Top Choices - List 1

I've been researching titles that have received starred reviews, as well as looking up the usual suspects--those authors that seem to turn up year after year as writers of the best children's literature.
There will be 4 lists total, with an average of 10 - 15 titles per list. This seems pretty daunting, but by the time fall gets here, we might have eliminated some titles for consideration in our children's club and of course, in our Adult Mock Newbery Club. Now that I've got a list of approximately 75 titles, I can go ahead and give you the 1st list.

I'll post a new list every 2-3 mos.

List 1: July 1
List 2: August 1
List 3: October 11
List 4: December 1

The Extraordinary Mark Twain (According to Susy) by Barbara Kerley

A Million Shades of Gray by Cynthia Kadohata

Woods Runner by Gary Paulsen

After Ever After by Jordan Sonnenblick

Ashes by Kathryn Lasky

One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia

Sit In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down by Andrea Pinkney

The Dreamer by Pam Munoz Ryan


Incorrigible Children of Ashton of Place: The Mysterious Howling by Maryrose Wood

The Night Fairy by Laura Amy Schlitz

Now it's time to hear from you. Which of these titles spoke to you?  Or did they?  What titles would you put on the list?

The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: The Mysterious Howling by Maryrose Wood

The Mysterious Howling by Maryrose Wood (Book 1)
The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place (series title)
Balzer and Bray
February 2010
267 pgs.

Summary
Fifteen-year-old Miss Penelope Lumley, a recent graduate of the Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females, is hired as governess to three young children who have been raised by wolves and must teach them to behave in a civilized manner quickly, in preparation for a Christmas ball.

The Night Fairy by Laura Amy Schlitz

The Night Fairy by Laura Amy Schlitz
Candlewick Press
February 2010
117 pgs.

Summary
When Flory the night fairy's wings are accidentally broken and she cannot fly, she has to learn to do everything differently.

The Dreamer by Pam Munoz Ryan

The Dreamer by Pam Munoz Ryan
Scholastic Press
April 2010
372 pgs.

Summary
A fictionalized biography of the Nobel Prize-winning Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, who grew up a painfully shy child, ridiculed by his overbearing father, but who became one of the most widely-read poets in the world.

Sit-in: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down by Andrea Pinkney

Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down by Andrea Pinkney
Little, Brown
February 2010
Unpaged

Summary
It was February 1, 1960. They didn't need menus. Their order was simple. A doughnut and coffee, with cream on the side. This picture book is a celebration of the 50 th anniversary of the momentous Woolworth's lunch counter sit-in, when four college students staged a peaceful protest that became a defining moment in the struggle for racial equality and the growing civil rights movement.

Woods Runner by Gary Paulsen

Woods Runner by Gary Paulsen
Wendy Lamb Books
January 2010
164 pgs.

Summary
From his 1776 Pennsylvania homestead, thirteen-year-old Samuel, who is a highly-skilled woodsman, sets out toward New York City to rescue his parents from the band of British soldiers and Indians who kidnapped them after slaughtering most of their community. Includes historical notes.

One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia

One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia
HarperCollins Children
January 2010
218 pgs.

Summary
In the summer of 1968, after travelling from Brooklyn to Oakland, California, to spend a month with the mother they barely know, eleven-year-old Delphine and her two younger sisters arrive to a cold welcome as they discover that their mother, a dedicated poet and printer, is resentful of the intrusion of their visit and wants them to attend a nearby Black Panther summer camp.

After Ever After by Jordan Sonnenblick

After Ever After by Jordan Sonnenblick
Scholastic Press
January 2010
260 pgs.

Summary
Although Jeff and Tad, encouraged by a new friend, Lindsey, make a deal to help one another overcome aftereffects of their cancer treatments in preparation for eighth-grade graduation, Jeff still craves advice from his older brother Stephen, who is studying drums in Africa.

Ashes by Kathryn Lasky

Ashes by Kathryn Lasky
Viking Juvenile
February 2010
318 pgs.

Summary
In 1932 Berlin, thirteen-year-old Gaby Schramm witnesses the beginning of Hitler's rise to power, as soldiers become ubiquitous, her beloved literature teacher starts wearing a jewelled swastika pin, and the family's dear friend, Albert Einstein, leaves the country while Gaby's parents secretly bury his books and papers in their small yard.

A Million Shades of Gray by Cynthia Kadohata

A Million Shades of Gray by Cynthia Kadohata
Atheneum Books for Young Readers
January 2010
216 pgs.

Summary
In 1975 after American troops pull out of Vietnam, a thirteen-year-old boy and his beloved elephant escape into the jungle when the Viet Cong attack his village.

The Extraordinary Mark Twain (According to Susan) by Barbara Kerley

The Extraordinary Mark Twain by Barbara Kerley
Scholastic Press
January 2010
Unpaged

Summary
Thirteen-year-old Susy Clemens wants the world to know that her papa, Mark Twain, is more than just a humorist and sets out to write a comprehensive biography of the American icon.