The Newbery Medal was named for eighteenth-century British bookseller John Newbery. It is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.

More information about the Newbery Medal can be found here

The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron
 

Ten-year-old Lucy is filled with anxiety about her future life with her guardian in the small desert town of Hard Pan, California. She finds some of her answers by eavesdropping on twelve-step anonymous programs where the interesting talk is all about Higher Powers. Lucky needs her own-and quick.



 

Penny is caught between two family extremes: her mother's small, uptight family and her dead father's large, exuberant, Italian one. She gains new insight into herself and her relatives while also learning a secret about her father's death.

Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson

Hattie inherits a homesteading claim in Montana in 1917-and finds that she has to "prove up" in order to keep it: put up fences, plant a successful crop, and build a house. As anti-German sentiment sweeps over the territory as a result of WWI, she realizes that "proving up" isn't just about farming, it's also about life.

Rules by Cynthia Lord

Catherine's autistic brother insists on living his life according to specific rules that sometimes embarrass her. Catherine develops a stronger sense of self and evaluates her own life as she ponders the question "What is normal?"

Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata

                    A Japanese-American family's devotion to each other is tested when they move from Iowa to Georgia in the 1950s and face discrimination and harsh conditions.
 

Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko

Twelve-year-old Moose moves to the famous prison island of Alcatraz in 1935 when guards' families were housed there, and has to contend with his new environment as well as his autistic sister.


 

In 1911 Turner Buckminster hates his new home in Maine, but things improve when he meets Lizzie Bright, an African American girl from a poor island community founded by former slaves that the town fathers want to change into a tourist spot.