The 1980’s had a huge boom of video games. Just with the releases of Donkey Kong and Pac Man in 1981 and 1982, respectively, the video game came alive. However, did you also know that Centipede, released in 1981, was the first arcade video game designed by a woman? Cool, right? In 1982, Thomas Keneally’s novel, “Schindler’s List” has its beginning as “Schindler’s Ark.” The term cyberspace was coined in William Gibon’s novel “Neuromancer” in 1984. In 1990, Michael Chrichton’s gargantuan novel “Jurassic Park” was released.
1981 Medal Winner: “Jacob Have I Loved” by Katherine Paterson
Honor Books
- “The Fledgling” by Jane Langton
- “A Ring of Endless Light” by Madeleine L’Engle
1982 Medal Winner: “A Visit to William Blake’s Inn: Poems for Innocent and Experienced Travelers” by Nancy Willard
Honor Books
- “Ramona Quimby, Age 8” by Beverly Cleary
- “Upon the Head of the Goat: A Childhood in Hungary 1939-1944” by Aranka Siegal
1983 Medal Winner: “Dicey’s Song” by Cynthia Voigt
Honor Books
- “The Blue Sword” by Robin McKinley
- “Doctor DeSoto” by William Steig
- “Graven Images” by Paul Fleischman
- “Homesick: My Own Story” by Jean Fritz
- “Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush” by Virginia Hamilton/li>
Winner: “Dear Mr. Henshaw” by Beverly Cleary
Honor Books
- “The Sign of the Beaver” by Elizabeth George Speare
- “A Solitary Blue” by Cynthia Voigt
- “Sugaring Time” by Kathryn Lasky
- “The Wish Giver: Three Tales of Coven Tree” by Bill Brittain
1985 Medal Winner: “The Hero and the Crown” by Robin McKinley
Honor Books
- “Like Jake and Me” by Mavis Jukes
- “The Moves Make the Man” by Bruce Brooks
- “One-Eyed Cat” by Paula Fox
1986 Medal Winner: “Sarah, Plain and Tall” by Patricia MacLachlan
Honor Books
- “Commodore Perry In the Land of the Shogun” by Rhoda Blumberg
- “Dogsong” by Gary Paulsen
1987 Medal Winner: “The Whipping Boy” by Sid Fleischman
Honor Books
- “A Fine White Dust” by Cynthia Rylant
- “On My Honor” by Marion Dane Bauer
- “Volcano: The Eruption and Healing of Mount St. Helens” by Patricia Lauber
1988 Medal Winner: “Lincoln: A Photobiography” by Russell Freedman
Honor Books
- “After The Rain” by Norma Fox Mazer
- “Hatchet” by Gary Paulsen
1989 Medal Winner: “Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices” by Paul Fleischman
Honor Books
- “In The Beginning: Creation Stories from Around the World” by Virginia Hamilton
- “Scorpions” by Walter Dean Myers
1990 Medal Winner: “Number the Stars” by Lois Lowry
Honor Books
- “Afternoon of the Elves” by Janet Taylor Lisle
- “Shabanu, Daughter of the Wind” by Suzanne Fisher Staples
- “The Winter Room” by Gary Paulsen
Please see also:
Newbery Medal Winners: 1922-1930
Newbery Medal Winners: 1931-1940
Newbery Medal Winners: 1941-1950
Newbery Medal Winners: 1951-1960
Newbery Medal Winners: 1961-1970
Newbery Medal Winners: 1971-1980