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2008 Master List
Rebecca Caudill Young Readers' Book Award
Illinois' Children's Choice Award, Grades 4-8
Please Note: The numbers in parentheses indicate grade/interest level as determined by the Steering Committee for the Rebecca Caudill Young Readers' Book Award.
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Adam Canfield of the Slash.
Michael Winerip.
Candlewick, 2005. (Gr. 5-7)
As co-editors of the Slash, their middle school newspaper, Adam and Jennifer investigate a story and uncover fraud and corruption in their school and in the city’s government. Phoebe, a smart, plucky third grader on the newspaper staff, is determined to report a story of her own, and unwittingly leads them straight into scandal with her innocent piece about Eddie the janitor.
Author interview * Author bio * Discussion Guide
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Chicken Boy.
Frances O’Roark Dowell.
Atheneum, 2005. (Gr. 5-7)
Since the death of his mother, Tobin's family life and school life have been in disarray, but after he starts raising chickens with his seventh-grade classmate, Henry, everything starts to fall into place.
Author
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Code Talker: A Novel About the Navajo Marines of World War Two.
Joseph Bruchac.
Dial, 2005. (Gr. 7-8)
After being taught in a boarding school run by whites that Navajo is a useless language, Ned Begay and other Navajo men are recruited by the Marines to become Code Talkers, sending messages during World War II in their native tongue.
Author
Navajo Code Talkers: 1 * 2 * 3 * 4 *
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Crooked River.
Shelley Pearsall.
Knopf, 2005. (Gr. 5-8)
When twelve-year old Rebecca Carter's father brings a Native American accused of murder into their 1812 Ohio settlement town, Rebecca, witnessing the town's reaction to the Indian, struggles with the idea that an innocent man may be convicted and sentenced to death.
Author *
Teacher resources *
Historical maps of the US *
Chippewa/Ojibway in Ohio
Ojibwe: 1 * 2 * 3 * 4 * 5
The real John O’Mic: 1 * 2 (see 1812)
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Defiance.
Valerie Hobbs.
Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2005. (Gr. 5-7)
While vacationing in the country, eleven-year-old Toby, a cancer patient, learns some important lessons about living and dying from an elderly poet and her cow.
Author * Author interview
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Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie.
Jordan Sonnenblick.
Scholastic, 2004. (Gr. 5-8)
When his younger brother is diagnosed with leukemia, thirteen-year-old Steven tries to deal with his complicated emotions, his school life, and his desire to support his family.
Author * Author visit
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East.
Edith Pattou.
Harcourt, 2003. (Gr. 6-8)
When a huge white bear offers to save her sister if Rose will come live with him in his castle, she willingly agrees. Traveling on his back to the far north, Rose soon learns to love the bear. But when the evil Troll Queen steals him away, Rose discovers that her bear is really an enchanted prince, and she determines to go to the ends of the earth to save him.
Author *
Author interview *
Beauty and the Beast Fairy Tales
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Listening for Lions.
Gloria Whelan.
HarperCollins, 2005. (Gr. 4-8)
Left an orphan after the influenza epidemic in British East Africa in 1918, thirteen-year-old Rachel is tricked into assuming a deceased neighbor's identity to travel to England, where her only dream is to return to Africa and rebuild her parents' mission hospital.
Author * Kikuyu people *
Maasai people
East African Mission Hospital: 1 * 2
Kenya History: 1 * 2
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The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane.
Kate DiCamillo.
Candlewick, 2006. (Gr. 4-8)
Edward Tulane, a cold-hearted and proud toy rabbit, loves only himself until he is separated from the little girl who adores him and travels across the country, acquiring new owners and listening to their hopes, dreams, and histories.
Author * Book * Teachers Guide
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The Misadventures of Maude March, or, Trouble Rides a Fast Horse.
Audrey Couloumbis.
Random House, 2005. (Gr. 5-7)
After the death of the stern aunt who raised them since they were orphaned, eleven-year-old Sallie and her fifteen-year-old sister escape their self-serving guardians and begin an adventure resembling those in the dime novels Sallie loves to read.
Book website
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MVP*: *Magellan Voyage Project.
Douglas Evans.
Front Street, 2004. (Gr. 4-6)
Twelve-year-old Adam Story is challenged by the deposed ruler of Babababad and his mongoose companion to become the first youngster to travel around the world in forty days without an adult.
Author * CIA World Factbook * Around the world in pictures
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The Old Willis Place: A Ghost Story.
Mary Downing Hahn.
Clarion, 2004. (Gr. 5-7)
Diana and her brother Georgie have been living a cursed existence in the woods behind the old Willis place, but when a new caretaker comes to live in the decrepit mansion, Diana will dare to reveal herself in an effort to make a new friend and to free herself and Georgie from their predicament.
Author: 1 * 2 * 3
Lesson plans
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The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy.
Jeanne Birdsall.
Knopf, 2005. (Gr. 4-7)
While vacationing with their widowed father in the Berkshire Mountains, four lovable sisters, ages four through twelve, share adventures with a local boy, much to the dismay of his snobbish mother.
Author * NPR author interview
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The Ruins of Gorlan.
John Flanagan.
Philomel, 2005. (Gr. 5-8)
When fifteen-year-old Will is rejected by battleschool, he becomes the reluctant apprentice to the mysterious Ranger Halt, and winds up protecting the kingdom from danger.
Author interview: 1 * 2
Series
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The Schwa Was Here.
Neal Shusterman.
Dutton, 2004. (Gr. 6-8)
A Brooklyn eighth-grader nicknamed Antsy befriends the Schwa, an "invisible-ish" boy who is tired of blending into his surroundings and going unnoticed by nearly everyone.
Author: 1 * 2
Book *
Author interview *
Author’s Horn book speech
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Shakespeare’s Secret.
Elise Broach.
Holt, 2005. (Gr. 5-7)
Named after a character in a Shakespeare play, misfit sixth-grader Hero becomes interested in exploring this unusual connection because of a valuable diamond supposedly hidden in her new house, an intriguing neighbor, and the unexpected attention of the most popular boy in school.
Author * Discussion guide *
Shakespeare Authorship Question: 1 * 2 * 3
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Thunder From the Sea.
Joan Hiatt Harlow.
McElderry, 2004. (Gr. 4-5)
Just when his dreams of being part of a family and having a dog seem to be coming true, Tom wonders if trouble with neighbors on his new island home and the impending birth of a new baby will change everything. Set in Newfoundland in 1929.
Author * Lesson plans & Activities * Newfoundland dogs * Newfoundland, Canada
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Worth.
A. Lafaye.
Simon & Schuster, 2004. (Gr. 5-7)
After breaking his leg, eleven-year-old Nate feels useless because he cannot work on the family farm in nineteenth-century Nebraska, so when his father brings home an orphan boy to help with the chores, Nate feels even worse.
Author
Orphan Train, Nebraska: 1 * 2
Nebraska history |
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