Classic Novels Book Club: The Top 100

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When I launched the Classic Novels Book Club read more here) in July 2018, it was based on a a list of the top 100 works of fiction of all-time. That list has been revised (posted here), but the original has been left in tact here. Highlighted titles are those which the book club has read or is scheduled to read as of 7/12/2025. You can click on book titles to link to more detailed pages about those books. J.D. Salinger The Catcher in the Rye (1951) F. Scott Fitzgerald The Great Gatsby (1925) George Orwell 1984 (1949) Harper Lee To Kill a Mockingbird (1960) Vladimir Nabokov Lolita (1955) Joseph Heller Catch-22 (1961) John Steinbeck The Grapes of Wrath (1939) James Joyce Ulysses (1922) J.R.R. Tolkien The Lord of the Rings (trilogy: 1954-55) Charlotte Brontë Jane Eyre (1847) Miguel de Cervantes Don Quixote (1615) Emily Brontë Wuthering Heights (1847) Jack Kerouac On the Road (1957) William Golding Lord of the Flies (1954) Toni Morrison Beloved (1987) Gabriel García Márquez One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967) Leo Tolstoy War and Peace (1869) Aldous Huxley Brave New World (1932) Lewis Carroll Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) Herman Melville Moby-Dick (1851) Joseph Conrad Heart of Darkness (1899) Ernest Hemingway The Sun Also Rises (1926) Margaret Mitchell Gone with the Wind (1936) George Orwell Animal Farm (1945) Jane Austen Pride and Prejudice (1813) Kurt Vonnegut Slaughterhouse-Five (1969) Leo Tolstoy Anna Karenina (1877) Fyodor Dostoyevsky Crime and Punishment (1866) William Faulkner The Sound and the Fury (1929) Mark Twain The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885) Homer The Odyssey (800 B.C.) E.B. White Charlotte’s Web (1952) Virginia Woolf To the Lighthouse (1927) Alice Walker The Color Purple (1982) Ralph Ellison Invisible Man (1952) Homer The Iliad (800 B.C.) George Eliot Middlemarch: A Study of Provincial Life (1872) Charles Dickens Great Expectations (1861) Douglas Adams The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (1979) Gustave Flaubert Madame Bovary (1857) Salman Rushdie Midnight’s Children (1981) Chinua Achebe Things Fall Apart (1958) J.R.R. Tolkien The Hobbit (1937) Louisa May Alcott Little Women (1869) James Joyce A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916) Anthony Burgess A Clockwork Orange (1962) Nathaniel Hawthorne The Scarlet Letter (1850) Ernest Hemingway For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940) Ray Bradbury Fahrenheit 451 (1953) John Steinbeck Of Mice and Men (1937) Ken Kesey One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1962) Charles Dickens A Tale of Two Cities (1859) Mary Shelley Frankenstein (1818) Fyodor M. Dostoyevsky The Brothers Karamazov (1880) Jonathan Swift Gulliver’s Travels (1726) C.S. Lewis The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (1950) Margaret Atwood The Handmaid’s Tale (1986) Charles Dickens David Copperfield (1850) E.M. Forster A Passage to India (1924) Jack London The Call of the Wild (1903) Dante Alighieri The Divine Comedy (Divina Commedia) (1320) William Faulkner As I Lay Dying (1930) Oscar Wilde The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890) Antoine de Saint-Exupéry The Little Prince (Le Petit Prince) (1943) Daniel Defoe Robinson Crusoe (1719) Ayn Rand Atlas Shrugged (1957) Alexandre Dumas The Count of Monte Cristo (1844) Edith Wharton The Age of Innocence (1920) Ernest Hemingway The Old Man and the Sea (1952) Richard Wright Native Son (1940) Albert Camus L’Etranger (The Stranger, aka The Outsider) (1942) Kenneth Grahame The Wind in the Willows (1908) Daphne Du Maurier Rebecca (1938) Virginia Woolf Mrs. Dalloway (1925) Ernest Hemingway A Farewell to Arms (1929) Zora Neale Hurston Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937) J.K. Rowling Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (aka Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone) (1997) Frank Herbert Dune (1965) Richard Adams Watership Down (1972) Jane Austen Emma (1816) John Irving A Prayer for Owen Meany (1989) Marcel Proust Swann’s Way (1913), part one of In Search of Lost Time, aka Remembrance of Things Past (A La Recherche du Temps Perdu) (series: 1913-1927) A.A. Milne Winnie-the-Pooh (1926) L.M. Montgomery Anne of Green Gables (1908) Victor Hugo Les Misérables (1862) Robert Louis Stevenson Treasure Island (1883) Francois-Marie de Voltaire Candide (1759) Evelyn Waugh Brideshead Revisited (1945) Sylvia Plath The Bell Jar (1963) William Makepeace Thackeray Vanity Fair (1848) Paulo Coelho O Alquimista (The Alchemist) (1987) Stephen King The Stand (1978) John Bunyan The Pilgrim’s Progress (1678) Henry James Portrait of a Lady (1881) James Baldwin Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953) Franz Kafka The Trial (1925) Thomas Pynchon Gravity’s Rainbow (1973) Thomas Hardy Tess of the d’Urbervilles (1891) Sir Arthur Conan Doyle The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1887) Laurence Sterne The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy (1759) Resources and Related Links: Classic Novels Book Club: Writ by Whit Page Classic Novels Book Club: Meetup Site The Top 100 Works of Fiction (revised) Writ by Whit “Best Book Lists: Fiction” Writ by Whit “Best Book Lists: General” First posted 6/26/2018; last updated 7/13/2025.

Newbery-Winning Books

Newbery Medal Winners: 1922-2025

The Newbery Medal is an annual award given to a single book deemed representative of excellence in children's literature for that year. Because I have written middle-grade fiction, I delved into the Newbery list a few years ago and started reading them. For an assessment of what I've learned, check out my blog post from October 2014. Here is a full list of the Newbery winners. Note: the year is when the book won the award, not necessarily its year of publication. Book covers and descriptions from Commonweath University of Pennsylvania and ABQ Library ’s web pages on Newbery Medal Winners. I have offered links personal reviews of some of the books that I've read. I have read books marked with an asterisk (*) but not reviewed them.

2025 Newbery Medal Winner The First State of Being by Erin Entrada Kelly When twelve-year-old Michael Rosario meets a mysterious boy from the future, his life is changed forever.

2024 Newbery Medal Winner The Eyes and the Impossible by Dave Eggers 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.

2023 Newbery Medal Winner Freewater by Amina Luqman-Dawson 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.

2022 Newbery Medal Winner The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera 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?

2021 Newbery Medal Winner When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller 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.

2020 Newbery Medal Winner New Kid by Jerry Craft (Illustrator) New Kid is 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?

2019 Newbery Medal Winner Merci Suárez Changes Gears by Meg Medina 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?

2018 Newbery Medal Winner Hello, Universe by Erin Entrada Kelly; Isabel Roxas (Illustrator) 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. The novel celebrates bravery, being different, and finding your inner bayani (hero).

2017 Newbery Medal Winner The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill 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.

2016 Newbery Medal Winner Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Peña; Christian Robinson (Illustrator) 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. My review.

2015 Newbery Medal Winner The Crossover by Kwame Alexander 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. My review.

2014 Newbery Medal Winner Flora and Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo; K. G. Campbell (Illustrator) Rescuing a squirrel after an accident involving a vacuum cleaner, comic-reading cynic Flora Belle Buckman is astonished when the squirrel, Ulysses, demonstrates astonishing powers of strength and flight after being revived. My review.

2013 Newbery Medal Winner The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate; Patricia Castelao (Illustrator) 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. My review.

2012 Newbery Medal Winner Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos 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. My review.

2011 Newbery Medal Winner Moon over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool 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. My review.

2010 Newbery Medal Winner When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead As her mother prepares to be a contestant on the 1970s 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. My review.

2009 Newbery Medal Winner The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman; Dave McKean (Illustrator) After the grisly murder of his entire family, a toddler wanders into a graveyard where the ghosts and other supernatural residents agree to raise him as one of their own. My review.

2008 Newbery Medal Winner Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz; Robert Byrd (Illustrator) 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. My review.

2007 Newbery Medal Winner The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron; Matt Phelan (Illustrator) 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. My review.

2006 Newbery Medal Winner Criss Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins 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. My review.

2005 Newbery Medal Winner Kira - Kira by Cynthia Kadohata Chronicles the close friendship between two Japanese-American sisters growing up in rural Georgia during the late 1950s and early 1960s, and the despair when one sister becomes terminally ill. My review.

2004 Newbery Medal Winner The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo; Timothy Basil Ering (Illustrator) The adventures of Despereaux 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. My review.

2003 Newbery Medal Winner Crispin: the Cross of Lead by Avi 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. My review.

2002 Newbery Medal Winner A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park 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. My review.

2001 Newbery Medal Winner A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck 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 and her unusual qualities. My review.

2000 Newbery Medal Winner Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis Ten-year-old Bud, a motherless 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. My review.

1999 Newbery Medal Winner Holes by Louis Sachar 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. My review.

1998 Newbery Medal Winner Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse 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. My review.

1997 Newbery Medal Winner The View from Saturday by E. L. Konigsburg Four students, with their own individual stories, develop a special bond and attract the attention of their teacher, a paraplegic, who chooses them to represent their sixth-grade class in the Academic Bowl competition. My review.

1996 Newbery Medal Winner The Midwife's Apprentice by Karen Cushman 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. My review.

1995 Newbery Medal Winner Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech 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. My review.

1994 Newbery Medal Winner The Giver by Lois Lowry 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. My review.

1993 Newbery Medal Winner Missing May by Cynthia Rylant 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. My review.

1992 Newbery Medal Winner Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor 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. My review.

1991 Newbery Medal Winner Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli After his parents die, Jeffrey Lionel Magee's life becomes legendary, as he accomplishes athletic and other feats which awe his contemporaries. My review.

1990 Newbery Medal Winner Number the Stars by Lois Lowry 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.

1989 Newbery Medal Winner Joyful Noise by Paul Fleischman; Eric Beddows (Illustrator) 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. My review.

1988 Newbery Medal Winner Lincoln: A Photobiography by Russell Freedman Photographs and text trace the life of the Civil War President.

1987 Newbery Medal Winner The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman; Peter Sís (Illustrator) A bratty prince and his whipping boy have many adventures when they inadvertently trade places after becoming involved with dangerous outlaws.

1986 Newbery Medal Winner Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia Maclachlan 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.

1985 Newbery Medal Winner The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley; David M. Johnston (Illustrator) 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.

1984 Newbery Medal Winner Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary; Paul O. Zelinsky (Illustrator) 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. My Review.

1983 Newbery Medal Winner Dicey's Song by Cynthia Voigt Now that the four abandoned Tillerman children are settled in with their grandmother, Dicey finds that their new beginnings require love, trust, humor, and courage.

1982 Newbery Medal Winner A Visit to William Blake’s Inn by Nancy Willard; Alice Provensen (Illustrator); Martin Provensen (Illustrator) A collection of poems describing the curious menagerie of guests who arrive at William Blake’s inn.

1981 Newbery Medal Winner Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Paterson This story 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.

1980 Newbery Medal Winner A Gathering of Days by Joan W. Blos The journal of a 14-year-old girl, kept the last year she lived on the family farm, records daily events in her small New Hampshire town, her father's remarriage, and the death of her best friend.

1979 Newbery Medal Winner The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin 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.

1978 Newbery Medal Winner Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson; Donna Diamond (Illustrator) 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 a storm and a death changes his life forever. My Review.

1977 Newbery Medal Winner Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor; Jerry Pinkney (Illustrator) The story of one African-American family fighting to stay together and strong in the face of brutal racist attacks, illness, poverty, and betrayal in the Deep South of the 1930s.

1976 Newbery Medal Winner The Grey King by Susan Cooper; Michael Heslop (Illustrator) 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. My Review.

1975 Newbery Medal Winner M. C. Higgins, the Great by Virginia Hamilton 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.

1974 Newbery Medal Winner The Slave Dancer by Paula Fox; Eros Keith (Illustrator) Kidnapped by the crew of an Africa-bound ship, a thirteen-year-old boy discovers to his horror that he is on a slaver and his job is to play music for the exercise periods of the human cargo.

1973 Newbery Medal Winner Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George; John Schoenherr (Illustrator) While running away from home and an unwanted marriage, a thirteen-year-old Eskimo girl becomes lost on the North Slope of Alaska and is befriended by a wolf pack.

1972 Newbery Medal Winner Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien; Zena Bernstein (Illustrator) Having no one to help her with her problems, a widowed mouse visits the rats whose former imprisonment in a laboratory made them wise and long lived.

1971 Newbery Medal Winner The Summer of the Swans by Betsy Byars; Ted CoConis (Illustrator) A teen-age girl gains new insight into herself and her family when her mentally disabled brother gets lost.

1970 Newbery Medal Winner Sounder by William H. Armstrong; James Barkley (Illustrator) A young Black boy living in the south in the late 1800’s learns the pain of humiliation and anger when his father is given an unjust jail sentence for stealing a ham from a white man. He must struggle to support his family and deal with terrible loss, but he also finds glimmers of hope.

1969 Newbery Medal Winner The High King by Lloyd Alexander; David Wyatt (Illustrator) When the sword of dyrnwyn, the most powerful weapon in the kingdom of Prydain, falls into the hands of Arawn-Death-Lord, Taran, Assistant Pig-Keeper, and Prince Gwydion raise an army to march against Arawn's terrible cohorts. In the final confrontation with Arawn and the evil enchantress Achren, Taran is forced to make the most crucial decision of his life. The fifth and final chronicle of Prydain.

1968 Newbery Medal Winner From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg (Illustrator) At first Claudia and her brother run away from home and decide to live in the Metropolitan Museum of Art to teach their parents a lesson, but then Claudia discovers a mystery at the museum that she is determined to solve.

1967 Newbery Medal Winner Up a Road Slowly by Irene Hunt This story is set in the 1940’s. After her mother’s death, Julie goes to live with Aunt Cordelia, a spinster schoolteacher, who lives in a small midwestern town. She experiences many emotions and changes as she grows from seven to eighteen.

1966 Newbery Medal Winner I, Juan de Pareja by Elizabeth Borton de Trevino When the great Velázquez was painting his masterpieces at the Spanish court in the seventeenth century, his colors were expertly mixed and his canvases carefully prepared by his slave, Juan de Pareja. This is the story of Juan, who was born a slave and died an accomplished and respected artist. The story of a man whose life was filled with cruelty and with beauty.

1965 Newbery Medal Winner Shadow of a Bull by Maia Wojciechowska; Alvin Smith (Illustrator) In 1960’s Spain Manolo Olivar has to make a decision: to follow in his famous father’s shadow and become a bullfighter, or to follow his heart and become a doctor.

1964 Newbery Medal Winner It's Like This, Cat by Emily Cheney Neville; Emil Weiss (Illustrator) Dave is a 14-year-old boy growing up in New York in the 1960’s. He is always arguing with his father, but he takes comfort in the company of his “crazy” neighbor and the stray cat that she rescues and gives to him. Also looks at his relationships with a troubled older boy and the first girl with whom he has been friends.

1963 Newbery Medal Winner A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle One stormy night a strange visitor comes to the Murry house and beckons Meg, her brother, Charles Wallace, and their friend Calvin O’Keefe on a most dangerous and fantastic journey that will threaten their lives and our universe as they search for Meg's father, who disappeared while engaged in secret work for the government.

1962 Newbery Medal Winner The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare Set in Galilee in the time of Jesus. When the Romans brutally kill Daniel bar Jamin’s father, the young Palestinian searches for a leader to drive them out but comes to realize that love may be a more powerful weapon than hate. The young Jewish rebel is won over to the gentle teachings of Jesus.

1961 Newbery Medal Winner Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell Set in the mid 1800’s, this is the story of Karana, an Indian girl left alone on a beautiful but isolated island off the coast of California for eighteen years. She not only survives through her enormous courage and self-reliance, but also finds a measure of happiness in her solitary life.

1960 Newbery Medal Winner Onion John by Joseph Krumgold; Symeon Shimin (Illustrator) His friendship with the town odd-jobs man, Onion John, causes a conflict between Andy and his father.

1959 Newbery Medal Winner The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare In 1687 in Connecticut, Kit Tyler, feeling out of place in the Puritan household of her aunt, befriends an old woman considered a witch by the community and suddenly finds herself standing trial for witchcraft.

1958 Newbery Medal Winner Rifles for Watie by Harold Keith During the Civil War a young farm boy joins the Union Army, becomes a scout, and temporarily part of Stand Watie’s Cherokee Rebels. This is a captivating and richly detailed novel about one young soldier who saw the Civil War from both sides and lived to tell the tale.

1957 Newbery Medal Winner Miracles on Maple Hill by Virginia Sorensen When Marley’s father returns home from World War II a broken man physically and spiritually, her mother decides that the family needs to leave the city for an extended visit to Grandma's house in the country. Marley and her family share many adventures at the farmhouse on Maple Hill.

1956 Newbery Medal Winner Carry on, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham Growing up in Salem, Nathaniel “Nat” Bowditch seemed too small to be a sailor. But long hours of study made him a master navigator, mathematician, and astronomer as he learned to sail by the sun, the stars and the compass. He became a ship’s captain and took his knowledge and wrote The American Practical Navigator and became famous.

1955 Newbery Medal Winner The Wheel on the School by Meindert DeJong Lina is one of six school children in the small Dutch fishing village of Shora in Friesland. When she writes an essay for school that asks why there are no storks in their village, she sets all the others to wondering. So the children decided to bring the storks back. The force of their vision put the whole village to work until at last the dream began to come true.

1954 Newbery Medal Winner ...And Now Miguel by Joseph Krumgold This story takes place in New Mexico in the 1950’s. Every summer the men of the Chavez family go on a long and difficult sheep drive to the mountains. Twelve-year-old Miguel Chavez yearns in his heart to go with the men of his family on a long and hard sheep drive to the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. All year long he tries to prove he is up to the challenge – until his prayer is finally answered, with a disturbing and dangerous exchange.

1953 Newbery Medal Winner Secret of the Andes by Ann Nolan Clark An Indian boy who tends llamas in a hidden valley in Peru learns the traditions and secrets of his Inca ancestors.

1952 Newbery Medal Winner Ginger Pye by Eleanor Estes This is the story of the disappearance of the most famous pup in all of Cranbury and the appearance of a mysterious man in a mustard yellow hat. Ginger knows tons of tricks, is as loyal as he is smart, steals the hearts of everyone he meets, and brings excitement into the lives of the Pye children.

1950 Newbery Medal Winner Amos Fortune, Free Man by Elizabeth Yates Amos Fortune, born the son of a king of the At-mun-shi tribe in Africa. When Amos was only fifteen years old, he was captured by slave traders and brought to Massachusetts, where he was sold at auction. Although his freedom had been taken, Amos never lost his dignity and courage. He dreamed of being free and of buying the freedom of his closest friends. By the time he was sixty years old, Amos began to see those dreams come true.

1950 Newbery Medal Winner The Door in the Wall by Marguerite de Angeli Set in medieval England, this is an uplifting story of a boy who learns his own strength and is able to overcome obstacles when he saves the castle and discovers there is more than one way to serve his king.

1949 Newbery Medal Winner King of the Wind by Marguerite Henry Traces the abuses and triumphs of the Arabian stallion who became a founding sire of the Thoroughbred breed, and of the mute Arabian boy who tended him as long as he lived.

1948 Newbery Medal Winner The Twenty-One Balloons by William Pene du Bois William Waterman Sherman is a disillusioned schoolteacher who intends to fly across the Pacific Ocean in a giant balloon. But through a twist of fate, he lands on Krakatoa where he discovers a world of unimaginable wealth, eccentric inhabitants, and incredible balloon inventions – and witnesses the explosion of the island.

1947 Newbery Medal Winner Miss Hickory by Carolyn Sherwin Bailey Most dolls lead a comfortable but unadventurous life. This was true of Miss Hickory, a country doll made of apple-wood-twig and hickory nut for a head, until the fateful day that her owner, Ann, moves from her New Hampshire home to attend school in Boston – leaving Miss Hickory behind.

1946 Newbery Medal Winner Strawberry Girl by Lois Lenski Birdie Boyer’s large family is settling into a new property on a flatwoods farm Florida. They raise strawberries for a living and come into conflict almost immediately with their neighbors, the Slaters. It is hard work, but Birdie also has dreams of learning to read and learning to play the organ.

1945 Newbery Medal Winner Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson New folks are coming to live in the Big House. The animals of Rabbit Hill wonder if they will plant a garden and be good providers. But when the new folks move in the animals are a bit surprised.

1944 Newbery Medal Winner Johnny Tremain by Esther Hoskins Forbes Fourteen-year-old Johnny Tremain, an apprentice silversmith with a bright future ahead of him, injures his hand in a tragic accident, forcing him to look for other work. He becomes involved in the American Revolution, a tale which is inspiring, exciting, and sad.

1943 Newbery Medal Winner Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Janet Gray Eleven-year-old Adam loved to travel throughout 13th century England with his father, a wandering minstrel, and his dog, Nick. But when Nick is stolen and his father disappears, Adam suddenly finds himself alone. He searches the same roads he traveled with his father, meeting various people along the way. But will Adam ever find his father and dog and end his desperate search?

1942 Newbery Medal Winner The Matchlock Gun by Walter D. Edmonds In 1756, New York State was still a British colony, and the French and the Indians were constant threats to Edward and his family. When his father was called away to watch for a raid from the north, only ten-year-old Edward was left to protect Mama and little Trudy. He is determined to protect his home and family with the ancient, and much too heavy, Spanish gun that his father gave him.

1941 Newbery Medal Winner Call It Courage by Armstrong Sperry Based on a Polynesian legend, this is the story of a youth who overcomes his fear of the sea and proves his courage to himself and his tribe.

1940 Newbery Medal Winner Daniel Boone by James Daugherty It deals with the life, death, and legacy of Daniel Boone.

1939 Newbery Medal Winner Thimble Summer by Elizabeth Enright In 1930’s Wisconsin, nine-year-old tomboy Garnet Linden finds a silver thimble in the sand by the river. The same day the rains come and end the long drought on her family's farm. Garnet can’t help feeling that the thimble is a magic talisman, for the summer proves to be interesting and exciting in so many different ways. But is it magical enough to help her pig, Timmy, win a blue ribbon on Fair Day?

1938 Newbery Medal Winner The White Stag by Kate Seredy Retells the legendary story of the Huns and Magyars' long migration from Asia to Europe where they hope to find a permanent home.

1937 Newbery Medal Winner Roller Skates by Ruth Sawyer The story takes place in New York City in the 1890s. 10-year-old Lucinda’s parents go to Italy for a year and leave her in the care of Miss Peters and Miss Nettie. Growing up in a well-to-do family with strict rules and routines can be tough but Lucinda, enjoying her freedom, explores the city on roller skates and makes friends wherever she goes.

1936 Newbery Medal Winner Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink Eleven-year-old tomboy Caddie Woodlawn is a real adventurer, growing up on the Wisconsin frontier in the mid-1800’s. She'd rather hunt than sew and plow than bake and tries to beat her brother's dares every chance she gets. Caddie is friends with Indians, who scare most of the neighbors – neighbors who, like her mother and sisters, don’t understand her at all.

1935 Newbery Medal Winner Dobry by Monica Shannon A Bulgarian peasant boy must convince his mother that he is destined to be a sculptor, not a farmer.

1934 Newbery Medal Winner Invincible Louisa by Cornelia Meigs Biography tracing the fascinating life of Louisa May Alcott from her happy childhood in Pennsylvania and Boston to her success as a writer of such classics as Little Women.

1933 Newbery Medal Winner Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze by Elizabeth Foreman Lewis When thirteen-year-old Young Fu arrives with his mother in bustling 1920s Chungking, all he has seen of the world is the rural farming village where he has grown up. He knows nothing of city life. But the city, with its wonders and dangers, fascinates the boy and offers adventure and his apprenticeship to a coppersmith brings good fortune.

1932 Newbery Medal Winner Waterless Mountain by Laura Adams Armer This gentle coming-of-age story, rooted in the traditional culture of the Navajo, recounts Younger Brother’s spiritual odyssey and coming-of-age journey toward finding his vocation as a medicine man.

1931 Newbery Medal Winner The Cat Who Went to Heaven by Elizabeth Coatsworth In ancient Japan, a struggling artist is angered when his housekeeper brings home a tiny white cat he can barely afford to feed. Then the village's head priest commissions a painting of the Buddha for a healthy sum and the artist softens toward the animal he believes has brought him luck. But when he includes the cat in the painting the priest is angered and demands that the painting be destroyed. It seems the artist's life is ruined – until he is rewarded for his act of love by a Buddhist miracle.

1930 Newbery Medal Winner Hitty Her First Hundred Years by Rachel Field Hitty is a very special doll who belongs to Phoebe. Phoebe, her first owner, is proud of her beautiful doll and brings Hitty everywhere she goes. This is thrilling for Hitty, who finds herself involved in the most wonderful adventures both on land and at sea as she meets many people and makes new friends. When Hitty is separated from Phoebe, she travels from owner to owner over the course of a century.

1929 Newbery Medal Winner The Trumpeter of Krakow by Eric P. Kelly A Polish family in the Middle Ages guards a great secret treasure and a boy’s memory of an earlier trumpeter of Krakow makes it possible for him to save his father.

1928 Newbery Medal Winner Gay Neck by Dhan Gopal Mukerji The story of the training of a carrier pigeon and its service during the First World War, revealing the bird's courageous and spirited adventures over the housetops of an Indian village, in the Himalayan Mountains, and on the French battlefield.

1927 Newbery Medal Winner Smoky, the Cowhorse by Will James Smoky is happy with his life of freedom as a wild horse. But when he is captured by a strange, two-legged creature he discovers a new way of life working in the rodeo and on the range, to his eventual old age.

1926 Newbery Medal Winner Shen of the Sea by Arthur Bowie Chrisman A collection of Chinese folktales retold by the author.

1925 Newbery Medal Winner Tales from Silver Lands by Charles J. Finger A collection of nineteen folktales of the native populations of Central and South America collected by the author.

1924 Newbery Medal Winner The Dark Frigate by Charles Boardman Hawes Philip Marsham is a young man who lived in the time of King Charles and was bred a sailor but came home to England after many hazards by sea and land and fought for the king at Newbury and lost a great inheritance and departed for Barbados in the same ship, by curious chance, in which he had long before adventured with the pirates.

1923 Newbery Medal Winner The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting Accompanied by nine-year-old Tommy Stubbins, Jip the Dog, and Polynesia the Parrot, the good doctor sets off on an adventure-packed voyage to search for a missing colleague. Doctor Dolittle and company survive a perilous shipwreck and land on the mysterious, floating Spidermonkey Island.

1922 Newbery Medal Winner The Story of Mankind by Hendrik Willem Van Loon This classic history book intermingles personal anecdotes with the history of Western civilization, covering the development of writing, art, and architecture, the rise of major religions, and the formation of the modern nation-state. It was illustrated in pen and ink by the author.

Resources and Related Links: ABQ Library: “Newbery Award Winners” American Library Association: “Newbery Medal Home Page” Commonweath University of Pennsylvania: “Newbery Medal Winners 1922-Present” (list of all winners with brief descriptions and cover art) Writ by Whit (10/14/2014). “What I’ve Learned from Newbery Award-Winning Books” Last updated 3/10/2025.