Caudill Club at DPPL: 2009

Friday, November 6, 2009

There's a new shortcut to the club!

Good news! There's now a link to the Caudill Club right on the library's home page! Just go to www.dppl.org and look for the section called Library blogs: join the conversation and there we are at the bottom of the list of all the library's blogs. So exciting!!

Keep up the good reading!

Monday, September 21, 2009

Welcome to the Caudill Club at DPPL!

Hi! I'm Mrs. McLaughlin (Mrs. M for short) at the Des Plaines Public Library and I'm very excited to welcome you to the 2nd year of our online Caudill Club. If you're between the 4th and 8th grade and read at least three of this year's nominated books, you can vote in February for the 2010 Rebecca Caudill Young Readers' Book Award.

Use the menu on the right to find the book titles. On each page, you'll find a summary of the plot, a picture of its cover and a place to write your review and rate the book. You'll also find links to Web sites that are related to the book. You can even go right to our online catalog to place a hold by clicking on the underlined title!

Feel free to leave comments about the books you read, questions you have about a book, and especially suggestions for other things you'd like to see here. For example, would you like to have online book discussions? Are you willing to write reviews for books you've read? Recommend titles you think should be nominated for future awards? This club is for you - let me know what you'd like to see!

I have a question to get you started: I've been (or will be) talking to lots of you during school visits and here at the library. I'm curious -- what books are you looking forward most to reading? Or which ones would you definitely recommend? (To post a Comment, you'll be asked to select an identity. Just pick the button that says "Name/URL" and type your first name and last initial into the box. Ignore the URL box.)

Monday, August 17, 2009

Helmuth Hubener PhotoStory

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

The White Giraffe by Lauren St. John

The White Giraffe by Lauren St. John

After a fire kills her parents, 11-year-old Martine leaves England to live with her grandmother on a wildlife reserve in South Africa where she befriends a mythical white giraffe.

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The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt

The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt

Holling Hoodhood just knows his 7^th grade teacher hates his guts because she makes him read Shakespeare on Wednesday afternoons after everyone else leaves early for religious school.

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The Thing about Georgie by Lisa Graff

The Thing about Georgie by Lisa Graff

Fourth grader Georgie is a dwarf who worries about Jeanie the Meanie’s teasing, the fight he’s having with his best friend, and the new baby his parents are expecting.

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Someone Named Eva by Joan M. Wolf

Someone Named Eva by Joan M. Wolf

In 1942, 11-year-old Milada is taken from her family in Czechoslovakia by the Nazis and sent to Germany, where she is adopted by a wealthy German family and given a new name.

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A Small White Scar by K. A. Nuzum

A Small White Scar by K. A. Nuzum

As 15-year-old Will leaves home to join the rodeo, he is excited to escape the duties of being his brother’s caretaker, but his brother is determined to go with him.

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Shooting the Moon by Frances O’Roark Dowell

Shooting the Moon by Frances O’Roark Dowell

When her brother is sent to Vietnam, 12-year-old Jamie changes her mind about the war when she develops the rolls of film he sends her and sees the grim pictures.

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Shark Girl by Kelly L. Bingham

Shark Girl by Kelly L. Bingham

After a shark attack causes her arm to be amputated, 15-year-old Jane struggles to come to terms with her loss and how it changes her plans for the future.

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The Naked Mole-Rat Letters by Mary Amato

The Naked Mole-Rat Letters by Mary Amato

When her father begins a long-distance romance with a Washington, D.C. zookeeper, 12-year-old Frankie tries to end the relationship by sending phony emails.

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The Mozart Question by Michael Morpurgo

The Mozart Question by Michael Morpurgo

A young journalist goes to Italy to interview a famous violinist who had been in a Nazi concentration camp and blurts out the one question she was told not to ask him.

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Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life by Wendy Mass

Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life by Wendy Mass

Before Jeremy’s dad died 5 years ago, he left a box containing the meaning of life to be given to Jeremy on his 13th birthday – but now the keys have disappeared!

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Kimchi & Calamari by Rose Kent

Kimchi & Calamari by Rose Kent

Adopted from Korea by Italian-American parents, 14-year-old Joseph learns important things about himself after his teacher assigns an essay on family history.

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Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate

Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate

Kek, an African refugee, is confronted by many strange things at his new Minneapolis home, but finds comfort in the company of a cow and her owner.

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Freedom Walkers: The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott by Russell Freedman

Freedom Walkers: The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott by Russell Freedman

When Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus, it was the start of a carefully planned campaign by Martin Luther King, Jr. to help the civil rights movement in Alabama.

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First Light by Rebecca Stead

First Light by Rebecca Stead

When 12-year-old Peter and his family arrive in Greenland for his father's research, he stumbles upon a long-buried secret and begins an unimaginable adventure.

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Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree by Lauren Tarshis

Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree by Lauren Tarshis

Emma-Jean is a quirky and overly-logical 7th-grade girl who gets unexpected results when she interferes in the messy, everyday problems of her popular peers.

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Elephant Run by Roland Smith

Elephant Run by Roland Smith

Nick is held prisoner by the Japanese on his father’s plantation in Burma during World War II until he and his friend Mya plan a daring escape on elephants.

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Dragon Slippers by Jessica Day George

Dragon Slippers by Jessica Day George

After her aunt sacrifices her to a dragon hoping that a knight will rescue her, Creel befriends the dragon and inherits a tool that can save – or destroy – her kingdom.

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Crossing the Wire by Will Hobbs

Crossing the Wire by Will Hobbs

15-year-old Victor Flores journeys north in a desperate attempt to cross the Arizona border into the United States to find work so he can support his family in Mexico.

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A Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban

A Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban

Sure that she'll be on her way to fame if she only had a baby grand piano, 10-year-old Zoe's dreams hit a sour note when her dad gives her an electric organ instead.

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All the Lovely Bad Ones: A Ghost Story by Mary Downing Hahn

All the Lovely Bad Ones: A Ghost Story by Mary Downing Hahn

While visiting their grandmother's inn, two siblings’ pranks awaken impish ghosts from the inn's past – along with a sinister spirit that brings danger to everyone.

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Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Caudill Club Ballot

It's time to vote! Fill out this form and click "Submit."

Friday, November 6, 2009

Monday, September 21, 2009

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Monday, August 17, 2009

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

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