Season 10, Episode 213
To find more of Kari’s book thoughts, you can find her on instagram @checkedoutbooks.
This week we chat with Kari Heggen, a bookstagrammer from Iowa who set herself a goal to read all the Newbery Award winners from the past 102 years. Originally she had planned to read 10 a year but she ultimately decided to just get her done. She read 49 of the winners in 2023 and got a jump start on 2024 by reading this year’s winner, The Eye and the Impossible by Dave Eggers.
Kari talks about the highs and lows of her Newbery Award challenge. Books from the early days of the award were decidedly not great. But by the 1960s, Kari got into a better groove and found herself enjoying books for the first time and often the second time which brought back some childhood nostalgia.
Books Mentioned in this Episode:
1- Erasure by Percival Everett
2- Tulip Fever by Deborah Moggach
3- Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell
4- Holes by Louis Sachar
5- The Giver by Lois Lowry
6- Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien
7- The Story of Mankind by Hendrik Willem van Loom
8- A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
9- The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera
10- Criss Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins
11- The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron
12- Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices by Paul Fleischman
13- A Visit to William Blake's Inn by Nancy Willard
14- Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
15- King of the Wind by Marguerite Henry
16- Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry
17- Dicey's Song by Cynthia Voigt
18- Homecoming by Cynthia Voigt
19- Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool
20- The Crossover by Kwame Alexander
21- The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo
22- The Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Patterson
23- Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Patterson
24- The Eyes and the Impossible by Dave Eggers
25-Breaking Stalin's Nose by Eugene Yelchin
26- When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
27 - Five Star Read Recommended by a Fellow Book Lover Hope @lifewithhopeann- Divine Rivals Duology by Rebecca Ross
28- Nick Drake: The Life by Richard Morton Jack
29- The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon
30- Starter Villain by John Scalzi
31- Sword of the Rightful King by Jane Yolen
32- Morgan is My Name by Sophie Keetch
33- The Idylls of the King by Alfred Tennyson
34- The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
Movies and TV Series mentioned:
1- Oppenheimer (2023)
2- American Fiction (2023)
3- Poor Things (2023)
4- The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (2023, Netflix)
5- Peaky Blinders (2013-2022, Netflix)
Article about Serving on the Newbery Awards committee-
www.fairfaxcounty.gov/library/what-i…y-medal-winner