With many votes cast, it is now time to narrow it down to the final choice; which book (and author) shall be at the center for children ages 6 to 8 (or so)?  All four books here deserve the honor, but there can only be one.

The BFG by Roald Dahl

From Amazon:

The BFG is no ordinary bone-crunching giant. He is far too nice and jumbly. It’s lucky for Sophie that he is. Had she been carried off in the middle of the night by the Bloodbottler, or any of the other giants—rather than the BFG—she would have soon become breakfast. When Sophie hears that the giants are flush-bunking off to England to swollomp a few nice little chiddlers, she decides she must stop them once and for all. And the BFG is going to help her!

Clementine by Sara Pennypacker

From Amazon:

Clementine is having not so good of a week.

• On Monday she’s sent to the principal’s office for cutting off Margaret’s hair.
• Tuesday, Margaret’s mother is mad at her.
• Wednesday, she’s sent to the principal again.
• Thursday, Margaret stops speaking to her.
• Friday starts with yucky eggs and gets worse.
• And by Saturday, even her mother is mad at her.

Ranger in Time: Rescue on the Oregon Trail by Kate Messner

From Amazon:

Ranger has been trained as a search-and-rescue dog, but can’t officially pass the test because he’s always getting distracted by squirrels during exercises. One day, he finds a mysterious first aid kit in the garden and is transported to the year 1850, where he meets a young boy named Sam Abbott. Sam’s family is migrating west on the Oregon Trail, and soon after Ranger arrives he helps the boy save his little sister. Ranger thinks his job is done, but the Oregon Trail can be dangerous, and the Abbotts need Ranger’s help more than they realize!

Weekends with Max and His Dad by Linda Urban

From Amazon:

Max and his dad love their weekends together. Weekends mean pancakes, pizza, spy games, dog-walking, school projects, and surprising neighbors! Every weekend presents a small adventure as Max gets to know his dad’s new neighborhood—and learns some new ways of thinking about home.

Cast your vote here – voting closes April 30th.

With many votes cast, it is now time to narrow it down to the final choice; which book (and author) shall be at the center for children ages 8 to 11 (or so)?  All three books here deserve the honor, but there can only be one.

Pax by Sara Pennypacker

From Amazon:

Pax and Peter have been inseparable ever since Peter rescued him as a kit. But one day, the unimaginable happens: Peter’s dad enlists in the military and makes him return the fox to the wild.

At his grandfather’s house, three hundred miles away from home, Peter knows he isn’t where he should be—with Pax. He strikes out on his own despite the encroaching war, spurred by love, loyalty, and grief, to be reunited with his fox.

Meanwhile Pax, steadfastly waiting for his boy, embarks on adventures and discoveries of his own. . .

Raymie Nightingale by Kate DiCamillo

From Amazon:

Raymie Clarke has come to realize that everything, absolutely everything, depends on her. And she has a plan. If Raymie can win the Little Miss Central Florida Tire competition, then her father, who left town two days ago with a dental hygienist, will see Raymie’s picture in the paper and (maybe) come home. To win, not only does Raymie have to do good deeds and learn how to twirl a baton; she also has to contend with the wispy, frequently fainting Louisiana Elefante, who has a show-business background, and the fiery, stubborn Beverly Tapinski, who’s determined to sabotage the contest. But as the competition approaches, loneliness, loss, and unanswerable questions draw the three girls into an unlikely friendship — and challenge each of them to come to the rescue in unexpected ways.

Eleven by Tom Rogers

From Amazon:

Alex Douglas always wanted to be a hero. But nothing heroic ever happened to Alex. Nothing, that is, until his eleventh birthday. When Alex rescues a stray dog as a birthday gift to himself, he doesn’t think his life can get much better. Radar, his new dog, pretty much feels the same way. But this day has bigger things in store for both of them. 

This is a story about bullies and heroes. About tragedy and hope. About enemies with two legs and friends with four, and pesky little sisters and cranky old men, and an unexpected lesson in kindness delivered with a slice of pizza. This is Eleven: the journey of a boy turning eleven on 9/11.

Cast your vote here – voting closes April 30th.

With many votes cast, it is now time to narrow it down to the final choice; which book (and author) shall be at the center for children ages 12 to 15 (or so)?  All three books here deserve the honor, but there can only be one.

The finalists are:

Orbiting Jupiter by Gary D. Schmidt

From Amazon:

The two-time Newbery Honor winner Gary D. Schmidt delivers the shattering story of Joseph, a father at thirteen, who has never seen his daughter, Jupiter. After spending time in a juvenile facility, he’s placed with a foster family on a farm in rural Maine. Here Joseph, damaged and withdrawn, meets twelve-year-old Jack, who narrates the account of the troubled, passionate teen who wants to find his baby at any cost. In this riveting novel, two boys discover the true meaning of family and the sacrifices it requires.

 

House Arrest by K.A. Holt

From Amazon:

Timothy is on probation. It’s a strange word—something that happens to other kids, to delinquents, not to kids like him. And yet, he is under house arrest for the next year. He must check in weekly with a probation officer and a therapist, and keep a journal for an entire year. And mostly, he has to stay out of trouble. But when he must take drastic measures to help his struggling family, staying out of trouble proves more difficult than Timothy ever thought it would be. By turns touching and funny, and always original, House Arrest is a middlegrade novel in verse about one boy’s path to redemption as he navigates life with a sick brother, a grieving mother, and one tough probation officer.

The Thing About Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin

From Amazon:

After her best friend dies in a drowning accident, Suzy is convinced that the true cause of the tragedy must have been a rare jellyfish sting-things don’t just happen for no reason. Retreating into a silent world of imagination, she crafts a plan to prove her theory–even if it means traveling the globe, alone. Suzy’s achingly heartfelt journey explores life, death, the astonishing wonder of the universe…and the potential for love and hope right next door.

Cast your vote here – voting closes April 30th.

I am intentionally dragging my feet with the voting process this year because the amazing books just keep coming.  It is so hard to stop reading and not think of how incredible a conversation might be around a certain book, and yet, time ticks and at some point, the final books need to be chosen.

The group of books for this year’s middle school aged kids, or whomever else that would like to read them, is a particular beautiful one.  From the searingly beautiful Orbiting Jupiter to the riveting page turner read of Night Vision.  From the poetic struggle to finding oneself in House Arrest to the frightening what if tale of The Nest. To the tale of wondrous redemption in The Seventh Most Important Thing or one girl’s search for the truth behind a senseless tragedy in The Thing about Jellyfish,  this year’s contenders are all must-reads and must-adds.  I am glad I have all of you to help me, so while my heart tugs in one direction I cannot wait to see what the vote says.

Whatever book you love, now is the time to let your voice be heard and that of your students. Cast your vote and let us see which book will transport us and connect us this year starting October 3rd.

Voting will be open until April 8th, 2016. Good luck to the amazing books and happy reading.

Once in awhile, I am gifted a book to consider for the Global Read Aloud.  This the book Eleven by Tom Rogers came to me at my school and I was immediately drawn to it.  The cover told me that the story had something to do with 9/11 and yet I was not sure what to expect.  After all, how do you write about an event that still is so raw in our history and yet do it in a way to capture middle grade readers?

It turns out you do it exactly like Tom Rogers did.  The book follow Alex, a boy whose 11th birthday falls on 9/11, who lives in New York City.  As we follow him throughout the day, we see the story slowly unfold as it dawns on him what is happening in his city.  We also have a dual perspective from the man in the white shirt, which fills in some of the holes that our 11 year old protagonist would not know about.  I cried when I read the book and then I smiled, because I finally found a book that I can hand to the generation of kids that I teach that will offer them a little slice of what it felt like that day.

I should have known that a book that is sold at the 9/11 memorial would be a great read, and it is.  This book is a Global Read Aloud contender for 2016 and should be added to any classroom 3rd grade and up, but I know that my middle schoolers will love it as much as I did as well.

We continue voting in our first round picks for the Global Read Aloud 2016.  Next up are the amazing choices for our earliest readers.  Voting will run for a week and end on March 9th.  Remember; students may vote too!

I don’t really do animal books.  As anyone who has heard me tell the tale of how The One and Only Ivan was selected for GRA 2012, they will know that when a book features an animal I tend to take a very long time to even pick it up.  If a book gets a lot of hype, it sometimes takes me much longer.  So when Pax by Sara Pennypacker, yes, the Sara Pennypacker of Clementine amazingness, was brought to my attention I gladly put it in my to-be-read pile.  And then promptly avoided it for a month.  After all, a book about a fox and boy –  wasn’t that just a new version of Where the Red Fern Grows?

Yet last night, after finishing Touching Spirit Bear, I figured I may as well keep this animal trend going and I settled in to this tale of a boy and his fox and the world that separates them.  And I read for 3 hours.  And I stayed up too late.  And this morning I slipped it in my school bag so I could read during my prep, and then I read during my lunch, and then I read after school.  And tonight, I finished it and it is so wonderful. So magical. So heart-wrenching. So deep.  And all I want to do is to talk about others with it.

And that is why this book is the newest contender for the Global Read Aloud 2016.  This book is meant to be read aloud.  This book is meant to be shared, to be discussed, to be read to a silent room where students just want you to read just one more page.  This book is magic, pure and simple.

So order it now, it comes out February 2, 2016.  Read it, hold it close, and then pass it on to as many people as you can.  While this is a book that asks you to reflect, it is also a book that begs to be shared.  For 4th grade and up, I have a feeling Pax will be a book we remember for a long time to come.

 

Thank you to the astute María Laura Bargas who informed me that the chapter breakdown I had posted this summer was actually missing some of the chapters in it!    The chapter guide of what to read when therefore needs to be modified, so here is the new guide:

Week 5:  Chapter 8

Week 6:  9-10 – to the end

Thank you so much for catching this!