Golden Archer Nominees-Junior/High Division

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then just click the back arrow to return to this page.

Which book do you think should win the Golden Archer?

Golden Archer Nominees- Intermediate Division

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Which book do you think should win the Golden Archer Award?

No Talking

Golden Archer Nominees-Primary Division

Granny by Anthony Horowitz

Twelve-year-old Joe Warden isn't happy.
Sure, he's rich, but his parents don't care about him. His grandmother should make everything better, except that Joe's granny is a nightmare. She's not just physically repulsive, she's horribly mean.
Everyone thinks she's just a dotty old woman, but Joe knows the truth. He's seen behind her mask and glimpsed the wicked glimmer in her eyes- she is pure evil! And now she's out to get Joe, unless he can stop her and her band of nasty grannies first.

Sixth Grade Secrets by Louis Sachar

When Laura starts a secret club at school, she makes the other members give her something totally embarrassing as "insurance," to make sure they won't tell anyone else about the club. She promises to keep the insurance secret, unless someone blabs. Gabriel, who never tells on anybody, would be a perfect member of Pig City. He wants to join, too. But when Laura asks him, something goes terribly wrong. Now there are two secret clubs in Mr. Doyle's class, and guess who's the head of the new one--- Gabriel! Each club is determined to topple the other one, and nobody's secrets are safe!

The Fabled Fourth and Fifth Graders of Aesop Elementary School by Candace Fleming

The fourth graders at Aesop Elementary are, well, unusual. There’s Calvin Tallywong, who wants to go back to kindergarten. But when he actually gets the chance, he’s forced to do the squirrel dance and wear a yellow-school-bus name tag. The moral of his story? Be careful what you wish for.
Then there’s Amisha Spelwadi, who can spell wildebeest, no problem. She’s sure she’ll get 100 percent on her spelling test. But when the teacher, Mr. Jupiter, asks the class to spell cat, all Amisha can come up with is kat. The moral this time? Don’t count your chickens before they hatch.
Video: http://www.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=154344

Then read...
Welcome back to Mr. Jupiter's inimitable class at Aesop Elementary. His rambunctious, special students are fifth graders now . . . and they rule the school!
Bernadette Braggadoccio stirs things up when her probing investigative reporting for the school's TV station reveals some scandalous stuff. But . . . don't believe everything you hear. Is that new art teacher really a crazy lady with zillions of cats, or could there be more to this story?
For their last year at Aesop, the fifth graders are hoping for the coolest class pet—a unicorn, a pink-headed duck, or at least a giant squid. Imagine their disappointment when they get guinea pigs. But . . . appearances can be deceiving. These guinea pigs have some very unusual traits.

Drizzle by Kathleen Van Cleve

Eleven-year-old Polly Peabody needs to make it start raining again. It rains every Monday afternoon on her family's rhubarb farm, until one Monday, when 1:00 P.M. passes without one raindrop. And then Polly's brother gets sick. Polly has to figure out how everything is connected and make it rain before her Aunt Edith sells the farm. Maybe with the help of her best friend, a talking rhubarb plant named Harry, Polly can face her fears and uncover her family's magical secret.

Author's Website: http://www.kathleenvancleve.com/

Book Talk

Like Pickle Juice on a Cookie by Julie Sternberg

I had a bad August.
A very bad August.
As bad as pickle juice on a cookie.
As bad as a spider web on your leg.
As bad as the black parts on a banana.I hope your August was better.
I really do.

When Eleanor's beloved babysitter, Bibi, has to move away to take care of her ailing father, Eleanor must try to bear the summer without Bibi and prepare for the upcoming school year. Her new, less-than-perfect babysitter just isn't up to snuff, and she doesn't take care of things like Bibi used to. But as the school year looms, it's time for new beginnings. Eleanor soon realizes that she will always have Bibi, no matter how far away she is.

Author Website: http://www.juliesternberg.com/

Shift by Jennifer Bradbury

Some friends fade away....Others disappear.
Imagine you and your best friend head out West on a cross-country bike trek.
Imagine that the two of you get into a fight -- and stop riding together.
Imagine you reach Seattle, go back home, start college.
Imagine you think your former best friend does too.
Imagine he doesn't.
Imagine your world shifting....

Trailer: http://youtu.be/jGNYig_5Q6E

Available at Wonewoc Public Library or through interlibrary loan.

Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life by James Patterson

Rafe Khatchadorian has enough problems at home without throwing his first year of middle school into the mix.
Luckily, he's got an ace plan for the best year ever, if only he can pull it off: With his best friend Leonardo the Silent awarding him points, Rafe tries to break every rule in his school's oppressive Code of Conduct. Chewing gum in class-5,000 points! Running in the hallway-10,000 points! Pulling the fire alarm-50,000 points! But when Rafe's game starts to catch up with him, he'll have to decide if winning is all that matters, or if he's finally ready to face the rules, bullies, and truths he's been avoiding.

Book Trailer

Trailer: http://youtu.be/3VHqADGXKD8
Author interview: http://youtu.be/oMJLobDnxwA

Grounded by Kate Klise

After her brother, sister, and father die in a plane crash, Daralynn Oakland receives 237 dolls from well-wishers, resulting in her nickname: Dolly. But dolls are little comfort to a twelve-year-old girl whose world is rocked by the dramatic changes in her life, including her angry, grieving mother’s new job as a hairstylist at the local funeral home.

Dolly gets a job, too, where she accidentally invents a fashionable new haircut. But her real work begins when a crematorium comes to town, and someone has to save a dying business, solve a burning mystery, and resuscitate the broken hearts in Digginsville, Missouri, population 402.

Available through interlibrary loan.

Accomplice by Eireann Corrigan

Finn and Chloe have it all figured out. Their school guidance counselor has told everyone that it's not enough to get good grades or do community service anymore - kids like that are everywhere, and colleges are bored of them. So what do you do?

Chloe decides they should get attention another way. She and Finn will stage her own disappearance - and then Finn will be the only who finds and saves her.

What college wouldn't want them after that kind of attention? It seems like a good plan -- until things start going very wrong.

Available through interlibrary loan

Ellray Jakes is Not a Chicken by Sally Warner

"Buk, buk, book," Jared whispers, but loud enough for everyone to hear. Eight-year-old EllRay Jakes is sick of getting picked on. But every time he tries to defend himself against class bully Jared Matthews, EllRay is the one who winds up in trouble. It's just not fair!
Then his dad offers him a deal: If EllRay can stay out of trouble for a week, they'll go to Disneyland! So now EllRay has a lot to prove - he's not a troublemaker, and he's not a chicken.

Available through interlibrary loan.

Stolen By Lucy Christopher

It happened like this. I was stolen from an airport. Taken from everything I knew, everything I was used to. Taken to sand and heat, dirt and danger. And he expected me to love him. This is my story. A letter from nowhere.

trailer: http://youtu.be/YWiEoPgYeg0
author interview about the book: http://youtu.be/Dp6VHn8OjtA

A Printz Honor Book

Duckling Ugly by Neal Shusterman

Cara is so ugly, mirrors break. They really break. Not even her parents can deny her ugliness. Cara is tormented and tortured by her everyone she meets in Flock's Rest. Cara's life is miserable as the Flock's Rest Monster. But Cara gets a shimmering note from some exotic place and Cara starts to search for her destiny. Cara does discover her valley of dreams... a place where an ugly duckling can be a swan. But this swan has a thirst for revenge...deadly revenge!

Being by Kevin Brooks

Do you know what is inside of you?
Are you normal?
Robert is not normal... but what is he?

Trailer- http://youtu.be/DgpfQ2kJJwQ

Available at the Wonewoc Public Library or through inter-library loan.

When I was Joe by Keren David

Joe is popular. Joe is an amazing runner. Joe is everything. But Joe isn't a real person. Joe is the person Ty becomes after he witnesses a murder and tells the police. Now dangerous people are after him and will stop at nothing to keep him from testifying in court.

Now Ty is stuck in the witness protection program with his mother, Nicki. Despite the worries and drastic changes, he is enjoying his new life as Joe, and the sweet girl with dark secrets of her own.

Secrets, lies and danger lurking in every corner... The mysteries all unravel one page at a time in this addictive book.

Author's Blog- http://wheniwasjoe.blogspot.com/p/reviews.html
A little Brit Glossary you may find helpful when translating the Britishisms used in this book into American. http://wheniwasjoe.blogspot.com/p/tossers-and-trainers-glossary-for-non.html.

Read the rest of the story in "Almost True"

Does Ty testify? Is he able to live happily? Is he telling the truth? or is there more to the story???

Hard Cash Trilogy by Kate Cann

It sucks to be poor... the girl he likes won't give him the time of day- he has to scrounge off his friends- he has to wear the same old clothes. But then fortune decides to change for Rich. Does money change you?

Book 2- Shacked Up
Book 3- Speeding
Available at the Wonewoc Public Library or through inter-library loan.
http://www.katecann.com/bookGroups.asp?g=n&i=6

Bruiser by Neal Shusterman

Tennyson:
"Don't get me started on The Bruiser. He was voted "Most Likely to Get the Death Penalty" by the entire school. He's the kid no one knows, no one talks to, and everyone hears disturbing rumors about. So why is my sister, Bronte dating him? One of these days she's going to take in the wrong stray dog, and it's not going to end well."

Bronte:
"My brother has no right to talk about Brewster that way- no right to threaten him. There's a reason why Brewster can't have friends- why he can't care about too many people. Because when he cares about you, things start to happen. Impossible things that can't be explained. I know, because they're happening to me.

Brewster:
"Stealer of screams and thief of anguish, I am a criminal, but you can't see it, blinded by your own relief as my body becomes a battlefield in a war that can't be won. Will I be the bullet that ends your pain, or will you end mine?"

Award-winning author Neal Shusterman has crafted a chilling and unforgettable novel about the power of unconditional friendship, the complex gear work of a family, and the sacrifices we endure for the people we love. (http://www.storyman.com/)

Book Trailer- http://youtu.be/JviG8GN_G70

The Deathday Letter by Shaun David Hutchinson

Ollie is just a guy in high school until one day he gets his Deathday Letter and learns he's going to die in 24 hours. After a tear-filled breakfast with his family, Ollie goes to school because he doesn't know what else to do. Luckily he tells his best friend about the letter, and Shane decides they can skip school- they have things to do. They have bridges to jump from, tattoos to get, girls to ravage...
but there are also some really important things to do too.
Go along with Ollie as he really learns to live before he dies.

check out the book site http://www.deathdayletter.com/ or the author's website http://www.shaundavidhutchinson.com/


Available at the Wonewoc Public Library or through inter-library loan.

Going Bovine by Libba Bray

This book is hard to describe and it was hard to put down... I wanted to know if it was really happening or if it was all make-pretend.

Poor Cameron is just an ordinary kid who has some weird symptoms and is finally taken to the doctor. There he discovers that he is going to die of mad-cow disease. The rest of the book is not doom and gloom, but an amazing adventure as Cameron tries to learn the meaning of life and is willing to do whatever it takes to survive.

check out these video book trailers:
http://youtu.be/segA4JzQnKs
http://youtu.be/82WSyxLK_-o

Libba Bray's new book: Beauty Queens
The fifty contestants in the Miss Teen Dream Pageant thought this was going to be a fun trip to the beach, where they could parade in their state-appropriate costumes and compete in front of cameras. But sadly, their airplane had another ideas, crashing on a desert island and leaving the survivors stranded with little food, little water, and practically no eye liner.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwpJ7M1AcZM

Shattering Glass by Gail Giles

"Simon Glass was easy to hate. I never knew exactly why; there was too much to pick from. I guess, really, we each hated him for a different reason, but we didn't realize it until the day we killed him."

This novel will pull you in as you learn about how the guys decide to turn, Simon Glass, the classic geek into a popular kid. It gives you a real-life glimpse into high school life and just how strong the pressure to belong is. It is scary what kids will do to stay in the good graces of the leader or the "It" kid.

Quotes from teachers, parents, kids and cops gives you different points of view of the events as they lead up to the murder.

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

The pages of "Water for Elephants" will draw you into the world of the circus through the memories of 90 or 93 (does it really matter when you are that old)year old Jacob Jankowski.

The book opens with a day of disaster at the circus and Jacob admitting he kept a secret about that day for over 70 years old. "Water for Elephants" moves between the story of a struggling traveling circus in 1930 to the story of the older Jacob just trying to hold onto his sanity. You can't help but be drawn into Jacob's life, from losing his parents and the veterinary practice his father had... to jumping aboard the Benzini Brothers Circus train and becoming the vet for the circus. The head trainer is a brutal man named August, who abuses animals and the people around him. Jacob begins to care about Marlena, August's wife, and some of the other circus workers and will do just about anything to protect them. Ms. Gruen does an amazing job of re-creating the circus world in this book. You will be drawn into Jacob's world and root for him in his efforts to save Marlena, and Rosie the elephant from August's cruelty.

This video is the trailer for the movie that was created based on "Water for Elephants"

http://youtu.be/d0DbfQaentM

Everything I Was by Corinne Demas

Irene's father loses his job. Her family's lifestyle- and her mother's spending- quickly catches up with them. The are forced to move from their Upper West Side penthouse to Irene's grandfather's farm in upstate New York. Irene feels like she has lost everything. But what begins as the most disastrous summer of Irene's life takes a surprising turn, and Irene's life takes a surprising turn, and Irene must decide what she wants for herself after losing everything she was.

Available at the Wonewoc Public Library or through inter-library loan.

Susan Beth Pfeffer

Susan Beth Pfeffer has written some really interesting books. They are the kind of books that you just can't put down. They are fiction, but are so well written, I found myself really living in them, afraid that it could happen in real life, worried about Miranda, worried about what would happen to her and her family, worried about Alex and his sisters, wondering what could possibly come next. I wonder if I would be strong enough to live through it...
What would I do if the world as I knew it came to an end?

"Life As We Knew it"
This clip gives you an idea of what the book is like, but is no where near as good as the book. Miranda's journal makes you feel like you are right there in a small town in Pennsylvania, trying to survive the world coming to an end.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Un3mOgtWJ18

"The Dead and The Gone"

Same natural disaster...different family, different town, different fight. Read about Alex, and how he and his sisters fight to survive in New York City.

http://youtu.be/qKnuYXfUkXY

"This World We Live In"

It's been a year since the meteor collided with the moon, catastrophically altering the earth's climate... Life for Miranda is a whole lot different than before. But she is alive. The struggle to survive intensifies when her father and stepmother arrive with a baby and three strangers in tow. One of the newcomers is Alex... could Miranda find love and happiness in all of this??? A devasting tornado changes their lives once again...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OxRwgN_Q1M

Summer Reading Program at Wonewoc Public Library

Know it all: The little book of essential knowledge

The perfect book to learn a little about a lot of things. Read a chapter or two, or the whole book; you decide how smart you want to be. Then check your knowledge with a quiz or two at the back of the book.

Honeybee: Poems and short prose by Naomi Shihab Nye

82 poems and paragraphs about the essentials of life and times:
our loved ones
our dense air
our wars
our memories
our planet

The House of a Million Pets by Ann Hodgman

When you are a grown up, no one can really stop you from doing what you want. If you want a million pets- you can have them. Read all about what life is like when you have owls, racoons, hedgehogs, prairie dogs, sugar gliders, voles and mice; not to mention dogs and a whole host of other creatures.

If You Didn't Bring Jerky, What did I just eat? by Bill Heavey

Misadventures in fishing, hunting and the wilds of Suburbia.

A great quick read for anyone who likes to hunt and fish or knows people who do. Read a story or two, or the whole book- you're sure to relate to one or two.