We are so excited to announce our short list today!  But before we get to that, let me tell you a little bit about our plans for this list and some of our plans for the blog for the rest of the Newbery season.

This short list will be used in the Mock Newbery discussion taking place in Oakland on Sunday, January 28th at 12:30 pm.  I’ll be sending out an invite for that sometime in the next week.  If you haven’t been on the invite list in the past, and would like to join us, just let me know and I’ll make sure to include you.

What about those of you who aren’t near Oakland and can’t participate in person?  I’m so glad you asked!  We’ll be voting online as well, of course!  We will conduct two separate votes.  For those who have read every title and are interested in voting in a way that simulates the Newbery balloting process, we will have one vote that works that way.  We will explain more about this process when the time comes, but to prepare, make sure you’ve read each of the titles on our list.  In addition, we will also have a popular vote that everyone is welcome to participate in.  This will work in a more straight forward manner – you vote, and whichever title gets the most votes, wins!

For online voters, this short list is only HALF the titles you’ll have to choose from.  We’ll be looking at your nominations and selecting 9 more titles to create a long list of titles for our online balloting.

Dates:

• Heavy Medal long list announced – 12/22/17
• We will begin posting “nominations” for each title on the Short List, in alphabetical order, to simulate the Newbery process – 1/3/18
• Sharon’s in-person Mock Newbery in Oakland, CA – 1/28/18
• Online voting on Heavy Medal begins – 2/5/18
• The real Newbery winners are announced – 2/12/18

This short list was selected to include titles that would work well together in a in-person discussion and that cover a broad range of eligible titles in order to mimic the kind of discussion the real committee has.  They are all books we think the real committee may be discussing, but of course we’ll never know what is on their table for sure.

And now, our short list, in alphabetical order by title:
(DRUM ROLL PLEASE):

1. Clayton Byrd Goes Underground by Rita Williams Garcia
2. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
3. Hello, Universe by Erin Entrada Kelly
4. Her Right Foot by Dave Eggers
5. I’m Just No Good at Rhyming and Other Nonsense for Mischievous Kids and Immature Grown-Ups by Chris Harris
6. Orphan Island by Laurel Snyder
7. Real Friends by Shannon Hale
8. Vincent and Theo by Deborah Heiligman
9. Wishtree by Katherine Applegate

If you haven’t read these titles, now’s a good time to get that reading going!  And stay tuned for your chance to nominate some more titles.