On Friday, January 11, the 9th annual Oplbery Club awarded the coveted OPLbery Medal to Front Desk, by Kelly Yang. They also gave OPLbery Honors to two books: The Doughnut Fix, by Jessie Janowitz, and The Parker Inheritance, by Varian Johnson.
The OPLbery Club is a mock Newbery Club made up of kids in 4th grade and above. They’ve been meeting monthly since May 2018, and collectively they’ve read almost 30 books. Six books made it to the final shortlist:
- Amal Unbound, by Aisha Saeed
- Front Desk, by Kelly Yang
- The Night Diary, by Veera Hiranandani
- The Parker Inheritance, by Varian Johnson
- The Doughnut Fix, by Jessie Janowitz
- You Go First, by Erin Entrada Kelly
There was a lot of heated discussion, and the voting was close. All six book had their fans. Here are some comments from OPLbery Club members:
The Night Diary:
- “the characters were well-described”
- “I liked the setting and the originality”
The Doughnut Fix:
- “three stars all the way”
- “it was so great”
The Parker Inheritance
- “I liked how the past connected to the present”
- “I liked it because it was complicated”
- “I liked the characters and the storyline”
You Go First
- “it was so original”
- “the characters were very well described”
Amal Unbound
- “it was always gripping”
- “I felt like I knew all the characters”
Front Desk
- “it was like going on a roller coaster blindfolded”
- “it took you on different adventures”
- “it captivated me from start to finish”
The American Library Association will be announcing the winners of the Newbery and other awards for the best in literature for children published in 2018 on January 28th. Check back with us to see all the winners.
Get more information about the OPLbery Club
Get more information about Youth Media Awards