Newbery Picks and Round-Up Invitation

A Message from Franki:

For those of you that don't know the history of our blog, we have been friends for a long time--throughout our teaching careers. A few years ago, we decided to meet more regularly to talk about books and then added a bit of fun to the meetings. We decided to try to predict the Newbery Winner each year. Since we were not very good at this, we changed our goal to have READ the Newbery winner before it is announced, so we started focusing on reading and talking about new chapter books for kids each year. This didn't go so well either. (Last year I won because I had CRISS CROSS in my Amazon shopping cart--had never read or seen it, but I had heard of it!). This is when Mary Lee had the idea to blog about our reading. We have come to terms with the fact that we don't have any idea what will win and we are never right. But it is still fun to play! So, each year, we still give it a shot. Below are our top 5 hopes/predictions along with other chapter books of the year that we've loved. Since we started our blog with this Newbery goal, we'd love to do a round-up of everyone's Newbery predictions/hopes. If you post your Newbery predictions, let us know in the comments and we'll do a round-up in about a week so we have it up and ready before the Newbery is announced on January 22.

Franki's Picks:

Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life by Wendy Mass
Yellow Star by Jennifer Roy
The Loud Silence of Francine Green by Karen Cushman
Gossamer by Lois Lowry
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo

Others I loved:


Part of Me by Kimberly Willis Holt
Penny From Heaven by Jennifer Holm
Fairies of Nutfolk Wood by Barb Bentler Ullman
Babymouse by Jennifer Holm
The Year of the Dog by Grace Lin
to dance by Siena Cherson Siegel


Mary Lee's Picks:

Gossamer by Lois Lowry
Fly by Night by Frances Hardinge
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo
Weedflower by Cynthia Kadohata
A True and Faithful Narrative by Katherine Sturtevant

Others I loved:

Babymouse by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm
The Book of Story Beginnings by Kristin Kladstrup
Blood on the River: Jamestown 1607 by Elisa Carbone
American Born Chinese by Gene Yang
Castle Waiting by Linda Medley

...and although this is an unlikely pick for the Newbery, I want to highlight it here because the deepest and most topical messages are sometimes found in the most unlikely places:

How to Speak Dragonese (Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III) by Cressida Cowell

"However small we are, we should always fight for what we believe to be right. And I don't mean fight with the power of our fists or the power of our swords...I mean the power of our brains and our thoughts and our dreams.

And as small and quiet and unimportant as our fighting may look, perhaps we might all work together like the numberless armies of Ziggernastica, and break out of the prisons of our own making. Perhaps we might be able to keep this fierce and beautiful world of ours free for all of us..."

Soooo, Happy Newbery Season! Send us your posts for the round-up!