Junior Deluxe Editions by Constance Rourke, illustrated by Walter Seaton from Grosset & Dunlap for 4th-7th grade 1935 Newbery Honor Book in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
	Down Ryton Water by E. R. Gaggin from George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd. for 4th-6th grade 1942 Newbery Honor in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
	Downright Dencey by Caroline Dale Snedeker, illustrated by Maginel Wright Barney from Doubleday & Company Realistic Fiction for 6th-9th grade 1928 Newbery Honor Book in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC) $22.00 (1 in stock)
	Elijah Of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis from Scholastic Inc. Nursery Rhymes for 4th-6th grade 2008 Coretta Scott King Author Award Winner, 2008 Newbery Honor Book in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF) $9.00 (2 in stock)
	I, Juan de Pareja by Elizabeth Borton de Treviño 1994 Printing from Farrar, Straus and Giroux Realistic Fiction/Slavery for 5th-8th grade 1966 Newbery Medal winner in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF) $10.00 (1 in stock)
	Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell from Houghton Mifflin Realistic Fictio for 5th-8th grade 1961 Newbery Medal Winner in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF) $12.00 (2 in stock)
	Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy by Gary D. Schmidt from Scholastic Inc. for 7th-9th grade 2005 Newbery Honor Book in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF) $8.00 (1 in stock)
	Meggy MacIntosh A Highland Girl in the Carolina Colony by Elizabeth Janet Gray, illustrated by Marguerite de Angeli from Viking Press for 7th-10th grade 1931 Newbery Honor Book in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
	Men of Athens by Olivia Coolidge, illustrated by Milton Johnson from Houghton Mifflin Historical Fiction for 4th-7th grade 1963 Newbery Honor Book in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
	Men of Athens by Olivia Coolidge, illustrated by Milton Johnson from Hillside Education Historical Fiction for 4th-7th grade 1963 Newbery Honor Book in Ancient Greece (Location: HISW-ANGR)
	Moccasin Trail Puffin Newbery Library by Eloise J. McGraw 9th impression from Coward McCann Historical Fiction for 4th-8th grade 1953 Newbery Honor Book in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC) $35.00 (1 in stock)
	My Brother Sam Is Dead by James & Christopher Collier from Simon and Schuster Historical Fiction for 5th-8th grade 1975 Newbery Honor Book in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF) $9.00 (1 in stock)
	Nothing But the Truth A Documentary Novel by Avi from Orchard Books for 3rd-6th grade 1992 Newbery Honor Book in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF) $7.00 (1 in stock)
	Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse 1^st edition from Scholastic Inc. Realistic Fiction for 6th-8th grade 1998 Newbery Medal winner in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF) $8.00 (1 in stock)
	Out of the Flame by Eloise Lownsbery, illustrated by Elizabeth Tyler Wolcott from Longmans, Green & Co. Historical Fiction for 7th-10th grade 1932 Newbery Honor Book in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
	Pran of Albania by Elizabeth Miller, illustrated by Maud & Miska Petersham from Doubleday, Doran & Company Inc. for 6th-10th grade 1930 Newbery Honor Book in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
	Pran of Albania by Elizabeth Miller, illustrated by Maud & Miska Petersham 1930s printing from Doubleday, Doran & Company Inc. for 6th-10th grade 1930 Newbery Honor Book in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC) $115.00 (1 in stock)
	Railroad to Freedom A Story of the Civil War by Hildegarde H. Swift, illustrated by James Daugherty 1960 printing from Harcourt, Brace & World for 5th-8th grade 1933 Newbery Honor Book in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
	Road from Home by David Kherdian from Greenwillow Books for 7th-9th grade 1980 Newbery Honor Book in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF) $6.00 (1 in stock)
	Show Way by Jacqueline Woodson, illustrated by Hudson Talbott First Ed from G.P. Putnam's Sons for 1st-4th grade 2006 Newbery Honor Book in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF) $18.99
	Slave Dancer by Paula Fox from Simon and Schuster Historical Fiction for 6th-10th grade 1974 Newbery Medal winner in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA) $8.00 (1 in stock)
	Slave Dancer by Paula Fox from Simon and Schuster Historical Fiction for 6th-10th grade 1974 Newbery Medal winner in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA) $8.00 (1 in stock)
	Slave Dancer by Paula Fox, illustrated by Eros Keith from Bradbury Press Historical Fiction for 6th-10th grade 1974 Newbery Medal winner in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC) $12.00 (1 in stock)
	Spice and the Devil's Cave by Agnes Hewes, illustrated by Lynd Ward from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. for 7th-10th grade 1931 Newbery Honor Book in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
	Swords of Steel The Story of a Gettysburg Boy by Elsie Singmaster, illustrated by David Hendrickson from Houghton Mifflin Historical Fiction for 7th-10th grade 1934 Newbery Honor Book in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
	Trumpeter of Krakow by Eric P. Kelly, illustrated by Angela Pruszynska from Macmillan Historical Fiction for 6th-9th grade 1929 Newbery Medal winner in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC) $25.00 (1 in stock)
	Vaino A Boy of New Finland by Julia Davis Adams, illustrated by Lempi Ostman from E.P. Dutton & Co. for 6th-10th grade 1930 Newbery Honor Book in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
	Young Mac of Fort Vancouver by Mary Jane Carr, illustrated by Richard Holberg from Thomas Y. Crowell & Co. for 5th-8th grade 1941 Newbery Honor Book in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC) $15.00 (2 in stock)

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