Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Top Ten Newbery Medalists at the Dick Smith Library

Last Monday, the American Library Association announced its annual Youth Media Awards, the top books, video and audiobooks for children and young adults.  Here at the Dick Smith Library, we own all of the Medalists and nearly all of the Honor Books for the top two awards, the Randolph Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished American picture book for children, and the John Newbery Medal for the most outstanding contribution to children's literature.

I thought it would be interesting to see which Newbery Medalists have been most popular (in terms of the number of times it has been checked out since we started keeping records in July 1996).  Here are our top ten, with the year the book won listed after the author's name:

 1.  Number the Stars, by Lois Lowry - 1990 - PZ7 .L9673 NU *
 2.  Dear Mr. Henshaw, by Beverly Cleary - 1984 - PZ7 .C5792 DE 1983
 3.  Bridge to Terabithia, by Katherine Paterson - 1978 - PZ7 .P273 BR *
 4.  Sarah, Plain and Tall, by Patricia MacLachlan - 1986 - PZ7 .M2225 SAR *
 5.  Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, by Mildred Taylor - 1977 - PZ7 .T21723 RO *
 6.  Island of the Blue Dolphins, by Scott O'Dell - 1961 - PZ7 .O237 IS *
 7.  Sounder, by William Armstrong - 1970 - PZ7 .A73394 SO *
 8.  Holes, by Louis Sachar - 1999 - PZ7 .S1185 HO *
 9.  Dicey's Song, by Judith Voigt - 1983 - PZ7 .V874 DI 1983
10.  Missing May, by Cynthia Rylant - 1993 - PZ7 .R982 MJ 1992

All of these can be found on the lower level of the Dick Smith Library, in the Curriculum Collection.  When you click the links, you'll see that some of these (* also marked with asterisks after the call number in the list) are also available here as audiobooks, in the Audiovisual Collection, also downstairs. 

How many of these have you read (or listened to)?  Tell us in the comments!  Our top ten were all published between 1960 and 1998, so most of you may have had an opportunity to read these in school.  My goal is to read all 92 (so far) medalists, but I have a long way to go.  In our top ten list, I've read seven (the ones we have as audiobooks), and I've read (or listened to) 40 in all.  I started working on this goal in August 2007!

Don't forget - February is Library Lovers Month! #libraryloversmonth @TarletonLib.

2 comments:

Tracy said...

Nice Post! I need to get reading.

Cathy W. said...

Oops. Hit "go" before I meant to.

I've read the top 10 you posted, but amfar behind on the others. Great books. Great memories.