Contest--Win THE DIARY OF A WIMPY KID : RODRICK RULES

Would you like to win a copy of THE DIARY OF A WIMPY KID : RODRICK RULES? To enter leave a comment with a title of a Caldecott Medal winning book. Do not repeat a title already used. Remember to include your name, last intitial and teacher's name. Contest ends Wednesday, February 3 at 11:59 PM.

2010 Newbery and Caldecott Medal winners announced

From Publishers Weekly, 1/18/2010

Rebecca Stead has won the 2010 Newbery Medal for When You Reach Me (Random/Wendy Lamb). Jerry Pinkney has won the 2010 Randolph Caldecott Medal for The Lion & the Mouse (Little, Brown). And Libba Bray has won the 2010 Michael L. Printz Award for Going Bovine (Delacorte). The awards were announced this morning at the American Library Association’s midwinter conference in Boston.

Four Newbery Honor Books were named: Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip Hoose (FSG/Kroupa); The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly (Henry Holt); Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin (Little, Brown); and The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg by Rodman Philbrick (Scholastic/Blue Sky).

There were two Caldecott Honor Books: All the World, illustrated by Marla Frazee, written by Liz Garton Scanlon (S&S/Beach Lane); and Red Sings from Treetops: A Year in Colors, illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski, written by Joyce Sidman (Houghton).

THE OLD COUNTRY by Mordicai Gerstein

You can win this book. Here's the review from SLJ "The bulk of this tale takes place in the pseudo-mythical Old Country. At the present time, Great Grandmother Gisella tells her disbelieving young relative the story about how she had been both a girl and a fox. The complicated telling begins, intermingling rather gruesome civil war images, animal tales, Alice-in-Wonderlandesque style legal trials, and slapstick political characters and coups. When Gisella stares too long into Flame the Fox's eyes, they trade shapes. Gisella the fox spends much of the rest of the tale trying to find her family and Flame/Gisella so that she can return to her original form."

To enter the contest leave a comment naming another book that this author has written or illustrated. The person who names the Caldecott Medal win gets an extra entry. Please include your name, last initial and teacher. Contest ends Wednesday night 11:59 PM January 13. Good luck!

The Secret of Zoom by Lynne Jonell

Christina's parents are scientists but now she lives alone with her father. Her mother was blown up in a science experiment a few years before. Christina's father keeps her safe and isolated as he is worried about her winding up in the orphanage next door. One day Taft, an orphan boy befriends Christina and convinces Christina to find the secret tunnel that will help him escape from the orphanage where the children are starved and abused. Soon, she and Taft embark on a journey filled with mystery, crazy scientists and flying planes.

A Season of Gifts by Richard Peck

SEASON OF GIFTS is a companion novel to A YEAR DOWN YONDER and A LONG WAY FROM CHICAGO both of which are wonderful books. Peck has brought back the central character of Mrs. Dowdel and introduced a new family in this book. Mrs. Dowdel quietly delivers gifts to this family most of which they don't even realize are gifts. From helping the 12 year-old boy get back at bullies to planning a funeral for a ghost (to help increase interest in the new minister) this book is a rollicking read that leaves you smiling. I definitely recommended reading the first two before this one and you will enjoy them all. I did.

The Small Adventure of Popeye and Elvis by Barbar O'Connor

Popeye lives in a small town with his grandmother and no-good-do-nothing uncle. Life is boring. Nothing happens. He longs for something to happen. One day, after a week of rain a trailer gets stuck in the mud. Living in the trailer is Elvis, his parents and a bunch of siblings. Elvis and Popeye become friends and find a boat made out of a yoohoo carton floating on the creek. They decide they need to find out who made the boat and sent it down the creek. And so the adventure begins. Can they figure out the mystery before the trailer is dug out of the mud? This is a quick read and a sweet story.