# All-Time Best Newbery Medal Book, In Your Opinion? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 2, 2017, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-newbery-medal-book-in-your-opinion/778836 "2017-02-02T17:52:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2017, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-newbery-medal-book-in-your-opinion/778836/121 "2017-02-12T15:10:28Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > I’ve read 16. > > 1. 2009: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, illus. by Dave McKean (HarperCollins) > 2. 2004: The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread by Kate DiCamillo (Candlewick Press) > 3. 2003: Crispin: The Cross of Lead by Avi (Hyperion Books for Children) > 4. 2000: Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis (Delacorte) > 5. 1999: Holes by Louis Sachar (Frances Foster) > 6. 1997: The View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg (Jean Karl/Atheneum) > 7. 1986: Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan (Harper) > 8. 1983: Dicey’s Song by Cynthia Voigt (Atheneum) > 9. 1979: The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin (Dutton) > 10. 1978: Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson (Crowell) > 11. 1976: The Grey King by Susan Cooper (McElderry/Atheneum) > 12. 1969: The High King by Lloyd Alexander (Holt) > 13. 1968: From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg (Atheneum) > 14. 1963: A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle (Farrar) > 15. 1959: The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare (Houghton) > 16. 1949: King of the Wind by Marguerite Henry (Rand McNally) > > I don’t remember _The View from Saturday_, so that’s a reread for me. I lied. Looks like I’ve read 17. I’ve also read Up a Road Slowly. I didn’t recognize the title. I remember the book somewhat. I think I’ll add it to the reread stack. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2017, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-newbery-medal-book-in-your-opinion/778836/122 "2017-02-12T19:06:10Z")
These are the ones I’ve read. The later ones, I mostly read because I took a course in Children’s Lit in college, but the last one happened to catch my eye when I was shopping for a gift. It’s really good. I probably would have read more as a kid, but when I was young, I had the impression of Newbery books as downers, especially, any animal in a Newbery book wouldn’t make it to the end. I wish my spell check would stop telling me it’s Newberry. Is “Newberry” a word? “New” and “berry” are, but “Newberry” together? 1922 Hendrik Willem van Loon _The Story of Mankind_ 1923 Hugh Lofting \* The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle\* 1941 Armstrong Sperry _Call It Courage_ 1950 Marguerite de Angeli _The Door in the Wall_ 1959 Elizabeth George Speare \*The Witch of Blackbird Pond \* 1961 Scott O’Dell \* Island of the Blue Dolphins \* 1963 Madeleine L’Engle _A Wrinkle in Time_ 1968 E. L. Konigsburg _From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler_ 1972 Robert C. O’Brien _Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH_ 1978 Katherine Paterson \*Bridge to Terabithia \* 1979 Ellen Raskin \*The Westing Game \* 1981 Katherine Paterson _Jacob Have I Loved_ 1984 Beverly Cleary _Dear Mr. Henshaw_ 1986 Patricia MacLachlan \*Sarah, Plain and Tall \* 1987 Sid Fleischman _The Whipping Boy_ 1990 Lois Lowry _Number the Stars_ 1996 Karen Cushman _The Midwife’s Apprentice_ That’s 17, about the same as everyone else. I’ve read several “honors” books to, but left them off the list, because it was just too long to deal with. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2017, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-newbery-medal-book-in-your-opinion/778836/123 "2017-02-12T19:46:08Z")
I started a thread for those of us who are doing the reading list thing: [The Newbery Book Club](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=818959) In a bout of insomnia last night, I finished Caddie Woodlawn and got through Number the Stars. I’m into the Graveyard Book, which I’m enjoying a lot. > [@RivkahChaya](#): > > Ah, well. I’m from New York, and I slightly remember the tail of the beatnik era, when it was set. So that resonates with me. I also like art. And I’m proud of myself for figuring out that one little detail. I’m from New York too, and an artsy kid, and it resonated with me too. Just not as much as The Westing Game. 🙂 Good spotting on that detail! I knew something was up with that guy and the other ones too, but I didn’t put it together neatly like that upon first reading. ---
**Author:** ![Magicicada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c67d28/32.png) [@Magicicada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magicicada)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2017, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-newbery-medal-book-in-your-opinion/778836/124 "2017-02-13T04:16:09Z")
The epilogue of Island of the Blue Dolphins always destroyed me. I always thought the appeal of Wrinkle in Time was the whole Dad really didn’t leave us–he’s being held prisoner on a distant planet, and I’m going to go rescue him. ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2017, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-newbery-medal-book-in-your-opinion/778836/125 "2017-02-13T05:32:32Z")
I just read _Flora and Ulysses_ and have to say that I really preferred Kate DiCamillo’s earlier work, _Because of Winn-Dixie_ and _Tale of Despereaux_. The whimsical, quirky element in _Flora and Ulysses_ seems overdone to me–it was present in _Tale of Despereaux_ but I felt it fit in much better there. I can see why some people might love _Flora and Ulysses_ (it did win the Newbery after all) but I also understand why others might strongly dislike it. I’m kind of in between myself–I didn’t hate it but I didn’t find that much in it to like. ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2017, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-newbery-medal-book-in-your-opinion/778836/126 "2017-02-13T22:07:33Z")
> [@Magicicada](#): > > The epilogue of Island of the Blue Dolphins always destroyed me. > > I always thought the appeal of Wrinkle in Time was the whole Dad really didn’t leave us–he’s being held prisoner on a distant planet, and I’m going to go rescue him. Yes, that epilogue is a killer, and I was always really disturbed by what happens to the little brother too–one reason why I haven’t re-read the book in years. And yes, I always loved the fact that the kids rescued their dad and that Meg rescued Charles Wallace too. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-newbery-medal-book-in-your-opinion/778836/127 "2017-02-26T12:22:05Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > Holy Mother of Beelzebub! CHARLOTTE’S WEB lost out to…SECRET OF THE ANDES? What the hell is SECRET OF THE ANDES, and has anyone read it since 1953? > > And what parent has not read CHARLOTTE’S WEB aloud to their kids, heaving great racking sobs when Charlotte dies? > > Oooops, spoiler alert. Having not read Secret of the Andes, my WAG is that this is somewhere after the YA-ization of the Newbery award (which for all I know might have happened in 1922): that is, though the Newbery site says the award goes “to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children,” somewhere along the line they decided that books aimed at below the YA level inherently didn’t qualify. Hence no Dr. Seuss; hence no Julia Donaldson. And hence no Charlotte’s Web, which is more a children’s book than a YA book. Was Charlotte’s Web the best children’s book from 1953 that gained any sort of public recognition? Almost surely - because here we are, nearly a lifetime later, still in love with this book. While Secret of the Andes has long since vanished into obscurity, still remembered only because its name is on a well-known list. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-newbery-medal-book-in-your-opinion/778836/128 "2017-02-26T13:04:12Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Having not read Secret of the Andes, my WAG is that this is somewhere after the YA-ization of the Newbery award (which for all I know might have happened in 1922): that is, though the Newbery site says the award goes “to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children,” somewhere along the line they decided that books aimed at below the YA level inherently didn’t qualify. Hence no Dr. Seuss; hence no Julia Donaldson. And hence no Charlotte’s Web, which is more a children’s book than a YA book. WAG indeed :). The 2016 winner was a lovely picture book reminiscent of Ezra Jack Keats. **The Tale of Despereaux** is absolutely a children’s book. Plenty of Newbery winners are not YA. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-newbery-medal-book-in-your-opinion/778836/129 "2017-02-26T13:13:29Z")
Although, it really is kind of funny that picture books and teen books are competing for the same award. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-newbery-medal-book-in-your-opinion/778836/130 "2017-02-26T13:22:58Z")
My husband and I have both read Secret of the Andes, and both enjoyed it. Do I think it’s as good as Charlotte’s Web? No. But it’s quite interesting in its own way, and much better than some books on the list. I recommend it. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-newbery-medal-book-in-your-opinion/778836/131 "2017-02-26T14:49:14Z")
> [@Wednesday\_Evening](#): > > The Dark is Rising sequence is one of my favorite series. I think I agree, if you’re looking at series as a whole The Dark is Rising sequence is superior to the Wrinkle in Time series. > [@Chronos](#): > > That depends on where you cut off the _Wrinkle in Time_ series. The first two are great, _A Swiftly Tilting Planet_ is meh, _Many Waters_ is decent, and the ones written many years later about Meg’s daughter are absolute drek. I personally couldn’t stand _A Wind in the Door_, the second book in the series. It’s been awhile since I re-read it to see if time had improved it (no), but (a) the book felt really _frantic_ - just got a vibe that the author was having to try way too hard to live up to _Wrinkle_, and it wasn’t working. And (b) there was an element of hippie-punching in it that really set my teeth on edge. I’ve read most of Madeleine L’Engle’s fiction, and there’s just a huge drop-off between _Wrinkle_ and everything else. The only one besides that that really stands out, IMHO, is _A Ring of Endless Light_, the third book in the Austin family series. It’s been decades since I read _The Dark Is Rising_, so I really can’t remember what specifically bothered me about it, but it had to do with the nature of the alternative reality the author was constructing. I never read past the first book on that account. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-newbery-medal-book-in-your-opinion/778836/132 "2017-02-26T14:58:50Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > WAG indeed :). The 2016 winner was a lovely picture book reminiscent of Ezra Jack Keats. **The Tale of Despereaux** is absolutely a children’s book. Plenty of Newbery winners are not YA. Gotta admit, that leaves me even more perplexed about the absence of Dr. Seuss. Certainly nobody left a bigger mark on children’s books when I was growing up. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-newbery-medal-book-in-your-opinion/778836/133 "2017-02-26T16:29:52Z")
Although it’s primarily a picture book, **Time of Wonder** has haunted me through the years. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-newbery-medal-book-in-your-opinion/778836/134 "2017-02-26T20:24:26Z")
As I mentioned in a previous post, one reason why _Charlotte’s Web_ didn’t win was that a committee member looked at _Secret of the Andes_ and said, “It’s been a long time since I saw a good book about South America…” Evidently books about talking animals on ordinary American farms are a dime a dozen, but a good book about South America is worth its weight in medals. Of course, determining the recipient of an award given for “the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children” is dependent on what “most distinguished” means. It’s like baseball: what constitutes “most valuable,” and how is it different (if it is) from “best”? For me, yes, “most distinguished” absolutely means Dr. Seuss ought to be in there somewhere, along with a bunch of other books and writers that never won anything. I think some of Seuss’s stuff is among the very best of children’s literature ever. But of course not everyone agrees with me–I’ve known some teachers, librarians, and parents who are not fans. (Not sure I’ve ever met a child who wasn’t.) In particular, Seuss faced a few specific headwinds wrt the Newbery: +Though it’s true that a number of Newbery winners have been “children’s books” rather than YA books, very, very few Newbery winners have been picture books; +Popularity has at times seemed to be a handicap in winning a Newbery; at various times the committee has almost seemed to shy away from books that are \ well-liked by children and inclined instead to choose books that seem sadly neglected; +If you see Seuss as silly, if you wrinkle your nose at the shoehorned-to-fit rhymes, dislike the “cartoony” illustrations, and are left cold by his fantasy worlds of Yertles and Sneetches and oobleck and Whos, then “distinguished” is not a word you’ll associate with his work. While some Newbery books do include a fair amount of humor, many others do not, and “full of whimsy,” which describes Seuss’s works very well, describes the great bulk of the Newbery award winners not at all. Perhaps more surprising is that Seuss never won a Caldecott (best picture book) either. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-newbery-medal-book-in-your-opinion/778836/135 "2017-02-26T20:35:51Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > I personally couldn’t stand _A Wind in the Door_…there was an element of hippie-punching in it that really set my teeth on edge. What do you mean? Just curious. > [@](#): > > I’ve read most of Madeleine L’Engle’s fiction, and there’s just a huge drop-off between _Wrinkle_ and everything else. The only one besides that that really stands out, IMHO, is _A Ring of Endless Light_, the third book in the Austin family series. Nitpick: fourth. **Meet the Austins** , **The Moon By Night** (traveling across country; they meet Zachary Gray) **The Young Unicorns** (back to NYC) and then **Ring**. I agree with you, though; that’s the only one in the series that’s on my A-list. However, I do have a soft spot for **Camilla** and for **And Both Were Young**. The updated versions, not the ones L’Engle’s publishers told her to water down. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2017, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-newbery-medal-book-in-your-opinion/778836/136 "2017-03-03T01:43:33Z")
As of 12 years ago, I’d read seven: _The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle_ (1923, Hugh Lofting) _Rabbit Hill_ (1945, Robert Lawson) _Strawberry Girl_ (1946, Lois Lenski) _The Twenty-One Balloons_ (1948, William Pène du Bois) _A Wrinkle in Time_ (1963, Madeleine L’Engle) _It’s Like This, Cat_ (1964, Emily Neville) _From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler_ (1968, E L Konigsburg) (Several of them when I was in the single-digit age range, _Frankweiler_ after my sister pointed out a review of it when it won – I was 13 at the time – and both _Cat_ and _Dolittle_ around the same time.) I’ve now read all but four of them – the last three, and 2013. My two favourites (can’t narrow it down to one) are _Dicey’s Song_, which caused me to read four other books in the series, and _When You Reach Me_. ---
**Author:** ![K364](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k364/32/5_2.png) [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2017, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-newbery-medal-book-in-your-opinion/778836/137 "2017-03-03T03:38:25Z")
1948: The Twenty-One Balloons by William Pène du Bois As an eight year old, it fired a lifetime fascination with this planet and especially the strange largely unknown corners of it. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2017, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-newbery-medal-book-in-your-opinion/778836/138 "2017-03-10T02:42:09Z")
> [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](#): > > …I actually do have a vague connection with another Newbery winner, Nancy Willard (_a Visit to William Blake’s Inn_, one of the few picture books to win the award). **She lives about two blocks from me, or did until recently,** and I would occasionally see her riding her bike around town. She and I were also adjunct professors in the same department of the same college for a brief while. --Though we know many people in common, the only time I actually ever formally met her was when I had a book signing at a local store (none of my books have ever been nominated for a Newbery; you have almost certainly never heard of any of them) and she came in and bought a copy. It remains the only time I have knowingly inscribed one of my books to a Newbery Award winner. Quite cool. Bolding mine. Turns out she died about a week after I posted this. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2017, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-newbery-medal-book-in-your-opinion/778836/139 "2017-03-10T02:59:14Z")
> [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](#): > > Bolding mine. > > Turns out she died about a week after I posted this. ☹ Paula Fox, who won the award in 1974, also just died. Interesting trivia…she was also Courtney Love’s grandmother. ---
**Author:** ![Ms\_Boods](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Ms\_Boods](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms_Boods)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2017, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-newbery-medal-book-in-your-opinion/778836/140 "2017-03-11T13:44:50Z")
I read _Mixed-Up Files_ originally when I was about 10 years old, in 1975. I desperately wanted to spend the night in a big museum or at least play around in one after hours. Took a while, but got there in the end 🙂 _Island of the Blue Dolphins_ was also a favourite, although I found it lonely and sad, especially the ending. I was stunned a couple years back to learn where the actualy island was (as a kid I’d always vaguely assumed it was Pacific Northwest). I’ve got a handful of books from schooldays that I still re-read, except that I’ve been hunting down the original publications rather than the Scholastic versions\*. Don’t get me wrong, I lurved me a Scholastic catalogue, and my mum would buy me every book I ticked off - sometimes I single-handedly met the class minimum so the order could be made, ad punched more than one classmate who gave me grief for getting too many books. I was gutted in 5th grade when I had to switch from public school to a shitty Catholic school that didn’t participate in the programme. \*Scholastic frequently edited and shortened the books, if not changed sections/vocabulary, a good example being _Charly_ which became in the US _The Girl who Ran Away_. Barbara Cocoran’s _The Winds of Time_ was also trimmed and edited in places. _Wrinkle in Time_ was one I read a few times as a kid, and _A Wind in the Door_, but even then couldn’t slog through the third one. Haven’t re-read it as an adult, but was disappointed in the film version that was made, what, 20 some years ago now… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-newbery-medal-book-in-your-opinion/778836.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-newbery-medal-book-in-your-opinion/778836.md?page=8)