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Young Hoosier Book Award 2015-2016 Middle Grade Books
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First begun in 1974, the Young Hoosier Book Award encourages Indiana students to read for fun. Since 1992, the Award has been divided into three categories based on grade level: Kindergarten-3rd grade (picture books), 4th-6th grade (intermediate), and 6th-8th grade (middle grade). Each year, teachers, students, parents and media specialists submit suggestions to the Young Hoosier Book Award committee, who nominate twenty books in each category. Students read the books on the list and vote for their favorites. Votes are then tallied and the winning illustrator and authors are presented the award in the spring of the following year.
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2014-2015 Middle Grade Winner
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Cardboard
by Doug TenNapel
After Cam's down-and-out father gives him a cardboard box for his birthday, they fashion it into a man that magically comes to life, but things spin wildly out of control when the neighborhood bully steals a scrap of the cardboard to create creatures that promptly disobey his orders and multiply into an unruly army.
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2015-2016 Middle Grade Nominees
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Sasquatch in the Paint
by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Sports Fiction. Nobody at school really noticed smart, geeky Theo until a sudden growth spurt made him the tallest kid in eighth grade. Now, Theo has been pressured into joining the basketball team…despite the fact that he is terrible at basketball. Yet as he practices, Theo actually starts to get into the game. Though he's embarrassed when crazy (but fascinating) new girl Rain nicknames him Sasquatch, and worried when basketball interferes with the academic team he loves, Theo is determined to find his confidence on the court. Sports fans who enjoy this "tough but realistic" (Publishers Weekly) series debut from basketball star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar may also appreciate W.C. Mack's Athlete vs. Mathlete.
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The Impossible Knife of Memory
by Laurie Halse Anderson
Realistic Fiction. Hayley's high school is filled with freaks and zombies -- or at least that how it seems to her. For years, she's lived on the road with her father, a trucker and a military veteran, but now his increasingly severe PTSD has forced them to settle down. Between taking care of her unpredictable dad and struggling with memories of her messed-up childhood, Hayley feels unable connect with anyone at school…until she meets Finn, a guy with issues of his own. If you like realistic, heartbreaking stories with unforgettable characters, don't miss this "exploration of the lingering scars of war" (Kirkus Reviews) from the award-winning author of Speak.
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Jinx
by Sage Blackwood
The highly acclaimed first book of a fantasy adventure series set in a mysterious forest, starring a daring new hero. "Readers will thrill to journey with Jinx" (SLJ, starred review), a wizard's apprentice, as he sets off on a quest through the dangerous Urwald, a magical forest full of wizards and were-creatures, and discovers that it is more complex than he could imagine, and that it needs him more than he could ever guess. This humorous and smart tween fantasy adventure is perfect for fans of Septimus Heap, The Sisters Grimm, and Fablehaven.
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Infestation
by Timothy J. Bradley
When Andy Greenwood is sent to the Reclamation School for Boys he expects the lousy food, mean drill sergeant instructors, and brutal bullies. What he doesn't expect is an infestation of weirdly large and aggressive ants, or the itching welts all over the staff and students. Even odder, Andy learns that kids never leave the school when they're supposed to. They just seem to get stuck there indefinitely. Following a ground-splitting earthquake, however, things quickly go from bad to horrifying. The school is overrun by monstrous bugs, and Andy himself comes face to face with mutant ants the size of humans, equipped with pinchers that can cut steel. Trapped in a cinderblock institutional building in the New Mexico desert, miles from civilization, Andy must figure out a way to save himself and the surviving boys from this nightmare.
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The School for Good and Evil
by Soman Chainani
Best friends Sophie (princess wannabe) and Agatha (witchy loner) are headed (via kidnapping) to the School for Good and Evil, With her glass slippers and devotion to good deeds, Sophie knows she'll earn top marks at the School for Good and join the ranks of past students like Cinderella, Rapunzel, and Snow White. Meanwhile, Agatha, with her shapeless black frocks and wicked black cat, seems a natural fit for the villains in the School for Evil. The two girls soon find their fortunes reversed—Sophie's dumped in the School for Evil to take Uglification, Death Curses, and Henchmen Training, while Agatha finds herself in the School for Good, thrust among handsome princes and fair maidens for classes in Princess Etiquette and Animal Communication. But what if the mistake is actually the first clue to discovering who Sophie and Agatha really are?
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The Living
by Matt de la Peña
Thriller. With a cushy job on a cruise ship, Shy Espinoza's summer is looking good. Not only is he spending time with his beautiful crush, Carmen, he's also earning money to help his nephew get treatment for Romero Disease, the pandemic that's raging through California. But then a devastating tsunami smashes the ship, and Shy's everyday concerns are replaced by the fierce desire to survive. Authentic characters anchor the breathtaking action in this provocative and utterly gripping thriller, the 1st in a planned two-book series. For another gritty, post-apocalyptic read, try The Dead and the Gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer.
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A Summer of Sundays
by Lindsay Eland
When you're the third of six kids, it's easy to get lost in the shuffle, but Sunday Fowler is determined that this summer she'll find the one thing that makes her stand out from her siblings. When she discovers a silver box in the basement of the library her parents are renovating, she might just have found something to gain her the attention she so craves. Inside is a series of letters addressed to "The Librarian" and a manuscript. But who wrote them? With the help of annoying neighbor-turned-new-friend Jude, Sunday is determined to track down the author. And when she unveils this novel to the world, she'll be famous! But uncovering this manuscript means stirring up secrets that some people in the town hoped to keep buried.
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The Fellowship for Alien Detection
by Kevin Emerson
Haley and Dodger have nothing in common. But that was before they learned about the strange, unexplainable phenomena in Juliette, Arizona. Before they both received summer research grants from a mysterious foundation and discovered their theories about extraterrestrial life were correct. Now Haley and Dodger do have something in common: they're the only ones who can figure out what's happening in towns across the country and stop it.
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Unbreakable
by Kami Garcia
Paranormal Thriller. While searching for her cat in a graveyard, Kennedy is attacked by a vengeful spirit, and is saved only by the timely appearance of twin demon hunters Lukas and Jared. As if Kennedy weren't bewildered enough, the brothers then tell her that she, like them, is part of a Legion of paranormally talented teens tasked with taking down a powerful demon. Oozing with eerie atmosphere and loaded with breathless, bloodcurdling action -- not to mention an angsty love triangle -- this series starter from the co-author of Beautiful Creatures will please fans of the TV show Supernatural, as well as readers who enjoyed The Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan.
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Twerp
by Mark Goldblatt
Historical Fiction. In 1969, 12-year-old Julian's assignment is to write a journal about an act of bullying that recently got him suspended. At first Julian avoids writing about the incident, instead describing his misadventures with his best friend, Lonnie: romantic confusion, homemade fireworks, and trying to outrun cars. But writing about his friends makes Julian start to wonder who he is without them, and how responsible he is for their actions, as well as his own. Readers who enjoyed Jerry Spinelli's Maniac Magee or Gary Schmidt's The Wednesday Wars, and who are looking for something a bit more edgy, will appreciate this outrageously funny and unflinching coming-of-age story.
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Sure Signs of Crazy
by Karen Harrington
You've never met anyone exactly like twelve-year-old Sarah Nelson. While most of her friends obsess over Harry Potter, she spends her time writing letters to Atticus Finch. She collects trouble words in her diary. Her best friend is a plant. And she's never known her mother, who left when Sarah was two. Since then, Sarah and her dad have moved from one small Texas town to another, and not one has felt like home. Everything changes when Sarah launches an investigation into her family's Big Secret. She makes unexpected new friends and has her first real crush, and instead of a "typical boring Sarah Nelson summer," this one might just turn out to be extraordinary.
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The Time Fetch
by Amy Herrick
Under normal circumstances, a Time Fetch sends out its foragers to collect only those moments that will never be missed or regretted. It then rests, waiting to be called back by the Keeper, who distributes the gathered time where it is needed in our world and others. When eighth-grader Edward innocently mistakes a sleeping Fetch for an ordinary rock, he wakes its foragers too early, and they begin to multiply and gobble up too much time. Soon the bell rings to end class just as it’s begun. Buses race down streets, too far behind schedule to stop for passengers. Buildings and sidewalks begin to disappear, as the whole fabric of the universe starts to unravel. To try and stop the foragers, Edward must depend on the help of his classmates Feenix, Danton, and Brigit―whether he likes it or not.
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The Great Trouble: A Mystery of London, the Blue Death, and a Boy Called Eel
by Deborah Hopkinson
Eel has troubles: As an orphan and a “mudlark,” he spends his days in the filthy River Thames, searching for bits of things to sell. He’s being hunted by Fisheye Bill Tyler, and a nastier man never walked the streets of London. And he’s got a secret that costs him four precious shillings a week to keep safe. But even for Eel, things aren’t so bad until that fateful August day in 1854—the day the deadly cholera (“blue death”) comes to Broad Street. Everyone believes that cholera is spread through poisonous air. But one man, Dr. John Snow, has a different theory. As the epidemic surges, it’s up to Eel and his best friend, Florrie, to gather evidence to prove Dr. Snow’s theory—before the entire neighborhood is wiped out.
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The Lost Kingdom
by Matthew J. Kirby
In this extraordinary adventure story, Billy Bartram, his father, and a secret society of philosophers and scientists venture into the American wilderness in search of the lost people of the Welsh Prince Madoc, seeking aid in the coming war against the French. Traveling in a flying airship, the members of the expedition find their lives frequently endangered in the untamed American West by terrifying creatures, a party of French soldiers hot on their trail, and the constant threat of traitors and spies. Billy will face hazards greater than he can ever imagine as, together with his father, he gets caught up in the fight for the biggest prize of all: America.
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The Right Fight
by Chris Lynch
Historical Fiction. Roman Bucyk is a minor league baseball star, but his real ambition is to stand up for his country in the fight against the Nazis. So in 1941, Roman enlists in the U.S. Army and heads off to basic training, and then into battle -- not in Europe or the Pacific as he expected, but in North Africa, where his experiences strain not only his courage and endurance, but also his romance with Hannah, who is back on the homefront. With all the vivid atmosphere and gut-wrenching battle scenes of his Vietnam series, Chris Lynch offers readers "a powerful taste of war on a personal level" (Publishers Weekly).
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Odette's Secrets
by Maryann Macdonald
Odette is a young Jewish girl living in Paris during a dangerous time. The Nazis have invaded the city, and every day brings new threats. After Odette's father enlists in the French army and her mother joins the Resistance, Odette is sent to the countryside until it is safe to return. On the surface, she leads the life of a regular girl--going to school, doing chores, and even attending Catholic Mass with other children. But inside, she is burning with secrets about the life she left behind and her true identity. Inspired by the life of the real Odette Meyers--and written in moving free-verse poetry--this is a story of courage, of determination to survive, and of a young girl forced to hide in plain sight.
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Far Far Away
by Tom McNeal
Jeremy Johnson Johnson hears voices. Or, specifically, one voice: the ghost of Jacob Grimm, one half of The Brothers Grimm. Jacob watches over Jeremy, protecting him from an unknown dark evil whispered about in the space between this world and the next. But Jacob can't protect Jeremy from everything. When coltish, copper-haired Ginger Boultinghouse takes a bite of a cake so delicious it’s rumored to be bewitched, she falls in love with the first person she sees: Jeremy. In any other place, this would be a turn for the better for Jeremy, but not in Never Better, where the Finder of Occasions—whose identity and evil intentions nobody knows—is watching and waiting.
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The Hidden Summer
by Gin Phillips
After a falling out between their mothers, 13-year-old best friends Nell and Lydia are forbidden from seeing each other for the whole summer. Nell struggles with the thought of not only losing her best friend, but also losing the only person in whom Nell finds refuge from the difficulties she faces at home. Determined to find a place of their own, Nell and Lydia spend the summer hiding out in an abandoned golf course where Nell and Lydia find mysterious symbols scattered throughout the grounds. As they reveal the secret of the symbols, Nell discovers she isn't the only one seeking haven and begins to uncover what’s really been hidden all along, finally allowing herself to be truly seen.
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The Girl from Felony Bay
by John Thompson
The last year has been rough for Abbey Force. Her dad is in a coma after his accident a year back, wherein he was framed for a terrible crime he didn’t commit. And their home, Reward Plantation, an idyllic spot on the eastern coast of South Carolina, had to be sold to pay off his debt to society. Abbey is stuck living with her uncle Charlie, who, even in the few hours a day when he’s sober, ain’t exactly your ideal parental role model. But it turns out the new family that moved into Abbey’s old house has a daughter named Bee. And she’s just as curious about all the No Trespassing signs and holes being dug out by Felony Bay, in the corner of what used to be Abbey’s home. It appears someone’s been poking around a mystery that dates all the way back to the Civil War—and it just might be the same someone who framed Abbey’s dad.
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The Heartbreak Messenger
by Alexander Vance
Twelve-year-old Quentin never asked to be the Heartbreak Messenger. It just kind of happened, and he can't let a golden opportunity pass him by. The valuable communication service he offers is simple: He delivers breakup messages. For a small fee, he will deliver that message to your soon-to-be ex. If you order the deluxe package, he'll even throw in some flowers and a box of chocolates. At first, Quentin's entrepreneurial brainchild is surprisingly successful, which is great, because he suspects his mom is worried about money. But as he interacts with clients, message recipients, and his best friend, Abigail, it doesn't take long for him to wonder if his own heart will remain intact.
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Michigan City Public Library
100 E. 4th Street
Michigan City, Indiana 46360
219-873-3044
http://mclib.org/
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