‘Let’s Play Two!’ Newbery Winner Sequels
The recent announcement of The One and Only Bob has me thinking – how many Newbery Medal winners have sequels (and/or prequels)?
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I decided to look at the last 20 years of Newbery Medal winners and found that 40% (8 out of 20) had either a prequel or sequel.
Which ones? Let’s have a look.
2000: Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis – YES (The Mighty Miss Malone)
2001: A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck – YES (A Season of Gifts)
2002: A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park – NO
2003: Crispin by Avi – YES (The Edge of the World, The End of Time)
2004: The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo – NO
2005: Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata – NO
2006: Criss Cross by Lynn Rae Perkins – YES (All Alone in the Universe)
2007: The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron – YES (Lucky Breaks, Lucky for Good)
2008: Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! by Laura Amy Schlitz – NO
2009: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman – NO
2010: When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead – NO
2011: Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool – NO
2012: Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos – Yes (From Norvelt to Nowhere)
2013: The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate – YES (The One and Only Bob)
2014: Flora & Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo – NO
2015: The Crossover by Kwame Alexander – YES (Rebound)
2016: Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Peña – NO
2017: The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill – NO
2018: Hello, Universe by Erin Entrada Kelly – NO
2019: Merci Suárez Changes Gears by Meg Medina – NO¹
¹This one is a bit tricky, because Merci Suárez Changes Gears began as a short story, Sol’s Painting, in the anthology Flying Lessons. So while I don’t think that counts as a prequel/sequel in the traditional sense, it deserves mention here.
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About Travis Jonker
Travis Jonker is an elementary school librarian in Michigan. He writes reviews (and the occasional article or two) for School Library Journal and is a member of the 2014 Caldecott committee. You can email Travis at scopenotes@gmail.com, or follow him on Twitter: @100scopenotes.
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Great list! I didn’t know some of these, so now I can add to my ever-growing “to read” pile 🙂
Can short stories in an anthology qualify as prequels/sequels for this list? I’m thinking of Meg Medina’s short story “Sol Painting, Inc.” in the book Flying Lessons and Other Stories. It serves as a prequel to Merci Suárez Changes Gears.
This is a really good point. Her book came out of that short story!
Oh! I didn’t know that Lucky had a sequel! It took me forever to finally read that one (just a few years ago) and I loved it! Thanks for the fun list!