Criss Cross, by Lynne Rae Perkins
I try not to write anything too overtly negative on this blog, so I'll just say that I'm glad that I trust and respect the process of the Newbery Committee. I haven't read All Alone in the Universe, which people say is better, but I shouldn't have had to read it in order to enjoy this book.
Princess Academy, by Shannon Hale
I wanted to read an honor book from the same year in order to get a sense of the committee's reasoning. I liked Princess Academy a lot, personally. It's a great twist on the modern princess story, incorporating class empowerment rather than the usual feminine empowerment, and it is tightly plotted and well-written. I'm just not sure it's distinguished. If the vote came down to this or Criss Cross, Princess Academy would be the clear winner for me, but I haven't read widely enough in the children's literature of 2005 to make any further pronouncements. In my defense, I was pregnant that year, and also working as a YA librarian.