Pennsylvania Young Readers’ Choice Award

2. Pennsylvania Young Readers’ Choice Award 2012-2013 Kindergarten – Grade 3

3. Miss Brooks Loves Books (And I Don’t) by Barbara Bottner Miss Brooks is vexing. She loves books. A lot. She decorates. She dresses up. Then, she gives an assignment. “You each need to pick a favorite story to share with the class…Really show us why you love it!” she says. “I’ll never love a book the way you do,” the little girl tells Miss Brooks. Although Miss Brooks and the girl’s mother try everything, she doesn’t like ANY of them. Will she find a book to share? Or, more importantly, will she ever love a book?

4. The Trouble with Chickens by Doreen Cronin There is an inside dog and an outside dog and there are chicks – cute little adorable chicks. J.J. Tully was a search and rescue dog. Two chicks are missing and their mother promises J.J. a cheeseburger as a reward for finding them. The sinister inside dog, Vince, has plans for J.J. Does J.J. still have what it takes to find those missing chicks and earn his tasty reward? Who sent those notes to the search team? Lots of intrigue and humor in this exciting mystery.

5. Energy Island: How One Community Harnessed the Wind and Changed Their World by Allan Drummond In this true story about a community living on a small island in Denmark, we see the power of perseverance when people are determined to make a change to improve their environment. The island of Samso is very ordinary places, where people live and work, go to school, and play – just like you and me. Their island home is in the middle of Denmark where it is very windy. One day, a new teacher is given the job of getting everyone on the island to become more energy conscious and look for other ways to make energy instead of depending on electricity and oil. This island has become very famous and has earned a new name, “Energy Island.” What happened to persuade this community of ordinary citizens to accomplish this? After reading this book, you will look at the wind in a very different way.

6. First Garden: The White House Garden by Robbin Gourley Since Thomas Jefferson first moved into the White House, most presidents and their families have planted gardens. But recently, since food is now so easy to get at a grocery store, presidents have not felt the need to plant a garden. First Lady, Michelle Obama is very concerned that Americans are eating too much unhealthy food which leads to her decision to create a White House garden. She hopes that this will encourage others to eat fresh vegetables and make more healthy eating choice.

7. Winter's Tail: How One Little Dolphin Learned to Swim Again by Juliana Hatkoff, Isabella Hatkoff, and Craig Hatkoff Winter was a baby bottlenose dolphin, just two or three months old when a fisherman came across her trapped in a crab trap in the Atlantic Ocean off the east coast of Florida. He freed Winter from the trap and she was taken to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, where specialists could take care of her injuries. In this fantastic book, you will get to see what the people at Clearwater did for Winter, especially after her injured tail fell off. Winter created a whole new way of swimming for herself without a tail, which was pretty amazing. But, unfortunately, this way of swimming was not good for her back, and she still needed help. Read this book to find out how she got the help she needed and how she is doing today at the age of six. You will absolutely fall in love with Winter!

8. Squish: Super Amoeba by Jennifer L. Holm; illustrated by Matthew Holm Squish is a little blob of amoeba sporting a baseball cap. Along with his two friends Pod, a genius amoeba, and Peggy, a peppy paramecium, Squish finds that school can be a real challenge. He worries when “pure evil amoeba” Lynwood, who enjoys munching on paramecium, threatens to consume Peggy. Squish, mesmerized by his comic book hero, Super Amoeba, imagines himself saving Peggy from becoming Lynwood’s next snack. Read to find out what happens when naïve Peggy the Paramecium, invites her amoeba friends Squish and Pod plus scary Lynwood to her house to meet her adorable new pet, Fluffy the slime mold. If you’re a fan of the Babymouse series also written by the same author, you’ve probably already met this funny amoeba named Squish.

9. Dust Devil by Anne Isaacs illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky This is an American tall tale with more action than a bucking bronco! Angelica Longrider (Swamp Angel) has moved from Tennessee to big sky country, Montana. Here, she can really spread out. She quickly makes herself at home creating buttes, carving out the Grand Canyon and taming a wild horse of a dust storm named Dust Devil. Unfortunately, Backwards Bart, a nasty, mosquito riding, backwards talking desperado buzzes into town with his band of bad boys to rob from innocent town folk. Shouts of “Cash your gimme!”, “Up hurry!” and “Yap-giddy!” can be heard all over the county. With Dust Devil by her side, Angel sets out to capture Bart and his flying desperadoes. Armed with Aunt Essie’s hard-as-horseshoes biscuits, Angel manages to save the day and in the process, conjures up the Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho. Angel is the wildest hero this side of the Mississippi! If you’d like to read more about Angel, check out Ms. Isaac’s Swamp Angel as well.

10. Jim Henson: The Guy Who Played with Puppets by Kathleen Krull; illustrated by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher Did you ever wonder who created Cookie Monster, Big Bird and Miss Piggy? Well in the 1930’s when Jim Henson was a boy there wasn’t any television, so Jim had to figure out a way to do what he loved most, entertain people and make them laugh. He began his career in the backyard performing magic shows using a hose and wearing a turban casting spells on a “snake” by playing his flute. In college he created his first Muppets, a word he made up by combining marionettes and puppets. By cutting up his mother’s furry green coat and sticking on ping pong balls cut in half for eye balls, he made Kermit the Frog his first expressive Muppet. This was just the beginning, he went on to create the puppets in Sesame Street, The Muppets Show and even assisted in the creation of Jedi Master Yoda in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and the creatures in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies. Read and discover how Jim used his imagination and creativity with playful puppets to accomplish his goal, “making a difference in the world.”

11. The Everything Machine by Matt Novak Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have a machine that does everything for you? Well, the folks on Planet Quirk have just such a machine. It cooks their meals, mows their lawns, colors their coloring books and even scratches their backs! Everyone stays in bed all day. Life is good. But one day, the Everything Machine breaks and can’t be fixed for months. What will become of the Quirks? How will they eat? How will anything get done? They don’t know how to do anything on their own! The Quirks are forced to do their chores but with surprising results. The colorful comic panels and funny word bubbles will keep you smiling.

12. Memoirs of a Goldfish by Devin Scillian; illustrated by Tim Bowers Goldfish writes in his diary how happy, happy, happy he is swimming round, round, round in his very own, cozy goldfish bowl. But as the goldfish bowl gets cozier and cozier with new friends added, such as Mr. Bubbles the diver and Mervin the snail, Goldfish gets grumpier and grumpier! When he finally angrily writes in his diary that he wants his very own goldfish bowl all to himself again, he gets his wish. But will that really make him happy? Watching Goldfish in the illustrations is almost as much fun as reading his diary!

13. Tell the Truth, B.B. Wolf by Judy Sierra; illustrated by J. Otto Seibold B.B. Wolf is hard at work at the Villain Villa Senior Center when he receives an invitation from the town librarian to tell the story of how he met the three little pigs. Was he really just blowing on a dandelion puff or rescuing piggies who played with matches? B.B. Wolf is challenged to tell the truth, and maybe….just maybe….he discovers that B.B. doesn’t have to stand for Big Bad after all.

14. The Little Red Pen by Janet Stevens and Susan Stevens Crummel Once upon a time, there was a little red pen which looked remarkably like a very busy, tired teacher! The desk was filled with uncorrected papers and she worried that her students might not be sure they had learned the lesson. What to do? Awful, awful things might happen (even – gasp – the end of the world) if she didn’t get those papers marked. She asked the other office supplies to help, but they all had their excuses and said,“No.” But when the little red pen fell into “The Pit of No Return,” they all pulled together to get the work done. A clever scheme involving paper clips and a hamster plus a lot of hard work will get you rooting for the whole gang as they learn to cooperate.

15. Won Ton: A Cat Tale Told in Haiku by Lee Wardlaw, illustrated by Eugene Yelchin Have you ever adopted a pet from a shelter and wondered what that pet might be thinking? Was he scared? Would she like you? The story of Won Ton the shelter cat is told from the cat’s point of view. As we see the sleek black cat in the shelter getting chosen by a young boy and riding to his new home in a car, we hear the cat’s thoughts in expressive haiku poems. How will things work out for this spunky cat? Will his new family give him a proper name? Will he like his new home? Read Won Ton to find out.

16. EllRay Jakes is Not a Chicken! by Sally Warner; illustrated by Jamie Harper Third grader EllRay has a problem. A big problem. A problem named Jared Matthews. EllRay is the smallest boy in Ms. Sanchez’s class and Jared is the biggest. While Ms. Sanchez is smart about what goes on inside her classroom, she doesn’t always know what goes on outside. As EllRay says, “outside is when school really happens to kids,” and outside is when Jared is making EllRay’s life miserable. But no one else knows and EllRay always seems to be the one getting in trouble. When EllRay is asked to stay out of trouble for a week to earn a trip to Disneyland, the challenge begins! Can he avoid Jared? Can he fight the knots in his stomach and become the bigger man? Read this first book in the EllRay Jakes series to find out!

17. Frankie Pickle and the Mathematical Menace by Eric Wight Has this ever happened to you? You begin to take a quiz and everything on the page looks scary? When Frankie has to take a Math quiz, the problems begin to frighten him. He turns the number 3 into a vampire bat. After erasing part of number 8, it becomes a Cyclops. When the time come to turn in his test, he has no answers filled in! But Mrs. Gordon gives him another chance. Instead of using the weekend to study, Frankie’s family has him shopping, cooking, and exercising. What are they thinking? What will happen when Frankie goes back to school on Monday? Will Math win or will Frankie conquer his fears?

18. Remember, it is easy to participate. Just read or listen to at least 3 books from the list by March 1, 2013. Voting will take place during your library class time. Votes will be sent to the awards committee by March 15 and the winning titles and authors will be announced at the annual Pennsylvania School Librarians Conference.Keep reading!!! Annotations adapted from psla.org.