Newbery winners your kid will actually finish
The Newbery Medal is the highest honor in children's books — but some winners gather dust. These six are the page-turners: funny, fast, and impossible to put down. All real medal winners.
Best for grades 3–8 · award-winning + actually fun.
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Many of these are included with an Audible Premium Plus trial. Great for car rides, struggling readers & bedtime.
by Katherine Applegate · Grades 3th–7th · 320 pages · 2012
A gorilla, a baby elephant, and a friendship that won the Newbery. Tears guaranteed.
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by Kwame Alexander · Grades 5th–8th · 240 pages · 2014
A basketball story told in poetry. Even kids who 'hate reading' finish it in one night.
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by Tae Keller · Grades 4th–7th
Korean folklore meets a girl bargaining with a magic tiger for her halmoni. 2021 Newbery Medal.
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by Kate DiCamillo · Grades 4th–7th
A cynical comic-book kid and a superhero squirrel. Funny, weird, Newbery-winning.
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by Kelly Barnhill · Grades 4th–7th · 386 pages · 2016
A witch, a moon-fed baby, and real magic. The Newbery pick for big imaginations.
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by Meg Medina · Grades 4th–7th · 368 pages · 2018
Scholarship kid, big Cuban family, a grandfather slipping away. Quietly perfect — and a Newbery Medal winner.
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