LibGuides: Newbery Medal: 1970s

1970s

For a list of all Newbery Medal Winners and Honor Books click here.

Winner

Sounder by William Howard Armstrong
Call Number: J-Fiction AR (Juvenile Fiction)
Publication Date: 1969
Angry and humiliated when his sharecropper father is jailed for stealing food for his family, a young black boy grows in courage and understanding by learning to read and with the help of the devoted dog Sounder.
Sounder [CD] by Avery Brooks (Read by); William H. Armstrong
Call Number: J-CD Fiction AR (Juvenile Fiction)
ISBN: 9780060852702
Publication Date: 2006-01-03

Honor Books

Our Eddie by Sulamith Ish-Kishor
Call Number: J-Fiction IS (Juvenile Fiction)
ISBN: 9780394814551
Publication Date: 1969-01-12
Two young people relate the difficulties a family suffers at the hands of an idealistic, religious, and loving father who cannot understand the needs of his family.
Journey Outside by Mary Q. Steele
Call Number: J-Fiction ST (Juvenile Fiction)
ISBN: 9780670409532
Publication Date: 1969-04-28
The Raft People live in darkness and travel a circular journey on a underground river. One boy finds his way outside and tries to learn as much as possible so he can ultimately lead his people there to the Better Place.

Winner

The Summer of the Swans by Betsy Byars; Ted CoConis (Illustrator)
Call Number: J-Fiction BY (Juvenile Fiction)
ISBN: 9780670681907
Publication Date: 1970-03-30
A teen-age girl gains new insight into herself and her family when her mentally retarded brother gets lost.

Honor Books

Enchantress From the Stars by Sylvia Louise Engdahl
Call Number: J-Fiction EN (Juvenile Fiction)
Publication Date: 1970
Three civilizations from different planets in widely varying stages of development clash in what could be either a mutually disastrous or beneficial encounter.
Sing down the Moon by Scott O'Dell
Call Number: J-Fiction OD (Juvenile Fiction)
ISBN: 9780547406329
Publication Date: 1970
A young Navajo girl recounts the events of 1864 when her tribe was forced to march to Fort Sumner as prisoners of the white soldiers.

Winner

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien; Zena Bernstein (Illustrator)
Call Number: J-Fiction OB (Juvenile Fiction)
ISBN: 9780689710681
Publication Date: 1986-03-01
Having no one to help her with her problems, a widowed mouse visits the rats whose former imprisonment in a laboratory made them wise and long lived.

Honor Books

Incident at Hawk's Hill by Allan W. Eckert; John Schoenherr (Illustrator)
Call Number: J-Fiction EC (Juvenile Fiction)
ISBN: 9780316208666
Publication Date: 1971-05-01
A shy, lonely six-year-old wanders into the Canadian prairie and spends a summer under the protection of a badger.
The Planet of Junior Brown by Virginia Hamilton
Call Number: Juv F HAM (Juvenile Fiction)
ISBN: 9780027425109
Publication Date: 1971-09-01
Already a leader in New York's underground world of homeless children, Buddy Clark takes on the responsibility of protecting the overweight, emotionally disturbed friend with whom he has been playing hooky from eighth grade all semester.
The Tombs of Atuan (Earthsea #2) by Le Guin, Ursula K. ; Gail Garraty
Call Number: YA F LEG-UK E2 (Young Adult Fiction)
ISBN: 9780689206801
Publication Date: 1971-07-01
Arha's isolated existence as high priestess in the tombs of Atuan is jarred by a thief who seeks a special treasure.
Annie and the Old One by Miska Miles; Peter Parnall (Illustrator); Patricia Miles Martin
Call Number: Easy MI (Easy Fiction)
ISBN: 9780316571203
Publication Date: 1971
A Navajo girl unravels a day's weaving on a rug whose completion, she believes, will mean the death of her grandmother.
The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
Call Number: J-Fiction SN (Juvenile Fiction)
Publication Date: 1971
Life is never quite the same again for eleven-year-old David after the arrival of his new stepsister, a student of the occult.

Winner

Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George; John Schoenherr (Illustrator)
Call Number: J-Fiction GE (Juvenile Fiction)
ISBN: 9780060219437
Publication Date: 1972-11-30
While running away from home and an unwanted marriage, a thirteen-year-old Eskimo girl becomes lost andis befriended by a wolf pack .

Honor Books

Frog and Toad Together by Arnold Lobel (Illustrator)
Call Number: Easy LO (Easy Fiction)
ISBN: 9780060239596
Publication Date: 1972-04-26
Five further adventures of two best friends as they share cookies, plant a garden, and test their bravery.
The Upstairs Room by Johanna Reiss
Call Number: J-940.53 REI (Juvenile Non-Fiction)
ISBN: 9780690851274
Publication Date: 1972-01-21
A Dutch Jewish girl describes the two-and-one-half years she spent in hiding in the upstairs bedroom of a farmer's house during World War II.
Witches of Worm by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
Call Number: J-Fiction SN (Juvenile Fiction)
Publication Date: 1972
A lonely twelve-year-old is convinced that the cat she finds is possessed by a witch and is responsible for her own strange behavior.

Winner

The Slave Dancer by Paula Fox; Eros Keith (Illustrator)
Call Number: J-Fiction FO (Juvenile Fiction)
ISBN: 9780878880621
Publication Date: 1973-01-01
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.

Honor Books

The Dark is RIsing by Susan Cooper
Call Number: J-Fiction CO (Juvenile Fiction)
Publication Date: 1966
On his eleventh birthday Will Stanton discovers that he is the last of the Old Ones, destined to seek the six magical Signs that will enable the Old Ones to triumph over the evil forces of the Dark.
The Dark Is Rising [CD} by Susan Cooper; Alex Jennings (Read by)
Call Number: J-CD Fiction Co D2 (Juvenile Audiobook CD)
ISBN: 9780739359730
Publication Date: 2007-08-28

Winner

M. C. Higgins, the Great by Virginia Hamilton
Call Number: Juv F HAM (Juvenile Fiction)
ISBN: 9780027424805
Publication Date: 1974-08-01
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.
M. C. Higgins, the Great [E-Book] by Virginia Hamilton
Call Number: Juv F HAM Ebook (OverDrive)
ISBN: 9781453213889
Publication Date: 2011-02-15

Honor Books

Figgs and Phantoms by Ellen Raskin (Illustrator)
Call Number: J-Fiction RA
ISBN: 9780525296805
Publication Date: 1974-06-17
Chronicles the adventures of the unusual Figg family after they left show business and settled in the town of Pineapple.
My Brother Sam Is Dead by James Lincoln Collier; Christopher Collier
Call Number: J-Fiction CO (Juvenile Fiction)
ISBN: 9780590073394
Publication Date: 1974-01-01
Recounts the tragedy that strikes the Meeker family during the Revolution when one son joins the rebel forces while the rest of the family tries to stay neutral in a Tory town.
The Perilous Gard by Elizabeth Marie Pope; Richard Cuffari (Illustrator); Richard J. Cuffari (Illustrator)
Call Number: J-Fiction PO
ISBN: 9780618150731
Publication Date: 1974
In 1558 while imprisoned in a remote castle, a young girl becomes involved in a series of events that leads to an underground labyrinth peopled by the last practitioners of druidic magic.
Philip Hall Likes Me, I Reckon Maybe by Bette Greene; Charles Lilly (Illustrator)
Call Number: J-Fiction GR (Juvenile FIction)
ISBN: 9780141303123
Publication Date: 1999-06-01
Eleven-year-old Beth thinks that Philip Hall likes her, but their on-again, off-again relationship sometimes makes her wonder.

Winner

The Grey King by Susan Cooper; Michael Heslop (Illustrator)
Call Number: J-Fiction CO (Juvenile Fiction)
ISBN: 9780689500299
Publication Date: 1975-07-01
In this fourth book of The Dark Is Rising sequence, Will Stanton, visiting in Wales, is swept into a desperate quest to find the golden harp and to awaken the ancient Sleepers.

Honor Books

The Hundred Penny Box by Sharon Bell Mathis; Diane Dillon (Illustrator); Leo Dillon (Illustrator)
Call Number: Easy MA (Easy Fiction)
ISBN: 9780142407028
Publication Date: 2006-10-05
Michael's love for his great-great-aunt who lives with them leads him to intercede with his mother who wants to toss out all her old things.
Dragonwings by Laurence Yep
Call Number: Juv F YEP G5 (Juvenile Fiction)
ISBN: 9780060267384
Publication Date: 1975-10-07
In the early twentieth century a young Chinese boy joins his father in San Francisco and helps him realize his dream of making a flying machine.
Dragonwings [CD] by Laurence Yep; B. D. Wong (Read by)
Call Number: J-CD Fiction YE (Juvenile Audiobook CD)
ISBN: 9780061493362
Publication Date: 2007-09-04

Winner

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor; Jerry Pinkney (Illustrator)
Call Number: Juv F TAY L4 (Juvenile Fiction)
ISBN: 9780803774735
Publication Date: 1976-01-01
A black family living in the South during the 1930's are faced with prejudice and discrimination which their children don't understand.
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry [CD] by Mildred D. Taylor; Lynne Thigpen (Read by)
Call Number: J-CD Fiction TA (Juvenile Audiobook CD)
ISBN: 9780307281722
Publication Date: 2005-09-13

Honor Books

Abel's Island by William Steig (Illustrator)
Call Number: J-Fiction ST (Juvenile Fiction)
ISBN: 9780374300104
Publication Date: 1976-05-01
Castaway on an uninhabited island, Abel, a very civilized mouse, finds his resourcefulness and endurance tested to the limit as he struggles to survive and return to his home.
A String in the Harp by Nancy Bond
Call Number: J-Fiction BO (Juvenile Fiction)
ISBN: 9780689500367
Publication Date: 1976-01-01
Relates what happens to three American children, unwillingly transplanted to Wales for one year, when one of them finds an ancient harp-tuning key that takes him back to the time of the great sixth-century bard Taliesin.

Winner

Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson; Donna Diamond (Illustrator)
Call Number: Juv F PAT (Juvenile Fiction)
ISBN: 9780690013597
Publication Date: 2017-05-02
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.
Bridge to Terabithia [CD] by Katherine Paterson; Robert Sean Leonard (Read by)
Call Number: J-CD Fiction PA (Juvenile Audiobook CD)
ISBN: 9780060758332
Publication Date: 2004-12-28

Honor Books

Ramona and Her Father (Ramona Quimby #4) by Beverly Cleary; Alan Tiegreen (Illustrator); Tracy Dockray (Illustrator); Jacqueline Rogers (Illustrator)
Call Number: Juv F CLE Q4 (Juvenile fiction)
ISBN: 9780688321147
Publication Date: 1977-08-01
The family routine is upset during Ramona's year in second grade when her father unexpectedly loses his job.
Ramona and Her Father [CD] by Beverly Cleary; Stockard Channing (Read by)
Call Number: J-CD Fiction CL (Juvenile Audiobook CD)
ISBN: 9780061774072
Publication Date: 2010-10-05
Anpao : an American Indian odyssey by Jamake Highwater; Fritz Scholder (Illustrator)
Call Number: J-398.2 HIG (Juvenile Non-Fiction)
ISBN: 9780397317509
Publication Date: 1977-01-01
Traditional tales from North American Indian tribes woven into one story that relates the adventures of one boy as he grows to manhood.

Winner

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
Call Number: Juv F RAS (Juvenile Fiction)
ISBN: 9780525423201
Publication Date: 1978-06-01
The mysterious death of an eccentric millionaire brings together an unlikely assortment of heirs who must uncover the circumstances of his death before they can claim their inheritance.

Honor Books

Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
Call Number: Juv F PAT (Juvenile Fiction)
ISBN: 9780690038378
Publication Date: 1978-03-29
An eleven-year-old foster child tries to cope with her longings and fears as she schemes against everyone who tries to be friendly.