You might have noticed this new widget I have on my sidebar, courtesy of JacketFlap and the Children’s Book Council. It is announcing several nominees for the Children’s Choice Book Awards. In case you didn’t know, the Children’s Choice Book Award nominees have been announced in each category: Kindergarten to second grade, third to fourth grade, fifth to sixth grade, teen choice, author of the year, and illustrator of the year. There are five books or people nominated in each category.
Here’s a little blurb about the contest from the CBC website: “The favorite book finalists were determined by close to 15,000 children and teens. Thousands more will be able to cast their votes for their favorite book, author, and illustrator at bookstores, schools, libraries, and at BookWeekOnline.com from March 15 to May 3.
The Children’s Choice Book Awards winners will be announced live at the Children’s Choice Book Awards gala on May 11 in New York City as part of Children’s Book Week (May 10-16, 2010), the oldest national literacy event in the United States.”
When looking at the list, I am just thrilled. Here are some of my favorites from the list of nominees:
*Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
*City of Glass by Cassandra Clare
*Carl Hiassen for Scat
*Rick Riordan for The Last Olympian
*James Patterson for Max
*Victoria Kann for Goldilicious (Illustrator)
To see the full list of nominees, you can go here.
So, mark your calendars to let your children or your students vote on their favorites. If you haven’t read these books, then go to the library or bookstore and check them out! You have until May 3 to vote, so that’s plenty of time to devour these titles. If you have a favorite from the list, let us know here. You can find some of these authors and their books on this site. Go to the second sidebar on the right-hand side of this page, go to the category they write (such as YA), and click on their name. I have reviewed and provided activities for Suzanne Collins, James Patterson, Cassandra Clare, and Carl Hiassen.
Happy reading!
This week is “Teen Read Week,” which is a week encouraging teens to read something out of this world (this year’s theme). YALSA sponsors this week. Another fun blog, Readergirlz, has their own set of ideas for Teen Read Week, which you can see in their poster that I included here.
I decided to make this part of my Wacky Wednesday post today because I wanted to include some ideas for teachers/home school parents who are doing independent reading or reading workshop with teens. Yes, teens read, and some of them read YA books; others read adult books. In my opinion, it is important for English teachers and home school parents to teach the classics and other important literature to an entire class. But it is EVEN MORE important to instill a love of reading into teens. And I believe we do that with allowing them to read independently books that peak their interests. If you have to give a grade or show how they mastered skills or their improvement over a semester, you can do that with some of my ideas below.
Here are some popular teen books:
Ideas for teens who are involved in reading workshop or independent reading:
1. Teens should have a reading response journal. While they are reading, they can write any questions they have, vocabulary, thoughts about what they are reading, favorite quotes, etc. Sort of like a diary for the book. It shouldn’t have to be in complete sentences, and it can be more creative. They could even include drawings.
2. Allow teens to start a class blog about the books they are reading. They can blog about chapters, characters, and the plot. When they finish books, they can write book reviews on their blogs. A super-easy website to use to start a blog is: Blogger
3. Pretend they are a character from the book and write: a diary entry about a day in the life of that character, a letter from that character to another character in the book or a real person, or a sequel or prequel to the book.
Reviewed by Margo Dill, www.margodill.com, [email protected]
*Young adult novel, fantasy/sci-fi
*Teenage boy as main character
Rating: James Patterson has written an exciting and humorous sci-fi book for tween/teenage boys (and some girls, too!).
Short, short summary: In The Dangerous Days of Daniel X, Daniel is an alien who looks pretty much like a normal, teenage boy. However, his life is far from ordinary. His parents were killed by an alien named The Prayer when Daniel was a wee lad; and since then, Daniel has become an alien hunter. He is trying to finish his parents’ work by hunting down and destroying every alien on the famous alien list. In this book of James Patterson’s series, Daniel runs into the most trouble when he goes after number 6 on the list–Urgent Seth, whose description in The Dangerous Days of Daniel X is absolutely terrifying and gross. Thanks to Daniel’s abilities to create things with his mind, including people, he has a fighting chance against the 6th most powerful alien in the universe and beyond.
So, what do I do with this book?
1. This is a great independent read for middle schoolers and teenagers who are reluctant readers. The chapters are short, and there’s a lot of action and gross description. The audio book is also powerful, and Daniel’s voice comes shining through. Daniel often talks to the readers, and so the voice draws teenagers in. When students finish reading the book, ask them to write about the voice and what they liked or disliked about it. Do they like books where the narrator speaks to them?
2. Another journal writing topic for teenagers with this book (especially if this is an independent reading book, you will want students to write a lot) is how students feel about the end of the novel when Daniel X defeats Urgent Seth and meets the real Phoebe. How do they feel about the fact that Dana, who is actually dead, is keeping Daniel from meeting “real” girls? Do they think Daniel had a good plan for defeating Urgent Seth?
3. When Daniel is on his planet, the setting of the book almost becomes another character in the novel. Discuss with students how setting can be a character, and discuss other books where they have noticed this occur. It happens often in science fiction and fantasy books.
You might have noticed this new widget I have on my sidebar, courtesy of JacketFlap and the Children’s Book Council. It is announcing several nominees for the Children’s Choice Book Awards. In case you didn’t know, the Children’s Choice Book Award nominees have been announced in each category: Kindergarten to second grade, third to fourth grade, fifth to sixth grade, teen choice, author of the year, and illustrator of the year. There are five books or people nominated in each category.