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 [...]

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 [...]

Stories from the Second Grade

The One and Only Stuey Lewis, by Jane Schoenberg Stuey has just started second grade. He is SO embarrassed! He hasn’t caught on to reading yet. His best friend, Will, is like a reading machine. Stuey feels as though he’s the only beginning second grader who can’t read yet. How is he going to keep it from [...]

Bluestem Award Nominees: Part Ten

Here are the last two nominated books for the 2012 Bluestem Award. Dying to Meet You, by Kate Klise Start with writer Ignatius B. Grumply, add 11-year-old Seymour Hope and his cat Shadow and mix them in with a ghost named Olive C. Spence. They all end up inhabiting 43 Old Cemetery Road one summer. They [...]

Bluestem Award Nominees: Part Nine

Here are two more of the nominees for the 2012 Bluestem Award. Extra Credit by Andrew Clements Abby needs to do an extra credit pen-pal exchange project if she is going to be able to go to seventh grade next year. What she doesn’t foresee is that the project becomes anything but ordinary. Sixth-grader Abby Carson [...]

Bluestem Award Nominees: Part Six

Here are two more of the nominees for the 2012 Bluestem Award. The World According to Humphrey, by Betty Birney Humphrey is a pet hamster in Room 26 at Longfellow School. The students take turns taking Humphrey home each weekend.  Humphrey manages to bring out hidden courage and kindness in everyone he visits. He helps the members of [...]