Newbery Award Winners

More for Ages 8-10

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Honoring the "most distinguished contribution to American literature for children," these Newbery books include many of the best chapter books available.

The Graveyard Book

by Neil Gaiman

Bod narrowly escapes being murdered with the rest of his family when he wanders into the graveyard as an infant. An old dead couple agree to raise him, and he is taught the ways of the dead. As a teenager...

Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!

by Laura Amy Schlitz

Monologues from a variety of children combine with beautiful illustrations and historical facts to tell about life in medieval England.

The Higher Power of Lucky

by Susan Patron

Ten-year-old Lucky, who is intent upon seeking her Higher Power after overhearing people speak at AA meetings, determines that running away is the way to prevent her legal guardian, Brigitte, from abandoning...

Criss Cross

by Lynne Rae Perkins

Debbie wants something to happen.--- soon. Hector wants to impress Meadow. Lenny wants to fix things. In this lyrical Newbery-winning book, teenagers in a small town drift through the summer wondering...

Kira-Kira

by Cynthia Kadohata

Chronicles the close friendship between two Japanese-American sisters growing up in rural Georgia during the late 1950s and early 1960s, and the despair when one sister becomes terminally ill.

The Tale of Despereaux

by Kate DiCamillo

Despereaux, a young mouse, must battle against the rats in a dungeon to save the princess he loves.

Crispin: The Cross of Lead

by Avi

After being condemned for a crime he didn't commit, a timid thirteenth-century boy has to flee a tiny village that's the only world he's ever known.

A Single Shard

by Linda Sue Park

Tree-ear, a twelve-year-old orphan, is eager to learn the potter's trade. In this Newbery Medal-winning book, Tree-ear learns many of life's important lessons from those who grow to love him.

A Year Down Yonder

by Richard Peck

This sequel to the Newbery Honor-winning book "A Long Way from Chicago" is masterful storytelling at its best. Fifteen-year-old Mary Alice must leave her home and school in Chicago to live in...

Bud, Not Buddy

by Christopher Paul Curtis

This Newbery Award-winning book tells the story of ten-year-old Bud, an orphan during the Great Depression. After running away from his foster home, Bud sets out to search for the man he believes to be...

Holes

by Louis Sachar

Stanley Yelnats' family has endured misfortune throughout time, and Stanley is no exception. He is mistakenly accused of a crime and sent to Camp Green Lake, where digging holes is supposed to build...

Out of the Dust

by Karen Hesse

In a series of poems, fifteen-year-old Billie Jo relates the hardships of living on her family's wheat farm in Oklahoma during the dust-bowl years of the Depression.

The View from Saturday

by E. L. Konigsburg

Four students, with their own individual stories, develop a special bond and attract the attention of their teacher, a paraplegic, who chooses them to represent their sixth-grade class in the Academic...

The Midwife's Apprentice

by Karen Cushman

In medieval England, a nameless, homeless girl is taken in by a sharp-tempered midwife and, in spite of obstacles and hardship, eventually gains the three things she most wants: a full belly, a contented...

Moon over Manifest

by Clare Vanderpool

Twelve-year-old Abilene Tucker is the daughter of a drifter who, in the summer of 1936, sends her to stay with an old friend in Manifest, Kansas, where he grew up and where she hopes to find out some things...

When You Reach Me

by Rebecca Stead

When Miranda starts receiving mysterious notes, she realizes they come from the future.

Dead End in Norvelt

by Jack Gantos

In 1962 Norvelt, Pennsylvania, summer moves slowly for twelve-year-old Jack Gantos, who keeps getting grounded for one offense after another. Life becomes more interesting, however, when he begins helping...