John Newbery Medal 2010
Awards
John Newbery Medal 2010
The John Newbery Medal honors the author of the year's most outstanding contribution to children's literature. Presented every year since 1922, the Medal is named for 18th-century British bookseller John Newbery. Henrik Van Loon won the first Newbery Medal in 1922 for THE STORY OF MANKIND. Receiving the Newbery Medal virtually guarantees that the winning book will remain in print and on library and bookstore shelves for years to come.
2010 Winner
WHEN YOU REACH ME
Wendy Lamb Books/Random House
ISBN: 9780385737425
Ages 9-14
208 pages
July 2009
By sixth grade, Miranda and her best friend, Sal, know how to navigate their New York City neighborhood. They know where it’s safe to go, like the local grocery store, and they know whom to avoid, like the crazy guy on the corner.
But things start to unravel. Sal gets punched by a new kid for what seems like no reason, and he shuts Miranda out of his life. The apartment key that Miranda’s mom keeps hidden for emergencies is stolen. And then Miranda finds a mysterious note scrawled on a tiny slip of paper:
I am coming to save your friend’s life, and my own.
I must ask two favors. First, you must write me a letter.
The notes keep coming, and Miranda slowly realizes that whoever is leaving them knows all about her, including things that have not even happened yet. Each message brings her closer to believing that only she can prevent a tragic death. Until the final note makes her think she’s too late.
2010 Honors
CLAUDETTE COLVIN: Twice Toward Justice
Melanie Kroupa Books/Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN: 9780374313227
Ages 13-up
144 pages
January 2009
On March 2, 1955, an impassioned teenager, fed up with the daily injustices of Jim Crow segregation, refused to give her seat to a white woman on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Instead of being celebrated as Rosa Parks would be just nine months later, 15-year-old Claudette Colvin found herself shunned by her classmates and dismissed by community leaders. Undaunted, a year later she dared to challenge segregation again as a key plaintiff in Browder v. Gayle, the landmark case that struck down the segregation laws of Montgomery and swept away the legal underpinnings of the Jim Crow South.
THE EVOLUTION OF CALPURNIA TATE
Henry Holy Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 9780805088410
Ages 9-12
352 pages
May 2009
Calpurnia Virginia Tate is 11 years old in 1899 when she wonders why the yellow grasshoppers in her Texas backyard are so much bigger than the green ones. With a little help from her notoriously cantankerous grandfather, an avid naturalist, she figures out that the green grasshoppers are easier to see against the yellow grass, so they are eaten before they can get any larger. As Callie explores the natural world around her, she develops a close relationship with her grandfather, navigates the dangers of living with six brothers, and comes up against just what it means to be a girl at the turn of the century.
THE MOSTLY TRUE ADVENTURES OF HOMER P. FIGG
The Blue Sky Press/Scholastic
ISBN: 9780439668187
Ages 9-12
224 pages
January 2009
Master storyteller Rodman Philbrick takes readers on a colorful journey as a young orphan named Homer P. Figg sets off to follow his only brother into the thick of the Civil War. Through a series of fascinating events, Homer's older brother has been illegally sold to the Union army. It is up to Homer to find him and save him. Along the way, he encounters many strange but real people of that era who will engage and educate young readers about our nation's past --- in one of the most decisive moments of American history.
WHERE THE MOUNTAIN MEETS THE MOON
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 9780316114271
Ages 8-12
288 pages
July 2009
In the valley of Fruitless mountain, a young girl named Minli lives in a ramshackle hut with her parents. In the evenings, her father regales her with old folktales of the Jade Dragon and the Old Man on the Moon, who knows the answers to all of life's questions. Inspired by these stories, Minli sets off on an extraordinary journey to find the Old Man on the Moon to ask him how she can change her family's fortune. She encounters an assorted cast of characters and magical creatures along the way, including a dragon who accompanies her on her quest for the ultimate answer.
