Sometimes, we're so focused on the winners, we overlook the runners-up.  And that is a big mistake!  In fact, in the case of the Newbery and Printz Awards, the runners-up are often more popular than the medalists.  Don't believe me?  Check out these lists of our staff's favorite honor books and see for yourself.  Find even more great runners-up when the 2013 Newbery and Printz Honor books are announced on Monday, January 28, 2013.

NEWBERY HONORS
Afternoon of the Elves by Janet Taylor Lisle (1990)
Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko (2005)
Charlotte's Web by E. B. White (1953)
The Cricket in Times Square by George Selden (1961)
Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine (1998)
The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly (2010)
Frog and Toad Together by Arnold Lobel (1973)
The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson (1979)
Hoot by Carl Hiaasen (2003)
Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai (2012)
Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy by Gary D. Schmidt (2005)
A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck (1999)
The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg by Rodman Philbrick (2010)
My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George (1960)
Old Yeller by Fred Gipson (1957)
On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder (1938)
Rascal by Sterling North (1964)
Ramona Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly Cleary (1982)
Rules by Cynthia Lord (2007)
Savvy by Ingrid Law (2009)
Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind by Suzanne Fisher Staples (1990)
The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare (1984)
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi (1991)
The Underneath by Kathi Appelt (2009)

PRINTZ HONORS
Airborn by Kenneth Oppel (2005)
Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison (2001)
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (2007)
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau Banks by E. Lockhart (2009)
The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things by Carolyn Mackler (2008)
I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak (2006)
Nation by Terry Pratchett (2009)
A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly (2004)
The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater (2012)
Speak by Laure Halse Anderson (2000)
Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan (2009)