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!
Florida Swamp photo by Peter Long www.flickr.com
*Middle-grade to tween (there’s some language in here–FYI 
) contemporary fiction novel
*Middle-grade students Nick and Marta as main characters
*Rating: A good eco-mystery for kids with a quirky cast of characters, similar to Hoot and Flush by Carl Hiaasen.
Short, short summary:
Scat has a main plot and a pretty important sub-plot that is timely and will appeal to many kids. First the main plot: Bunny Starch, a feared biology teacher, goes missing after a field trip to Black Vine Swamp. Many people are pointing their finger at Duane Scrod, also known as Smoke. But Nick and Marta, two kids in Mrs. Starch’s class, aren’t sure what’s going on in Black Vine Swamp because there seems to be a lot. Nick took some video the day of the field trip, and he and Marta aren’t sure what they see moving among the vegetation–is it the rare, endangered Florida Panther, a man, or even Smoke? Nick and Marta’s curiosity gets the better of them, and they get mixed up in the Black Vine Swamp events after a visit to Mrs. Starch’s house to try to find out what is actually going on. The sub-plot of
Scat by Carl Hiaasen is about Nick and his father. Nick’s father is in the National Guard and had to serve in the War in Iraq. He is injured, and Nick has to deal with his father’s injuries and the fear that comes with having a parent in the war.
So, what do I do with this book?
1. One of the most obvious activities to do with this book and the other Carl Hiaasen books in this series is to talk about the “green” issues that the author brings up. Scat is a great book to go along with a science unit on habitats or to read around Earth Day. Without giving away too much of the plot on this post, you can discuss with students endangered species such as the Florida panther, saving swamp land and why it’s important to food chains/webs, and animals and plants in Florida/warm climate habitats. Children and students can write down facts they learn about these topics while reading Scat, or they can use the Internet or other resources to learn more.
2. Nick’s father in the war may be an issue that some of the children in your class or your family are also dealing with at this point in their lives. If not a parent in the war, then they may know someone else in the war or who has been injured or killed. Before reading this book with these children, you may want to discuss the issues that will be surfacing to make sure children are okay with reading about this topic. Books like Scat by Carl Hiaasen can open up discussions about topics that are bothering children, but some children may still not want to openly discuss upsetting issues in class. You can always give students the option of writing in their reading response journals instead or providing two or three writing or discussion prompts with one being a “safe” topic.
3. Carl Hiaasen tells this story from several different viewpoints. There are many important characters in this book that he develops. As children meet a new character in the text, ask them to write the character’s name in their reading response journals and then some details about him. This will help students keep track of the characters and use their names during discussions and writing assignments. At the end of the novel, ask students to pick their favorite and least favorite characters from this list
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. 