Newbery Possibilities: Summer Prediction Edition

Betsy Bird's Newbery/Caldecott 2016 Summer Prediction Edition is now available from School Library Journal.  Here's her list of Newbery possibilities followed by my commentary.  Click on the link above to read Betsy's blog post which also includes Caldecott possibilities.

Circus Mirandus by Cassie Beasley

I just picked this up from the holds shelf at my library.  It was highly recommended by Donalyn Miller and Franki Sibberson in their session at All Write.  It's next in my stack to read.

Echo by Pam Munoz Ryan 

One of the members of my student book club showed up with an ARC of this book in the fall.  She loved it.  Linda of Teacher Dance reviewed it recently here.  Linda liked it so much that she gave a copy to Ruth Ayres which I spotted on Ruth's writing spot from The Choice Literacy writing retreat.

Gone Crazy in Alabama by Rita Williams-Garcia

This is Williams-Garcia's newest title in the series that began with One Crazy Summer and PS Be Eleven.  Bird ran an experiment with some librarians to see if it can stand alone.  It won hands down!  We read One Crazy Summer several years ago in our Mock Newbery club. 

As soon as I read PS Be Eleven, I'm adding this title to my library request list.  

Goodbye, Stranger by Rebecca Stead

This title was also recommended by Donalyn Miller and Franki Sibberson.  You may remember that Stead won the Newbery award in 2010 for When You Reach Me.   

Tricky Vic:  The Impossibly True Story of the Man Who Sold the Eiffel Tower by Greg Pizzoli

This is the only title recommended by Bird that is unknown to me.  I'm always happy to see nonfiction on the Newbery possibility list.  I'll request it from the library.  

The War that Saved my Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

This title has been in my want-to-read stack before.  Sometimes I have to return titles before I get them read.  Lori Carter, blogger friend from All Write, was listening to this as she traveled to and from All Write.  She reviewed it here.  

Newbery Possibilities for 2016

Summer is a great time to explore titles that might win the 2016 Newbery.  I've included links to posts by Jonathan Hunt and Elizabeth Bird:

Jonathan Hunt's blog, Heavy Medal, tries to predict the Newbery (and Caldecott ) winners each year.  Here's his 2016 Newbery Watchlist published at the end of January 2015:
http://blogs.slj.com/heavymedal/2015/01/28/2016-newbery/

Blogger Elizabeth Bird's Spring Prediction Edition includes some of the same titles that were mentioned by Jonathan Hunt.  Scroll past the Caldecott predictions to get to the Newbery predictions. The Summer Prediction Edition should be available soon.
http://blogs.slj.com/afuse8production/2015/03/18/newbery-caldecott-2016-spring-prediction-edition/

Books, Brownies and Beyond - Book Babble

Thursday, June 11, was our last meeting of the school year for Books, Brownies, and Beyond, our after school book club.  Far too quickly, it was 4 o'clock and time to say goodbye until our summer meetings in July and August.  All middle school students including incoming 6th graders are welcome to join us at the Mercer Island Public Library on July 16th and August 6th, 4-5 p.m.  Bring books to share, come learn about great reads for summer, and enjoy cookie bars with us.  You don't have to attend during the school year to join us for the summer meetings.  

         Check out the smiles and book love radiating from this group!

I chose the arun* form to celebrate our final gathering.

*arun -  fifteen-line poem in three sets of five lines. Each set of five lines follows the same syllable structure: starting with one syllable and increasing by one (1/2/3/4/5 — 3x).  Fellow blogger, Girl Griot, introduced the arun to me.  

A
final
time to talk
books and peruse
Ms. B's blue book bins.
Share  
yummy
cookies and
favorite books
with one another.
Book 
passion
surrounds us.
Goodbye until
our July meeting!

KCLS Recommends: Teens - Grades 6-7

Librarians at King County recommend books for grades 6 and 7:
Booklist for Grades 6-7

Adventure Books for Chris D.

After today's book talks with Carrie Bowman to 6th grade students, Chris C. and Chris D. from Ms. Moore's class helped me carry book bins to my car.  Chris D. mentioned that his favorite genre was adventure books.  Here's a great link from the KCLS (King County Library System) site for adventure books.
Adventure Booklist from KCLS

To explore specific genre booklists from KCLS children's librarians, check out this page:
Booklists by Genre