Newberry Award winners last 50 years

Question 1

As a slag heap, the result of strip mining, creeps closer to his house in the Ohio hills, fifteen-year-old M. C. is torn between trying to get his family away and fighting for the home they love.

Answer 1

M.C. Higgins, the Great

Question 2

In this fourth book of The Dark Is Rising sequence, Will Stanton, visiting in Wales, is swept into a desperate quest to find the golden harp and to awaken the ancient Sleepers.

Answer 2

The Grey King

Question 3

A black family living in the South during the 1930’s are faced with prejudice and discrimination which their children don’t understand.

Answer 3

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

Question 4

Jess is a boy who has trouble fitting in, but when Leslie’s family moves into the farm next door they become best friends. They create a secret imaginary kingdom called Terabithia and share many exciting adventures. But then something tragic changes Jess’s life forever.

Answer 4

Bridge to Terabithia

Question 5

The mysterious death of an eccentric millionaire brings together an unlikely assortment of heirs who must uncover the circumstances of his death before they can claim their inheritance.

Answer 5

The Westing Game

Question 6

The journal of a 14-year-old girl, kept from 1830-1832, records daily events in her small New Hampshire town, her father’s remarriage, and the death of her best friend.

Answer 6

The Gathering of Days

Question 7

This story is takes place in the 1940’s in the Chesapeake Bay area. Feeling deprived all her life of schooling, friends, mother, and even her name by her twin sister, Louise finally begins to find her identity.

Answer 7

Jacob Have I loved

Question 8

A collection of poems describing the curious menagerie of guests who arrive at William Blake’s inn.

Answer 8

A Visit to William Blake’s Inn

Question 9

As the four abandoned Tillerman children settle in with their grandmother, Dicey finds that their new beginning requires love, trust, humor, and courage.

Answer 9

Dicey’s Song

Question 10

In his letters to his favorite author, ten-year-old Leigh reveals his problems in coping with his parents’ divorce, being the new boy in school, and generally finding his own place in the world.

Answer 10

Dear Mr. Henshaw

Question 11

Aerin, with the guidance of the wizard Luthe and the help of the blue sword, wins the birthright due her as the daughter of the Damarian king and a witchwoman of the mysterious, demon-haunted North.

Answer 11

The Hero and the Crown

Question 12

When their father invites a mail-order bride to come live with them in their prairie home, Caleb and Anna are captivated by their new mother and hope that she will stay.

Answer 12

Sarah, Plain and Tall

Question 13

A bratty prince and his whipping boy have many adventures when they inadvertently trade places after becoming involved with dangerous outlaws.

Answer 13

The Whipping Boy

Question 14

Photographs and text trace the life of the Civil War President.

Answer 14

Lincoln, a Photobiography

Question 15

A collection of poems describing the characteristics and activities of a variety of insects. The poems are designed to be read aloud as a “duet” by two readers.

Answer 15

Joyful Noise: Poems for two Voices

Question 16

In 1943, during the German occupation of Denmark, ten-year-old Annemarie learns how to be brave and courageous when she helps shelter her Jewish friend from the Nazis.

Answer 16

Number the stars

Question 17

After his parents die, Jeffrey Lionel Magee’s life becomes legendary, as he accomplishes athletic and other feats which awe his contemporaries.

Answer 17

Manic Magee

Question 18

When he finds a lost beagle in the hills behind his West Virginia home, Marty tries to hide it from his family and the dog’s real owner, a mean-spirited man known to shoot deer out of season and to mistreat his dogs.

Answer 18

Shiloh

Question 19

After the death of the beloved aunt who has raised her, twelve-year-old Summer and her uncle Ob leave their West Virginia trailer in search of the strength to go on living.

Answer 19

Missing May

Question 20

Given his lifetime assignment at the Ceremony of Twelve, Jonas becomes the receiver of memories shared by only one other in his community and discovers the terrible truth about the society in which he lives.

Answer 20

The Giver

Question 21

After her mother leaves home suddenly, thirteen-year-old Sal and her grandparents take a car trip retracing her mother’s route. Along the way, Sal recounts the story of her friend Phoebe, whose mother also left.

Answer 21

Walk Two Moons

Question 22

In medieval England, a nameless, homeless girl is taken in by a sharp-tempered midwife, and in spite of obstacles and hardship, eventually gains the three things she most wants: a full belly, a contented heart, and a place in this world.

Answer 22

The Midwife’s apprentice

Question 23

Four students, with their own individual stories, develop a special bond and attract the attention of their teacher, a paraplegic, who choses them to represent their sixth-grade class in the Academic Bowl competition.

Answer 23

The View from Saturday

Question 24

In a series of poems, fifteen-year-old Billie Jo relates the hardships of living on her family’s wheat farm in Oklahoma during the dust bowl years of the Depression.

Answer 24

Out of the Dust

Question 25

As further evidence of his family’s bad fortune, which they attribute to a curse on a distant relative, Stanley Yelnats is sent to a hellish correctional camp in the Texas desert where he finds his first real friend, a treasure, and a new sense of himself.

Answer 25

Holes

Question 26

Ten-year-old Bud, a motherless African-American boy living in Flint, Michigan, during the Great Depression, escapes a bad foster home and sets out in search of the man he believes to be his father–the renowned bandleader, H.E. Calloway of Grand Rapids.

Answer 26

Bud, Not Buddy

Question 27

During the recession of 1937, fifteen-year-old Mary Alice is sent to live with her feisty, larger-than-life grandmother in rural Illinois and comes to a better understanding of this fearsome woman.

Answer 27

A Year Down Yonder

Question 28

Tree-ear, a thirteen-year-old orphan in medieval Korea, lives under a bridge in a potters’ village, and longs to learn how to throw the delicate celadon ceramics himself.

Answer 28

A Single Shard

Question 29

Falsely accused of theft and murder, an orphaned peasant boy in fourteenth-century England flees his village and meets a larger-than-life juggler who holds a dangerous secret.

Answer 29

Crispin: The Cross of Lead

Question 30

The adventures of Desperaux Tilling, a small mouse of unusual talents, the princess that he loves, the servant girl who longs to be a princess, and a devious rat determined to bring them all to ruin.

Answer 30

The Tales of Despereaux

Question 31

Teenagers in a small town in the 1960s experience new thoughts and feelings, question their identities, connect, and disconnect as they search for the meaning of life and love.

Answer 31

Criss Cross

Question 32

Fearing that her legal guardian plans to abandon her to return to France, ten-year-old aspiring scientist Lucky Trimble determines to run away while also continuing to seek the Higher Power that will bring stability to her life.

Answer 32

The Higher Power of Lucky

Question 33

A collection of short one-person plays featuring characters, between ten and fifteen years old, who live in or near a thirteenth-century English manor.

Answer 33

Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village

Question 34

Nobody Owens is a normal boy, except that he has been raised by ghosts and other residents of the graveyard.

Answer 34

The Graveyard Book

Question 35

As her mother prepares to be a contestant on the 1980s television game show, “The $20,000 Pyramid,” a twelve-year-old New York City girl tries to make sense of a series of mysterious notes received from an anonymous source that seems to defy the laws of time and space.

Answer 35

When you read me

Question 36

Twelve-year-old Abilene Tucker is the daughter of a drifter who, in the summer of 1936, sends her to stay with an old friend in Manifest, Kansas, where he grew up. Over the summer she pieces together her father’s story, aided by some mysterious letters. It seems that Manifest’s history is full of colorful and shadowy characters–and long-held secrets. The more Abilene hears, the more determined she is to learn just what role her father played in that history.

Answer 36

Man over Manifest

Question 37

This novel is partly autobiographical and partly fictional. In Norvelt, Pennsylvania, twelve-year-old Jack Gantos spends the summer of 1962 grounded for various offenses until he is assigned to help an elderly neighbor with a most unusual chore involving the newly dead, molten wax, twisted promises, Girl Scout cookies, underage driving, lessons from history, typewriting, and countless bloody noses.

Answer 37

Dead End in Norvelt

Question 38

When Ivan, a gorilla who has lived for years in a down-and-out circus-themed mall, meets Ruby, a baby elephant that has been added to the mall, he decides that he must find her a better life.

Answer 38

The One and Only Ivan

Question 39

A cynical girl, who has read every issue of Terrible Things Can Happen to You, rescues a squirrel from a vacuum cleaner. But when the squirrel develops superpowers things get interesting. This is the laugh-out-loud story of their adventures together.

Answer 39

Flora and Ulysses

Question 40

12-year old Josh Bell and his twin brother Jordan are awesome on the court. But Josh has more than basketball in his blood, he’s got mad beats, too, that tell his family’s story in verse, in this fast and furious middle grade novel of family and brotherhood.

Answer 40

The Crossover

Question 41

Every Sunday after church, CJ and his grandma ride the bus across town. But today, CJ wonders why they don’t own a car like his friend Colby. How come they always have to get off in the dirty part of town? Each question is met with an encouraging answer from grandma, who helps him see the beauty; and fun; in their routine and the world around them.

Answer 41

Last Stop on Market Street

Question 42

Every year, the people of the Protectorate leave a baby as an offering to the witch who lives in the forest. They hope this sacrifice will keep her from terrorizing their town. But the witch in the Forest, Xan, is kind. She rescues the children and delivers them to welcoming families on the other side of the forest, nourishing the babies with starlight on the journey. One year, Xan accidentally feeds a baby moonlight instead of starlight, filling the ordinary child with extraordinary magic. Xan decides she must raise this girl, whom she calls Luna, as her own. As Luna’s thirteenth birthday approaches, her magic begins to emerge–with dangerous consequences. Meanwhile, a young man from the Protectorate is determined to free his people by killing the witch.

Answer 42

The Girl who Drank the Moon

Question 43

The lives of four misfits are intertwined when a bully’s prank lands shy Virgil at the bottom of a well and Valencia, Kaori, and Gen band together in an epic quest to find and rescue him.

Answer 43

Hello, Universe

Question 44

Thoughtful, strong-willed sixth-grader Merci Suarez navigates difficult changes with friends, family, and everyone in between. Merci and her older brother are scholarship students at a rich private school in Florida. They don’t have a big house or a fancy boat, and they have to do extra community service to make up for their free tuition. At school Merci has to deal with bossy Edna Santos and at home she has to worry about her grandfather who has started to forget things. Who knew sixth grade would be this difficult?

Answer 44

Merci Suarez Changes Gears

Question 45

A graphic novel about starting over at a new school where diversity is low and the struggle to fit in is real. As seventh grader Jordan Banks makes the daily trip from his Washington Heights apartment to the upscale Riverdale Academy Day School, he soon finds himself torn between two worlds–and not really fitting into either one. Can Jordan learn to navigate his new school culture while keeping his neighborhood friends and staying true to himself?

Answer 45

New Kid

Question 46

Would you make a deal with a magical tiger? This story brings Korean folklore to life as a girl goes on a quest to unlock the power of stories and save her grandmother. 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 ago, Halmoni stole something from the tigers. Now they want it back. And when one of the tigers approaches Lily with a deal–return what her grandmother stole in exchange for Halmoni’s health–Lily is tempted to agree. 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.

Answer 46

When you trap a tiger

Question 47

Petra Peña wanted to be a storyteller, like her abuelita. But Earth has been destroyed by a comet, and only a few hundred people have been chosen to journey to a new planet. When Petra wakes to this new planet she is the only person who remembers Earth. A sinister Collective has taken over the ship during its journey and purged the memories of all aboard - or purged them altogether. Petra alone now carries the stories of our past, and with them, any hope for our future. Can she make them live again?

Answer 47

The Last Cuentista

Question 48

Under the cover of night, twelve-year-old Homer flees Southerland Plantation with his little sister Ada, unwillingly leaving their beloved mother behind. Through tangled vines, secret doorways, and over a sky bridge, the two find a secret community called Freewater, deep in the swamp. In this society created by formerly enslaved people Homer finds new friends, almost forgetting where he came from. But when he learns of a threat that could destroy Freewater, he crafts a plan to find his mother and help his new home.

Answer 48

Freewater

Question 49

A story of a dog who unwittingly becomes a hero to a park full of animals. Johannes, a free dog, lives in an urban park by the sea. His job is to be the Eyes–to see everything that happens within the park and report back to the park’s elders, three ancient Bison. But changes are afoot. A story about friendship, beauty, liberation, and running very, very fast,.

Answer 49

The Eyes and the Impossible