Young Readers Choice Award 20072008

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Young Readers Choice Award2007/2008
Celebrate Your Library
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YRC Award 2007/20083rd /4th Grade Reading
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Almost Gone The Worlds Rarest Animals By Steve
Jenkins
This book shows 21 endangered species,
accompanying each image with a few sentences
about the animal's habitat, a particular
characteristic, how many are left, and sometimes,
the reason for its endangered status. Some
include the Giant Stick Insect, Bactrian Camel,
Iriomote Cat from Japan, Northern Right Whale,
California Condor, and Waterfall Frog. It also
shows some animals that have become extinct and
are gone forever and some animals that were on
the endangered list, but have been saved by
peoples hard work.

• By

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Almost Late to School and More School Poems By
Carol Diggory Shields
This book presents an illustrated collection of
twenty-two poems about the ups and downs of life
in school. Some include being late for school,
the first day of school, having to go to the
bathroom but being too afraid to ask,
fund-raising, getting an attack of giggles, being
jealous of other classmates, the joy of finding a
friend, the desire to be alone, and preparing for
a science fair project Hypothesis The world
would be a better place / If my brother vanished
without a trace. Hilarious poems that everyone
can relate to!

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The Blue Ghost By Marion Dane Bauer
Liz is trying to help her grandma to get the
family's old log house ready to sell. Liz helps
with the packing and reminiscing. Though Liz is
sad to part with the home, her sadness turns to
fear when strange things start happening. First,
it's the girl in the blue dress, and then it's
the talking and singing behind the wall. Then
after a nap, Liz walks through the wall, goes
back in time, and joins the voices. She becomes a
guardian angel to her great-great grandmother,
young Elizabeth. Poor Elizabeth is trying to care
for her brothers, including the desperately ill
Matthew. Will Liz be able to help save Matthews
life? Read this book to find out!
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The Castle in the Attic By Elizabeth Winthrop
This fantasy book is about William,age 10. Mrs.
Phillips has taken care of him through the years
while his parents have been away at work. Now
she must go back to England. Mrs. Phillips's
parting gift to the boy is a medieval castle,
authentically complete, but with only one small
figure, a knight. William is thrilled when it
comes to life. The knight tells of the times when
a wizard had spellbound all the king's subjects
and usurped the throne. But William is more
interested in the tiny man's magic amulet, and he
uses it to shrink Mrs. Phillips, to keep her in
the castle. Then his conscience insists that he
miniaturize himself and join the two in the fight
to undo the wizard and restore the kingdom.
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Ghosts of the White House By Cheryl Harness
George Washington's ghost pulls Sara out of her
school White House tour and takes her on a
personal tour of the building, introducing her to
the ghosts of previous presidents and to the
history of the White House and of the United
States. Sara meets 35 ghost presidents who tell
her what it was like to live in the White House
and what problems they faced when they were
president. There is also a little biography of
each of the 42 presidents. This is one tour Sara
and all readers will never forget!
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Most guinea pigs can't read, but Pee-Wee is
different. His mother, who was born in a
kindergarten, has taught him how. Robbie, age 9,
would rather have received a dog for a birthday
gift, but soon learns to care for Pee-Wee. But
not Robbie's mom. She sees Pee-Wee as a rodent
and has Pee-Wee released in Central Park while
Robbie is at a sleepover. Pee-Wee's adventures in
the wild are shared with a street-smart squirrel
named Lexi. The two combine their special talents
to solve a threat to the animals' security and
learn some life lessons, such as "A good head is
worth two tails" and "Don't cry over a rotten
nut."
Pee-Wees Tale ByJohanna Hurwitz
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• Phineas L. Macquire Erupts
• By Frances ORoark Dowell

Meet Phineas Listerman MacGuire, called Mac by
most. Science-minded Mac and best friend Marcus
are ready for fourth grade and the chance to
compete in the school science fair. But when
Marcus unexpectedly moves away, Mac is left
without a partner. His teacher assigns him one,
the obnoxious new boy, Mac R., who manages to
alienate the class with his bragging and seals
the deal by tripping class favorite Chester and
telling budding feminist Aretha Timmons that
"there are no smart girls. But to his surprise,
Mac discovers that Mac R. (whose real name is
Ben) is really a gifted artist and decent guy,
and he finds a way to help the kid start fresh.
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• Say What?
• By Margaret
• Peterson Haddix

Something's not right at the Robinson house.
Sukie and her big brothers, Brian and Reed, are
behaving and misbehaving as any kids do. Their
parents are saying typical parent things, but at
the wrong times. When Sukie is caught scooping
peas with her fingers at the dinner table, she
expected to hear, "Don't eat with your fingers!
Instead her mom says, "You'll put an eye out with
that thing! The kids are confused and wonder if
their parents are losing their minds. Only after
overhearing their parents talking do they
understand their parents are trying out a
parenting strategy, and that sets the kids in
motion with a counter strategy of their own.
What follows is hilarious!
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• Thunder from the Sea
• ByJoan Hialt Harlow

Tom Campbell, an orphan, travels to an island to
live with and work for Enoch and Fiona. On his
first fishing trip, he rescues a young
Newfoundland dog from the sea during a storm and
names him Thunder. Thunder accompanies Tom
everywhere, but dangers threaten at every turn a
local boy, Bert, and his father, Amos, also want
the animal, and they go to great lengths to find
his original owner out of spite Amos shoots
Thunder as the dog tries to warn the town about a
tsunami Tom worries that Thunder's real owner
will come to claim him and then Fiona becomes
pregnant and Tom worries that they wont want him
anymore. Read this adventure to find out what
happens next!
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During the German occupation of France, twenty
French children are sent to a refuge in the
mountains. One day, a young man comes to their
school in the mountains with a request Could
they take in, and hide, 10 Jewish refugee
children? Sister Gabriel speaks up and says to
the students, The Nazis are looking for those
children. If we take them we must never let on
that they are here. Do you understand? Of
course the children understood, but how would
they hide them if the Nazis came? When 10 Jewish
children are brought to the school, hiding them
seems like a game -- until the Nazis arrive, and
ten lives depend on the cunning and courage of
twenty. An astonishing, beautiful tale based on a
true story.
Twenty and Ten By Claire Huchet Bishop
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YRC Award 2007/20085th / 6th Grade Reading
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The Volnik family inherits a rundown old castle
on an island off Scotland and visits their new
property. After returning home, 12-year-old Emily
and 10-year-old Jessup notice strange things
happening. A mischievous boggart has
accidentally become trapped in a piece of
furniture the family shipped home to Canada.
Unfortunately, no adults believe them. The
boggart starts trouble pieces of furniture fly
through the air, a bucket of water soaks their
mother, and he causes a traffic accident that
lands Emily in the hospital. Finally, he learns
to communicate with the children by computer.
When he gets trapped in a black hole in a
computer space-adventure game, the youngsters
devise a daring plan to help the boggart return
home.

• The Boggart
• By Susan Cooper

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Chicken Boy By Frances ORoark Dowell
Since Tobin McCauley's mom died of cancer, his
family has fallen apart. Nobody talks about grief
at home, a dirty "old brick shoe box off a
highway near Raleigh, North Carolina, where Tobin
lives with his dad and his older, delinquent
siblings. Granny is sometimes kind to Tobin, but
she's always feuding with Dad. Then in seventh
grade, Tobin meets Henry, who helps him raise
chickens and supports him so he can stand up for
himself. Henry tells Tobin, "When you learn
about chickens, you will learn about life. It
is good advice and is the basis for this story.
If you have ever struggled with fitting in, you
will be able to relate with Tobin. Excellent
book!
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Fletcher Moon may not be the most popular 12 yr.
old, but he's proud of the badge that he
constantly flashes to let everyone know that he's
an online graduate of a private detective
academy. The other kids admit that Fletcher, aka
"Half Moon," has solved several tough cases at
school, so they come to him when they have a
problem. When popular April Devereux hires him to
find a lock of a pop star's hair that she claims
was stolen by one of the Sharkeys- a family of
well-known criminals- everything starts going
wrong for Fletcher. His precious badge is taken,
he finds a single huge footprint at every crime
scene, and he's picked up by the local police for
arson when the Devereux playhouse burns down.
When Fletcher goes on the run, who becomes his
number-one ally? Young Red Sharkey.
Da-Da-Da-Dannnnn!
Half Moon Investigations By Eoin Colfer
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This is Gary Paulsens best known book. Its a
heart-gripping drama about a boy pitted against
the wilderness with only a hatchet and a will to
live. On his way to visit his recently divorced
father in the Canadian mountains, 13 yr. old
Brian Robeson is the only survivor when the
single-engine plane crashes. His body is
battered, his clothes in shreds, Brian must now
stay alive in the boundless wilderness. Brian
must make a lot of tough decisions. He discovers
self-pity and despair do not work. If Brian is
to survive physically and mentally, he must
discover courage.

• Hatchet
• By Gary Paulsen

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• Leon and the
• Spitting Image
• By Allen Kurzweil

Leon lives in the rather wacky New York City
hotel where his mother works. The Ethical School,
which focuses on handicrafts, presents a problem
for him, as he is challenged in the area of fine
motor skills. The villain of the piece is Leon's
fourth-grade teacher, Miss Hagmeyer, who wears
pantyhose the color of cooked liver and who has
the students sewing stuffed animals called
animiles. When Leon finds out he may have to
repeat the year, he sews a doll that is the
"spitting image" of the teacher. He discovers
that by manipulating it into different poses,
Miss Hagmeyer follows suit as if in a trance.
Leon and two friends use this doll to cause havoc
in school, especially for the class bully.
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This is a historical fiction story about the
escape of the Jews from Denmark in 1943.
Annemarie, age 10, has known three years of Nazi
occupation. On every corner there are Nazi
soldiers. When the Germans plan to round up the
Jews, the Johansens take in Annemarie's friend,
Ellen Rosen, and pretend she is their daughter,
while Ellens parents go into hiding. Later,
they travel to Uncle Hendrik's house on the
coast, where Ellen is reunited with her parents.
With the help of Uncle Hendrik, they try to take
the Rosens and other Jews to safety in Sweden.
Read this book to see if they succeed and to
learn about this sad time in history.

• Number the Stars
• By Lois Lowry

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Rimshots Basketball Pix, Rolls and Rhythms By
Charles R. Smith, Jr.
Mixing poetry, memoir, short fiction, and
photography, Smith pays a fast-break tribute to
the pleasures and pains of b-ball from being
benched in Please Put Me In, Coach!! to
playing "Hot Like Fire," on the way to scoring 65
points remembering "the time when my dad could
no longer play one on one or how a new kid,
"Meek," proved himself on the court, once he was
given a chance. Like the game, the poems are
quick, energetic, and highly rhythmic with very
colorful fonts that seem to leap right off of the
pages. Basketball fans will love this book!
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The Bismarck was the greatest warship ever built,
with guns so powerful and accurate it could
destroy an enemy ship while safely staying
outside the line of fire. But the Allies had to
sink it or risk losing the World War II. Every
suspenseful moment of the perilous mission in
1941 is in the book. Most tragic of all was the
loss of the HMS Hood, the British Navys star
battleship, sunk by the Bismarck in just minutes.
However, a mixture of luck and new technology,
including radar,turned the tide in the Allies
favor.

• The Sinking of the Bismarck The Deadly Hunt
• By William Shirer

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• Tripping Over the
• Lunch Lady and Other
• School Stories
• By Nancy E. Mercado

Laughing so hard that milk comes out of your
nose crossing the finish line first in the
three-legged race harboring a secret crush on
someone with whom you have never spoken. The ten
stories in this collection manage to capture the
action, the politics, the memories, and the
heartache of life in grade school. Tackling
topics such as unfortunate nicknames, illiteracy,
and improbable friendships, the stories will
entertain you. as well as enlighten. Well-known
children's authors such as Avi, Sarah Weeks, and
David Lubar have managed to capture the magic as
well as the pain of the elementary years. Kids
can definitely relate to these stories!
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The Watsons go to Birmingham - 1963 By
Christopher Paul Curtis
Kenny's family is known in Flint, Michigan, as
the Weird Watsons, for lots of good reasons.
Younger sister Joetta has been led to believe she
has to overdress in the winter because Southern
folks freeze solid and have to be picked up by
the city garbage trucks. Kenny, the narrator,
does well in school and tries to meet his
parents' expectations, but his "lazy eye" makes
him a target for cruel remarks. Older brother
Byron must be removed from the bad influences of
the city and his gang. They feel that the way of
life in Birmingham, AL might help, thus begins
their trip south. Since the story is set in 1963,
they need to be careful when they cross into the
South. The slow pace of life is good for the
children until a local church is bombed. This
story is about the disastrous and hurtful effects
of racism and discrimination and the strength of
family, love, and endurance.
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YRC Award 2007/20087th / 8th Grade Reading

• Al Capone Does My Shirts
• By
• Gennifer Choldenko

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YRC Award 2007/20087th / 8th Grade Reading

• The Black Pearl
• By
• Scott ODell

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YRC Award 2007/20087th / 8th Grade Reading

• Born to Fly The Heroic Story of Downed U.S.
  Navy Pilot Lt. Shane Osborn

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YRC Award 2007/20087th / 8th Grade Reading

• Call of the Wild
• By
• Jack London

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YRC Award 2007/20087th / 8th Grade Reading

• Confessions of a Closet Catholic
• By
• Sarah Littman

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YRC Award 2007/20087th / 8th Grade Reading

• Drums, Girls Dangerous Pie
• By
• Jordan Sonnenblick

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YRC AWARD 2007/20087th / 8th Grade Reading

• Flip
• By
• David Lubar

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YRC Award 2007/20087th / 8th Grade Reading

• Framed!
• By
• Malcolm Rose

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YRC Award 2007/20087th / 8th Grade Reading

• Heat
• By
• Mike Lupica

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YRC Award 2007/20087th / 8th Grade

• My Dads a Punk 12 Stories about boys and Their
  Fathers
• Edited by Tony Bradman