New(bery) Reading Challenge

Just a few days ago, I posted about my first true reading challenge (beyond the annual Goodreads reading goal). Today I'm going to talk about my second reading challenge.

When I started my adolescent literature course back in August, the professor gave us a list of all the Newbery Medal winners, particularly since we would be reading three of the winners and a few Newbery Honor books. (Fun story: I always thought Princess Academy was a Newbery Award winner, but apparently it only has a Newbery Honor.)

I started looking over the list. It was fun to see which ones I've already read, and I'd actually love to reread a lot of those. I've read the following Newbery Award books:

• Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink (1936)
• The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth Speare (1959)
• Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell (technically my fourth grade teacher read it to us, but that counts in my book) (1961)
• From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg (1968)
• Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor (1977)
• Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson (1978)
• Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary (1984)
• Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan (1986)
• Number the Stars by Lois Lowry (1990)
• Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor (1992)
• The Midwife's Apprentice by Karen Cushman (1996)
• Holes by Louis Sachar (1999)
• The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo (2004)
• Flora & Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo (2013)

So I've read 14 out of 95 books, and I thought that seemed pretty shabby. Obviously, some of the earlier ones aren't all that great. Still, I went over the list and checked Goodreads synopses and ratings and found 21 more books (plus the one we still have to read for class) that interested me.

I felt like this was a nice starting point to complete my Newbery Reading Challenge. Here are the 21 books I plan to read, hopefully within the next year:

• The Voyages of Dr. Dolittle by Hugh Lofting (1923)
• Hitty, Her First Hundred Years by Rachel Field (1930)
• Thimble Summer by Elizabeth Enright (1939)
• Strawberry Girl by Lois Lenski (1946)
• King of the Wind by Marguerite Henry (1949)
• Ginger Pye by Eleanor Estes (1952)
• Miracles on Maple Hill by Virginia Sorensen (1957)
• A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle (1963)
• Up a Road Slowly by Irene Hunt (1967)
• Sounder by William H. Armstrong (1970)
• The Summer of the Swans by Betsy Byars (1971)
• Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien (1972)
• The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin (1978)
• Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Paterson (1981)
• The Giver by Lois Lowry (1994)
• The View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg (1997)
• A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck (2001)
• A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park (2002)
• Kira-Kira by Cytnhia Kadohata (2005)
• The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron (2007)
• When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead (2010)

What Newbery Award books have you read? Do you want to read more of them, too? Oh! And if you can recommend any Newbery Award winners that I didn't list, please let me know in the comments below or on Twitter.