2017-2018 Battle of the Books Titles

We are so proud of the sixty-six students who participated in Battle of the Books this year! Now it's time to start reading for next year. The first five titles have been released!

Grade 4-6

• Awkward by Svetlana Chmakova (Yen Press, 2015)
• Book Scavenger by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman (Square Fish, 2016)
• Fuzzy Mud by Louis Sachar (Delacorte, 2015)
• Masterminds by Gordon Korman (Balzer and Bray, 2015)
• A Poem for Peter by Andrea Davis Pinkney (Viking, 2016)

                                         Grade 7-8

• Flying Lessons and Other Stories by Ellen Oh (Crown Books, 2017)
• The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill (Algonquin YR, 2016)
• One Last Word: Wisdom from the Harlem Renaissance by Nikki Grimes (Bloomsbury 2017)
• The Only Road by Alexandra Diaz (Simon and Schuster, 2016)
• We Will Not Be Silent by Russell Freedman (Clarion, 2016)

Reading Without Walls Challenge

Students (and teachers! and parents!)  are being encouraged to participate in the Reading Without Walls Challenge.

To participate you can:

1) Read a book about a character who doesn't look like you or live like you

2) Read a book about a topic you don't know much about

3) Read a book in a format that you don't normally read for fun (a chapter book, a graphic novel, a book in verse, or an audio book)


What book are you going to read?

What I'm Reading Now

Zero Day - Addie Webster disappeared from the governor's mansion 8 years ago. At the beginning of this book, she's escaped from her kidnappers and found her way home - but home is quite different as in her absence her father has become president of the United States. Everything is not quite as it seems... Although it got a bit predictable by the end, I really enjoyed the fast pace of the book.
To Catch a Cheat - To be honest, I didn't finish this one. This is the second in the series and I definitely think I should have started with the first one - The Great Greene Heist. Fun, fast paced, realistic characters - there's a lot here to like. If you like the Randi Rhodes Detective novels I think you might like these as well. There's a lot here that's very realistic to middle school kids, but plenty of movie-type action as well.

Illinois 2017 Monarch Winner!

The official 2017 Monarch winner has been announced...

Congratulations to Gaston!

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

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.

2017 Rebecca Caudill Award Winner!

Our winner of the Rebecca Caudill Award has been chosen. Fourth through eighth graders who read at least three of the nominated titles were able to vote.

And the Disney winner is...

And the official state winner was just announced. The Illinois 2017 Rebecca Caudill Award Winner is...

(For anyone who's interested, The War that Saved My Life  came in second for the state.)

Thank you to all who voted!

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!

Disney 2017 Monarch Winner!

The votes are in! Second and third graders have voted for their absolute favorite Monarch nominees.

In third place with 39 votes...

In second place, tied with 45 votes each...

 

And in first place, eking out the win with 46 votes...

Drum roll please....

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!

What I'm Reading Now

Absolutely Truly I must admit I've never read any of the Mother-Daughter book club series but they are very popular in our library. Written by the same author, this first book in the Pumpkin Falls Mystery series was very enjoyable. Truly Lovejoy has moved with her family to the tiny town of Pumpkin Falls, New Hampshire where she tries to build a new life for herself among a charmingly eccentric group of characters. K - I think you might like this one.
Flunked I love a fairy tale retelling so I was immediately drawn to this first book in the series Fairy Tale Reform School. Main character Gilly is caught stealing one too many times and is sent to reform school where she's taught by the evil queen from Snow White, the wolf who terrorized Little Red, and other "bad guys" from favorite tales. Could it be true that they have all reformed? Or is someone at the school up to no good? Fans of the Whatever After series who are looking for something else to read might enjoy this one. D?
Randi Rhodes Ninja Detective The fact that Octavia Spencer is the author has been a big draw for this series. Middle school detective Randi Rhodes and her friends DC and Pudge solve mysteries they find in the world around them (much to the chagrin of her famous author father.) Good if you're looking for a realistic fiction mystery - I? Z?
Saint Anything I love anything Sarah Dessen and this one did not disappoint. Sydney and her family deal with the aftermath of her brother's reckless behavior.

Monarch Award: Goldy Luck and the Three Pandas

This retelling of the Goldilocks story finds Goldy Luck visiting her next door neighbors, the pandas, on Chinese New Year. The pandas are not at home and trouble ensues.

Monarch Award: Families, Families, Families

Students loved this fun book about all different types of families represented by different animals. We talked and wrote about our own families. Then students decided what type of animal their family would be and drew family portraits.

Monarch Award: Gaston

Gaston is a bulldog raised in a family of poodles - who is about to meet a poodle raised in a family of bulldogs.

Monarch Award: Elizabeth, Queen of the Seas

This true story of Elizabeth the elephant seal was the inspiration for a research project. Second graders learned used our online database Pebble Go to learn more about seals.

Monarch Award: Ballet Cat

Second and third graders enjoyed this funny look at the friendship of Ballet Cat and Sparkle Pony.

What I'm Reading Now

  So many students are reading Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. I enjoyed it too!

Book Based Costumes

I'm a big fan of book based costumes.  This year I dressed up as the book The Paperbag Princess for Halloween.  If you haven't read it, this is a wonderful story that turns the standard princess tale on its head.  Mrs. Ginn dressed up as a Book Witch.  See if you can find some favorite titles on her costume!

Go Cubs Go!

What an exciting week we've had in Chicago!

Students if you still need a baseball fix now that the World Series is over come check out some of the wonderful baseball books we have in the 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.

I want to go to the library this summer!

This week we were fortunate to have a visit from the fabulous Laura Jenkins - Ms. Laura to the kids - children's librarian at the CPL Uptown branch.  She presented about the Chicago Public Library summer reading program to our 1st-4th graders.   They were so excited to hear about all the fun to be had!


Sign up for the program begins June 20th at each library branch in the city.  This year you get a bag of free books just for signing up for the program!  And as you continue you can earn other prizes as well.  In addition to encouraging summer reading there are ways to create and discover as well.

If there are little brothers or sisters at home they can join in the fun too!  There's a little readers summer reading program.  I know I'm looking forward to taking my two little boys to sign up.


For more information follow the links below:

Rahm's Readers: Explore on the Go!
Little Readers: Explore on the Go!