The results are in from our second “Debating the Decades” poll! In our first poll, we asked Heavy Medal readers to cast votes on Newbery books from the 2010s. Those results are here. That poll covered the years 2000 – 2009. Readers weighed in on ten books in each of three categories: Newbery Medal Books, Honor Books, and selected Non-Newbery titles.. With each group, readers picked the top book in three different categories: Their Personal Favorite, the one they thought was most popular with Child Readers, and the book they felt represented the highest level of Literary Quality. Results are at the bottom of this post.  

Now it’s time for “Debating the Decades” part 3. This time we’ll go back another ten years, to the 1990s. I was 30 in 1990, just four years into my librarian career. I’m not sure if Emily was born yet? But great books stand the test of time, so we’re certain that many Heavy Medal readers, even the ones of Emily’s generation, will have read a lot of the excellent 90s titles on our poll. You can cast your votes here between now and December 15th.

For now, Emily and I will share our reactions to the results from the 2000s poll. And hope that others will join us in the comments section.

STEVEN: The first thing I noticed is that there is a clear winner in the “Child Favorites” in all three categories. Emily, do you agree that DESPEREAUX, WINN-DIXIE, and THE LIGHTNING THIEF are that much more popular with kids?

EMILY: Firstly, I want everyone to know that I was born in 1990 and clearly read Newbery winners by the age of two. I agree with WINN-DIXIE and THE LIGHTNING THIEF however DESPEREAUX always ends up being a dud for me. I did a 3rd-6th grade book club for five years and it’s the ONLY title kids gave a giant thumbs down to! And kids NEVER check it out when I recommend it. I feel like BUD, NOT BUDDY is still a kid favorite.

STEVEN: I’m curious what you picked for your personal favorites Emily. In fact, I’ll try to guess and you can tell me how close I got.  I’m going to say you picked:  BUD, NOT BUDDY from Medal books, AL CAPONE DOES MY SHIRTS from Honors, and ESPERANZA RISING from the books that didn’t win anything. Am I close?

EMILY:  One out of three Steven, nice. Yes BUD, NOT BUDDY was great but THE GRAVEYARD BOOK wins, I mean you have to enjoy when a spooky book actually wins. AL CAPONE FOREVER but AFTER TUPAC AND D FOSTER was a close second. CHASING VERMEER is one of my all-time favorite non Newbery winners. I recommend that all the time still.  I’m currently reading  MONA LISA VANISHES and I just keep thinking about CHASING VERMEER. 

OK for you, I’m thinking: GOOD MASTERS, SWEET LADIES for Medal books, then also AL CAPONE with Honors, and lastly GREGOR THE OVERLANDER with no Newbery. How’d I do?

STEVEN: I do like all of those, but nope, you’re 0 for 3.  My personal favorite among the winners is A YEAR DOWN YONDER…Grandma Dowdle is one of my favorite characters ever. PRINCESS ACADEMY is my Honor choice. And for non-winners:  LOVE THAT DOG…such a great way to introduce poetry in a story that you really care about (unless you don’t read dead dog books).  

EMILY: Well that’s surprising Steven! Also I would love to hear your thoughts on GOOD MASTERS SWEET LADIES, I know it got like NO votes, did you not even vote for it? I mean poetry! I’ve never been a fan personally…

STEVEN: I do think GOOD MASTERS is an amazing book and was so impressed that that year’s Committee gave it a Medal. They had to know it was never going to fly off the shelves, but stuck to their “literary quality” and “individually distinct” guns. And our Heavy Medal voters also gave it a very respectable “quality” ranking.  

EMILY: I was also surprised THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX did not get a better quality rating. I feel like that’s a formulaic “perfect” Newbery winner. Kate DiCamillo really knows what the kids want!

STEVEN: I also think Kate D. knows what Newbery Committees want. Not that I really think she writes for that purpose, but some of her books seem to have just the right amount of visible artistry, where you can see the author’s choices, without being overly artsy (so you still care about the story).  

EMILY: One of the hardest, but most fun categories is figuring out books that didn’t win the Newbery, especially now that there’s no Heavy Medal archives this far back. I would love to know if anyone has any write-in nominations for the 1990 – 1999 range.

STEVEN:  Yes, I thought it should have been easy for me, since I’m so old and all, but I didn’t remember stuff all that well. I mean, I know I thought BELLE PRATER’S BOY was great, but I could hardly remember anything about it (maybe there was something about a haircut?) until I read the summary and it came back to me. We’d love to hear what other books Heavy Medal readers remember fondly. 
So please share any thoughts about the new 1990’s poll and/or the results of the 2000’s poll in the comments. And cast your 1990’s votes here by December 15th.

Filed under: Book Discussion, Newbery History