< Newbery Medal and Honor Books
Given the Newbery Award's prestige it would be easy to assume that the award winners are all excellent books for children. The Biblioguides Team has not found this to be the case. We always want to provide parents with the information they need to make the best book decisions for their families. With that goal in mind, we've put together a complete list of all medal winners and honor books since inception, and the Biblioguides Review Team is working together to read our way through the winners and to provide a review. Where we have not yet reviewed a book, a description directly from the dust jacket or from the publisher has been provided. In some cases, we have shared a brief synopsis from The Newbery and Caldecott Awards: A Guide to the Medal and Honor Books (1999).
Reviews are the thoughts and opinions of the particular reviewer and do not necessarily represent all members of the team. Reviews will continue to be added as the team reads more of the Newbery books. We hope this list will help you familiarize yourself with the various winners and provide the necessary information to determine which books would be a good fit for your family!
The Giver
By: Lois Lowry
Medal Winner
Reviewed by: Sherry Early
Recommended age: Age 15+
Also read by: Diane Pendergraft
My first thoughts upon closing the cover of this prize-winning young adult novel: what a wonderful, powerful story and what a horrible, confusing and disappointing ending! I'm not opposed to ambiguity, but be warned if you haven't read it that the ending is beyond ambiguous.
The Giver brings up the issues of freedom vs. order and security, emotion vs. intellect, and the utility and purpose of memory and history. At first, Jonas, the narrator of the story, seems to live in a utopian community. No hunger, no sickness, very little pain, a society of stability, order and contentment. However, as the story progresses, the reader begins to see hints that Jonas's world might not be as perfect as it looks. His mother, who holds a prominent position at the "Ministry of Justice", is disturbed about a repeat offender who has broken the rules for a second time. The third offense means release from the community. Jonas's father is a bit concerned about a baby at the Nurturing Center where he works who is not thriving and cries at night. Jonas himself is apprehensive about his Twelve Year ceremony, coming up in about a week, in which he will receive his apprenticeship assignment, the job assigned to him for his life's contribution to his community. Then, there's the airplane that flew over the community in direct contradiction to The Rules. All in all, it's an unsettling time for Jonas and for the community.
Read full review
Crazy Lady!
By: Jane Leslie Conly
Honor
NOT REVIEWED
Increasingly alienated from his widowed father, Vernon joins his friends in ridiculing the neighborhood outcasts'Maxine, an alcoholic prone to outrageous behavior, and Ronald, her retarded son. But when a social service agency tries to put Ronald into a special home, Vernon fights against the move.
From the publisher
Dragon's Gate
By: Laurence Yep
Honor
NOT REVIEWED
In 1867, Otter travels from Three Willows Village in China to California—the Land of the Golden Mountain. There he will join his father and uncle.
In spite of the presence of family, Otter is a stranger among the other Chinese in this new land. And where he expected to see a land of goldfields, he sees only vast, cold whiteness. But Otter's dream is to learn all he can, take the technology back to the Middle Kingdom, and free China from the Manchu invaders.
Otter and the others board a machine that will change his life—a train for which he would open the Dragon's Gate.
From the publisher
Eleanor Roosevelt: A Life of Discovery
By: Russell Freedman
Honor
Reviewed by: Deanna Knoll
Recommended age: 12+
It has to be difficult to write a biography for children about this complicated woman. Her miserable childhood and unsatisfying marriage notwithstanding, she managed to morph from a shrinking violet to a political and social powerhouse where no one would question the significance of her influence in our country. Despite the many sadnesses she experienced, this book identifies the ways in which she counteracted those with public service and close friendships.
While I found this to be a solid biography, it wasn't compelling writing and I was underwhelmed; very straightforward in a photojournalistic style. And while there is nothing problematic in this book, the complicated relationships she conducted with both her husband and several of her aides makes this book feel somewhat incomplete if one wants to fully understand who Eleanor Roosevelt was.
