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2007 Master List
Rebecca Caudill Young Readers' Book Award
Illinois' Children's Choice Award, Grades 4-8
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Airborn (6-8)
 by Kenneth Oppel
Eos, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 2004
One night, Matt, a young airship cabin boy meets a dying balloonist who speaks of beautiful creatures drifting through the skies and living hundreds of feet above the Earth’s surface. After Matt meets the balloonist's granddaughter, Kate, a wealthy young girl traveling aboard the airship Aurora, he realizes that the man's ravings may have been true.
Author Link * Book Link1 * Book Link2
Study Guides/Novel units
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Becoming Naomi Léon (4-7)
by Pam Muñoz Ryan
Scholastic Press, 2004
When Naomi's absent mother resurfaces to claim her, Naomi runs away to Mexico with her great-grandmother and younger brother in search of her father.
Author Link * Book Link1 * Book Link2
Oaxaca Radish Festival Links:
1 * 2 * 3
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Chasing Vermeer (5-7)
by Blue Balliett
Scholastic Press, 2004
When strange and seemingly unrelated events start to happen and a precious Vermeer painting disappears, eleven-year-olds Petra and Calder combine their talents to solve an international art scandal.
Author Link * Book Link * Activities
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Each Little Bird That Sings (4-6)
by Deborah Wiles
Scholastic Press, 2004
Comfort Snowberger is well acquainted with death since her family runs the funeral parlor in their small southern town, but even so the ten-year-old is unprepared for the series of heart-wrenching events that begins on the first day of Easter vacation with the sudden death of her beloved great-uncle Edisto.
Author Links: 1 * 2 * 3
Life Notice * Book Link
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Gregor the Overlander (4-8)
by Suzanne Collins
Scholastic Press, 2003
When eleven-year-old Gregor and his two-year-old sister are pulled into a strange underground world, they trigger an epic battle involving men, bats, rats, cockroaches, and spiders while on a quest foretold by ancient prophecy.
Author Link * Book Link
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Hachiko Waits (4-6)
by Lesléa Newman
Henry Holt and Company, LLC, 2004
Professor Ueno's loyal Akita, Hachiko, waits for him at the train station every afternoon, and even after the professor unexpectedly dies while at work, Hachiko faithfully continues to await his return until the day the dog dies. Based on a true story.
Author Link * Akita * Teacher Guide * Review
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Heartbeat (4-7)
by Sharon Creech
Joanna Cotler Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 2004
Twelve-year-old Annie ponders the many rhythms of life the year that her mother becomes pregnant, her grandfather begins faltering, and her best friend (and running partner) becomes distant.
Author Link * Book Link
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Ida B: and Her Plans to Maximize Fun, Avoid Disaster, and (Possibly) Save the World (4-8)
by Katherine Hannigan
Greenwillow Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 2004
Fourth-grader Ida B spends happy hours being home-schooled and playing in her family's apple orchard, until her mother begins treatment for breast cancer and her parents must sell part of the orchard and send her to public school.
Author Link1 * Book Link
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Last Shot: A Final Four Mystery (6-8)
by John Feinstein
Alfred A. Knopf, in imprint of Random House, 2005
After winning a basketball reporting contest, eighth graders Stevie and Susan Carol are sent to cover the Final Four tournament, where they discover that a talented player is being blackmailed into throwing the final game.
Author Link * Author Link Review * Book Link
NPR Audio excerpt
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Locomotion (4-8)
by Jaqueline Woodson
G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2003
Having lost his parents in a fire and been placed in a foster home away from his little sister, Lili, Lonnie is forced to adjust to new surroundings while coping with his loss on his own. With the encouragement and help of a special teacher, he discovers his poetic voice to express his feelings and make sense of it all.
Author Link1 * Literature Circle Guide
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Once Upon a Marigold (5-8)
by Jean Ferris
Harcourt, Inc, 2002
A young man with a mysterious past and a penchant for inventing things leaves the troll who raised him, meets an unhappy princess he has loved from afar, and discovers a plot against her and her father.
Author Link
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Peter and the Starcatchers (5-8)
by David Berry and Ridley Pearson
Hyperion Books for Children, 2004
Peter, an orphan, and his friend Molly fight off thieves and pirates in order to keep the secret safe away from the diabolical Black Stache and his evil associate Mister Grin.
Author Link1 * Author Link2 * Book * Book2 |
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Red Kayak (6-8)
by Priscilla Cummings
Dutton Children's Books, an imprint of the Penguin Group, 2004
Living near the water on Maryland's Eastern Shore, thirteen-year-old Brady and his best friends J.T. and Digger become entangled in a tragedy which tests their friendship and their ideas about right and wrong.
Author Link 1 * Author Link 2 * Book * Book 2 * Booktalk |
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The Sea of Trolls (6-8)
by Nancy Farmer
Atheneum Books for Young Readers, A Richard Jackson Book, 2004
In 793 A.D., Jack, a bard's apprentice, and Lucy, his little sister, are kidnapped by Vikings, and become the property of Olaf One-Brow and his companion, Thorgil. When Jack accidentally casts a spell on the half-troll Queen Frith, he must face a dangerous quest for a remedy if he is to save his sister from being sacrificed.
Author Link1 * AuthorLink2 * Author Q & A
Reading Guide |
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Secrets of a Civil War Submarine (6-8)
by Sally M. Walker
Carolrhoda Books, Inc., 2005
An account of the history, exhumation, recovery, and conservation of the submarine, Hunley, with maps, primary sources, and photos; includes reconstructions by a forensic artist of the entire crew based upon the skulls recovered from the vessel.
The Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award
Hunley1 * Hunley2 |
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Shackleton's Stowaway (5-8)
by Victoria McKernan
Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of Random House, 2005
A fictionalized account of eighteen-year-old Perce Blackborow, who stowed away for the 1914 Shackleton Antarctic expedition. During the nearly two year journey across the sea, the ship Endurance was trapped and ultimately crushed by ice. A true story of hardship and incredible survival.
Biography of Perce Blackborow * Book Link
Shackleton Links:
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So B. It: A Novel (6-8)
by Sarah Weeks
Laura Geringer Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 2004
After spending her life with her mentally retarded mother and agoraphobic neighbor, twelve-year-old Heidi sets out from Reno, Nevada, to New York to find out who she is.
Author Link1 * Author Link2 * Book Link
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Thin Wood Walls (5-8)
by David Patneaude
Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004
As Japanese Americans Joe Hanada and his family encounter prejudice when Japan bombs Pearl Harbor. Eventually, they are torn away from their home and sent to interment camps. Joe’s older brother joins the United States Army hoping to prove their loyalty, but that doesn’t reduce the prejudice and the family’s hardship.
Author Link1 * Author Link2
Tule Lake Links: 1 * 2 * 3
Interment Camp Links: 1 * 2
442nd Regimental Combat Team Links: 1 * 2
Rescue of the Lost Texas Batallion |
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