Iowa Children’s Choice Nominees

2011-2012I have encouraged my students to read at least one Iowa Teen Award book as

an independent read in years past, but I have never done much with Iowa Children’s Choice Award nominees. Last year was the first year that I taught 6th grade, and after teaching that level for a year, I realize that the Children’s

Choice books are very appropriate for many of my 6th grade readers. I want to make it a point next year to introduce these books to my students at the

beginning of the school-year so they can have plenty of time to find a book they are interested in and read it during the year. To make this easy for

students, I created a Keynote presentation that I will use to booktalk the books to my classes. I will also put the presentation link on my class wiki for students

to have access to throughout the year, and will hopefully add more links and resources as I come across them.

Masterpieceby Elise Broach

In this book, eleven year old James gets a pen and ink set for his birthday. While he is sleeping,

however, a young beetle named Marvin decides he would like to give the art set a try. Marvin creates

a beautiful, delicate piece of art that Jame’s mother mistakenly thinks he drew. That is where

the craziness begins and James and Marvin embark on an adventure that includes art galleries,

thieves, and a mystery to be solved. If you are not careful, you might accidentally learn something

about art as well!Reading Level 3.9

Lexile 700

NERDS:National Espionage, Rescue,

and Defense Society

by Michael Buckley

This is the first book in the NERDS series in which a group of unpopular but strangely talented and

technologically savvy students runs a spy network from right inside their school. This first book

focuses on the NERD called Braceface who can do unbelievable things with his braces. There are

currently two more books available in this series with plans for two more. Each book spotlights a

different member of the team.Reading Level 5.3

Lexile 750

Extra Creditby Andrew Clements

Abbie is smart enough, but she just doesn’t like to do homework. At the end of her 6th

grade year, however, this becomes a problem, and she is in danger of having to do

6th grade all over again. Her only hope...extra credit. She gets assigned a pen pal to correspond with from Afghanistan and they end up becoming friends in spite of the cultural differences. Not everyone is happy with their friendship, though, and this makes

them both face some tough realizations. Reading Leve 5.2

Lexile 830

Powerlessby Matthew Cody

Donald is a 12 year old that moves to a new town only to discover that this is no ordinary town. In fact, it is quite super, as in super-

hero super. The kids in town all seem to have super-powers that they use to do good, but

then their powers mysteriously vanish, along with all memory of them, at the age of 13. Donald and his new friends try to figure out

what is going on, but maybe it is the “powerless” kid who will lead the way.

Reading Level 9-12Lexile 800

Liberty Porter, First Daughter

by Julia DeVillers

You can’t help but laugh at the adventures of 9 year old Liberty Porter as she shares the

adventures of becoming the first daughter of the United States. Yes, that means her dad is

the president! Liberty is excited about the cool things she will get to do as the president’s daughter, but she is also a little worried about

the responsibilities. You get a nice dose of interesting information about the history of the

White House and its occupants, as well.Reading Level 3.5

Lexile 480

The Gollywhopper

Gamesby Jody Feldman

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If you like Charlie and the Choolate Factory, you will like this book! Gil Goodson is

participating in the Golly Toy and Game Company’s ultimate competition, the

Gollywhopper Games. If he wins, that could be the answer to getting his family out of the town that has been nothing but nasty to Gil and his family since “the incident” with his

father. Gil prepares relentlessly for the games, but he will have some tough

competition and not everybody plays fair. Reading Level 3.0

Lexile 590

The Girl Who Could Fly

by Victoria Forester

Piper seemed like a normal girl to everybody in her town until she got a little excited one day at a ball game, and now everybody for miles around knows she can fly, or at least

hover. So, what else can her parents do but send her away to INSANE, a top-secret school for “special” kids just like her. At first, Piper

thinks it’s pretty cool to be around kids like her, but it doesn’t take long for her to realize that something is not right at the school and

she, of course, is going to figure it out.Reading Level 5.9

Lexile 920

The Garden of Eve

by K.L. Going

There is a lot going on in this story about Evie, a 10 year old girl who just lost her mother, and then is uprooted from her home in Michigan to a dying apple orchard in Beaumont, NY. Her

father thinks it is for the best but Evie is not so sure, especially when she meets the ghost boy

in the cemetery by her house. Did I also mention the magic seed (that is supposedly from the Garden of Eden) she receives as a

birthday present from her eccentric neighbor? Lots of twists and turns in this one!

Reading Level 4.8Lexile 780

The Umbrella Summer

by Lisa Graff

Annie’s brother Jared died, and ever since then, Annie has not been the same happy-go-lucky girl she once was. She starts to worry about bike rides, she worries about diseases, she worries about food poisoning, she worries

about everything! She is so busy worrying something bad will happen that she can’t

truly enjoy anything, until her neighbor with her “healing” teas helps Annie begin to

realize maybe her worrying is not the answer after all.

Reading Level 5.5Lexile 820

Baseball Greatby Tim Green

When Josh starts having some success on his school’s baseball team, his dad suddenly pulls

him off the team and sets him up with the Titans, the area youth championship team. Josh is just excited to play ball, but things

start to get a little weird with his new team. The coach starts pushing protein shakes, then supplements, then pills? Josh starts to have

some serious second thoughts about this new team, and with the help of his new friend Jaden, he is going to try not figure out the

right thing to do and to stay safe while doing it.

Reading Level 5.1Lexile 840

Melonheadby Katy Kelly

Did you ever read the Lucy Rose series? If so, you might remember Lucy’s friend, Adam Melon. Well, Melonhead now has his own

series in which he provides his readers with lots of antics of his own. Melonhead has always thought of himself as a first-class

inventor, and when his class is entering an inventing fair, what could be better than that?

Unfortunately for Melonhead, things don’t always turn out the way he thinks them up in his head. Fortunately for us, his escapades with snakes, diapers, head-lice essays, and many others are quite entertaining for the

readers. Reading Level 8-12

Lexile 620

The Dog Days of Charlotte

Hayesby Marlane Kennedy

Eleven year old Charlotte will be the first person to tell you she is NOT a dog person, but

when her father comes home with a St. Bernard pup because it was another “great deal” that he couldn’t pass up, guess who

ends up taking care of it? Yep, Charlotte feels bad for the pup and ends up spending a lot of time on Beauregard and actually trying to find him a better home. She also ends up dealing with her new baby brother and her mother’s

postpartum depression along the journey.Reading Level 8-11

Lexile 790

Schooledby Gordon Korman

Thirteen year old Cap has been home-schooled by his Grandma Rain since forever on a wacky 60’s type commune, but that all

changes when Rain falls out of a tree and gets seriously injured. Now, Cap is thrown into the nightmare of public middle school! He goes to live with the guidance counselor and does

his best to blend in--yeah right! His new classmates do not waste time in making fun

of Cap, and the guidance counselor’s daughter can’t stand him, but things just may find a way of working out for Cap in the end.

Reading Level 9-12Lexile 740

Savvyby Ingrid Law

Mississipi (Mibs) Beaumont is about to turn 13, and in her family, that is a bit more interesting

than a normal birthday. When a member of Mibs’s family reaches that milestone they

receive their “savvy” or special supernatural power. With powers like controlling electrical currents, creating storms, and just the ability to do things perfectly in her family already, Mibs doesn’t know what to expect. To make

things even more scary, her father is seriously injured in a car accident right before her birthday. Her only wish is that her savvy, when it shows up, will be able to help him.

Reading Level 9-12Lexile 1070

Also Known as Harper

by Ann Haywood Leal

Fifth grader Harper has a rough life but she loves her poetry. Her alcoholic father is now out of the picture, but that leaves her mother

trying to hold everything together all by herself. They can’t pay the rent and are in danger of losing their home. Then, if things

weren’t bad enough, her mother loses her job so Harper has to stay home and take care of her little brother, pretty much dashing her

hopes to share some of her beloved poems in a school contest she won’t be able to attend.

Reading Level 9-12Lexile 800

Everything for a Dog

by Ann M Martin

This is a parallel novel to A Dog’s Life. In this book, Bone, brother of Squirrel from A Dog’s

Life is a stray that is looking for a home of his own. The story also intersects with Henry who wants his own dog more than pretty

much anything, and Charlie who just lost his brother and is now trying to sort things out in his own life. Each chapter alternates between

Bone’s perspective and both boys’ perspectives and eventually they all come

together. Reading Level 9-12

Lexile 890

Franny Parkerby Hannah Roberts McKinnon

Franny’s life so far has been happy, normal, and completely safe, so she expects this

summer to be exactly the same. Two things are making sure that doesn’t happen: the

worst drought in a long time, and Lucas and his mother moving in next door. The drought is affecting everything, especially the animals that Franny takes it upon herself to nurse back to health, but it is Lucas that Franny realizes

really needs help. When Lucas’s alcoholic and abusive father finds Lucas and his mother,

Franny is faced with some harsh life-lessons she has never even thought of before.

Reading Level 9-12Lexile NA

Tentaclesby Roland Smith

In this sequel to Cryptid Hunters, Marty, whose parents disappeared when he was

younger, now lives with his cousin Grace and her dad, Travis Wolfe, a famous

cryptozoologist who is obsessed with finding what some would consider mythological

creatures. In this quest they go to sea to find the giant squid, but do not know that Wolfe’s nemesis, Noah Blackwood is trying to steal

the creature and ruin Wolfe. There are lots of cool gadgets, crazy creatures, and hero/villain

action to satisfy you sci-fi fans out there. Reading Level 9-12

Lexile 740

Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell Out

of a Treeby Lauren Tarshis

Emma-Jean does not fit in with her classmates. She has this detached,

analytical way of looking at things that most kids her age cannot relate to, so she ends up spending a lot of time with adults who seem to understand her better. However, when a fellow middle schooler comes to her for help and she actually does, a whole sequence of new events in Emma-Jeans life has begun.

Reading Level 9-11Lexile 830

Smileby Raina Telgemeier

Imagine being a 12 year old girl in the middle of the crazy social climate of middle school

when suddenly, in a freak accident, your two front teeth get knocked out. How well do you

think you would handle that? This actually happened to the author of this graphic novel, Raina Telgemeier. In the story she writes (and

draws) about all the surgeries, implants, headgear, and other crazy things that she

had to endure because of her accident. She also talks about how the other kids at school treated her because of her teeth issues as

well.Reading Level 9-12

Lexile NA (graphic novel)

Oggie Cooderby Sarah Weeks

Oggie Cooder is kind of a goofball, and one of his goofiest traits is his ability to “charve” (a combo of chewing and carving) cheese slices into state shapes. He certainly has his own way of doing things, which his parents think

makes him the greatest kid in the world. The other kids in his class are not necessarily in agreement however, especially one Donnica

Perfecto. Donnica is quite sure she is the greatest thing in the world and is destined to be in Hollywood, but things get interesting when she thinks that the way for her to get

there is to take “charving” lessons from Oggie.Reading Level 8-11

Lexile 880

100 Cupboardsby Nathan D. Wilson

Henry York is your average 12 year old boy until he wakes up one night in his bedroom in

his aunt and uncle’s house (formerly his grandpa’s house) to discover some strange knobs suddenly protruding from the wall.

Soon he discovers more, 100 cupboards to be exact, and they all seem to lead to something

completely different and completely crazy. Things start to get really interesting when

Henry’s cousin Henrietta disappears into one of the cupboards. Of course, Henry must try

to find her by going into the cupboards himself and having all kinds of adventures. This is the

first book in a series.Reading Level 9-12

Lexile 650