Newberry Award Winning Books

While the Caldecott list will have more books for toddlers, the Caldecott list is a great resource for parents interested in knowing which books have received special recognition. The Newberry list has books that are great for gifts, older siblings or for building a future home library. Amazon is a great source for reviews about toddler books as well as older children's books while also offering competitive prices on new and used books. Other good sources for books are eBay, yard sales, and used bookstores. Checking with Amazon first is often a good way to base whether prices from other sources are a good deal or not.

About the Newberry Award

Established 1922. A medal presented annually to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children published in the United States in the preceding year. The recipient must be a citizen or resident of the United States. The winner is announced at the American Library Association Midwinter Meeting (January/February), and the award is presented at the ALA summer conference.
  • 2021 - Tae Keller When You Trap a Tiger
  • 2020 - Jerry Craft New Kid
  • 2019 - Jack Gantos Dead End in Norvelt
  • 2018 = Erin Entrada Kelly Hello, Universe
  • 2017 - Kelly Barnhill The Girl Who Drank the Moon
  • 2016 - Matt de la Peña Last Stop on Market Street
  • 2015 - Kwame Alexander The Crossover
  • 2014 - Kate DiCamillo Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures
  • 2013 - Katherine Applegate The One and Only Ivan
  • 2012 - Jack Gantos Dead End in Norvelt
  • 2011 - Clare Vanderpool Moon over Manifest
  • 2010 - Rebecca Stead When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
  • 2009 - Neil Gaiman The Graveyard Book
  • 2008 - Laura Amy Schlitz Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village
  • 2007 - Susan Patron The Higher Power of Lucky
  • 2006 - Lynne Rae Perkins Criss Cross
  • 2005 - Cynthia Kadohata Kira-Kira
  • 2004 - Kate DiCamillo The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread
  • 2003 - Avi Crispin: The Cross of Lead
  • 2002 - Linda Sue Park A Single Shard
  • 2001 - Richard Peck A Year Down Yonder
  • 2000 - Christopher Paul Curtis Bud, Not Buddy
  • 1999 - Louis Sachar, Holes
  • 1998 - Karen Hesse. Out of the Dust
  • 1997 - E.L. Konigsburg. The View From Saturday
  • 1996 - Karen Cushman. The Midwife's Apprentice
  • 1995 - Sharon Creech. Walk Two Moons
  • 1994 - Lois Lowry. The Giver
  • 1993 - Cynthia Rylant. Missing May
  • 1992 - Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. Shiloh
  • 1991 - Jerry Spinelli. Maniac Magee
  • 1990 - Lois Lowry. Number the Stars
  • 1989 - Paul Fleischman. Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices
  • 1988 - Russell Freedman. Lincoln: A Photobiography
  • 1987 - Sid Fleischman. The Whipping Boy
  • 1986 - Patricia MacLachlan. Sarah, Plain and Tall
  • 1985 - Robin McKinley. The Hero and the Crown
  • 1984 - Beverly Cleary. Dear Mr. Henshaw
  • 1983 - Cynthia Voigt. Dicey's Song
  • 1982 - Nancy Willard. A Visit to William Blake's Inn: Poems for Innocent and Experienced Travelers
  • 1981 - Katherine Paterson. Jacob Have I Loved
  • 1980 - Joan Blos. A Gathering of Days: A New England Girl's Journal, 1830-32
  • 1979 - Ellen Raskin. The Westing Game
  • 1978 - Katherine Paterson. Bridge to Terabithia
  • 1977 - Mildred D. Taylor. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
  • 1976 - Susan Cooper. The Grey King
  • 1975 - Virginia Hamilton. M.C. Higgins, the Great
  • 1974 - Paula Fox. The Slave Dancer
  • 1973 - Jean Craighead George. Julie of the Wolves
  • 1972 - Robert C. O'Brien. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
  • 1971 - Betsy Byars. The Summer of the Swans
  • 1970 - William H. Armstrong. Sounder
  • 1969 - Lloyd Alexander. The High King
  • 1968 - E.L. Konigsburg. From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
  • 1967 - Irene Hunt. Up a Road Slowly
  • 1966 - Elizabeth Borton de Treviño. I, Juan de Pareja
  • 1965 - Maia Wojciechowska. Shadow of a Bull
  • 1964 - Emily C. Neville. It's Like This, Cat
  • 1963 - Madeleine L'Engle. A Wrinkle in Time
  • 1962 - Elizabeth George Speare. The Bronze Bow
  • 1961 - Scott O'Dell. Island of the Blue Dolphins
  • 1960 - John Krumgold. Onion John
  • 1959 - Elizabeth George Speare. The Witch of Blackbird Pond
  • 1958 - Harold V. Keith. Rifles for Watie
  • 1957 - Virginia Sorensen. Miracles on Maple Hill
  • 1956 - Jean Lee Latham. Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
  • 1955 - Meindert DeJong. The Wheel on the School
  • 1954 - John Krumgold. ... And Now Miguel
  • 1953 - Ann Nolan Clark. Secret of the Andes
  • 1952 - Eleanor Estes. Ginger Pye
  • 1951 - Elizabeth Yates. Amos Fortune, Free Man
  • 1950 - Marguerite de Angeli. The Door in the Wall
  • 1949 - Marguerite Henry. King of the Wind
  • 1948 - William Pène du Bois. The Twenty-One Balloons
  • 1947 - Carolyn S. Bailey. Miss Hickory
  • 1946 - Lois Lenski. Strawberry Girl
  • 1945 - Robert Lawson. Rabbit Hill
  • 1944 - Esther Forbes. Johnny Tremain
  • 1943 - Elizabeth Janet Gray. Adam of the Road
  • 1942 - Walter D. Edmonds. The Matchlock Gun
  • 1941 - Armstrong Sperry. Call It Courage
  • 1940 - James Daugherty. Daniel Boone
  • 1939 - Elizabeth Enright. Thimble Summer
  • 1938 - Kate Seredy. The White Stag
  • 1937 - Ruth Sawyer. Roller Skates
  • 1936 - Carol Ryrie Brink. Caddie Woodlawn
  • 1935 - Monica Shannon. Dobry
  • 1934 - Cornelia Meigs. Invincible Louisa: The Story of the Author of Little Women
  • 1933 - Elizabeth Lewis. Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze
  • 1932 - Laura Adams Armer. Waterless Mountain
  • 1931 - Elizabeth Coatsworth. The Cat Who Went to Heaven
  • 1930 - Rachel Field. Hitty, Her First Hundred Years
  • 1929 - Eric P Kelly. The Trumpeter of Krakow: A Tale of the Fifteenth Century
  • 1928 - Dhan Mukerji. Gay-Neck, the Story of a Pigeon
  • 1927 - Will James. Smoky, the Cow Horse
  • 1926 - Arthur Chrisman. Shen of the Sea
  • 1925 - Charles Finger. Tales from Silver Lands
  • 1924 - Charles Hawes. The Dark Frigate
  • 1923 - Hugh Lofting. The Voyages of Dr. Dolittle
  • 1922 - Hendrik Van Loon. The Story of Mankind