Congratulations Newbery Winners!

ALA announced the winners of the Youth Media Awards last week at the conference in Boston.  I thought I’d expand your reading suggestions a bit and challenge you to explore the winning authors and illustrators a little more by checking out some of their other titles.    What better time is there to celebrate the works of these authors in your library than at a time when they have received one of the greatest honors in children’s literature.  Check them out!

Last Stop on Market Street  **WINNER**  This was also a 2016 Caldecott Honor Book.
By: Matt de la Pena; Illustrated by Christian Robinson
A young boy rides the bust across town with his grandmother and learns to appreciate the beauty in everyday things.

The Living
By: Matt de la Pena
After an earthquake destroys California and a tsunami wrecks the luxury cruise ship where he is a summer employee, high schooler Shy confronts another deadly surprise.

We Were Here
By: Matt de la Pena
Haunted by the event that sentences him to time in a group home, Miguel breaks out with two unlikely companions and together they begin their journey down the California coast hoping to get to Mexico and a new life.  Ages 13 and up.

The War That Saved My Life  **Honor**
By: Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
A young disabled girl and her brother are evacuated from london to the English countryside during World War II, where they find life to be much sweeter away from their abusive mother. Ages 8 and up.

Jefferson’s Sons
By: Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
A fictionalized look at the last twenty years of Thomas Jefferson’s life at Monticello through the eyes of three of his slaves, two of whom were his sons by his slave, Sally Hemings.

Ruthie’s Gift
By: Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
Just before the beginning of World War I, eight-year-old Ruthie, who lives with her brothers on a farm in Indiana, wishes for a sister and tries to behave like the lady her mother wants her to be.

Roller Girl  **Honor**
By: Victoria Jamieson
This graphic novel tells the adventure of a girl who discovers roller derby at as he and her best friend are growing apart.  Ages 8 and up.

Olympig
By: Victoria Jamieson
Pursued by Mr. Hamstring, a reporter who is sure he will fail, Boomer becomes the first pig ever to compete in the Animal Olympics and demonstrates that attitude can be more important than winning.

Bea Rocks the Flock
By: Victoria Jamieson
Tired of being criticized for not being a good sheep, Bea decides to leave the flock and start a new life in the big city, where she is certain she will be more appreciated.  Ages 4 and up

Echo  **HONOR**
By: Pam Munoz Ryan
Lost in the Black Forest, Otto meets three mysterious sisters and finds himself entwined in a prophecy, a promise, and a harmonica–and decades later three children, Friedrich in Germany, Mike in Pennsylvania, and Ivy in California find themselves caught up in the same thread of destiny in the darkest days of the twentieth century, struggling to keep their families intact, and tied together by the music of the same harmonica.  Ages 10 and up.

Ameilia and Eleanor Go For a Ride: Based on a True Story
By: Pam Munoz Ryan
A fictionalized account of the night Amelia Earhart flew Eleanor Roosevelt over Washington, D.C. in an airplane.  Ages 5 and up.

The Dreamer
By: Pam Munoz Ryan
Neftali finds beauty and wonder everywhere: in the oily colors of mud puddles; a lost glove, sailing on the wind; the music of birds and languages.  Against all odds, Neftali prevails against his father’s cruelty and his own crippling shyness to become one of the most widely read poets in the world, Pablo Neruda.  Ages 10 and up.