Every year in January, the American Library Association gives the Newbery Award to the author of the “most distinguished” American children’s book published in the previous year.

I’ve been reading books that others believe are Newbery contenders. In this post (and my last post), I review those books and give my own thoughts. I am not a member of the selection committee and my thoughts on these books are my personal opinion only.

Wishtree by Katherine Applegate

Applegate won with The One and Only Ivan a few years ago, and this book is just as good. Her ability to give credible voice to unusual narrators is amazing. Ivan sounded like a broken-in-spirit silverback gorilla. Red sounds like a several-hundred-year-old oak tree in danger of being cut down. Beautiful book and an easy read. Highly recommended.

Short by Holly Goldberg Sloan

I enjoyed this book a lot, but I’d be surprised if it won the Newbery. My friend is reading it to her 4^th grade class who like it. The main character is a tween girl who is mourning her dog and who signs up with her younger brother to be in a children’s theater, semi-professional, summer production of The Wizard of Oz. Because she is short, she is cast as a Munchkin. Because she is older than most of the kids, she gets to be a flying monkey and makes friends with the adult actors. Funny, touching. Well worth the read.

The Ethan I Was Before by Ali Standish

A serious story about a boy who had a best friend that something horrible happened to. His family moves to Georgia and he slowly makes another friend, who is hiding things just like he is. It is during a hurricane, when everyone’s lives are in danger, that we the reader find it all out. There were a few things that didn’t ring true for me, and it was a little darker than I can take right now. Might win some awards.

The Goldfish Boy by Lisa Thompson

A boy with OCD who is afraid to leave his room watches his neighborhood out his window. He is the last to see a toddler before the child disappears from a nearby yard. He decides to solve the mystery, which pushes him to confront his illness. The mystery doesn’t end the way I expected, which I found both disappointing and disconcerting and, eventually, pleasing. Probably not a Newbery, but a great book for kids who like mysteries.

The Someday Birds by Sally J.Pla

I read this right after reading The Goldfish Boy, and thought… another OCD boy? But the stories and characters are different. In The Someday Birds, the boy must accompany his siblings and babysitter on a cross-country trip to where their father, who suffered a head injury in Afghanistan, is in a hospital. The main character deals with germs and hardships by trying to focusing on his obsession: birds, and trying to find the birds on the list he and his father made before his father was injured. Touching, funny, and I learned a lot–about birds and other things.

Me and Marvin Gardens by Amy Sarig King

At the backyard stream he cleans up every day, a boy discovers a new species that eats plastic and poops toxic waste. Suspenseful and hard to predict, I enjoyed the story more than I expected. A little preachy. I don’t see it catching the Newbery, but it would probably make for some good classroom discussions/activities on pollution and the environment.

See You in the Cosmos by Jack Cheng

The main character (who probably has Asperger’s) builds a rocket and goes on a road trip alone (well, he brings his dog) to try to win a rocket-launching competition. Just because a book’s main character is a kid, doesn’t mean the book is for kids. I enjoyed this book, but too much of the story is about the adults circling the main character, who is a bit too naive, and who narrates what the adults say and do without understanding what they are saying or doing. As an adult, I found the story interesting and intriguing, but I would not recommend it for children–not because it is inappropriate, but because, I think, they’d find it boring. I’d love to hear from kids or anyone who read this with kids and disagrees. I’ve been reading more and more books-for-children-that-are-really-for-adults, and so I’m planning a future blog post on this topic.

Possible Newbery contenders I have not yet read:

Orphan Island by Laurel Snyder

Hello, Universe by Erin Entrada Kelly

Scar Island by Dan Gemeinhart

Princess Cora and the Crocodile by Laura Amy Schlitz

I’d love to hear your thoughts on these books and my contenders list. Did you hate a book I loved? Love a book I didn’t love? Am I missing a book you think could win the Newbery? Let me know in the comments below.