| 2008-2009 Children's Sequoyah Books
American slave, American hero : York of the Lewis and Clark Expedition –
Laurence Pringle
Presents an account of how William Clark's slave, York, helped during the
Lewis and Clark
Expedition, discussing the man's skills, strength, and intelligence.
AR: 6.2, pts: 1
Clementine – Sara Pennypacker
While sorting through difficulties in her friendship with her neighbor
Margaret, eight-year-old
Clementine gains several unique hairstyles while also helping her father in
his efforts to
banish pigeons from the front of their apartment building.
AR: 4.5, pts: 2
Crossing Bok Chitto --a Choctaw tale of friendship and freedom – Tim Tingle
In the 1800s, a Choctaw girl becomes friends with a slave boy from a
plantation across the great
river, and when she learns that his family is in trouble, she helps them
cross to freedom.
AR: 4.4, pts: 0.5
Drita, my homegirl – Jenny Lombard
When ten-year-old Drita and her family, refugees from Kosovo, move to New
York, Drita is teased
about not speaking English well, but after a popular student named Maxine is
forced to learn
about Kosovo as a punishment for teasing Drita, the two girls soon bond.
AR: 3.9, pts: 4
The Fairies of Nutfolk Wood – Barb Bentler Ullman
Ten-year-old Willa and her mother move into a trailer in the woods, and they
meet Hazel, a kind,
eccentric old woman who lives nearby. Soon they share a secret: a band of
woodland fairies
called the Nutfolk lives in the woods, invisible to all but a few.
AR: 5.0, pts: 5
The fall of the Amazing Zalindas – Tracy Mack
The ragamuffin boys known as the Baker Street Irregulars help Sherlock Holmes
solve the
mysterious deaths of a family of circus tightrope walkers.
AR: 5.6, pts: 6
Into the Firestorm A Novel of San Francisco, 1906 – Deborah Hopkinson
Eleven-year-old orphan Nicholas risks his life to save his employer's dog
during the aftermath
of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire.
AR: 4.2, pts: 5
Is my dog a wolf? : how your pet compares to its wild cousin – Jenni Bidner
Examines the differences and similarities between dogs and wolves describing
how both have
descended from the ancient wolf and how they have evolved into two diverse
species.
AR: 5.5, pts: 1
The mailbox – Audrey Shafer
When twelve-year-old Gabe tries to hide his uncle's death from the local
authorities, he is not
prepared for what happens when this secret is discovered.
AR: 5.0, pts: 6
My name is Sally Little Song – Brenda Woods
Twelve-year-old Sally Harrison and her family are slaves on a Georgia
plantation; but when they
learn that Sally and her brother are to be sold farther south, they make
plans to escape into
Seminole country in Florida.
AR: 4.4, pts: 4
Satch & me : a baseball card adventure – Dan Gutman
With his ability to travel through time using vintage baseball cards, Joe
takes Flip with him to
find out whether Satchel Paige really was the fastest pitcher ever.
AR: 4.1, pts: 5
Sheep – Valerie Hobbs
After a fire destroys the farm where he was born, a young border collie
acquires a series of
owners and learns about life as he seeks a home and longs to fulfill his
life's purpose of
shepherding sheep.
AR: 4.0, pts: 4
Strange happenings: five tales of transformation – Avi
Five original stories where strange changes occur, from a boy and a cat
changing places and a
young man learning the price of selfishness to an invisible princess finding
herself.
AR: 4.6, pts: 3
Toys go out : being the adventures of a knowledgeable stingray, a toughy
little buffalo, and
someone called Plastic – Emily Jenkins
Six stories relate the adventures of three best friends, who happen to be
toys.
AR: 4.0, pts: 2
Ugly – Donna Jo Napoli
When all the other birds of Dove Lake turn against him, Ugly's mother has no
choice but to
protect her family and leave her darling chick behind.
AR: 3.3, pts: 4
2008-2009 Young Adult Sequoyah Books
Born to rock – Gordon Korman
High school senior Leo Caraway, a conservative Republican, learns that his
biological father is
a punk rock legend.
AR: 5.3, pts: 8
Copper sun – Sharon Draper
Two fifteen-year-old girls--one a slave and the other an indentured servant--
escape their
Carolina plantation and try to make their way to Fort Moses, Florida, a
Spanish colony that
gives sanctuary to slaves.
AR: 5.2, pts: 11
Dairy queen – Catherine Murdock
After spending her summer running the family farm and training the
quarterback for her school's
rival football team, sixteen-year-old D.J. decides to go out for the sport
herself, not
anticipating the reactions of those around her.
AR: 5.3, pts: 10
Everlost – Neal Shusterman
When Nick and Allie are killed in a car crash, they end up in Everlost, or
limbo for lost souls,
where although Nick is satisfied, Allie will stop at nothing--even
skinjacking--to break free.
AR: 5.6, pts: 12
Happy kid! – Gail Gauthier
After his mother bribes him into reading a self-help book on how to form
satisfying
relationships and enjoy a happy life, cynical eighth-grader Kyle finds there
may be more to the
book than he realized.
AR: 4.9, pts: 8
Heat – Mike Lupica
Pitching prodigy Michael Arroyo is on the run from social services after
being banned from
playing Little League baseball because rival coaches doubt he is only twelve
years old and he
has no parents to offer them proof.
AR: 5.3, pts: 9
The heights, the depths, and everything in between – Sally Nemeth
In 1977, best friends Lucy Small, a seventh grader from Wilmington, Delaware,
who is five feet
ten inches tall, and Jake Little, a dwarf, try unsuccessfully to go unnoticed
during their first
year of junior high school.
AR: 4.4, pts: 9
Jeremy Fink and the meaning of life – Wendy Mass
Just before his thirteenth birthday, Jeremy Fink receives a keyless locked
box--set aside by his
father before his death five years earlier--that purportedly contains the
meaning of life.
AR: 4.5, pts: 11
Life As We Knew it – Susan Beth Pfeffer
Through journal entries sixteen-year-old Miranda describes her family's
struggle to survive
after a meteor hits the moon, causing worldwide tsunamis, earthquakes, and
volcanic eruptions.
AR: 4.7, pts: 14
Monkey town : the summer of the Scopes trial – Ronald Kidd
When her father hatches a plan to bring publicity to their small Tennessee
town by arresting a
local high school teacher for teaching about evolution, the resulting 1925
Scopes trial prompts
fifteen-year-old Frances to rethink many of her beliefs about religion and
truth, as well as her
relationship with her father.
AR: 4.5, pts: 7
Notes from the midnight driver – Jordan Sonnenblick
After being assigned to perform community service at a nursing home, sixteen-
year-old Alex
befriends a cantankerous old man who has some lessons to impart about jazz
guitar playing, love,
and forgiveness.
AR: 5.5, pts: 7
Rules – Cynthia Lord
Frustrated at life with an autistic brother, twelve-year-old Catherine longs
for a normal
existence but her world is further complicated by a friendship with an young
paraplegic.
AR: 3.9, pts: 4
The Rules of Survival – Nancy Werlin
Living with an unpredictable, psychotic mother has taught Matthew how to
survive. Constantly on
alert, he and his sister, Callie, devotedly shelter their younger stepsister,
Emmy, from their
mother's abuse and worry about staying safe.
AR: 4.3, pts: 8
Runaway – Wendelin Van Draanen
Abused foster child Holly keeps a journal of her months as a runaway. Always
on the move, Holly
clings to her writing like a safety blanket. She relies on her uncommon
resourcefulness until
she is eventually rescued.
AR: 4.7, pts: 9
Standing against the wind – Traci Jones
After her mother is sent to jail, eighth-grader Patrice Williams moves to
Chicago to live with
her aunt Mae where she attends a school filled with gangs and drug runners,
applies for a
scholarship to a prestigious boarding school, and learns there is hope for
her future.
AR: 4.8, pts: 6
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