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Jan 6, 2025 | 
slj.com | Lori Henderson |Amanda MacGregor |Steven Engelfried |Emily Mroczek-Bayci
As librarians prepare to celebrate Black History Month this February, the events of the last few years underscore the significance of this occasion. Educators are working hard to close the racially aligned achievement gaps that increased during the global pandemic. Honoring the achievements of Black Americans throughout the nation’s history bolsters the self-esteem of Black youth and can empower them to excel in school.
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Jan 1, 2025 | 
slj.com | Terry Hong |Edith Campbell |Emily Mroczek-Bayci |J. Caleb Mozzocco
by (text) & narrated by Kim Staunton . Oct. 2024. 14p. $6.99. ISBN 9781546120841. COPY ISBN K-Gr 3–“Long before a slave ship sailed,/ we shined like stars—/ brilliant and beautiful,” Oso opens.
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Nov 29, 2024 | 
heavymedal.slj.com | Emily Mroczek-Bayci
Next week marks our final nomination period for Heavy Medal, where readers can nominate two final books for a total of seven. Steven and I then look at that list to see what goes on our final booklist of approximately fifteen. Readers have until Saturday Dec. 7th to frantically read books and nominate, so now is the time to make those last minute pleas. What books are on other Mock Newbery lists but haven’t been talked about a lot here?
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Nov 22, 2024 | 
heavymedal.slj.com | Emily Mroczek-Bayci
Emily: In September, we introduced a Friday series about Notable Newbery authors and kicked off a Newbery Authors Poll, which is still open. In October we discussed the “powerhouse” Newbery authors. This month we thought it might be fun to focus on authors who have not won a Newbery Medal, including those who have won at least one Honor and also some of the many excellent writers who haven’t yet been awarded any Newbery recognition.
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Nov 18, 2024 | 
heavymedal.slj.com | Emily Mroczek-Bayci
As Steven mentioned in Friday’s post, we have 20 Newbery potentials that are currently “top contenders.” That number is a bit high, especially considering we already have an Early Six Final Book List, and Steven seems to think we need to keep the list under 100 or something like that (15 or less.)So today, we will do an exercise where we compare two Newbery potentials in a game called “Battle of the Books.”Pick a potential 2025 Newbery contender.
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Nov 11, 2024 | 
heavymedal.slj.com | Emily Mroczek-Bayci
The quest to find the 2025 Heavy Medal Mock Newbery winner continues as the second round of nominations closed last Saturday. Eleven new titles were nominated for a total of 45 Mock Newbery potentials. THE TENTH MISTAKE OF HANK HOOPERMAN leads the way, closely followed by LOUDER THAN HUNGER and OLIVETTI. I was pleasantly surprised with a few of the statistics including:OLIVETTI and THE WRONG WAY HOME led the way with six nominations each.
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Nov 6, 2024 | 
heavymedal.slj.com | Emily Mroczek-Bayci
EMILY: In this week’s Wednesday roundup, we take a look at a tough topic with a tough Newbery crowd. POETRY! Here we are talking about an actual collection of poems, not just a book in verse. Something I have never really enjoyed reading…. What about you Steven? STEVEN: I do enjoy poetry collections and look forward to the day when another one gets a Newbery nod. We had DARK EMPEROR, which included poems + facts, get an Honor in 2011.
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Nov 4, 2024 | 
heavymedal.slj.com | Emily Mroczek-Bayci
It’s time to nominate two more titles for the Heavy Medal 2025 Mock NewberyReaders nominated three titles in October for a total of 32 Newbery potentials. Now readers can nominate two more titles and then a final two in December- mirroring the process of the actual Newbery committee. These numbers help as we create our “Early Six” booklist, which is coming soon.
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Oct 28, 2024 | 
heavymedal.slj.com | Emily Mroczek-Bayci
As we near the end of the year, yes there’s new books still getting published- but with titles being nominated it’s time to begin the rereading process. This is when we look at titles again and with a more critical “Newbery-criteria” lens. I’ll be the first to say that sometimes I get suggestion happy and want everybody to read certain titles. (I may or may not have been told to cool it on suggestions at one point in my life). That’s what makes this exercise so important for people, me specifically.
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Oct 23, 2024 | 
heavymedal.slj.com | Emily Mroczek-Bayci
If you’re a frequent reader of Heavy Medal than you probably know what all the above acronyms meant. If not, have no fear- I’m here to explain everything!! Every year on Heavy Medal we finish up the Newbery season with lots of mimicking the “real” Newbery committee and putting our own spin on all the Newbery fun! And it IS very fun!In mid-December we form a volunteer committee of 10-15 committed readers: the Heavy Medal Award Committee (HMAC).
