The Newbery Medal goes to a writer who is an American citizen or resident. The author of the Harry Potter books, J.K. Rowling, is Scottish. Many countries have national children’s book awards. The Harry Potter books are eligible for England’s Carnegie Medal, the closest award to our Newbery. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was a “Commended” Carnegie book, akin to a Newbery Honor book. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was on the Carnegie shortlist.
While the criteria state that the Newbery award is not “for popularity,” it also says “committee members must consider excellence of presentation for a child audience.” There are many recent Newbery winners that combine literary excellence with popular appeal, among them The Tale of Despereaux by Kate Dicamillo, Holes by Louise Sachar, Giver by Lois Lowry, and Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. Recent popular honor books include Because of Winn Dixie by Kate Dicamillo, 26 Fairmont Street by Tomie DePaola, Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine and The Watsons Go to Birmingham by Christopher Paul Curtis. Among classic honorees that kids love to read, the list is impressively long, including: Ramona Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly Cleary, Frog and Toad Together by Arnold Lobel, Rascal by Sterling North, The Cricket in Times Square by George Selden, My Father’s Dragon by Ruth Gannett, Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry, Little Town on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder, Mr. Popper’s Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater and, no less than, Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White.
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