John Newbery Medal
In 1921 Frederic G.Melcher had the Newbery Medal designed by René Paul Chambellan. The bronze medal has the winner's name and the date engraved on the back. The American Library Association Executive Board in 1922 delegated to the Children's Librarians' Section the responsibility for selecting the book to receive the Newbery Medal.
The inscription on the Newbery Medal still reads "Children's Librarians' Section," although the section has changed its name four times and its membership now includes both school and public library children's librarians in contrast to the years 1922-58, when the section, under three different names, included only public library children's librarians. Today the Medal is administered by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of ALA.
How the Newbery Medal Came to Be
The Newbery Medal is awarded annually by the American Library Association for the most distinguished American children's book published the previous year. On June 22, 1921, Frederic G. Melcher proposed the award to the American Library Association meeting of the Children's Librarians' Section and suggested that it be named for the eighteenth-century English bookseller John Newbery. The idea was enthusiastically accepted by the children's librarians, and Melcher's official proposal was approved by the ALA Executive Board in 1922. In Melcher's formal agreement with the board, the purpose of the Newbery Medal was stated as follows: "To encourage original creative work in the field of books for children. To emphasize to the public that contributions to the literature for children deserve similar recognition to poetry, plays, or novels. To give those librarians, who make it their life work to serve children's reading interests, an opportunity to encourage good writing in this field."
The Newbery Award thus became the first children's book award in the world. Its terms, as well as its long history, continue to make it the best known and most discussed children's book award in this country.
From the beginning of the awarding of the Newbery and Caldecott Medals, committees could, and usually did, cite other books as worthy of attention. Such books were referred to as Newbery or Caldecott "runners-up." In 1971 the term "runners-up" was changed to "honor books." The new terminology was made retroactive so that all former runners-up are now referred to as Newbery or Caldecott Honor Books.
Administered by:
2003 Winner(s)
Crispin: The Cross of Lead
“Crispin: The Cross of Lead,”published by Hyperion Books for Children, is an action-filled page-turner set in 14th-century England. “Asta’s son” is the only name the 13-year-old title character has ever known when he is suddenly orphaned and stripped of home and possessions. Accused of murder and wanted dead or alive, Crispin flees his village and falls in with a juggler, Bear, who becomes his protector and teacher. Relentlessly pursued by Crispin’s enemies, the pair flees to solve the mystery of his identity and fight the injustices of feudalism.
“Avi masterfully creates a plot that sustains tension and suspense from beginning to end, while seamlessly weaving in details of daily medieval life,” said Starr LaTronica, chair of the 2003 Newbery Award Selection Committee. “Readers experience Crispin’s surroundings through Avi’s sensory descriptions; they see, hear, smell, taste and feel his world. In the hands of a superb craftsman, ‘Crispin’is a fascinating coming-of-age novel that brings to readers a riveting adventure and invites them to consider how life hundreds of years ago echoes our contemporary search for freedom.”
2003 Honor(s)
A Corner of the Universe
With the surprising arrival of a mentally disabled uncle, 12-year-old Hattie Owen’s world is turned upside down in “A Corner of the Universe.”
Hoot
Hiaasen’s wildly funny satire features the new kid, Roy, joining forces with tough Beatrice and the elusive Mullet Fingers to defeat a bully, thwart an avaricious corporation and save a colony of burrowing owls.
The House of the Scorpion
Farmer tackles the provocative topics of cloning, the value of life, illegal immigration and the drug trade in a coming-of-age novel set in a desolate futuristic desert.
Pictures of Hollis Woods
In “Pictures of Hollis Woods, the 12-year-old title character unfolds her story of foster care and a search for family in images from her sketchbook, which reveal both her memories and her artistic soul.
Surviving the Applewhites
Tolan features pierced and spike-haired Jake, who has been expelled from every possible public school before his unwilling arrival at Wit’s End, N.C. and the homeschool run by the chaotic and outrageous Applewhite family.
