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Survival Stories: from a Middle School Playground to the Streets of India
The plot of THE USUAL SUSPECTS revolves around the discovery of a gun near the grounds of a middle school. It all comes to life through the perceptive narration of Thelonius, who is one of the most...
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Music, Race, and the American Dream: Female voices will not be silenced.
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...
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November Nominations – Choose Two More
Heavy Medal Mock Newbery Nominations are now open for November. In October, 49 readers each put three titles forward. Totals from that first round are listed here. Following the procedure of the real...
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The Toll! The Toll! The Toll!
One of the most popular series for my students (5-8 grade) in the past two years is the “Arc of a Scythe” trilogy: Scythe, Thunderhead, and The Toll. On Heavy Medal — Scythe was never discussed as a...
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Operation Frog Effect by Sarah Scheerger
Author, Sarah Scheerger has written a timely relatable story told in diary form with eight diverse students writing their experiences as the school year advances. That story begins at White Oak...
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Heavy Medal, Mock Newbery, Award – Nominations Tally
After two rounds of nomination, we have 18 titles that are top contenders (4 nominations or more by 59 Heavy Medal readers). The top six titles remain the same, while This Promise of Change, Genesis...
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Picture Book Biographies and the Heavy Medal Early 6
In mid-December, we’ll be forming a committee of volunteers to make up the Heavy Medal Award Committee. Details are in our October 25th post. In December we’ll announce a full list of books that that...
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Infinite Hope by Ashley Bryan, or How I Failed to Evaluate a Masterpiece for...
This is how I read Infinite Hope: A Black Artist’s Journey from World War II to Peace – First, I read only the larger font, current day recollections of Ashley’s: from 1941 to 1945, from New York to...
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Rick Riordan Presents: Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky by Kwame Mbalia
When I found out bestselling author Rick Riordan was creating his unique imprint for middle-grade readers; I was very excited. Since the imprint’s launch, one of these latest debut novels: Tristan...
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“Planet Earth Is Blue” the “Wonder” of 2019? – Newbery Criteria: Vastly Good...
I picked up Planet Earth Is Blue by Nicole Panteleakos because it received four nominations in the last two months – as many as Beverly, Right Here, Sweeping Up the Heart, and A Place to Belong (all...
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Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales: Major Impossible
This action-packed adventure graphic novel is book 9 in the series. It revolves around adventurer John Wesley Powell, who would come to be known as one of the most heroic adventurers in American...
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Riveting True Stories About Sunken Ships, Bomber Planes, and Poisoned Food
I was a little anxious in early fall because I hadn’t read a lot of excellent nonfiction books…I think I’m officially over that. I could easily see a nonfiction title winning the Medal this year, and...
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Call for Nominations-Choose Two More.
Heavy Medal Mock Newbery Nominations are now open for December. In Steven’s November 14 post, he mentioned that for November, 49 Heavy Medal readers each put three titles forward. November 21 post,...
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What Have We Missed?: “Best Books of the Year” lists
The year-long question for every award committee member is: What did I miss? December offers a good checkpoint as the major children’s literature review journals announce their “Best Books of the...
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Interview with Jo Ann Allen Boyce and Debbie Levy
THIS IS PROMISE OF CHANGE was an early 2019 publication with many nominations, but we haven’t discussed it much on Heavy Medal (it was part of Roxanne’s post on poetry). We interviewed the authors to...
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2020 Heavy Medal Mock Newbery Award Finalists… almost: we need your input!
We released a partial Heavy Medal Award discussion titles list in late November. With the final round of nomination, we now have a firm top 13. All but The Toll and Torpedoed received 8 or more...
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The Final Finalist List
The time has come,’ the Walrus said, To talk of many things:Of shoes — and ships — and sealing-wax — Of cabbages — and kings —And why the sea is boiling hot — And whether pigs have...
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Heavy Medal Committee: Call for Participants
The announcement of the real Newbery winners is just over a month away. Between now and then the Heavy Medal Committee will discuss and vote upon the now finalized Heavy Medal Book List. We’ll end up...
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The Heavy Medal Book Discussion Schedule
We currently have 13 volunteers for the Heavy Medal Committee. That’s plenty to ensure rich and in-depth discussion of the books on our list…but if you’d like to join us, there’s still time. See last...
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Introducing the Heavy Medal Committee
We are very excited to introduce this year’s Heavy Medal Committee! Fifteen serious children’s book people who have volunteered to participate in the challenging process of discussing 15 books in 21...
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