THE ROLE OF NEWBERY AWARD WINNING BOOKS IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL MEDIA CENTERS

by Rowe, Gundry E.

The Newbery Medal is awarded annually to the most distinguished contribution to children’s literature. Since its creation in 1922, the Newbery award has been the topic of debates over the criteria used to make the decision and the actual choices made. This study describes a survey given to a random sampling of elementary school media specialists in North Carolina’s public schools. The survey questioned whether media centers have all Newbery Medal winners; if not, why decisions were made not to hold some of these titles; and how the award and award winners were promoted by the media specialists. The majority of elementary media specialists interviewed do promote Newbery winning books, but many choose not to keep all of the award winning titles on their shelves. The primary reason not to have a title is because it is written for an audience older than elementary school students.