The Newbery Medal is awarded annually to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American Literature for children.

2007: 5.9/5 The Higher Power of Lucky ­ Patron, Susan. Fearing that her legal guardian plans to abandon her to return to France, ten-year-old aspiring scientist Lucky Trimble determines to run away while also continuing to seek the Higher Power that will bring stability to her life.

2006: 5.5/7 Cariss Cross ­ Perkins, Lynne Rae. Teenagers in a small town in the 1960s experience new thoughts and feelings, question their identities, connect, and disconnect as they search for the meaning of life and love.

2005: 4.7/7 Kira-Kira ­ Kadohata, Cynthia. 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.

2004: 4.7/5 Tale of Despereaux ­ DiCamillo, Kate. The adventures of Desperaux Tilling, a small mouse of unusual talents, the princess that he loves, the servant girl who longs to be a princess, and a devious rat determined to bring them all to ruin.

2003: 5.0/7 Crispin: The Cross of Lead ­ Avi. Falsely accused of theft and murder, an orphaned peasant boy in fourteenth-century England flees his village and meets a larger-than-life juggler who holds a dangerous secret.

2002: 6.6/6 A Single Shard ­ Park, Linda Sue. Tree-ear, a thirteen-year-old orphan in medieval Korea, lives under a bridge in a potter's village, and longs to learn how to throw the delicate celadon ceramics himself.

2001: 4.5/4 A Year Down Yonder ­ Peck, Richard. During the recession of 1937, fifteen-year-old Mary Alice is sent to live with her feisty, larger-than-life grandmother in rural Illinois and comes to a better understanding of this fearsome woman. Sequel to A Long Way from Chicago.

2000: 5.0/8 Bud, Not Buddy ­ Curtis, Christopher Paul. Ten-year-old Bud, a motherless boy living in Flint, Michigan, during the Great Depression, escapes a bad foster home and sets out in search of the man he believes to be his father--the renowned bandleader, H. E. Calloway of Grand Rapids.

1999: 4.6/7 Holes ­ Sachar, Louis. As further evidence of his family's bad fortune which they attribute to a curse on a distant relative, Stanley Yelnats is sent to a hellish correctional camp in the Texas desert where he finds his first real friend, a treasure, and a new sense of himself.

1998: 5.6/7 Out of the Dust ­ Hesse, Karen. 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.

1997: 5.9/7 View from Saturday ­ Konigsburg, E. L. 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 Bowl competition.

1996: 6.0/3 Mikdwife's Apprentice ­ Cushman, Karen. 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 heart, and a place in this world.

1995: 4.9/9 Walk Two Moons ­ Creech, Sharon. Thirteen-year-old Salamanca Tree Hiddle's mother has disappeared. While tracing her steps on a car trip from Ohio to Idaho with her grandparents, Salamanca tells a story to pass the time about a friend named Phoebe Winterbottom whose mother vanished and who received secret messages after her disappearance. One of them read, "Don't judge a man until you have walked two moons in his moccasins." Despite her father's warning that she is "fishing in the air," Salamanca hopes to bring her home. By drawing strength from her Native American ancestry, she is able to face the truth about her mother.

1994: 5.7/7 The Giver - Lowry, Lois. Given his lifetime assignment at the Ceremony of Twelve, Jonas becomes the receiver of memories shared by only one other in his community and discovers the terrible truth about the society in which he lives.

1993: 5.3/3 Missing May ­ Rylant, Cynthia. After the death of the beloved aunt who has raised her, twelve-year-old Summer and her uncle Ob leave their West Virginia trailer in search of the strength to go on living.

1992: 4.4/4 Shiloh ­ Naylor, Phyllis Reynolds. Marty finds a dog that he is sure is being abused. Even though he knows who owns the dog, he makes the decision to keep and care for it.

1991: 4.7/5 Maniac Magee ­ Spinelli, Jerry. Maniac Magee was a legend. Kids were always talking about how fast he could run; how high he could jump; how no knot would stay knotted once he began to untie it. But the thing Maniac Magee was best known for is what he did for the kids from the black East End and those from the white West end of town.

1990: 4.5/4 Number the Stars ­ Lowry, Lois, Ten-year-old Annemarie Johansen and her best friend Ellen Rosen often think about life before the war. But it's now 1943 and their life in Copenhagen is filled with school,food shortages, and the Nazi soldiers marching in their town.
The Nazis won't stop. The Jews of Denmark are being "relocated," so Ellen moves in with the Johansens and pretends to be part of the family.
Then Annemarie is asked to go on a dangerous mission. Somehow she must find the strength and courage to save her best friend's life.

1988: 7.7/5 Lincoln: A Photobiography (92)­ Freedman, Russell. This work is perhaps the most complete and enjoyable children's book ever written about one of the nation's most fascinating and important figures. The author covers Lincoln's life and career in a balanced treatment that is enhanced by period photographs and drawings.

1987: 3.9/2 The Whipping Boy ­ Sid Fleischman. A bratty prince and his whipping boy have many adventures when they inadvertently trade places after becoming involved with dangerous outlaws.

1986: 3.4/1 Sarah, Plain and Tall ­ MacLachlan, Patricia. When their father invites a mail-order bride to come to live with them in their prairie home, Caleb and Anna are captivated by her and hope that she will stay.

1985: 7.0/15 The Hero and the Crown ­ McKinley, Robin. Although she is the daughter of Damar's king, Aerin has never been accepted as full royalty. Both in and out of the royal court, people whisper the story of her mother, the witchwoman, who was said to have enspelled the king into marrying her to get an heir to rule Damar-then died of despair when she found she had borne a daughter instead of a son. But none of them, not even Aerin herself, can predict her future-for she is to be the true hero who will wield the power of the Blue Sword...

1984: 4.9/3 Dear Mr. Henshaw ­ Cleary, Beverly. A boy writes letters to an author through the years and keeps a diary.

1983: 5.0/11 Dicey's Song ­ Voight, Cynthia. Now that the four abandoned Tillerman children are settled in with their grandmother, Dicey finds that their new beginnings require love, trust, humor and courage.

1982: 4.5/0.5 A Visit to William Blake's Inn: Poems for Innocent and Experienced Travelers (811) ­ Willard, Nancy. This delightful collection of poetry for children brings to life Blake's imaginary inn and its unusual guests.

1981: 5.7/8 Jacob Have I Loved ­ Paterson, Katherine. Sara Louise Bradshaw is sick and tired of her beautiful twin Caroline. Ever since they were born, Caroline has been the pretty one, the talented one, the better sister. Even now, Caroline seems to take everything: Louise's friends, their parents' love, her dreams for the future.For once in her life, Louise wants to be the special one. But in order to do that, she must first figure out who she is . . . and find a way to make a place for herself outside her sister's shadow.

1980: 6.7/5 A Gathering of Days: A New England Girl's Journal, 1830-1832 ­ Blos, Joan. The journal of a fourteen-year-old girl, kept the last year she lived on the family farm, records daily events in her small New Hampshire town, her father's remarriage, and the death of her best friend.

1979: 5.3/8 Westing Game ­ Raskin, Ellen. The mysterious death of an eccentric millionaire brings together an assortment of heirs who must discover the murderer before they can claim their inheritance.

1978: 4.6/5 Bridge to Terabithia ­ Paterson, Katherine. The life of a ten-year-old boy in rural Virginia expands when he becomes friends with a newcomer who subsequently meets an untimely death trying to reach their hideaway, Terabithia, during a storm.

1977: 5.7/10 Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry ­ Taylor, Mildred. A black family living in the South during the 1930s is faced with prejudice and discrimination which its children do not understand.

1976: 6.2/9 The Grey King ­ Cooper, Susan. A strange boy and dog remind Will Stanton that he is an immortal, whose quest is to find the golden harp which will rouse others from a long slumber in the Welsh hills so they may prepare for the ultimate battle of Light versus Dark.

1975: 4.4/10 M. C. Higgins, the Great - Hamilton, Virginia. As a slag heap, the result of strip mining, creeps closer to his house in the Ohio hills, fifteen-year-old M. C. is torn between trying to get his family away and fighting for the home they love.

1974: 6.0/6 Slave Dancer ­ Fox, Paula. Kidnapped by the crew of an Africa-bound ship, a thirteen-year-old boy discovers to his horror that he is on a slaver and his job is to play music for the exercise periods of the human cargo.

1973: 5.8/6 Julie of the Wolves ­ George, Jean Craighead. Julie is accepted by a pack of wolves. Her months in the wild bring her appreciation of her Eskimo heritage that conflicts with her desire to forsake it.

1972: 5.1/8 Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH ­ O'Brien, Robert C. A mouse, whose husband died in the laboratory where his cellmates gained wisdom, asks for their help.

1971: 4.9/4 Summer of the Swans ­ Byars, Betsy. A teen-age girl gains new insight into herself and her family when her mentally handicapped brother gets lost.

1970: 5.3/3 Sounder ­ Armstrong, William H. Sounder traces the keen sorrow and the abiding faith of a poor African-American boy in the 19th century South. The boy's father is a sharecropper, struggling to feed his family in hard times. Night after night, he and his great coon dog, Sounder, return to the cabin empty-handed. Then, one morning, almost like a miracle, a sweet-smelling ham is cooking in the family's kitchen. At last the family will have a good meal. But that night, an angry sheriff and deputies come, and the boy's life will never be the same.

1969: 6.1/11 High King ­ Alexander, Lloyd. In this fifth and final chronicle of Prydain the forces of good and evil meet in ultimate confrontation.

1968: 4.7/5 From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler ­ Konisgburg, E. L. Claudia decided to run away to make her parents appreciate her. She took her brother, and they went to live at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Once the fun of settling in was over, she had two problems: she felt just the same, and she wanted to feel different; and she found a statue that was so beautiful that she couldn't go home until she knew who had made it. Even the experts didn't know that. The statue's former owner was Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, and without her help, Claudia might never be able to go home.

1967: 6.6/8 Up a Road Slowly ­ Hunt, Irene. A poignant junior novel of the sometimes painful, often beautiful years of adolescence as Julie Trelling grew up.

1966: 6.5/7 I, Juan de Pareja ­ De Trevino, Elizabeth. Juan is the slave of the great Spanish painter Diego Velazquez and helps his master in his studio by preparing paints and stretching canvases. But Juan is an artist, too; he has taught himself by watching his master's technique. Although such work is forbidden to slaves, Juan cannot keep his secret any longer. What will happen when the truth is known?

1965: 5.2/5 Shadow of a Bull ­ Wojciechowska, Maia. Manolo Olivar has to make a decision: to follow in his famous father's shadow and become a bullfighter, or to follow his heart and become a doctor.

1964: 4.7/5 It's Like This, Cat ­ Neville, Emily. Dave and his father disagree, yet with the help of a cat, they finally begin to understand each other.

1963: 4.7/7 A Wrinkle in Time ­ L'Engle, Madeleine. Meg and her friends are spirited to another world by three extra-terrestrial beings.

1962: 5.0/10 Bronze Bow ­ Speare, Elizabeth George. "The scene is Jerusalem at the time of Christ, the characters vividly real, the story gripping." "A moving, vivid, and well-written picture of the spiritual vs. the material, vengeance vs. love."

1961: 5.4/6 Island of the Blue Dolphins ­ O'Dell, Scott. The story of an Indian girl who spent eighteen years on a deserted island off the California coast; a tale of courage, self-reliance, and acceptance of fate.

1959: 5.7/9 Witch of Blackbird Pond ­ Speare, Elizabeth George. In 1687 a young girl from Barbados visits her Puritan relatives in Connecticut and becomes the suspect in a witchhunt.

1958: 6.1/14 Rifles for Watie ­ Keith, Harold. This is a rich and sweeping novel-rich in its panorama of history; in its details so clear that the reader never doubts for a moment that he is there; in its dozens of different people, each one fully realized and wholly recognizable. It is a story of a lesser--known part of the Civil War, the Western campaign, a part different in its issues and its problems, and fought with a different savagery. Inexorably it moves to a dramatic climax, evoking a brilliant picture of a war and the men of both sides who fought in it.

1957: 4.9/7 Miracles on Maple Hill ­ Sorenson, Virginia. Marly's father came back from the war a different man. Something inside him seems as cold and dead as the winter world outside. But when the family moves to Grandma's old house on Maple Hill, miracles begin to happen. The sap in the trees begins to rise, the leaves begin to turn, and Marly's father starts to bloom again, like the world around him.

1956: 4.1/8 Carry On, Mr. Bowditch (92) - Latham, Jean Lee. Readers today are still fascinated by "Nat," an eighteenth-century nautical wonder and mathematical wizard. Nathaniel Bowditch grew up in a sailor's world-Salem in the early days, when tall-masted ships from foreign ports crowded the wharves. But Nat didn't promise to have the makings of a sailor; he was too physically small. Nat may have been slight of build, but no one guessed that he had the persistence and determination to master sea navigation in the days when men sailed only by "log, lead, and lookout." Nat's long hours of study and observation, collected in his famous work, The American Practical Navigator (also known as the "Sailors" Bible"), stunned the sailing community and made him a New England hero.

1955: 4.7/10 Wheel on the School ­ DeJong, Meindert. This book tells the story of a young girl and her simple composition about the storks that build their nests in neighboring villages. When the children wonder why the storks don't nest in their village, the stage is set for a dramatic challenge against all odds.

1954: 4.8/8 And Now Miguel ­ Krumgold, Joseph. Miguel Chavez who held in his heart a secret wish and yearned to go with the men of his family to the Sagre de Cristo Mountains.

1953: 4.7/5 Secret of the Andes ­ Clark, Ann Nolan. An Indian boy who tends llamas in a hidden valley in Peru learns the traditions and secrets of his Inca ancestors.

1952: 6.0/9 Ginger Pye ­ Estes, Eleanor. Ginger Pye is the smartest dog in the town of Cranbury. Bought with a hard-earned dollar by Jerry Pye and his sister, Rachel, his coming also marks the arrival of a mysterious stranger who wears a mustard-yellow hat. Why does the hat so often appear whenever Ginger is about? Suddenly Ginger vanishes, and Jerry and Rachel's quest to rescue their brilliant dog is an engaging story about the truly remarkable Ginger Pye and the people who love him.

1951: 6.5/5 Amos Fortune, Free Man (92) ­ Yates, Elizabeth. Here is the riveting true story of Amos Fortune, born a prince of the At-munshi tribe in Africa and abducted by slave traders at the age of fifteen. In Massachusetts, at the age of sixty, he finally bought his own freedom - and then continued on as a free man to become an expert tanner, a loving husband and father, and an active citizen until his death in 1801. But most importantly, he fulfilled his life's dream of buying the freedom of many other enslaved people.

1950: 6.2/4 Door in the Wall ­ deAngeli, Marguerite. This Newbery Medal winning story, set in medieval times, is about a boy who learns his own strength when he saves the castle and discovers there is more than one way to serve his king.

1949: 5.4/5 King of the Wind ­ Henry, Marguerite. An Arabian stallion is brought to England to become one of the founding sires of the Thoroughbred breed.

1948: 6.8/6 Twenty-One Balloons ­ du Bois, William. Relates the incredible adventures of Professor William Waterman Sherman, who in 1883 sets off in a balloon across the Pacific, survives the volcanic eruption of Krakatoa, and is eventually picked up in the Atlantic.

1947: 5.9/4 Miss Hickory ­ Bailey, Carolyn Sherwin. Relates the adventures of a country doll made of an apple-wood twig with a hickory nut for a head

1946: 4.8/6 Strawberry Girl ­ Lenski, Lois. Strawberries -- big, ripe, and juicy. Ten-year-old Birdie Boyer can hardly wait to start picking them. But her family has just moved to the Florida backwoods, and they haven't even begun their planting. "Don't count your biddies 'fore they're hatched, gal young un!" her father tells her. Making the new farm prosper is not easy. There is heat to suffer through, and droughts, and cold snaps. And, perhaps most worrisome of all for the Boyers, there are rowdy neighbors, just itching to start a feud.

1945: 6.4/3 Rabbit Hill ­ Lawson, Robert. What happens when the animals of Rabbit Hill learn that new folks are moving into the big, empty house?

1944: 5.9/13 Johnny Tremain ­ Forbes, Esther. The story of a silversmith's apprentice, whose hand was crippled by an accident at work, and of how he worked for the Boston patriots during the Revolution.

1943: 6.5/9 Adam of the Road ­ Gray, Elizabeth. The adventures of eleven-year-old Adam as he travels the open roads of thirteenth-century England searching for his missing father, a minstrel, and his stolen red spaniel, Nick.

1941: 6.2/3 Call It Courage ­ Sperry, Armstrong. Based on a Polynesian legend, this is the story of a youth who overcomes his fear of the sea and proves his courage to himself and his people.

1939: 5.7/5 Thimble Summer ­ Enright, Elizabeth. When Garnet finds a silver thimble in the sand by the river, she is sure it's magical. But is it magical enough to help her pig, Timmy, win a blue ribbon on Fair Day?

1938: 6.6/2 White Stag ­ Seredy, Kate. Retells the legendary story of the Huns' and Magyars' long migration from Asia to Europe where they hope to find a permanent home

1936: 6.0/3 Caddie Woodlawn ­ Brink, Carol Ryrie. The adventures of an eleven-year-old tomboy growing up on the Wisconsin frontier in the mid-nineteenth century.

1934: 8.0/10 Invincible Louisa ­ Meigs, Cornelia. In this true story of Louisa May Alcott, you'll find out what happened to Jo (Louisa) and her sisters--and whether there really was a Laurie.

1933: 6.4/10 Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze ­ Lewis, Elizabeth. This story is about Young Fu, a country boy, who is apprenticed to a master coppersmith when he and his mother move to the city of Chungking during the exciting and often dangerous 1920s.

1932: 5.6/8 Waterless Mountain ­ Armer, Laura. Younger Brother, a Navaho Indian boy, undergoes eight years of training in the ancient religion of his people and the practical knowledge of material existence.

1931: 5.9/2 Cat Who Went to Heaven ­ Coatsworth, Elizabeth. A little cat comes to the home of a poor Japanese artist and, by humility and devotion, brings him good fortune.

1930: 7.1/11 Hitty, Her First Hundred Years ­ Field, Rachel. A doll named Hitty recounts her adventures as she moves through a continually changing string of owners.

1929: 7.1/10 Trumpeter of Krakow ­ Kelly, Eric P. How the commemoration of an act of bravery and self-sacrifice in ancient Krakow saved the lives of a family two centuries later. In this stoyr of Poland, there is adventure and mystery aplenty.

1928: 6.5/6 Gay Neck, the Story of a Pigeon ­ Mukerji, Dhan Gopal. This book is the story of a carrier pigeon raised in India who is used by a Bengal Regiment in France during World War I.

1926: 5.4/6 Shen of the Sea ­ Chrisman, Arthur Bowie. Enter a world of dragons, magicians, and other wondrous creatures in this delightful collection of Chinese folk tales.

1924: 6.7/12 Dark Frigate ­ Hawe, Charles. In 17th century England, an accident forces orphaned Philip Marsham to flee London in fear for his life. He signs on with the Rose of Devon, a dark frigate. When the ship is seized in by a devious group of men, Philip is forced to accompany these "gentleman of fortune" on their murderous expeditions.

1923: 5.7/11 Voyages of Doctor Dolittle ­ Lofting, Hugh. The voyages of Doctor Dolittle and his company lead them to Spidermonkey Island. He and his companions survive a perilous shipwreck and lands on the mysterious floating island. There he meets the wondrous Great Glass Sea Snail who holds the key to the greatest mystery of all.