Rhode Island Children's Book Award

NOMINEES FOR THE YEAR 2008

 Annotated by members of the Book Award Committee

 

.Amato, Mary.  The Naked Mole-Rat Letters.        

Grades 5-6

While on a trip to Washington D.C., Frankie’s dad meets a female zookeeper whom he seems to like.  Frankie, however, is pretty sure that a few fake emails from her will end the relationship.

Subjects:  Humor, Honesty, Fathers and Daughters, Grief, Parental Dating, Privacy, Email, Diaries

 

           Carbone, Elisa Lynn.  Blood on the River: James Town 1607.                                       

Grades 5-6

Samuel Collier is bound for the New World of James Town in 1606 as Captain John Smith’s servant.  Follow his true, grueling adventures as he attempts to survive seasickness, treachery, raids, death and disease. 

Subjects:  Historical Fiction, Orphan, Colonial Life, Jamestown, Virginia, Survival, Powhatan Indians, Destruction of Culture, Primary Sources

 

         Corbett, Sue.  Free Baseball.    

Grades 4-6                                                   

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a bat boy or girl for a minor league baseball team?  The Miracles offer Felix his dream job, but what will happen when his mother discovers that the team is not near their home?

Subjects:  Minor League Baseball, Bat Boys and Girls, Cuban-Americans, Single Parent Family, Family Secrets

 

DiSalvo, DyAnne.  The Sloppy Copy Slipup. 

Grades 3-5

Brian worries about how his 4th grade teacher, known as “The General”, will react to his not completing his homework.

Subjects:  Schools, Humor, Storytelling, Creative Writing

 

 Dowell, Frances O’Roark.  Phineas L. MacGuire... Erupts!: The First Experiment.

Grades 3-5

Phineas is paired up with an "un-best" friend, who apparently is everybody's “un-best” friend for the upcoming science fair!  Will Phineas

erupt or will he and Mac be able to pull together an extraordinary project?

Subjects:  Schools, Humor, Science Fair Experiments, Friendship

 

 Freedman, Russell.  Freedom Walkers: The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott.                                
Grades 5-6
Rosa Parks wasn’t the first person in Montgomery to refuse to give up her seat on the bus.  Could your family walk to school, work and shopping for 381 days in the peaceful fight for their rights? 
Subjects:  African-Americans, Civil Rights Movement, Segregation, Race Relations, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr., Perseverance, Cooperation

 

 Hansen, Rosanna.    Panda: A Guide Horse for Ann.  

Grades 3-6

Meet Panda, who weighs only 120 pounds and stands 29 inches tall at the shoulder. She’s a miniature horse and one of the first of her kind to be trained as a guide animal for the blind.

Subjects:  Miniature Horses, Guide Animals, People with Disabilities, Blindness

 

 Hatkoff, Isabella.  Owen and Mzee: The True Story of a Remarkable Friendship.

Grades 3-6

A true story about the friendship between Owen, a baby hippo, and Mzee, a 130-year-old giant tortoise.  When the baby hippo is separated from his family during the devastating tsunami, he adopts and is accepted by Mzee as his mother.

Subjects:  Hippopotamus, Giant Tortoise, Social Behavior in Animals, Loss, Tsunami, Kenya, Animal Rescue, Animal Sanctuary

 

 Holm, Jennifer L.  Penny from Heaven.

Grades 4-6

The summer of 1953 is full of adventures and surprises for twelve-year-old Penny.  Her crazy Italian family members always have something to say unless the subject turns to her father's death.  In that case, no one will tell Penny the truth.

Subjects:  Italian-Americans, Single Parent Family, Parental Dating, Family Secrets, Accidents, New Jersey, post-WWII, Brooklyn Dodgers

 

 Jenner, Emily.  Toys Go Out: Being the Adventures of a Knowledgeable Stingray, a Toughy Little Buffalo, and Someone Called Plastic.

Grades 3-5

Do you know what your stuffed animals and toys might be up to while you sleep, go to school, or play on the beach?  Read these stories and be part of their secret adventures.

Subjects:  Fantasy, Humor, Toys, Friendship, Adventures, Identity, Fears, Birthdays

 Johnson, Dolores.  Onward: A Photobiography of African-American Polar Explorer Matthew Henson.

Grades 5-6

Over ice and snow, battling brutal arctic winds, Matthew Henson pushed onward to be the first to reach the North Pole. He and Robert Peary made 5 expeditions before they reached the pole and gained worldwide recognition.

Subjects:  Biography, African-Americans, Racism, Explorers, Robert Peary, North Pole, Survival, Teamwork, Inuits

 

        Kehret, Peg.  The Ghost’s Grave.      

Grades 4-6

Josh, shipped off to Great-Great-Aunt Ethel's house, thinks it will be the most boring summer of his life, but boy is he wrong!  He befriends a ghost who needs his help and, in doing so, puts his own life in danger.

Subjects:  Ghost Story, Friendship, Aunts, Coal Miners, Washington State, Cats

 

 Lord, Cynthia.  Rules.      

Grades 5-6   

In the kids’ books, Frog and Toad knew how to be friends, but in real life the rules are more complicated, especially when you have with a younger brother with autism.

Subjects:  Friendship, Brothers and Sisters, Autism, Paraplegic, Attitudes toward People with Disabilities, Communication

 

     Marrin, Albert.  Oh, Rats!: The Story of Rats and People.
Grades 4-6

Forget everything you thought you knew about rats. These champion survivors can claw up brick walls, squeeze through small pipes the width of a quarter, even get flushed down a toilet bowl and survive. Amazing facts and feats.

Subjects:  Rats, Human-Animal Relationships, Science, Behavior, History, Folklore, Pests, Pets, Laboratory Animals, Diseases

 

Napoli, Donna Jo.  The King of Mulberry Street.
Grades 5-6

Nine-year-old Dom, a stowaway from Italy, arrives alone in New York in 1892 with only an over-sized pair of new shoes.  He quickly learns to survive on the brutal streets of New York’s Five Points neighborhood.

Subjects:  Historical Fiction, 1890’s, Italian-Americans, Jewish-Americans, New York City, Immigrants, Ellis Island, Prejudice, Poverty, Survival, Mothers and Sons, Street Children, Friendship

 

 Naylor, Phyllis Reynolds.  Cuckoo Feathers. 

Grades 3-4   

Can Sarah, the idea girl, come up with a plan to keep her pet pigeons living on her balcony and save the eggs in their nest?

Subjects:  Pigeons, Apartment Houses, Multicultural Neighbors, Chicago

 

Pennypacker, Sara. Clementine.                             

Grades 3-5

8-year-old Clementine is having a "not so good of a week".  She has given her best friend a drastic makeover involving scissors and a permanent marker, she and her dad are losing the Great Pigeon War, and her family just might be plotting to get rid of her.

Subjects:  Friendship, Family Life, Apartment Houses, Schools, Humor, Individuality

 

 Stanley, Diane.  Bella at Midnight.                      

Grades 4-6

Raised by peasants, Bella suddenly finds she is of noble birth and must live at the castle with her arrogant father and his new wife. She uncovers a plot to break the peace which would mean the death of her childhood friend Prince Julian.

Subjects:  Fantasy, Folklore, Cinderella, Quests, Royalty, Peasants, Foster Families, Loyalty, Courage, Varying Points of View and Voices

 

 Weston, Elise.  The Coastwatcher.    

Grades 4-6   

11-year-old Hugh and his family vacation in South Carolina to escape the polio epidemic in 1943.  He spots a German submarine and soon uncovers a German plot to sabotage a nearby naval base.

Subjects:  Historical Fiction, WWII, South Carolina, Mystery, Family Life, Polio

 

Wyss, Thelma Hatch.  Bear Dancer: The Story of a Ute Girl.     

Grades 4-6   

Elk Girl is strong and clever.  When she is captured and held prisoner by Cheyenne warriors, then traded to the Arapaho, she does not know if she will ever see the Ute people and her brother chief Ouray again.

Subjects:  Historical Fiction, 1860’s, Tabeguache Ute, Arapaho, Cheyenne, Colorado, Captivity, Survival, Tribal Life, Destruction of Culture

 

 

 

 

This page was created on March 10, 2007 and updated on May 12, 2007.










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