Illinois 2017 Bluestem Winner!

The official 2017 Bluestem winner has been announced...

Congratulations to El Deafo!

Interested in seeing the full list of votes? Follow this link.

Disney 2017 Bluestem Winner!

The votes are in! Fourth and fifth graders have voted for their absolute favorite Bluestem nominees.

In third place tied with 25 votes each...

In second place with 30 votes...

And the winner with 35 votes is...

If your favorite title didn't win, don't despair. All votes were tallied and sent in to the state library association. Stay tuned for the official winner!

Illinois Student Choice Book Awards

Every year we are thrilled to participate in Illinois's Student Choice Book Awards.  In order to participate, students have to read a certain number of nominated titles in order to vote in February (the Rebecca Caudill) or March (the Bluestem or Monarch.)

All second and third grade classes at Disney are reading books from the Monarch nominee list.  There are some fabulous books this year!  As we read the books we also have lessons related to the books including research and writing responses.  We are keeping track of what we've read using a poster for each class.

Find this year's list of titles here.

The Bluestem Award is for 3rd-5th graders and opens up a world of chapter books.

Find this year's list of titles here.

The Rebecca Caudill is for 4th-8th graders and includes longer and more in-depth works.

Find this year's list of titles here.

Students have been hearing book talks about the nominated titles and have been practicing their note-taking skills as they write down what each book is about.  Students can check these books out from our library, the public library, or can even find them as e-books in both collections.  As they read these books, students can sign their names to the Bluestem and Caudill Hall of Fames in our library.

  

What I'm Reading Now: Catching up on Bluestem/Caudill

I've been trying to finish up all of the books for this year's children's choice awards as well as a couple of Battle of the Books Titles.  Jonathan Stroud's The Whispering Skull is just because I'm absolutely loving this series.  I think we're going to need more copies of Kwame Alexander's Booked.  The Crossover is so widely read here and I have no doubt that Booked will be just as adored!

What I Read This Summer

One of my favorite things about the summer is having more time to read.  Although I didn't read everything that I took home this summer (it was a huge stack of books!) I did read several books that I absolutely LOVED.  I couldn't put down Jonathan Stroud's The Screaming Staircase. How often do you find a book that's truly unique and unlike anything you've read before? The Story of Owen: Dragon Slayer of Trondheim by E. K. Johnston was so different and absolutely blew me away.  With one exception I really enjoyed everything I took home this summer.  (Even librarians have books that just aren't for them and one I took home just wasn't!)  Take a look below.

And the winners are: Bluestem Award

Disney's choices for the Bluestem Award:

Third Place: The 13-Story Treehouse by Andy Griffiths

Second Place: Tie
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
Sidekicks by Dan Santata

First Place: Fortunately, the Milk by Neil Gaiman

Illinois's Bluestem Winners:

Third Place: Sidekicks by Dan Santata

Second Place: Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

First Place: The 13-Story Treehouse by Andy Griffiths

Bluestem Nominee: The 13-Story Treehouse

Students loved this fun and funny book and Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton's other tree house books are just as popular.

Bluestem Nominee: Sidekicks

Graphic novels just fly off of our shelves and Dan Santat's Sidekicks is no exception.  What a fun book!

Bluestem Nominee: Stay

Stay by Michaela Muntean is a charming non-fiction book that tells the story of circus performer Luciano Anastasini who finds dogs at shelters and trains them to perform in the circus.

Bluestem Nominee: Fortunately the Milk

Neil Gaiman's Fortunately the Milk was not my favorite of his books the first time I read it.  After reading it aloud to several fourth and fifth grade classes I am a convert.  What a ridiculous, hilarious, good time!

Bluestem Nominee: Dorko the Magnificent

Managing to be both funny and heart-warming Dorko the Magnificent was truly enjoyed by the students that read it.

Bluestem Nominee: Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library

A book dear to a librarian's heart!  What an amazing library!  I don't think quite as many kids read this title, but the ones that did loved it dearly.

Bluestem Nominee: Matilda

I was thrilled that Matilda was one of the books nominated for the Bluestem Award this year.  The first book I ever remember waiting for its release was Matilda.  I'd read everything else Roald Dahl and was so excited that he had a new book coming out!  There's a lot of love for Matilda among Disney students as well as you can see.

Bluestem Nominee: Little Dog Lost

Though this book wasn't read by a large group of our students, those that read this charming story seemed to really enjoy it.

Bluestem Award: What's It All About It?

Fourth and fifth graders read four or more of the nominated Bluestem titles in order to vote for their absolute favorite book.  Take a look at how they explained and promoted the Bluestem Children's Choice Award.