LibGuides: Mock Newbery Club 2025: BC Mock Newbery Club

About Us

The Berkeley Carroll Mock Newbery Club is a reading group for students in grades 4-8, formed and facilitated by BC Librarians in 2009. This year will mark the club’s sixteenth consecutive year as a cross-divisional, cross-grade reading group for students who enjoy taking on the challenge of reading independently with a critical eye.

The Newbery Medal is a prestigious literary award given annually to the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children. The BC Mock Newbery Club provides an opportunity for students to read and discuss a selection of the best children's books published in the current year with other passionate readers. Members are required to evaluate the books they read in terms of the criteria and guidelines used by the Newbery committee and nominate their favorite books - the titles that they deem distinguished. Mock Newbery members must read at least 50 pages of a book before they can reject it in favor of a new one.

This year, starting in early October, members will begin reading and meeting to discuss and evaluate the titles under consideration. They make a commitment to read at least 3 books by the Thanksgiving Break and are encouraged to share responses and reviews of the books they have read which will be published on this guide. Members will vote for their top choices to create a shortlist of approximately 5-7 books before Winter Break. They are encouraged to read all the books on the finalist list by the end of January in preparation for the final vote which will determine the winners of BC's coveted annual Mock Newbery Medal and Honor awards!

2025 Reading List

Here are the contenders for the 2025 BC Mock Newbery award:

And Then, Boom! by Lisa Fipps
Call Number: REALISTIC FIC FIP
Publication Date: 2024
Poverty-stricken Joseph bravely rides out all the storms life keeps throwing at him.
The Color of Sound by Emily Barth Isler
ISBN: 9781728487779
Publication Date: 2024
"[A] salient celebration of family, music, and neurodiversity." --starred, Publishers Weekly "A top pick for any middle school collection; a perfect book club pick and a reminder to all that patience and understanding can change lives." --starred, School Library Journal Twelve-year-old Rosie is a musical prodigy whose synesthesia allows her to see music in colors. She's never told anyone this, though. She already stands out more than enough as a musical "prodigy" who plays better than most adults. Rosie's mom expects her to become a professional violinist. But this summer, Rosie refuses to play. She wants to have a break. To make friends and discover new hobbies. To find out who she would be if her life didn't revolve around the violin. So instead of attending a prestigious summer music camp, Rosie goes with her mom to visit her grandparents. Grandma Florence's health is failing, Grandpa Jack doesn't talk much, and Rosie's mom is furious with her for giving up the violin. But Rosie is determined to make the most of her "strike." And when she meets a girl who seems distinctly familiar, she knows this summer will be unlike any other. With help from a mysterious glitch in time--plus her grandparents, an improv group, and a new instrument--Rosie uncovers secrets that change how she sees her family, herself, and the music that's always been part of her.
Cruzita and the Mariacheros by Ashley Granillo
Publication Date: 2024
"Cruzita must save her family's failing panaderia by winning a mariachi band contest--the only problem is she hates mariachi and cannot speak Spanish." OCLC
The Enigma Girls: How Ten Teenagers Broke Ciphers, Kept Secrets, and Helped Win World War II (Scholastic Focus) by Candace Fleming
Publication Date: 2024
"'You are to report to Station X at Bletchley Park, Buckinghamshire, in four days time . . . That is all you need to know.' This was the terse telegram hundreds of young women throughout the British Isles received in the spring of 1941, as World War II raged. As they arrived at Station X, a sprawling mansion in a state of disrepair surrounded by Spartan-looking huts with little chimneys coughing out thick smoke--these young people had no idea what kind of work they were stepping into. Who had recommended them? Why had they been chosen? Most would never learn all the answers to these questions. Bletchley Park was a well-kept secret during World War II, operating under the code name Station X. The critical work of code-cracking Nazi missives that went on behind its closed doors could determine a victory or loss against Hitler's army. Amidst the brilliant cryptographers, flamboyant debutantes, and absent-minded professors working there, it was teenaged girls who kept Station X running. Some could do advanced math, while others spoke a second language. They ran the unwieldy bombe machines, made sense of wireless sound waves, and sorted the decoded messages. They were expected to excel in their fields and most importantly: know how to keep a secret"--Provided by publisher.
Ferris by Kate DiCamillo
Call Number: REALISTIC FIC DIC
Publication Date: 2024
During the summer before fifth grade, Ferris Wilkey has her hands full with her little sister terrorizing the town, her Uncle Ted moving into their basement and her grandmother seeing a ghost--one who has wild, impractical and illuminating plans.
The First State of Being by Erin Entrada Kelly
Call Number: SCI-FI FIC ENT
Publication Date: 2024
When Ridge, a time-traveling teenager from the future, gets trapped in 1999, he befriends Michael, a lonely twelve-year-old boy, changing the course of their lives forever.
Max in the House of Spies by Adam Gidwitz
Call Number: HISTORICAL FIC GID
Publication Date: 2024
Max Bretzfeld doesn't want to move to London. Leaving home is hard and Max is alone for the first time in his life. But not for long. Max is surprised to discover that he's been joined by two unexpected traveling companions, one on each shoulder, a kobold and a dybbuk named Berg and Stein. Germany is becoming more and more dangerous for Jewish families, but Max is determined to find a way back home, and back to his parents. He has a plan to return to Berlin. It merely involves accomplishing the impossible: becoming a British spy.
Mid-Air by Alicia D. Williams; Danica Novgorodoff (Illustrator)
Call Number: REALISTIC FIC WIL
Publication Date: 2024
Thirteen-year-old Isaiah grapples with the loss of his best friend as he strives to fit into a world that expects him to toughen up, which leads him on a exploration of identity and vulnerability.
Not Quite a Ghost by Anne Ursu
Publication Date: 2024
From the award-winning author of The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy comes an unforgettable and deeply personal story of the ghosts that surround us--and the ones we carry inside. The house seemed to sit apart from the others on Katydid Street, silent and alone, like it didn't fit among them. For Violet Hart--whose family is about to move into the house on Katydid Street--very little felt like it fit anymore. Like their old home, suddenly too small since her mother remarried and the new baby arrived. Or Violet's group of friends, which, since they started middle school, isn't enough for Violet's best friend, Paige. Everything seemed to be changing at once. But sometimes, Violet tells herself, change is okay. That is, until Violet sees her new room. The attic bedroom in their new house is shadowy, creaky, and wrapped in old yellow wallpaper covered with a faded tangle of twisting vines and sickly flowers. And then, after moving in, Violet falls ill--and does not get better. As days turn into weeks without any improvement, her family growing more confused and her friends wondering if she's really sick at all, she finds herself spending more time alone in the room with the yellow wallpaper, the shadows moving in the corners, wrapping themselves around her at night. And soon, Violet starts to suspect that she might not be alone in the room at all.
Olivetti by Allie Millington
ISBN: 9781250326935
Publication Date: 2024
A heartfelt novel praised by Tom Hanks in the New York Times as including "a conclusion nearly impossible to divine and yet so perfect it includes that most tactile of memories..." Being a typewriter is not as easy as it looks. Surrounded by books (notorious attention hogs) and recently replaced by a computer, Olivetti has been forgotten by the Brindle family--the family he's lived with for years. The Brindles are busy humans, apart from 12-year-old Ernest, who would rather be left alone with his collection of Oxford English Dictionaries. The least they could do was remember Olivetti once in a while, since he remembers every word they've typed on him. It's a thankless job, keeping memories alive. Olivetti gets a rare glimpse of action from Ernest's mom, Beatrice--his used-to-be most frequent visitor--only for her to drop him off at Heartland Pawn Shop and leave him helplessly behind. When Olivetti learns Beatrice has mysteriously gone missing afterward, he believes he can help find her. He breaks the only rule of the "typewriterly code" and types back to Ernest, divulging Beatrice's memories stored inside him. Their search takes them across San Francisco--chasing clues, maybe committing a few misdemeanors. As Olivetti spills out the past, Ernest is forced to face what he and his family have been running from, The Everything That Happened. Only by working together will they find Beatrice, belonging, and the parts of themselves they've lost.
Plain Jane and the Mermaid by Vera Brosgol
Call Number: GRAPHIC FIC BRO
Publication Date: 2024
"Jane is incredibly plain. Everyone says so: her parents, the villagers, and her horrible cousin who kicks her out of her own house. Determined to get some semblance of independence, Jane prepares to propose to the princely Peter, who might just say yes to get away from his father. It's a good plan! Or it would've been, if he wasn't kidnapped by a mermaid. With her last shot at happiness lost in the deep blue sea, Jane must venture to the world underwater to rescue her maybe-fianceÌ�. But the depths of the ocean hold beautiful mysteries and dangerous creatures. What good can a plain Jane do?"-- Provided by publisher
The Secret Library by Kekla Magoon
Call Number: FANTASY FIC MAG
Publication Date: 2024
Finding a mysterious letter from her late Grandpa, Dally is led straight to a library of secrets where each book is a portal to a precise moment in time, and she must find the courage to write her own life story as she "checks out" adventure after adventure.
The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman by Gennifer Choldenko
Call Number: REALISTIC FIC CHO
Publication Date: 2024
When eleven-year-old Hank's mother does not come home after a week, he and his toddler sister, Boo, seek out the stranger listed as their emergency contact, even though it means social workers, a new school, and having to answer questions about his mom that he has been trying to keep secret.
The Wrong Way Home by Kate O'Shaughnessy
Call Number: REALISTIC FIC OSH
Publication Date: 2024
When twelve-year-old Fern and her mother abruptly leave their isolated, off-the-grid community, Fern wants nothing more than to return, but things get murky as she slowly adjusts to her new life and discovers unsettling truths about her old one.
Not Nothing by Gayle Forman
Call Number: REALISTIC FIC FOR
Publication Date: 2024
When troubled twelve-year-old Alex is assigned to spend his summer volunteering at a senior living facility, he forms a unique bond with a Holocaust survivor and learns lessons that change the trajectory of his life.
Sona and the Golden Beasts by Rajani LaRocca
Call Number: FANTASY FIC LAR
Publication Date: 2024
Sona hears music everywhere, even though it has long been outlawed in the land of Devia. Sona is a descendant of the Malechs, foreigners who took over Devia centuries ago. Malechs put Devans to work mining gems and forbade music, so Devans can't cast their own magic anymore. But Sona's world shifts after discovering an orphaned wolf pup. She believes the pup, with its golden ears, might be related to one of the five sacred beasts of Devia, which a Malechian Hunter has been killing one by one. And when someone Sona loves falls ill, she is drawn into a quest with a Devan boy to retrieve the nectar of life. On the perilous journey, Sona must try to avoid the deadly Hunter while keeping her companions safe. But as she uncovers secrets about the Malechian empire and her own identity, Sona realizes that the fate of the sacred beasts, and the future of Devia, just might come down to her.
The Bletchley Riddle by Ruta Sepetys; Steve Sheinkin
Call Number: HISTORICAL FIC SEP
Publication Date: 2024
Follows siblings Jakob Novis and his quirky younger sister Lizzie as they find themselves at Bletchley Park, the home of WWII codebreakers working to decrypt the Nazi's Enigma cipher, where the two struggle to unravel a mystery surrounding their mother's disappearance against the backdrop of the Battle of Britain and Hitler's feared invasion.