As I’ve mentioned on this blog previously, I have a painfully long and gas-wasting commute. The only thing I’ve found that can make two hours of driving per day even slightly less excruciatingly awful is the company of a good book. Thus, a traffic jam on I-95 has become the inspiration for The Newbery Project, an ongoing project to listen to (or read, when the audiobook isn’t owned by the Jacksonville Public Library system) all 392 Newbery Medal Winner and Honor books. Right now I’m working my way through the 2000s — as you can see from the list below, even that’s no small task.
| 2013 | Applegate, Katherine | The One and Only Ivan | Winner | Read |
| 2013 | Schlitz,Laura Amy | Splendors and Glooms | Honor | |
| 2013 | Sheinkin, Steve | Bomb: The Race to Build – and Steal – the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon | Honor | |
| 2013 | Turnage, Sheila | Three Times Lucky | Honor | |
| 2012 | Gantos, Jack | Dead End in Norvelt | Winner | Read |
| 2012 | Lai, Thanhha | Inside Out & Back Again | Honor | Read |
| 2012 | Yelchin, Eugene | Breaking Stalin’s Nose | Honor | Read |
| 2011 | Vanderpool, Clare | Moon Over Manifest | Winner | Read |
| 2011 | Holm,Jennifer | Turtle in Paradise | Honor | Read 6/9/13 |
| 2011 | Preus,Margi | Heart of a Samurai | Honor | Read 4/10/13 |
| 2011 | Sidman,Joyce | Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night | Honor | Read 4/1/13 |
| 2011 | Williams-Garcia,Rita | One Crazy Summer | Honor | Read 4/21/13 |
| 2010 | Stead, Rebecca | When you Reach Me | Winner | Read |
| 2010 | Hoose, Phillip | Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice | Honor | |
| 2010 | Kelly, Jacqueline | The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate | Honor | Read |
| 2010 | Lin, Grace | Where the Mountain Meets the Moon | Honor | Audiobook 3/1/13 |
| 2010 | Philbrick, Rodman | The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg | Honor | Read |
| 2009 | Neil Gaiman | The Graveyard Book | Winner | Read |
| 2009 | Kathi Appelt | The Underneath | Honor | Read 5/30/13 |
| 2009 | Margarita Engle | The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba’s Struggle for Freedom | Honor | Read 5/10/13 |
| 2009 | Ingrid Law | Savvy | Honor | Read |
| 2009 | Jacqueline Woodson | After Tupac & D Foster | Honor | Audiobook 4/11/13 |
| 2008 | Schlitz,Laura Amy | Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village | Winner | |
| 2008 | Curtis,Christopher Paul | Elijah of Buxton | Honor | |
| 2008 | Schmidt,Gary D. | The Wednesday Wars | Honor | |
| 2008 | Woodson,Jacqueline | Feathers | Honor | Read 10/19/15 |
| 2007 | Patron,Susan | Higher Power of Lucky | Winner | Audiobook 4/25/13 |
| 2007 | Holm,Jennifer L. | Penny from Heaven | Honor | Audiobook 4/11/13 |
| 2007 | Larson,Kirby | Hattie Big Sky | Honor | Audiobook 5/1/13 |
| 2007 | Lord, Cynthia | Rules | Honor | Read 6/30/13 |
| 2006 | Perkins, Lynn Rae | Criss Cross | Winner | Read |
| 2006 | Armstron, Alan | Whittington | Honor | Audiobook 8/25/15 |
| 2006 | Bartoletti,Susan Campbell | Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler’s Shadow | Honor | |
| 2006 | Hale, Shannon | Princess Academy | Honor | |
| 2006 | Woodson,Jacqueline | Show Way | Honor | Read 10/18/15 |
| 2005 | Kadohata,Cynthia | Kira-Kira | Winner | Audiobook |
| 2005 | Choldenko,Gennifer | Al Capone Does My Shirts | Honor | |
| 2005 | Freedman,Russell | Voice that Challenged a Nation: Marian Anderson and the Struggle for Equal Rights | Honor | |
| 2005 | Schmidt,Gary D. | Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy | Honor | |
| 2004 | DiCamillo,Kate | Tale of Despereaux | Winner | Audiobook – 3/15/13 |
| 2004 | Henkes,Kevin | Olive’s Ocean | Honor | |
| 2004 | Murphy,Jim | American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 | Honor | |
| 2003 | Avi | Crispin: The Cross of Lead | Winner | |
| 2003 | Farmer,Nancy | The House of the Scorpion | Honor | |
| 2003 | Giff,Patricia Reilly | Pictures of Hollis Woods | Honor | |
| 2003 | Hiaasen,Carl | Hoot | Honor | Audiobook – 3/6/13 |
| 2003 | Martin,Ann M. | Corner of the Universe | Honor | |
| 2003 | Tolan,Stephanie S. | Surviving the Applewhites | Honor | |
| 2002 | Park, Linda Sue | Single Shard | Winner | Audiobook 4/3/13 |
| 2002 | Horvath,Polly | Everything on a Waffle | Honor | Read 9/15/15 |
| 2002 | Nelson,Marilyn | Carver: A Life In Poems | Honor | |
| 2001 | Peck,Richard | Year Down Yonder | Winner | |
| 2001 | Bauer,Joan | Hope Was Here | Honor | |
| 2001 | DiCamillo,Kate | Because of Winn-Dixie | Honor | Read |
| 2001 | Gantos,Jack | Joey Pigza Loses Control | Honor | |
| 2001 | Creech,Sharon | Wanderer | Honor | |
| 2000 | Curtis,Christopher Paul | Bud, Not Buddy | Winner | Read |
| 2000 | Couloumbis,Audrey | Getting Near to Baby | Honor | |
| 2000 | Holm,Jennifer L. | Our Only May Amelia | Honor | Read 3/18/13 |
| 2000 | Paola,Tomie de | 26 Fairmount Avenue | Honor |
Seeking Zeal 
I love this project! Awesome idea.
Thanks! It’s been fun so far, and I’m enjoying reading so many good books that I might have missed otherwise.
What are your favorites so far?
Its so hard to narrow them down! I loved Where the Mountain Meets the Moon and A Single Shard. I’m currently enjoying Rules, which has a special poignancy for me because I have a child of my own with a disability. Also, Turtle in Paradise, Savvy, The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate, Hoot, Elijah of Buxton…I could go on and on — an that’s only including books from the 2000s! I’m really looking forward to finding new favorites from the earlier years too. How about you? Got any favorites?
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon is near the top of my to-read list. I’m looking forward to it. I’ll follow you and pair it with Single Shard — a lovely book. And Calpurnia Tate! Such a wonderful read. It may be time to read it again. I can’t stand how much there is out there that I haven’t fully tasted yet!
When You Reach Me is my favorite on the list especially if you are a Wrinkle in Time. I really disliked Splendors and Glooms and cannot believe it was an honor book. I was shocked when I read it that is had been recognized. It is like really bad Dickens– completely dark and depressing but not great writing (in my opinion). Love your project idea. I am (informally) doing the same!
So it should say, “if you are a Wrinkle in Time FAN.”
I did LOVE When You Reach Me. I’m curious about Splendors and Glooms now. The cover has been drawing me in for a while, but your comment makes me wonder. Well, I guess I’ll get to it soon enough, and then we’ll see! 🙂