Mock Newbery 2023 Watch List

[Josephine]

Any titles on the horizon for the next round?

[Shella]

I’m just finishing the 2022 winners- I had only read one of them. In the middle of the winner and have one honor title left.

[Laura]

The Ogress and the Orphans by Kelly Barnhill, A Song Called Home by Sara Zarr and Those Kids from Fawn Creek by Erin Entrada Kelly are coming out very soon. All worth reading, for sure!

[Josephine]

Many thanks!

[Breanna]

I attended a literacy conference last night weekend where Christina Soontornvat spoke. Her book The Last Mapmaker is scheduled to come out this spring! Yay! She got two Newbery honors in 2021 so it will be interesting to see if she gets another one.

[Linda]

The Ogress and the Orphans is due out March 8.

[Linda]

A Song Called Home is due out March 1.

[Linda]

Those Kids from Fawn Creek is also due out March 8.

[Judy]

I Must betray You by Rita Sepetys. Published in February.

[Lisa]

I just finished an ARC of “My Own Lightning” by Lauren Wolk. Absolutely loved it. Exquisite writing and lovely addition to the world of Wolf Hollow.

[Josephine]

Did you read the ARC of My Own Lightning? If so where did you get it? It’s not on Netgally.

[Jen]

Africantown by Irene Latham and Charles Waters is a notable book in verse (inspired by the true story of the last American slave ship)

[Laura]

Breanna wrote: "I attended a literacy conference last night weekend where Christina Soontornvat spoke. Her book The Last Mapmaker is scheduled to come out this spring! Yay! She got two Newbery honors in 2021 so it..."

Forgot to mention this one! It sounds incredible!

[Windy]

I just read WAYWARD CREATURES by Dayna Lorentz and OMAR RISING by Aisha Saeed and I really enjoyed both of these.
Other books I am looking forward to are:
ANYBODY SEEN FRENCHIE? by Leslie Connor
FREEWATER by Amina Luqman-Dawson
NEW FROM HERE by Kelly Yang
THE MIDNIGHT CHILDREN by Dan Geneinhart
JENNIFER CHAN IS NOT ALONE by Christina Soontornvat
SOLIMAR by Pam Munoz Ryan

[Richie]

A Song Called Home
Northwind
Operation Do-Over
Omar Rising
Falling Short

[Jennifer]

My TBR list so far:
Northwind/ Paulsen 1/11
Loyalty/ Avi 2/1
Ogress & the Orphans/ Barnhill 3/8
My Own Lightning/ Wolk 5/3
Alice Austen Lived Here/ Gino 4/5
Different Kinds of Fruit/ Lukoff 4/12
Last Mapmaker/ Soontornvat 4/12
Marvellers/ Clayton 5/3
New From Here/ Yang 3/1
Song Called Home/ Zarr 2/22
Louisa June & the Nazis in the Waves/ Elliott 3/22
Jennifer Chan is Not Alone/ Keller 4/26
Cress Watercress/ Maguire 3/29
Attack of the Black Rectangles/ King 9/6

[Josephine]

Where did you find this list?

[Laura]

The cover art for Cress Watercress is stunning. So looking forward to its release.

[Martha]

I recently finished Milk & Juice a Recycling Romance by Meredith Crandall Brown. This is a picture book, but just had to share it anyway. It is funny yet teaches the concept of recycling in an easy to understand way. The children love it. Also Northwind by Gary Paulsen is a welcome read after his biography Gone to the Woods: A Lost Childhood.

[Linda]

I'm about to start Northwind, Gary Paulsen.

[Laura]

Martha wrote: "I recently finished Milk & Juice a Recycling Romance by Meredith Crandall Brown. This is a picture book, but just had to share it anyway. It is funny yet teaches the concept of recycling in an easy..."

I agree. Milk and Juice is super cute :)

[Shella]

I’m starting Northwind soon too- I hope it is our March pick

[Windy]

According to Amazon, Milk and Juice was publishing in December 2021. Do they have the date wrong?

Also does anyone know if Wayward Creatures is eligible? It wasn't released until January 2022, but the publishing date inside the cover says 2021?

[LS]

Shella wrote: "I’m starting Northwind soon too- I hope it is our March pick"

Was there a February pick? I missed it.

[Laura]

Windy wrote: "According to Amazon, Milk and Juice was publishing in December 2021. Do they have the date wrong?

Also does anyone know if Wayward Creatures is eligible? It wasn't released until January 2022, bu..."

Milk and Juice was released last year. We were just mentioning it is a cute picture book. Wayward Creatures was released mid-January. It is eligible for an award.

[Linda]

LS wrote: "Shella wrote: "I’m starting Northwind soon too- I hope it is our March pick"

Was there a February pick? I missed it."

I don't think you missed anything. February is reading the 2022 winner.

[Linda]

Omar Rising by Aisha Saeed published January 2022

[Windy]

Hi Laura,
Thank you so much for clarifying!
Milk and Juice does look really cute!

[Laura]

Windy wrote: "Hi Laura,
Thank you so much for clarifying!
Milk and Juice does look really cute!"

You bet!

[Windy]

My favorite book that I have read so far this year is WISHING UPON THE SAME STARS by Jaquetta Nammar Feldman.

[Richie]

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...

[Amy]

I was lucky enough to get netgalley copies of Anybody Seen Frenchie and New From Here. I love anything by Leslie Connor and Frenchie didn't disappoint. I though New from Here did a great job of hitting some tough issues at a middle grade level.

[Tamsyn]

I just read Maizy Chen's Last Chance by Lisa Yee which I loved, and The Ogress and the Orphans by Kelly Barnhill was fantastic -- finished both of these in the same week and I think they will stay at the top of my list for this year.

[Eli]

Just finished Freewater by debut author Amina Luqman-Dawson and WOW. What a fabulously written story on a very tough topic, with a cast of characters that are engaging to the last page.

[Kathryn]

Based on the description I just read of Freewater by Amina Luqman-Dawson, it sounds like it would pair really well with this TED Ed video: https://youtu.be/_Gt9Mc9jnOE I'd definitely like to read it.

[Kidlitter]

Northwind will be a great book for a few tween readers and I'll be glad to use for Reader's Advisory. I also suspect several adult patrons are going to be telling me it's the best book of the year. It's very evocative in its language conjuring up the North, whichever part of the North coastal area Leif paddles along in his struggle to survive in a long ago untouched wilderness. Several of his encounters with wildlife are memorable, particularly with the orca whale family and the crows. Paulsen's eternal theme of survival against all odds is carried on with realism and grit. BUT...I felt a bit trapped with Leif in that canoe and his philosophical musings seemed at odds with his struggle to exist. His desire to BE and realize who he was seemed to take over what was essentially a young child's very hard fight to keep going day by day. And wasn't he lucky with the bears, not to mention the particular ways he was abused and forced to work without more unsavoury aspects intruding? I wasn't as disturbed by the gory descriptions of cholera and what it does to the human body because that was part of what made life so nasty, brutish and short. I suspect children may bleep through the Thoreauvian quest for self-knowledge in favour of finding out just what is inside a salmon, but there was no one quite like Paulsen for giving them all of that.

[Josephine]

Good review

[Josephine]

Hi readers, is there a place where all the mentioned books to read for 2022 are listed. I see titles in posts but if it’s there I’ll like to access a list of the books.

[Martha]

Navigating the waterways while exploring the beauty and danger around him, one truly can picture through the main character Lief's eyes, the scary bears and killer whales, amongst many creatures he admires yet respectfully fears as well. In the last chapter of Northwinds, Gary Paulsen shares his own inspirations for writing this book, bringing it full circle. I recommend reading this after Gone to the Woods: Surviving a Lost Childhood, for a better understanding of this intricately told story, absolutely refreshing and told with sparing text.

[Rachel]

Don’t know how you all feel about graphic novels but Dan Santat’s the Aquanaut seems like a strong contender.
Kelly Yang (always a treat) has a pandemic book, “New From Here” which looks spectacular too

[Richie]

I loved THE PEACH REBELLION. Now I am just a short way into THOSE KIDS FROM FAWN CREEK, and have already teared up once.

[Windy]

1/4 Operation Sisterhood Olugbemisola Rhuday Perkovich
1/4 Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me 'Round Kathleen J. Kirkwood
1/4 African Town (YA) Irene Latham
1/11 When Winter Robeson Came Brenda Wood
1/11 Ain't Burned All the Bright (YA) Jason Reynolds
1/11 Northwind Gary Paulsen
1/18 Operation Do-Over Gordon Korman
1/18 The Way I Say It Nancy Tandon
1/18 Wayward Creatures Dayna Lorentz
1/18 The Unforgettable Logan Foster Shawn Peters
1/25 Star Child Ibi Zoboi
2/1 Omar Rising Aisha Saeed
2/1 Loyalty Avi
2/1 Solimar: The Sword of the Monarchs Pam Munoz Ryan
2/1 Each of Us a Universe Jeanne Zulick Ferruolo
2/1 Wishing Upon the Same Stars Jaquetta Nammar Feldman
2/1 I Must Betray You (YA) Ruth Sepetys
2/1 Freewater Amina Luqman Dawson
2/1 Maizy Chen's Last Chance Lisa Yee
2/8 Dream, Annie, Dream Waka T. Brown
2/8 A Comb of Wishes Lisa Stringfellow
2/15 Anybody Here Seen Frenchie Leslie Connor
2/15 Just Right Jillian Nicole D. Collier
2/15 Rima's Rebellion Margarita Engle
2/22 Golden Girl Reem Faruqi
2/22 A Song Called Home Sara Zarr
3/1 The School for Whatnots Margaret Peterson Haddix
3/1 New From Here Kelly Yang
3/1 The Aquanaut Dan Santat
3/8 Those Kids From Fawn Creek Erin Entrada Kelly
3/8 The Ogress and the Orphans Kelly Barnhill
3/15 The Turtle of Michigan Naomi Shihab Nye
3/15 Falling Short Ernesto Cisneros
3/22 Alias Anna: A True Story of Outwitting the Nazis Susan Hood
3/22 Louisa June and the Nazis in the Waves L. M. Elliott
3/29 Cress Watercress Gregory Maguire
3/29 Murder Among Friends: How Leopold and Loeb Tried to Commit the Perfect Crime Candace Fleming
4/5 A Duet for Home Karina Yan Glaser
4/5 Alice Austen Lived Here Alex Gino
4/5 Consider the Octopus Nora Raleigh Baskin
4/12 The Last Mapmaker Christina Soontornvat
4/12 Different Kinds of Fruit Kyle Lukoff
4/12 The Lucky Ones Linda Williams Jackson
4/12 How to Build a Human: In Seven Evolutionary Steps Pamela S. Turner
4/19 Unfadeable Maurice Broaddus
4/26 Jennifer Chan is Not Alone Tae Keller
5/3 My Own Lightning Lauren Wolk
5/6 The Marvellers Dhonielle Clayton
5/17 Lines of Courage Jennifer A. Nielsen
5/17 The Peach Rebellion Wendeline Van Drannen
8/30 The Midnight Children "Dan Geneinhart
9/6 Attach of the Black Rectangles A. S. King

[Windy]

Here are some picture books:
1/4 The Year We Learned to Fly Jacqueline Woodson
1/4 Daddy Speaks Love Leah Henderson
1/11 Evicted: The Struggle for the Right to Vote Alice Faye Duncan
1/18 A History of Me Andrea Theodore
1/25 Love in the Library Maggie Tokuda-Hall
2/1 I Am Golden Eva Chen
2/1 Marley and the Family Band Cedella Marley
2/1 Call Me Miss Hamilton Carole Boston Weatherford
5/10 The World Belonged to Us Jacqueline Woodson

These are my consolidated lists that I have gotten off of different Mock Newbery sites listed by release date.

[Josephine]

Huge thank you!

[Windy]

You are welcome! =)

[Ellen]

I really enjoyed When Winter Robeson Came by Brenda Woods.
I also just finished Anybody Here Seen Frenchie? by Leslie Connor; I liked it a lot and it will be easy to hand to many students. I'm not sure it's a strong "distinguished" contender when I think of past winners.
I'm excited to read many others mentioned here. Probably most looking forward to The Ogress and the Orphans, Falling Short, and The Last Mapmaker.

[Beverly]

Rachel wrote: "Don’t know how you all feel about graphic novels but Dan Santat’s the Aquanaut seems like a strong contender.
Kelly Yang (always a treat) has a pandemic book, “New From Here” which looks spectacul..."

I read The Aquanaut a couple of weeks ago. It was very good and I thought, quite unique.

[Richie]

I don't know when I last read 350 pages in one day. YONDER by Ali Standish. Historical fiction. WWII. Appalachia. Heroism. Prejudice. It's coming in May. I'll begin reading it aloud, over the phone, to my 9 year-old grandson tomorrow.

[Kidlitter]

This review makes me want to read Yonder so badly, thank you!

[Martha]

I really want to read The Ogress and the Orphans, I'm ready for an imaginative fantasy with dragons included. Lately so many of the stories written are about serious realistic problems children experience, ready for a change.