Louisiana Young Readers’ Choice Award

1. Louisiana Young Readers’ Choice Award Grades 6 - 8

2. Basketball(or something like it) In alternating chapters, four sixth graders, Hank, Nathan, Jeremy, and Anabel deal with the realities of middle school basketball, including family pressure, a series of coaches with very different personalities and agendas, and what it means to be a team--and a friend. ByNora Raleigh Baskin

3. Black Storm Comin’ Twelve-year-old Colton, the son of a black mother and a white father, takes a job with the Pony Express in 1860 after his father abandons the family on their California-bound wagon train. Colton is determined to do the right thing and help his family despite incredible hardships and the barriers of race. ByDiane Lee Wilson

4. Blood Red Horse From the de Granvilles' Hartslove Castle to the bloody battlefields of the Middle East this is a story of loyalty, honor, and nobility that centers around the lives of two brothers, Gavin and William; the fair maiden Eleanor whom they leave behind; and Will's beloved red horse. Alternating chapters reveal what is happening on the "home front," and in the Christian and Muslim camps. By K.M. Grant

5. Bodies From The AshLife and Death in Ancient Pompeii On August 24, 79 C.E., the long-silent Mt. Vesuvius erupted, and volcanic ash rained down on the 20,000 residents of Pompeii. This photo-essay explains what happened when the volcano exploded--and how the results of this disaster were discovered hundreds of years later. By James M. Deem

6. Click Here(to find out how I survived seventh grade) Seventh-grader Erin Swift writes about her thoughts and feelings about herself, her friends and family and the boy she likes in her private blog, but when it accidentally gets posted on the school Intranet site, she learns some important lessons about friendship. ByDenis Vega

7. Code Orange Sixteen-year old Mitty cares about nothing but music and Olivia and blows off school, until he's forced to start a paper for his biology class. He finds an old medical book and in it, an envelope containing two scabs from a 1902 smallpox epidemic. Mitty begins to learn about the horrors of smallpox, and realizes that he may have exposed himself. He becomes terrified not only of getting the disease, but also of starting another epidemic. By Caroline B. Cooney

8. The Cottonmouth Club It is summer 1963 and 11-year-old Mitch is gearing up for a summer of monster movies and sleepovers with his best friend when he learns that his family will be spending two months in rural Louisiana instead. Upon arrival, he is unimpressed with the small town and his overall-clad relatives. Over the next two months, he deals with a first crush, a raging bull, a troublemaker, and third-degree burns. By Lance Marcum

9. Double Identity Thirteen-year-old Bethany’s parents have always been overprotective, but they suddenly drop out of sight with no explanation, leaving her with an aunt she never knew existed. Bethany uncovers shocking secrets that make her question everything she thought she knew about herself and her family. By Margaret Peterson

10. Flush When their father is jailed for sinking a river boat, Noah Underwood and his younger sister, Abbey, must gather evidence that the owner of this floating casino is emptying his bilge tanks into the waters around their Florida Keys home. By Carl Hiaasen

11. Jazz A·B·ZAn A to Z Collection of Jazz Portraits Wynton Marsalis, a well-know jazz master from New Orleans, presents a cycle of poems that alliteratively jitterbugs through 26 verse forms and 26 jazz greats, from Louis Armstrong to Dizzy Gillespie. These poems are set against illustrator Paul Rogers's striking black-and-earth-toned poster-like prints. ByWynton Marsalis

12. The Lightning Thief Percy, expelled from six schools for being unable to control his temper, learns the truth from his mother that his father is the Greek god Poseidon, and is sent to Camp Half Blood where he is befriended by a satyr and the demigod daughter of Athena who joins him in a journey to the Underworld to retrieve Zeus's lightning bolt and prevent a catastrophic war. ByRick Riordan

13. The Pig Scrolls Gryllus, formerly a cook for Odysseus during the Trojan War, ended up on the wrong end of Circe’s wand and is now a talking pig. When the rest of the crew was returned to human form, Gryllus intentionally stayed a pig . . . because it was easier! Junior Assistant Assistant Pythia-in-Training Sybil has pignapped him and informed him that due to her own prophecy, he must now help her save the world. By Paul Shipton

14. The Sacrifice Two sisters, ages ten and twelve, are accused of witchcraft in Andover, Massachusetts in 1692. They await their trial in a miserable prison while their mother desperately searches for some way to obtain their freedom. ByKathleenBenner Duble

15. Sixth-Gradeglommers, norks, and me Allie Kimball is starting Grover Cleveland Middle School, and nothing is the same. Her best friend Tamara is making her feel like a "nork“ and is turning into a "glommer" to stuck-up Renee, and making fun of Allie's soccer mates. Allie slowly begins to realize that she has changed too, even in how she feels about her longtime crush and other boys whom she formerly found dorky. By Lisa Papademetriou

16. Stumptown Kid In a small Iowa town in 1952, eleven-year-old Charlie Nebraska, whose father died in the Korean War, desperately wants to play baseball on his town's team. Flustered by a bully, he fails his try-outs but visiting Negro League player Luther Peale offers to coach him. However, 1950s small town Iowa isn't ready for Luther, and racial tensions soon erupt, fueled by a mystery surrounding Luther's past. By Carol Gorman & Ron J. Findley