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September Check-In: Poll Results
Last week we asked readers to weigh in on the Mock-Newbery related reading that we’ve done so far in 2024, based on our suggestions from March – September. 75 people responded! The results are pretty...
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New Views of World War II: Newbery Contenders That Tackle History
In our recent check-in survey several readers noted that books about World War II seem to be a bit of a trend this year. It’s a fairly common topic for children’s literature in most years, but my top...
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Wednesday Roundup: Nonfiction Newbery Contenders
STEVEN: This is the first of our “Wednesday Roundups,” where we focus on a specific category of possible Newbery contenders. This year we decided to start off each roundup with a quick look back at...
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Choose Two: Top Newbery Contenders So Far
It’s time for a Friday Feedback exercise! On random Friday’s (or Monday’s for that matter) we will feature a prompt where we invite you to weigh in on a particular question related to the 2025 Newbery...
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Plain Jane? Hank Hooperman? Orris? Trimble? Standout characters from this...
The Newbery Terms and Criteria list “Delineation of characters” [check] as one of several literary qualities that Committee members should look closely at. So what makes Newbery-level...
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Wednesday Roundup: Graphic Novel Newbery Contenders
Steven: In this year’s Wednesday Roundups we’re looking backwards before we look forwards: reviewing some of the past Newbery winners in the category. With Graphic Novels, that’s not too...
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Notable Newbery Authors: a new series
Emily: Every year we like to do some form of special series where we look at something in Newbery history. And this year it is AUTHORS. The people behind the Newbery, the people whose lives are...
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October Nominations: Name Your Top Three Newbery Contenders
It’s finally nomination time! In our Heavy Medal Mock Newbery’s we try to match our process with that of the real Committee when we can. That works pretty well with nominations. Each of the fifteen...
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Wednesday Roundup: Novels In Verse Newbery Contenders
Steven: Today’s Wednesday Roundup is “novels in verse.” It’s kind of a loose term, and it’s not always clear what fits into the category. How would you describe these, Emily? Emily: In “novels in...
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Newbery possibilities on the National Book Award shortlist
Unlike the Newbery and most other ALA awards, the National Book Awards share their longlists and shortlists of finalists. The first ten for Young Peoples Literature were announced in September and now...
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HEAVY MEDAL 2025 Mock Newbery: 32 Nominations
I can’t say I’m that surprised with our first round of Mock Newbery Nominations. 95 titles nominated for 32 unique titles THE TENTH MISTAKE OF HANK HOOPERMAN LEADS BY A LANDSLIDE Year-long...
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Wednesday Round Up: Easy Reader/ Early Chapter Books
Emily: In today’s Wednesday Roundup we discuss the topic I almost discontinued: early readers/ beginning chapter books. A title that has seldom received Newbery love and has little prospects this...
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A Mock List Comparison: Newbery Contenders from Other Mock Newbery Sites
This is a tricky time of year for Newbery Committee members. They’ve likely just seen the first list of nominations from other members and will need to make sure they’re read, or will soon read, all...
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2025 Newbery Contenders: The year of Bad Moms
At first I thought it was just me, being a young mom and taking a lot of these books personally… but NO! When looking at the list of 2025 Newbery contenders (and mainly the middle grade fiction) we...
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Wednesday Round-Up: Picture Books
STEVEN: In this week’s Wednesday Roundup we’ll look at picture books. This is one of those less likely Newbery categories that has actually done pretty well in recent years. We had a rare winner in...
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Words on the Page: Specific Examples of Newbery-level Writing
As we go through a Mock Newbery year, we’re always trying to identify excellence in the books we read. And of course we pay particular attention to the Newbery Terms and Criteria, which define what...
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2025 Newbery Potentials: A Spooky, Ghost Filled Year
There’s no time like October to take a moment and recognize all the ghostly spirits present in children’s literature this year. Is it more than usual? Let’s take a look! There’s good ole Rose in THE...
View ArticleA Look Ahead: HMAC, HMBL, 2025 Mock
If you’re a frequent reader of Heavy Medal than you probably know what all the above acronyms meant. If not, have no fear- I’m here to explain everything!! Every year on Heavy Medal we finish up the...
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Author Spotlight: Newbery Powerhouses
STEVEN: Last month we introduced our three-part series on Notable Newbery Authors and talked about some of our Newbery memories. We also introduced our Newbery Authors Poll, which is still open and...
View ArticleMonday Musings: Take backs allowed
As we near the end of the year, yes there’s new books still getting published- but with titles being nominated it’s time to begin the rereading process. This is when we look at title’s again and with...
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