Bluestem Award Nominees for 2013: Part Six

Because of Mr. Terupt, by Rob Buyea It’s the start of fifth grade. Meet: Jessica: the new girl, smart and perceptive, who’s having a hard time fitting in; Alexia: a bully, your friend one second, your enemy the next; Peter: class prankster and troublemaker; Luke: the brain; Danielle: who never stands up for herself; Anna: [...]

Bluestem Award Nominees for 2013: Part Five

Captain Nobody, by Dean Pitchford Nobody pays any attention to ten-year-old Newt. Growing up in the shadow of his football-star brother, Chris, Newt has a hard time even getting noticed by his family. When Chris is knocked out at a football game and sinks into a coma , Newt becomes lost in the whirlwind of [...]

Bluestem Award Nominees for 2013: Part Three

Being the new kid isn’t always easy. Check these out: Touch Blue, by Cynthia Lord Tess lives on an island off the coast of Maine. Her mother teaches at the island school. The state of Maine will close the school if there aren’t more students. Tess and her family do not want to move off [...]

Bluestem Award Nominees for 2013

After a fun second year, the Bluestem Award is back for 2013. Geared for readers in grades 3-5, this year’s list of nominees includes fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Watch for future posts describing the nominated books over the coming weeks. Love That Dog, by Sharon Creech Jack does not want to write poetry. He believes [...]

Magical Adventures

Small Persons With Wings, by Ellen Booraem They don’t like to be called fairies, you know. Thirteen year old Mellie Turpin has met a small person with wings. When she told her class about it when she was in kindergarten, they laughed at her. They started calling her Fairy Fat and she’s been bullied about [...]

Cinderella’s Lost Tap Shoe

Cinderella Smith, by Stephanie Barden    My name is Teresa Louise Smith, but everyone calls me Cinderella. Why, you ask? Because I always seem to be losing one of my shoes. I even write my name and address on the bottom of all of my shoes so it’s easy to return lost shoes to me. I love [...]

Florida in Winter

What nicer thing to do than read about warm beaches in Florida when it’s cold and snowy outside here? In Junonia, by Kevin Henkes, Alice is going to celebrate her tenth birthday during their annual vacation in Florida. Her family is getting away from the cold in Wisconsin in February. Every year Alice collects shells. [...]

Out of My Mind

One of the best books I read in 2011 is Sharon Draper’s Out of My Mind. Melody is in fifth grade. She has a photographic memory. Imagine having a video camera running all the time in your head. There is no “off” of “delete” button. You remember everything. That describes Melody’s brain. So it shouldn’t surprise you [...]

Fighting Segregation in 1954

With the Might of Angels: The Diary of Dawnie Rae Johnson, by Andrea Davis Pinkney Twelve-year-old Dawnie’s life turns upside down after the Supreme Court rules in favor of desegregation in 1954. Her parents decide to send Dawnie to Prettyman Coburn School, a previously all-white school in Hadley, Virginia. She’s the first and only African-American to [...]

Aunt Polly’s Best Recipe

Pie, by Sarah Weeks Alice’s Aunt Polly is definitely the Pie Queen of Ipswitch. Polly makes the best pie crust  and pies and she has the awards to prove it! She loves to make pies for everyone and everyone loves to eat them. When Polly passes away, she leaves her secret  pie crust recipe to Lardo, [...]