Newbery Medal Winners
The Newbery Medal is a prestigious award which is presented annually by the American Library Association to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children published the previous year.
It was first awarded in 1922, making it the first children’s book award in the world, and it continues to be one of the best known and most discussed children’s book awards in the USA, together with the Caldecott Award. It was named after the eighteenth-century British bookseller John Newbery and was created with the purpose of recognising children’s authors and encouraging good writing in this field.
Reviewing past winners is a reliable way of finding inspirational and captivating novels suitable for young readers. However, the recommended reading age of the winning book varies year by year from aged 8+ to aged 14+. So to help you choose just the right book for your child I have compiled below the full list of Newbery Medal Winners grouped by recommended reading age. There are even recommendations for the very best of the best - the top twenty-five winners considered by some to be most deserving of receiving this prestigious award.
First, however, a little bit more about the most recent winners. Keep reading for brief reviews of the last few books to win this coveted award.
The Latest Newbery Medal Winners
Below you can find details of the most recent winners of the Newbery Medal.
The Crossover 
by Kwame Alexander is about two 12-year-old African American twin boys who are basketball stars, coached by their father, a former professional basketball player, and supported by their mother, the assistant-principal. When an attractive girl arrives on the scene, the brothers begin the painful process of moving apart for the first time. This 2015 winner, a novel suitable for readers aged 11 and over, is written in verse with quirky vocabulary adding an amusing touch to the narrative.
Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures 
by Kate DiCamillo was the 2014 winner. It is the amusing story of a squirrel named Ulysses who gains super-squirrel powers, and an intelligent 10 year-old girl, Flora, who is a comic-lover and self-proclaimed cynic. Full-page illustrations and comic-style graphic sequences help to captivate young readers. Suitable for readers aged 8 and over.
The One and Only Ivan 
was the winner of the 2013 Newbery Medal. This illustrated novel by Katherine Applegate tells the story of Ivan the gorilla, who has got used to his sad life behind a glass wall in a shopping mall. He occupies himself with television and painting and has a couple of friends for company. However, when a baby elephant called Ruby arrives from the wild, Ivan realises that he must do something to save her from a lifetime in captivity. Suitable for readers aged 8 and over.
Dead End in Norvelt 
by Jack Gantos, is suitable for ages 11 and above. 12-year-old Jack is grounded for the summer for misbehaving and his mother volunteers him to help an elderly neighbour transcribe the obituaries of the original residents of his town, Norvelt. These funny and far-fetched stories of the colourful characters of Norvelt capture Jack's imagination. Winner of the 2012 Medal.
Moon over Manifest 
by Clare Vanderpool won the 2011 award. In 1936 12-year-old Abilene is sent away by her father to stay in a town in Missouri which he left years earlier. Finding a hidden cigar box full of momentos, she spends the summer piecing together his mysterious past. Suitable for readers aged 9 and over.
When You Reach Me 
by Rebecca Stead won the Newbery Medal in 2010. Set in New York City in 1979, this novel tells the story of 12-year-old Miranda whose life starts to unravel when she discovers mysterious notes from someone who seems to know all about her, including things which have not even happened yet. Suitable for readers aged 11 and over.
All Newbery Medal Winners by Recommended Reading Age
Below is the full list of Newbery Medal winners from 1922 until the present day. They have been grouped by the recommended reading age according to the Scholastic Book Wizard. Scholastic bases this age recommendation upon the age for which the content of the book is most appropriate.
Within each age grouping, books have been listed by the year in which they won the award, with the newest winners at the top of the list. Books have been highlighted with a star
if they were considered to be one of the top twenty-five books most deserving of receiving the Newbery Medal, as voted by the goodreads community.
Several Newbery Medal Honour Books are also awarded each year to the runners up.
Click on these links to jump straight to books appropriate for children aged:
8 and over

2014
Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures 
by Kate DiCamillo

2013
The One and Only Ivan 
by Katherine Applegate

2007
The Higher Power of Lucky 
by Susan Patron, illustrate by Matt Phelan

2004
The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread 
by Kate DiCamillo

1998
Out of the Dust 
by Karen Hesse

1997
The View from Saturday 
by E.L. Konigsburg

1993
Missing May 
by Cynthia Rylant

1992
Shiloh 
by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

1990
Number the Stars 
by Lois Lowry

1989
Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices 
by Paul Fleischman

1988
Lincoln: A Photobiography 
by Russell Freedman

1987
The Whipping Boy 
by Sid Fleischman

1986
Sarah, Plain and Tall 
by Patricia MacLachlan

1982
A Visit to William Blake's Inn: Poems for Innocent and Experienced Travelers 
by Nancy Willard

1978
Bridge to Terabithia 
by Katherine Paterson

1972
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH 
by Robert C. O'Brien

1968
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler 
by E.L. Konigsburg

1955
The Wheel on the School 
by Meindert DeJong

1953
Secret of the Andes 
by Ann Nolan Clark

1952
Ginger Pye 
by Eleanor Estes

1950
The Door in the Wall 
by Marguerite de Angeli

1948
The Twenty-One Balloons 
by William Pène du Bois

1947
Miss Hickory 
by Carolyn Sherwin Bailey

1945
Rabbit Hill 
by Robert Lawson

1942
The Matchlock Gun 
by Walter Edmonds

1939
Thimble Summer 
by Elizabeth Enright

1937
Roller Skates 
by Ruth Sawyer

1936
Caddie Woodlawn 
by Carol Ryrie Brink

1931
The Cat Who Went to Heaven 
by Elizabeth Coatsworth

1930
Hitty, Her First Hundred Years 
by Rachel Field

1926
Shen of the Sea 
by Arthur Bowie Chrisman

1925
Tales from Silver Lands
by Charles Finger
9 and over

2011
Moon over Manifest 
by Clare Vanderpool

2006
Criss Cross 
by Lynne Rae Perkins

1995
Walk Two Moons 
by Sharon Creech

1991
Maniac Magee 
by Jerry Spinelli

1984
Dear Mr. Henshaw 
by Beverly Cleary

1969
The High King 
by Lloyd Alexander

1946
Strawberry Girl 
by Lois Lenski

1943
Adam of the Road 
by Elizabeth Janet Gray

1935
Dobry
by Monica Shannon
10 and over

2000
Bud, Not Buddy 
by Christopher Paul Curtis

1999
Holes 
by Louis Sachar

1994
The Giver 
by Lois Lowry

1983
Dicey's Song 
by Cynthia Voigt

1977
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry 
by Mildred D. Taylor

1973
Julie of the Wolves 
by Jean Craighead George

1970
Sounder 
by William H. Armstrong

1941
Call It Courage 
by Armstrong Sperry

1940
Daniel Boone
by James Daugherty

1932
Waterless Mountain 
by Laura Adams Armer
11 and over

2015
The Crossover 
by Kwame Alexander

2012
Dead End in Norvelt 
by Jack Gantos

2010
When You Reach Me 
by Rebecca Stead

2009
The Graveyard Book 
by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Dave McKean

2008
Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village 
by Laura Amy Schlitz

2005
Kira-Kira 
by Cynthia Kadohata

2003
Crispin: The Cross of Lead 
by Avi

2002
A Single Shard 
by Linda Sue Park

1996
The Midwife's Apprentice 
by Karen Cushman

1981
Jacob Have I Loved 
by Katherine Paterson

1980
A Gathering of Days: A New England Girl's Journal, 1830-1832 
by Joan W. Blos

1979
The Westing Game 
by Ellen Raskin

1976
The Grey King 
by Susan Cooper

1975
M. C. Higgins, the Great 
by Virginia Hamilton

1974
The Slave Dancer 
by Paula Fox

1971
Summer of the Swans 
by Betsy Byars

1966
I, Juan de Pareja 
by Elizabeth Borton de Trevino

1965
Shadow of a Bull 
by Maia Wojciechowska

1964
It's Like This, Cat 
by Emily Neville

1963
A Wrinkle in Time 
by Madeleine L'Engle

1962
The Bronze Bow 
by Elizabeth George Speare

1961
Island of the Blue Dolphins 
by Scott O'Dell

1960
Onion John 
by Joseph Krumgold

1959
The Witch of Blackbird Pond 
by Elizabeth George Speare

1957
Miracles on Maple Hill 
by Virginia Sorensen

1956
Carry On, Mr. Bowditch 
by Jean Lee Latham

1954
...And Now Miguel 
by Joseph Krumgold

1951
Amos Fortune, Free Man 
by Elizabeth Yates

1949
King of the Wind 
by Marguerite Henry

1944
Johnny Tremain 
by Esther Forbes

1938
The White Stag 
by Kate Seredy

1934
Invincible Louisa: The Story of the Author of Little Women 
by Cornelia Meigs

1933
Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze 
by Elizabeth Lewis

1929
The Trumpeter of Krakow 
by Eric P. Kelly

1928
Gay Neck, the Story of a Pigeon 
by Dhan Gopal Mukerji

1927
Smoky, the Cowhorse 
by Will James

1924
The Dark Frigate 
by Charles Hawes

1923
The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle 
by Hugh Lofting
13 and over

2001
A Year Down Yonder 
by Richard Peck
14 and over

1985
The Hero and the Crown 
by Robin McKinley

1967
Up a Road Slowly 
by Irene Hunt

1958
Rifles for Watie 
by Harold Keith

1922
The Story of Mankind 
by Hendrik Willem van Loon
Books have been highlighted with a star
if they were considered to be one of the top twenty-five books most deserving of receiving the Newbery Medal, as voted by the goodreads community.
You may also like:
You are here:
Home
›
Recommended Children’s Books
›
Newbery Medal Winners
Can't find what you're looking for? Try searching for it here.
Can't find what you're looking for? Try searching for it here.
Comments
Have your say about what you just read! Leave a comment in the box below.