2019 Newbery and Caldecott Winners

As has been the tradition in my class for many years, we watched the ALA awards ceremony live yesterday. We don't tune in until the end (an hour in to the program) because that's when they give the most prestigious awards. Did you know that the Newbery is the oldest children's book award in the country? It's been going since 1922.

I love these awards.

At the Montessori school where I worked previously, I spent my state of Maryland annual textbook money each year working to build up our collection of every Newbery winner and honor book since 1922. At Little Bluestem, you may notice that I label the spines of the books we have which have won these awards. It feels so fancy to have gold and silver stickers, and it's a great feeling to know you're reading a book which has been voted the best of them all.

It's fun, too, to wonder what will win... like this great blog post Newbery / Caldecott 2019: Final Prediction Edition by Elizabeth Bird.

It's fun for me to make a special display each year of the books which have won (and to see how excited the kids are to see them arrive in the mail)!

And if you already own the winning books, that's an amazing feeling too. I will never forget the year Dead End in Norvelt won and our school already had a copy. Someone had donated it to the classroom! As soon as the winner was announced I went to the Upper Elementary classroom to tell Ms. Denise which book had won... and she walked straight to the closet and put it right in my hands. And it was an autographed copy!!!!

Yesterday I purchased the 2019 Newbery winner and honors, the Caldecott winner and honors, and the Geisel winner. I already beefed up my early reader collection significantly this year, with the complete set of phonics-based early readers from ATP (86 books), but I did want the Geisel winner.

So... here's what we got for the classroom. Books should start arriving by the end of the week:

Geisel award - best early reader of 2018

Fox the Tiger
by Corey R. Tabor
WINNER

Caldecott medal - best-illustrated children's book of 2018

Hello Lighthouse
by Sophie Blackall
WINNER


Alma and How She Got Her Name
by Juana Martinez-Neal
HONOR


A Big Mooncake for Little Star
by Grace Lin
HONOR


The Rough Patch
by Brian Lies
HONOR


Thank You, Omu!
by Oge Mora
HONOR

Newbery medal - best-written children's book of 2018

Merci Suárez Changes Gears
by Meg Medina
WINNER


The Night Diary
by Veera Hiranandani
HONOR


The Book of Boy
by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
HONOR

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