On Monday, the American Library Association announced the winners of this year's Caldecott and Newbery Awards (along with a whole bunch of other awesome awards!). If you're participating in my Newbery Reading Challenge, then all of the below books earn you points. If you're not participating (It's not too late to join), then all of these books look amazing, and you should read them!

Welcome to another year of the Newbery Reading Challenge! Newbery and Caldecott books are fun to read - whether it's our first time experiencing them, or we're revisiting them from our childhood. If you want to challenge yourself to read more Newbery and Caldecott books this year, then you have found the right place!

Here are the rules:​
Each book you read is worth points. You get:

• 3 points for a Newbery Medal Winner
• 2 points for a Newbery Honor Book
• 1 point for a Caldecott Book (Both Medal winners and Honor books are worth a point.)

In addition to that, you pick a level to aim for:

• L'Engle: 15 - 29 points
• Spinelli: 30 - 44 points
• Avi: 45 - 59 points
• Lowry: 60 - 74 points
• Konigsburg: 75+ points

You can get to this level with any combination of points you want. You can read all Newbery Medal winners. You can throw in a few Honor Books. If you want, you can even read 75 Caldecott Medal winners! How you get to your point level is totally up to you. 

Also, anywhere in the point range for your level counts as completing that level. So for example, if you signed up for the Avi level and read 46 points' worth of books, then you have completed that level!

Challenge Guidelines:

• Rereads count (because you were probably a kid when you read it last, and your perspective on the story just might have changed since then).
• Audiobooks and ebooks count.
• And paper books count, too. :)
• All books must be read between January 1, 2019, and December 31, 2019. Books begun before January 1 don’t count.
• Books can be used for other challenges as well.
• Reviews are encouraged, but not necessary.
• Choose your point level. You can always aim for a higher point level, but you can't move to a lower one.

To join the Newbery Reading Challenge:

• Write a post (or a comment) stating your intention to join. Choose your point level. You can find the challenge image above to use in your post.
• Add your link to the Linky at the bottom of this post. Make sure you include the link to your sign-up post, not just your homepage.

On Monday, the American Library Association announced the winners of the Newbery and Caldecott Medals for this year, along with the Honor books. I watched part of the live broadcast, which was a fun way to participate. For anyone participating in the 2018 Newbery Reading Challenge, every one of these books counts towards your point total! If you're not participating, feel free to sign up, or just enjoy reading these books!

The ALA also has many other awards, including the Coretta Scott King award, the Michael L. Printz award for YA books, the Theodor Seuss Geisel award for beginning readers, and the Odyssey award for children's/YA audiobooks. Check out the press release to see all of the amazing books that won all of these amazing awards this year!

Welcome to the fifth year of the Newbery Reading Challenge! (Wow, five years already!) Newbery and Caldecott books are fun to read - whether it's our first time experiencing them, or we're revisiting them from our childhood. If you want to challenge yourself to read more Newbery and Caldecott books this year, then you have found the right place!

Here are the rules:​
Each book you read is worth points. You get:

• 3 points for a Newbery Medal Winner
• 2 points for a Newbery Honor Book
• 1 point for a Caldecott Book (Both Medal winners and Honor books are worth a point.)

In addition to that, you pick a level to aim for:

• L'Engle: 15 - 29 points
• Spinelli: 30 - 44 points
• Avi: 45 - 59 points
• Lowry: 60 - 74 points
• Konigsburg: 75+ points

You can get to this level with any combination of points you want. You can read all Newbery Medal winners. You can throw in a few Honor Books. If you want, you can even read 75 Caldecott Medal winners! How you get to your point level is totally up to you. 

Also, anywhere in the point range for your level counts as completing that level. So for example, if you signed up for the Avi level and read 46 points' worth of books, then you have completed that level!

Challenge Guidelines:

• Rereads count (because you were probably a kid when you read it last, and your perspective on the story just might have changed since then).
• Audiobooks and ebooks count.
• And paper books count, too. :)
• All books must be read between January 1, 2018, and December 31, 2018. Books begun before January 1 don’t count.
• Books can be used for other challenges as well.
• You don’t have to have a blog to participate. You can link up reviews from Amazon, Goodreads, etc., or just hang out with us in the comments!
• Reviews are encouraged, but not necessary.
• Choose your point level. You can always aim for a higher point level, but you can't move to a lower one.

To join the Newbery Reading Challenge:

• Write a post (or a comment) stating your intention to join. Choose your point level. You can find the challenge image above to use in your post.
• Add your link to the Linky at the bottom of this post. Make sure you include the link to your sign-up post, not just your homepage.
  • The Linky seems to be having difficulties sometimes. I have no idea how to fix this. If it doesn't accept your link, you can try again another day, or just put your link in a comment. That will count as signing up, too!

Free Printable Template!

• Christine at Buckling Bookshelves made this awesome template to use for tracking your reads for this challenge. She generously offered to share it with all of you! Just click on the file below to download it for your own use!

​Welcome to the fourth year of the Newbery Reading Challenge! Newbery and Caldecott books are fun to read - whether it's our first time experiencing them, or we're revisiting them from our childhood. If you want to challenge yourself to read more Newbery and Caldecott books this year, then you have found the right place!

Here are the rules:​
Each book you read is worth points. You get:

• 3 points for a Newbery Medal Winner
• 2 points for a Newbery Honor Book
• 1 point for a Caldecott Book (Both Medal winners and Honor books are worth a point this year!)

In addition to that, you pick a level to aim for:

• L'Engle: 15 - 29 points
• Spinelli: 30 - 44 points
• Avi: 45 - 59 points
• Lowry: 60 - 74 points
• Konigsburg: 75+ points

You can get to this level with any combination of points you want. You can read all Newbery Medal winners. You can throw in a few Honor Books. If you want, you can even read 75 Caldecott Medal winners! How you get to your point level is totally up to you. 

Also, anywhere in the point range for your level counts as completing that level. So for example, if you signed up for the Avi level and read 46 points' worth of books, then you have completed that level!

Challenge Guidelines:

• Rereads count (because you were probably a kid when you read it last, and your perspective on the story just might have changed since then).
• Audiobooks and ebooks count.
• And paper books count, too. :)
• All books must be read between January 1, 2017, and December 31, 2017. Books begun before January 1 don’t count.
• Books can be used for other challenges as well.
• You don’t have to have a blog to participate. You can link up reviews from Amazon, Goodreads, etc., or just hang out with us in the comments!
• Reviews are encouraged, but not necessary. There will be a headquarters page for you to link up your reviews if you want to share your thoughts.
• Choose your point level. You can always aim for a higher point level, but you can't move to a lower one.

To join the Newbery Reading Challenge:

• Write a post (or a comment) stating your intention to join. Choose your point level. You can find the challenge image above to use in your post.
• Add your link to the Linky at the bottom of this post. Make sure you include the link to your sign-up post, not just your homepage.

Another year of reading Newbery Award winners, Newbery Honor books, and Caldecott Medal winners is just about finished. We have about a month left to go. Have you completed your challenge yet? This is the place to link up your wrap-up posts, or feel free to leave a comment saying how you did. Hope you enjoyed this year's Newbery Reading Challenge!

P.S. Sign-ups for the 2017 Newbery Reading Challenge will be live next Wednesday!

The Newbery and Caldecott winners were announced this week!

Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Pena (It also was a Caldecott Honor book. It's illustrated by Christian Robinson.)

The War that Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
Roller Girl by Victoria Jamieson
​Echo by Pam Munoz Ryan

Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World's Most Famous Bear by Lindsay Mattick; illustrated by Sophie Blackall

(As if you need yet another reason to read these books that look awesome, it's not too late to sign up for my Newbery Reading Challenge!)

Welcome to the third year of the Newbery Reading Challenge! Newbery and Caldecott books are fun to read - whether it's our first time experiencing them, or we're revisiting them from our childhood. If you want to challenge yourself to read more Newbery and Caldecott books this year, then you have found the right place!

Here are the rules:​

Each book you read is worth points. You get:

• 3 points for a Newbery Medal Winner
• 2 points for a Newbery Honor Book
• 1 point for a Caldecott Medal Winner (Gotta give the picture books some love, too.)

In addition to that, you pick a level to aim for:

• L'Engle: 15 - 29 points
• Spinelli: 30 - 44 points
• Avi: 45 - 59 points
• Lowry: 60 - 74 points
• Konigsburg: 75+ points

You can get to this level with any combination of points you want. You can read all Newbery Medal winners. You can throw in a few Honor Books. If you want, you can even read 75 Caldecott Medal winners! How you get to your point level is totally up to you. 

Also, anywhere in the point range for your level counts as completing that level. So for example, if you signed up for the Avi level and read 46 points' worth of books, then you have completed that level!

Challenge Guidelines:

• Rereads count (because you were probably a kid when you read it last, and your perspective on the story just might have changed since then).
• Audiobooks and ebooks count.
• And paper books count, too. :)
• All books must be read between January 1, 2016, and December 31, 2016. Books begun before January 1 don’t count.
• Books can be used for other challenges as well.
• You don’t have to have a blog to participate. You can link up reviews from Amazon, Goodreads, etc., or just hang out with us in the comments!
• Reviews are encouraged, but not necessary. There will be a headquarters page for you to link up your reviews if you want to share your thoughts.
• Choose your point level. You can always aim for a higher point level, but you can't move to a lower one.

To join the Newbery Reading Challenge:

• Write a post (or a comment) stating your intention to join. Choose your point level. You can find the challenge button below to use in your post.
• Add your link to the Linky at the bottom of this post. Make sure you include the link to your sign-up post, not just your homepage.

Grab the Challenge Button!

<div align="center"><a href="http://www.smilingshelves.com/home/introducing-the-newbery-reading-challenge-2016" rel="nofollow" title="Smiling Shelves"><img src="http://www.smilingshelves.com/uploads/8/3/4/5/8345014/8653204_orig.png" alt="Smiling Shelves" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Another year of reading Newbery Award winners, Newbery Honor books, and Caldecott Medal winners is just about finished. We have about a month left to go. Have you completed your challenge yet? This is the place to link up your wrap-up posts, or feel free to leave a comment saying how you did. Hope you enjoyed this year's Newbery Reading Challenge!

P.S. Sign-ups for the 2016 Newbery Reading Challenge will be live next Saturday!

The Newbery Award winner and Honor books for 2015 were announced yesterday! Without further ado, here they are:

The Crossover by Kwame Alexander

El Deafo by Cece Bell
Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson

Now I just need to track down copies to read! I hope you enjoy them, too!