Young Hoosier Book Awards: My Choices

Picture Books:

The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes- Picture Books

Pett, M., & Rubinstein, G. (2011). The girl who never made mistakes. Naperville, Ill.: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky.

This is an adorable story about Beatrice Bttomwell, a young girl who is seemingly perfect. Beatrice has never made a mistake and does not intend to. She always has matching socks, puts her shoes on the appropriate feet, remembers to feed her hamster and makes her brother’s sandwich the same way every day. Most importantly, she always wins the school talent show. When her first mistake, EVER, occurs on stage, Beatrice must learn to accept her own imperfections. 

 

This story is quite profound for being a children's picture book. Although I would not use it for a content lesson, this book is great for a grand discussion setting. I would use this as a way to discuss with a younger audience that it is ok not be perfect. Some questions could include those below. In addition to discussion, this book can be used to teach about narratives. Students can write about a time they made a costly mistake and how it made them feel. 

1. How do you feel when you make a mistake?

2. Explain Beatrice’s reaction when she makes a mistake during her performance. She could have cried or ran away, but she laughed. Why do you think that is?

3. How can you learn from your mistakes?

4. Why is it important that everyone just calls her “Beatrice” at the end?

I would recommend this book to win the Hoosier Book Award because it displays strong moral convictions and prompts self-confidence and a positive self-image. It is will written and illustrated in such away the scenario is relatable and believable.  

Intermediate Grades:

Cardboard- Graphic Novel and Fantasy

TenNapel, D. (2012). Cardboard. New York, New York: Graphix.

Interestingly enough, this is a graphic novel. The story is centered on Cam, a young boy, who recieves a cardboard box with magical powers for his birthday. His father, who is morning the death of his wife, is down on his luck and unable to afford anything more than a cardboard box for Cam. The $0.78 gift comes with rules. Cam can make anything it wants out of it, but he must return the scraps to the toy store it came from. Cam makes the best of the lackluster gift and he and his father work through the night to make a life size person. To their surprise Bill, the cardboard person, comes to life! Bill is a boxer complete with red shorts and blue gloves. The conflict evolves when Marcus, the bully next door neighbor, gets a hold of the cardboard scraps. Marcus uses the scraps to create a cardboard army of monsters. Cam and his father are challenged to find a solution before the neighborhood is destroyed.

I loved this book! The author does such a great job illustrating the novel. The overarching theme of creation stresses the importance of how the end product is dependent on the creator. I would like to sue this book in my classroom to help teach characterization and varying types of conflict. The illustrations are a huge portion of the plot development. The students should be taught to decode the pictures to find character traits, emotions and conflict. I would teach about the various types of conflict Cam finds himself in (nature, character, self) and use the illustrations as evidence. Using this book would be great opportunity to appeal to different types of readers. The illustrations may also help struggling readers comprehend. 

I would recommend this book to win the Hoosier Book Award because the graphics provide an alternative method to reading a novel. The story is told through detailed pictures and dialogue. Although this book may not be for all students, the adventure would be entertaining for most.

Middle Grades:

The False Prince-Historical Fiction

Nielsen, J. (2012). The false prince. New York, New York: Scholastic.

         This is the first book in the Ascendance trilogy. The books take place in a divided kingdom that is on the edge of civil war. Bevin Conner, a noble man in the court, takes it upon himself to create a plan to unit the kingdom. His plan in contingent on finding the long lost son of the king. Instead of finding the king's actual son, he seeks to find an impersonator. The prince was lost at sea and is presumed dead after his ship was attacked by pirates from the hostile neighboring country of Avenia. Conner kidnaps three orphans who have a likeness to the prince. It is presumed that the two who are not chosen to impersonate the prince will be killed. The orphans are given a crash court in royalty and the kingdom: riding, fencing, history, and basic literacy. The story is told from the perspective of Sage, one of the orphans. Before the choice is made, Sage withstands a beating for stealing a rock, an encounter with a prince, and an attack from enemy forces. In the end Conner does not choose Sage, and instead chooses Roden. To avoid death, Sage demonstrates expertise at a parlor trick that Jaron was noted for, and Conner changes his mind and chooses Sage instead, deciding that only Sage is capable of fooling the Court. It is then revealed that Sage is actually Jaron! Jaron and the rest of the company must now travel to the capital and convince the court of Sage's true identity. Conflict ensues and Sage's true identify is revealed when he shows the rock he had stolen back from Conner to be true gold. Sage is then crowned as King Jaron.

 

  

This book was well written, but I was not a huge fan. I'm not particularly a fan of time period pieces like this. Sage, the narrator, is also hard to follow and comes off as unreliable. This book could be easily used in a book circle. I think that boys would enjoy the action and quick paced development of this story. I would include other books based in the same time period. Students could choose their book for the book circles. With that said, I would time the book circles at a time we were studying serfdom or the British world history. I could also use this as an independent read for students. They could complete some sort of book report: posters, book tailors, power points, etc.     

Although I did not particularly like this book, I would recommend this book to win the Hoosier Book Award because it presents all the characteristics of a well written novel. The plot is dramatic and presents an interesting and engaging problem. Due to the age of the prince, the story is complete with timeless problems of coming to age and losing innocence. I think middle school student would, especially boys, would like this book for the action and because it is part of a series.  

Check out all of the nominated books here!