Transcript No Slide Title

Louisiana Young Readers’ Choice Award
Grades 6 - 8
The Chaos Code
By
Justin Richards
Matt arrives to spend vacation with his
archaeologist father but finds him
missing. He discovers that his father had
been searching for an ancient code.
Now in the hands of a madman using
high tech computers to decipher it, the
code is being readied for new and
sinister uses. Matt and his friend, Robin,
traverse the globe and battle terrifying
sand creatures and mercenaries in their
efforts to stop the chaos code from being
fully reactivated—and dooming the
modern world to a catastrophe not seen
since the days of Atlantis.
Cracker!
The Best Dog in Vietnam
By
Cynthia
Cracker is a German shepherd living
with her boy until he has to move and
Cracker gets a new job-training with
Rick, who's going to Vietnam. Cracker
learns to sniff out tripwires and hidden
ambushes, and Rick learns to trust his
sometimes rebellious dog, slowly gaining
her undying devotion. After the two ship
out to Vietnam, Rick tells of the
alternating boredom and terror of life in a
war zone, his and Cracker's friendship
with their squad mates, and their time
working with Special Forces.
Deep and Dark and Dangerous
Thirteen-year-old Ali is thrilled when her
Aunt Dulcie invites her to spend the
summer at the family's Maine cottage,
where Ali will help babysit her four-yearold cousin, Emma. Things fall apart,
however, when Sissy, a mysterious,
manipulative girl, befriends Emma. As
tensions rise, Ali begins to piece together
rumors about a childhood tragedy that
continues to haunt her mother and Dulcie.
Who is Sissy and what happened 30
years ago that still haunts her mother and
aunt?
By
Mary Downing Hahn
Diamonds in the Shadow
The Finches take in a church-sponsored
refugee family from war-torn Sierra
Leone. The Amabos family brings no
luggage except for two boxes of
cremated remains. Through snooping,
Jared and Mopsy find uncut diamonds
in the ashes. Unlike their parents, they
realize that something is amiss in this
family. The Amabos do not talk, or
touch, or seem to care about each
other.
By
Caroline B. Cooney
Diary of a Wimpy Kid
It’s a new school year, and Greg
Heffley finds himself thrust into
middle school, where undersized
weaklings share the hallways with
kids who are taller, meaner, and
already shaving. The hazards of
growing up before you’re ready are
uniquely revealed through words
and drawings as Greg records
them in his diary.
By
Jeff Kinney
Dragon Slippers
By
Jessica Day
George
Creel’s aunt totes her out to the local
dragon in desperation (with the hope that
the local prince will rescue her from
certain death and marry her), Creel
refuses the haughty prince and finds
friendship with the dragons, who set her
on a journey to the center of the kingdom
with a pretty pair of what only seem to be
ordinary slippers. But soon enough those
mysterious slippers begin to wreak havoc,
and it’s up to Creel to save the kingdom
from disaster and defend the dragons
from certain doom.
Elijah of Buxton
Eleven-year-old Elijah lives in Buxton,
Canada, a settlement of runaway slaves
near the American border. He's the first
child in town to be born free, and he
ought to be famous just for that.
Unfortunately, all that most people see is
a "fragile" boy who's scared of snakes
and talks too much. But everything
changes when a former slave steals
money from Elijah's friend, who has been
saving to buy his family out of captivity in
the South.
By
Christopher Paul
Curtis
Fire from the Rock
Sylvia is shocked and confused when
she is asked to be one of the first black
students to attend Central High School,
which is scheduled to be integrated in
the fall of 1957, whether people like it or
not. Before Sylvia makes her final
decision, smoldering racial tension in the
town ignites into flame. When the smoke
clears, she sees clearly that nothing is
going to stop the change from coming. It
is up to her generation to make it
happen, in as many different ways as
there are colors in the world.
By
Sharon M. Draper
Football Genius
Troy White can predict any football
play before it happens. And when his
single mom gets a job with the Atlanta
Falcons, Troy knows it's his big
chance to help them out of their
slump—and finally prove his football
genius. But unless Troy can convince
star linebacker Seth Halloway that
he's telling the truth, the Falcons'
championship—and Troy's mom's
job—are in serious jeopardy.
By
Tim Green
Gabriel’s Horses
The year is 1864 and twelve-year-old
Gabriel is the son of a free black father
and a slave mother-making him a slave
as well. He loves to help his father, care
for the thoroughbred racehorses on
Master Giles's farm. When Gabriel's
father enlists in a Colored Battalion to
help the Union Army and earn enough
money to purchase freedom for his wife
and son, it is up to Gabriel to protect the
horses he loves.
By
Alison Hart
Kimchi & Calamari
By
Rose Kent
Kimchi and calamari. It sounds like a
quirky food fusion of Korean and Italian
cuisine, and it's exactly how Joseph
Calderaro feels about himself. Joseph
has to write an essay about his
ancestors for social studies. All he
knows is that his birth family shipped him
on a plane to the USA. End of story. But
what he writes leads to a catastrophe
messier than a table of shattered
dishes—and self-discovery that Joseph
never could have imagined.
Night of the Howling Dogs
By
Graham
Salisbury
Dylan’s Scout Troop goes camping in
Halape, a remote spot below the
volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii. The
only thing wrong with the weekend on a
beautiful, peaceful beach is Louie, a
tough older boy. That night an
earthquake rocks the camp, and then a
wave rushes in, sweeping everyone and
everything before it. Dylan and Louie
must team up on a dangerous rescue
mission. The next hours are an amazing
story of survival and the true meaning of
leadership.
Peak
By
Roland Smith
After Peak Marcello is arrested for scaling
a New York City skyscraper, he’s left with
two choices: wither away in Juvenile
Detention or to go live with his long-lost
father, who runs a climbing company in
Thailand. Peak quickly learns that his
father’s renewed interest in him has
strings attached. He wants Peak to be the
youngest person to reach the Everest
summit—and his motives are selfish at
best. Even so, for a climbing addict like
Peak, tackling Everest is the challenge of
a lifetime. But it’s also one that could cost
him his life.
Schooled
By
Gordon Korman
Cap doesn't exactly fit in at Claverage
Middle School. He has long, ungroomed
hair, wears hemp clothes, and practices Tai
Chi out on the lawn.
His weirdness basically makes him biggest
nerd in school. This is great news for Zach
Powers, big man on campus. He can't
wait to instate the age-old tradition in CAverage School: The biggest nerd is
nominated for class president-and wins. So when Cap becomes
president, he is more puzzled than
ever. But as Cap begins to take on his
duties, the joke starts to turn on Zach.
So Totally Emily Ebers
Now readers can meet Millicent Min’s
best friend and Stanford Wong’s big
crush! After her parents' divorce,
Emily had to move to California with
her mom. Now she writes letters to
her rock-star dad about travel, her
new friends, and how much she
misses him -- though she does still
have his credit card.... Emily Ebers
may be starting over, but she's going
to come out on top.
By
Lisa Yee