The Newbery Medal was named for eighteenth-century British bookseller John Newbery. It is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.
2021 Medal Winner When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller When Lily and her family move in with her sick grandmother a magical tiger straight out of her halmoni's Korean folktales arrives, prompting Lily to unravel a secret family history. Long, long ago, Halmoni stole something from the tigers. Now, the tigers want it back. And when one of those tigers offers Lily a deal--return what Halmoni stole in exchange for Halmoni's health--Lily is tempted to accept. But deals with tigers are never what they seem! With the help of her sister and her new friend Ricky, Lily must find her voice... and the courage to face a tiger. 2021 Honors
A Wish in the Dark by Christina Soontornvat | Pong, born in a prison, longs to be free and escapes. Nok, the disgraced warden's daughter, looks to capture Pong again. Both discover how the world unfairly brings light only for the rich.
Fighting Words by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley | Sisters Della and Suki rely on each other to move forward after years of abuse from their mother’s boyfriend. They find their own voices beyond the trauma through resilience and the bond of sisterhood.
We Dream of Space by Erin Entrada Kelly | In the days before the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, the Thomas siblings navigate the dangerous space of middle school and the fractured constellation of their family.
Best Books of 2020 - Middle Grade Publishers Weekly reviews of children’s and young adult books published in 2021 and selects the top 50 books of the year, including picture books and graphic novels, fiction and nonfiction, debuts and bestsellers for readers of all ages. The top 6 books on their list are featured here.
1. The Beatryce Prophecy by Kate DiCamillo, illus. by Sophie Blackall (Candlewick) Set “during a time of war” when “terrible things happen everywhere,” and tenderly illuminated by Blackall’s atmospheric, fine-lined art, DiCamillo’s engrossing, deliberately told medieval fable follows Beatryce, a girl who can read despite her society’s mores, and Answelica, the ferocious goat who protects her. #2: Black Boy Joy: 17 Stories Celebrating Black Boyhood Edited by Kwame Mbalia (Delacorte) Focusing on Black boys’ happiness, this luminous, genre-bending anthology edited by Mbalia features 17 stories by as many Black male and nonbinary authors, including Jerry Craft, Lamar Giles, and Jason Reynolds. Filtering perennial subjects such as friendship, gender identity, and family through lenses of magic, space travel, superheroes, and more, this is a profoundly exuberant celebration of carefree Black experiences. #3: Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Shutdown by Steve Sheinkin (Roaring Brook) Immediately hooking readers with the account of a hollow coin’s chance finding, Sheinkin’s twisty, tautly paced spy story documents the Cold War period and escalating conflict, extending to the Cuban Missile Crisis. In addition to spies and political machinations, it skillfully describes the science behind the race via a charged narrative that maintains a keen attention to detail.
#4: Gone to the Woods: Surviving a Lost Childhood by Gary Paulsen (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) In a raw and riveting survival story about personal resilience amid trauma, the late Paulsen shares the turbulent early experiences—from life as a boy in 1944 Chicago to his enlistment in the military—that led to his writing career, rendering “the boy” a curious and savvy protagonist who constantly forges ahead in this hopeful third-person memoir.
#5: How to Become a Planet by Nicole Melleby (Algonquin) Melleby follows Pluto Jean Timoney, diagnosed with depression and anxiety after being gripped with a desire to “just stop” a month before seventh grade’s end. Uninterested in her traditional summer activities, space-loving Pluto begins a tentative journey navigating her mental health while embarking on a friendship with gender-questioning Fallon in this acutely observed, authentically told tale sprinkled with astronomy metaphors.
#6: The Insiders by Mark Oshiro (HarperCollins) Investigating the idea of safe spaces while injecting a contemporary story of middle school cliques with magical realism, Oshiro’s gentle, intersectionally inclusive saga drops 12-year-old Héctor Muñoz, an assured gay theater kid from San Francisco, into a new suburban school, where a janitor’s closet appears whenever he requires a refuge.
Goodreads Choice Awards 2021: Best Middle Grade & Children's (TBD)
New York Times
The New York Times publishes monthly updates about best selling Middle Grade paperback and hardcover books. Click on the links below to see the most up to date list of bestselling books for the middle grades.