Congrats to #ReneeWatson for winning the Newbery Medal for her novel "All the Blues in the Sky". Read more and see who won the Newbery Honor for 2026.

Link in comments.

#books #bookwards #newbery

Rocznica urodzin Laury Adams Armer, amerykańskiej artystki urodzonej 12 stycznia 1874 roku. Zasłynęła jako fotografka i autorka nagrodzonej powieści „Waterless Mountain”. Jej twórczość to świadectwo fascynacji kulturą rdzennych mieszkańców USA i pasji dokumentowania ich życia. (fot. Wikipedia) #LauraAdamsArmer #Newbery #twórczynie
The full list of #ALA Youth Media Award honorees is now posted. The #Newbery medal (which went to “The Eyes and the Impossible,” by Dave Eggers) and the #Caldecott medal (which went to “Big" by Vashti Harrison) are the best-known awards. But there are also lots of other awards honoring notable books and other creations of the past year. Check them out! https://www.ala.unikron.com/ #Bookstodon #Library #awards
Awards 2025 | ALA Webcast Video Production by Unikron

This ALA award video production will be provided by Unikron webcast services

ALA
While we're waiting for the new awardees, I'll note that all books awarded #Newbery medals and honors in the 1920s are now freely readable online. You can find them here: https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/prize.html#newbery
Prize-Winning Books Online

FREEWATER Review: 5⭐ - A beautifully written, pretty much perfect #middlegrade adventure. Amina Luqman-Dawson takes inspiration from stories of 19th-century Black Americans living independently in the vast southern swampland where they kept themselves safe from the predation of plantations and the bounty hunters they employed.

Full review: https://www.instagram.com/p/CohOKuWraTK/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

#freewater #AminaLuqmanDawson #newbery #winner #tbr @bookstodon #books #CorettaScottKingBookAward

Sheila M. Averbuch - author on Instagram: "FREEWATER Review: A beautifully written and paced, pretty much perfect middle grade adventure. @AminaLuqmanDawson takes inspiration from stories of 19th-century Black Americans living independently in the vast southern swampland where they kept themselves safe from the predation of plantations and the bounty hunters they employed. This is the >>best<< kind of historical fiction, sparking off real anecdotes in historical records -- (see the author's note about how history records a sighting of a Black woman near the swamp with a number of children who'd never seen a white person) --and spins a thrilling tale off of it. I completely loved how this is put together: the story is told from a number of perspectives, of young people who've grown up on plantations as enslaved souls, and young people born free in Freewater, the sanctuary their community has built in the swamp. Structurally, it has wonderful momentum and motivation: the freeborn girl Sanzi tries to prove herself and her skills, inspired by a local hero who does Robin-Hood-like raids on plantations and brings back supplies needed for the swamp. Then there's Homer, who with his young sister lost track of their mother during their escape from the plantation and (blaming himself that she went back for his friend) is determined to rescue her from the plantation. Amazing writing and characters and one of the best middle grade I have read in ages. Read it, buy it for your classroom and the young people in your life. A super Newbery Medal & Coretta Scott King award winner. Published by @littlebrownyoungreaders 5⭐ #MiddlegradeBooks #bookstagram #TBR #freewater #AminaLuqmanDawson #newbery #winner #AwardWinner #mustread #middlegrade #MiddleGradeFiction #historicalfiction #CorettaScottKingBookAward #CorettaScottKing #childrensLiterature"

9 Likes, 1 Comments - Sheila M. Averbuch - author (@sheilamaverbuch) on Instagram: "FREEWATER Review: A beautifully written and paced, pretty much perfect middle grade adventure. @AminaLuqmanDawson takes inspiration from stories of 19th-century Black Americans living independently in the vast southern swampland where they kept themselves safe from the predation of plantations and the bounty hunters they employed. This is the >>best<< kind of historical fiction, sparking off real anecdotes in historical records -- (see the author's note about how history records a sighting of a Black woman near the swamp with a number of children who'd never seen a white person) --and spins a thrilling tale off of it. I completely loved how this is put together: the story is told from a number of perspectives, of young people who've grown up on plantations as enslaved souls, and young people born free in Freewater, the sanctuary their community has built in the swamp. Structurally, it has wonderful momentum and motivation: the freeborn girl Sanzi tries to prove herself and her skills, inspired by a local hero who does Robin-Hood-like raids on plantations and brings back supplies needed for the swamp. Then there's Homer, who with his young sister lost track of their mother during their escape from the plantation and (blaming himself that she went back for his friend) is determined to rescue her from the plantation. Amazing writing and characters and one of the best middle grade I have read in ages. Read it, buy it for your classroom and the young people in your life. A super Newbery Medal & Coretta Scott King award winner. Published by @littlebrownyoungreaders 5⭐ #MiddlegradeBooks #bookstagram #TBR #freewater #AminaLuqmanDawson #newbery #winner #AwardWinner #mustread #middlegrade #MiddleGradeFiction #historicalfiction #CorettaScottKingBookAward #CorettaScottKing #childrensLiterature"

Instagram
I follow the Newberys in particular because I read a lot of the winners as a kid, and they're the oldest and one of the best-known ALA awards. The 1928 #Newbery honorees just joined the public domain at the start of this month; online copies of them, earlier awardees, and selected later ones can be found here: https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/prize.html. But the other, newer ALA awards are definitely worth checking out too.
Prize-Winning Books Online

#ALA Youth Media awards are out! _Freewater by Amina Luqman-Dawson wins the #Newbery Medal, and there were 3 Newbery honorees. And a bunch more books got various other awards. Here's the ALA press release mentioning them all: https://www.ala.org/news/press-releases/2023/01/american-library-association-announces-2023-youth-media-award-winners And here's more information on the awards: https://www.ala.org/news/mediapresscenter/presskits/youthmediaawards/alayouthmediaawards #Bookstodon
American Library Association announces 2023 Youth Media Award winners

NEW ORLEANS — The American Library Association (ALA) today announced the top books, digital media, video and audio books for children and young adults – including the Caldecott, Coretta Scott King, Newbery and Printz awards – at its LibLearnX: The Library Learning Experience held January 27-30, in New Orleans. A list of all the 2023 award winners and honor selections follows: John Newbery Medal for the most outstanding contribution to children's literature: “Freewater,” written by Amina Luqman-Dawson, is the 2023 Newbery Medal winner.

News and Press Center
@simon As a Children's Librarian who has encouraged his hundreds of #author friends (I've been on #Newbery Committee three times, they stack up), I have to say those people who think self-promotion of an author's #books here is wrong...are...well WRONG.