Maud Hart Lovelace Award Winners and New Nominees

On Saturday I attended the MN Youth Reading Awards event to announce the winners of the Maud Hart Lovelace Award.  I've gone now for three years in a row, and this year I really tried to encourage kids to read the Maud Hart Lovelace nominees so they could vote. I plan on doing even more this year.

So on to the winners!

I was actually surprised by the winner in Division 1. Not because I didn't like it! But I just didn't have as many kids read it. But when I thought about the fact that this division is for grades 3-5, and voted on by the kids, then it made perfect sense! 

I was not at all surprised by the winner for this category.  So many kids read, and loved, A Night Divided.  I was super happy to see Ghost as an honor title! 

Now the nominees for next year.

Division 1 Grades 3-5

I'm excited about Framed! and Towers Falling! Oh and Amina's Voice! (I won a drawing at the event and got to pick a book - that's the one I picked!)

Division 2 Grades 6-8

I've had so many kids read Refugee and love it. Plus many have read Terror at Bottle Creek! I'm excited for Piecing Me Together. 

Have you read any of these?  Any you're interested in?

Book Review: Hello Universe by Erin Kelly Entrada

Title: Hello Universe
Author: Erin Kelly Entrada
Copy Obtained: Bought

Book summary from Goodreads
In one day, four lives weave together in unexpected ways. Virgil Salinas is shy and kindhearted and feels out of place in his loud and boisterous family. Valencia Somerset, who is deaf, is smart, brave, and secretly lonely, and loves everything about nature. Kaori Tanaka is a self-proclaimed psychic, whose little sister Gen is always following her around. And Chet Bullens wishes the weird kids would just act normal so that he can concentrate on basketball. They aren’t friends -- at least not until Chet pulls a prank that traps Virgil and his pet guinea pig at the bottom of a well. This disaster leads Kaori, Gen, and Valencia on an epic quest to find the missing Virgil. Through luck, smarts, bravery, and a little help from the universe, a rescue is performed, a bully is put in his place, and friendship blooms.

Short Version: I have mixed feelings.  In the end, I liked it better than I thought I would as I was reading it.  


Long Version: So as I was reading this book I was really up in the air about how much I liked it or not.  The characters, for me, were a bit hard to buy into.  I'm around middle school students all day long, so I feel I have a pretty good idea what typical middle schoolers are like.  The characters in this book didn't always strike me as kids I would see walking the halls of my school.  The biggest would be Kaori.  I know some students don't fit the stereotype, but they actually almost fall into a different stereotype.  She really went outside this, so I had a hard time buying into her being the age she was supposed to be.  

That aside! - I did really like Valencia.  She was great!  She was confident, kind and pretty typical.  I also felt that Virgil was pretty typical, and liked him too.  I felt for him when Chet bullying him.  That felt real to me, so my heart hurt for Virgil.  I also liked how the relationship because Chet and Virgil ended.  It was realistic.  I didn't become the everyone-loves-each-other event, and I liked that! About Chet - I wanted to shake his dad! Wow! It helped us understand Chet more.  

Now, in the end, I liked the book because I liked how much Virgil and Valencia grew! How they changed was good.  It was interesting because Virgil's growth comes out in the smallest way once he gets home, but I think that was realistic.  That's what a kid that age would do! It made sense to me! So, like I said, I wasn't sure as I was reading if I'd end up being able to say I really liked this book BUT I can say that I did. 

Best stick-with-you image: Chet with the snake! You'll have to read it for yourself. 

Best for readers who: Feel picked up and alone.  

Library Thoughts: Yes I will have it.  I'm hoping word-of-mouth will help it gain traction. And of course, since it's a Newbery I want to include it.  

Book Review: Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds

Title: Long Way Down
Author: Jason Reynolds
Copy Obtained: Purchased

Book Summary from Goodreads
A cannon. A strap.
A piece. A biscuit.
A burner. A heater.
A chopper. A gat.
A hammer
A tool
for RULE

Or, you can call it a gun. That’s what fifteen-year-old Will has shoved in the back waistband of his jeans. See, his brother Shawn was just murdered. And Will knows the rules. No crying. No snitching. Revenge. That’s where Will’s now heading, with that gun shoved in the back waistband of his jeans, the gun that was his brother’s gun. He gets on the elevator, seventh floor, stoked. He knows who he’s after. Or does he? 

As the elevator stops on the sixth floor, on comes Buck. Buck, Will finds out, is who gave Shawn the gun before Will took the gun. Buck tells Will to check that the gun is even loaded. And that’s when Will sees that one bullet is missing. And the only one who could have fired Shawn’s gun was Shawn. Huh. Will didn’t know that Shawn had ever actually used his gun. Bigger huh. BUCK IS DEAD. But Buck’s in the elevator?

Just as Will’s trying to think this through, the door to the next floor opens. A teenage girl gets on, waves away the smoke from Dead Buck’s cigarette. Will doesn’t know her, but she knew him. Knew. When they were eight. And stray bullets had cut through the playground, and Will had tried to cover her, but she was hit anyway, and so what she wants to know, on that fifth-floor elevator stop, is, what if Will, Will with the gun shoved in the back waistband of his jeans, MISSES.

And so it goes, the whole long way down, as the elevator stops on each floor, and at each stop someone connected to his brother gets on to give Will a piece to a bigger story than the one he thinks he knows. A story that might never know an END…if WILL gets off that elevator. 

Short Version: Who knew so much could happen in one elevator ride down??

Long Version: I honestly need to reread this because I loved it but I know I missed a ton! The language is so rich that it deserved a 2nd and even 3rd reading.  Again I'm impressed by a novel in verse's ability to capture so much in a limited amount of words.  The hurt Will fills is so palatable.  I want to just hug him and tell him it will be ok, but the honest truth is - I don't know if it will be for him.  He has faced so much death in his life as you learn in that elevator.  There is nothing to say he won't face more and more.  

What this book showed me the most though was a world I know nothing about.  Will's world is not a world I live in.  The thoughts and reactions he has are not ones I would have.  I needed to see and experience his world.  I needed to see a reality beyond my own.  Without seeing it, I can't truly understand boys like Will.  I feel now like I have a better understanding of why he felt like he did and why he reacted like he did.  I don't claim to know how he feels, but I do get it better.  That alone was good to take away from reading this book. 

Best stick-with-you image: The playground when he was eight.  Wow. 

Best for readers who: Feel like the world doesn't always understand them.  


Library Thoughts: Yes!  10000 times yes.  It's an important book as both a mirror and window for my students.  For most of my students it will be a window - a window they need to look through.  

2018 Audie Awards Finalists

I love audiobooks!  I listen to them in the car as much as I can.  They make my car trips bearable.  If I try to listen to the radio I find myself switch stations over and over, but with an audiobook, I hit play and go!  

So because of that, I was super interested to learn what middle grade and young adult books are finalists for the Audie Awards!

Here they are!

MIDDLE GRADE
The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora, written and narrated by Pablo Cartaya, published by Listening Library

Patina by Jason Reynolds, narrated by Heather Alicia Simms, published by Simon & Schuster Audio

Refugee by Alan Gratz, narrated by Michael Goldstrom, Kyla Garcia, and Assaf Cohen, published by Scholastic Audio

See You in the Cosmos by Jack Cheng, narrated by Kivlighan de Montebello, Brittany Pressley, Michael Crouch, Graham Halstead, Jason Culp, and a Full Cast, published by Listening Library
                                      
Wedgie & Gizmo by Suzanne Selfors, narrated by Johnny Heller and Maxwell Glick, published by HarperAudio

YOUNG ADULT
Before the Devil Breaks You by Libba Bray, narrated by January LaVoy, published by Listening Library

Disappeared by Francisco X. Stork, narrated by Roxana Ortega and Christian Barillas, published by Scholastic Audio

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, narrated by Bahni Turpin, published by HarperAudio

Solo by Kwame Alexander, with Mary Rand Hess, narrated by Kwame Alexander, music by Randy Preston, published by Blink

You Bring the Distant Near by Mitali Perkins, narrated by Sneha Mathan, Shivali Bhammer, Priya Ayyar, and others, published by Listening Library

Have you listened to any of these??? I haven't, but now they are on my list to listen to!!!!!

Maud Hart Lovelace Winner Announced!

Yesterday MYRA (MN Youth Reading Awards) announced the winners of the Maud Hart Lovelace award.  I love this award because it's based on kids' favorites.  
They read.  They vote! 

The announcement we held at The Red Balloon bookstore.  My son came with and we got our picture taken!

And here are the winners! 

(Division 1 is grades 3-5 and Division 2 is grades 6-8)

My students were in love with The War that Saved My Life and Beneath.  And of course, we loved Turn Left at the Cow because of its Minnesota connection.  

They also announced the nominees for next year.  Here they are:

What have you read of these??? I know I've got some reading to do now! 

Images are taken from MYRA

ALA Youth Media Awards

If were aren't aware - the ALA Youth Media Award Winners were announced last week.

I love when they are announced! 
I watch the live stream and everything! Some day I'll go to ALA Mid Winter and see it in person. 

When the winners were announced I was suprised by the number of book I already owned! (see pic 2). Then I went a bought a few more. 

We Are Ok by Nina LaCour

The 57 Bus Dashka Slater

Vincent and Theo by Deborah Heiligman

Little & Lion by Brandy Colbert

Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds

Hello, Universe by Erin Entrada Kelly

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Dear Martin by Nic Stone

I was really pleased with the choices this year.  They seemed relevant and like books teens will really want to read! Have you read any of these????