Since I reached a significant milestone in my Newbery Challenge tonight I decided it was time for another update. I have also been busy watching a football game so needed something that didn’t require much research 🙂

In this clip from my spreadsheet you might think that the 100% for Medal winners is the milestone. That milestone was achieved just a little over a year ago at the end of 2013, and of course updated when the 2014 winners were announced. See Newbery Challenge Update

The milestone just reached is for having reached the 2/3 mark in the challenge.

Here are some of the books that are currently in my Newbery stack. The first six are ready to go back to the library and I have started on one of the others. You can see that there is an interesting variety of books.

The oldest book here is The Quaint and Curious Quest of Johnny Longfoot, The Shoe King’s Son by Catherine Besterman which was a Newbery selection in 1948. The illustrations in this book were really cool and I really enjoyed the story.

Some of the older books that I get through inter-library loan still have card pockets and date due slips in them. They always bring back memories of the libraries that I worked in when I was young. I definitely remember stamping date due slips at the Ashland Public Library when I was in High School. Of course this brings back memories of card catalogs and having to type card entries when I worked in my college library.

Another recent Newbery Honor book completion was The Upstairs Room by Johanna Reiss. This great book tells the story of a young Dutch girl who was in hiding during the Nazi occupation of Holland. There is also a sequel to this book which I will have to read someday.

Many of the Newbery books are Historical Fiction which I always enjoy. In the past month I have read books that have been set in many different countries and in different time periods. I have learned a lot during the challenge.

I have another major milestone coming up soon after which the books will become more difficult to find. Watch for the next update to find out what the milestone is and why the books will be harder to find.

Do you have a favorite Newbery book?

Steven