Colorado Children's Book Award (CCBA) Nominees 2009
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Bad Dog, Marley, by John Grogan
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Fancy Nancy and the Posh Puppy, by Jane O'Connor
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The Gingerbread Girl, by Lisa Campbell Ernst
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Henry's Freedom Box, by Ellen Levine
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Knuffle Bunny too: A Case of Mistaken Identity, by Mo Willem
- Library Lion, by Michelle Knudsen
- Move Over, Rover!, by Karen Beaumont
- The Perfect Nest, by Catherine Friend
- Poor Puppy, by Nick Bruel
- The Three Snow Bears, by Jan Brett
Bad Dog, Marley, by John Grogan
Based on Grogan's memoir, Marley and Me, all of yellow lab Marley's bad habits
are illustrated, from chewing the buttons off clothing to tearing up the couch during a thunderstorm. Marley is
so bad that Mommy finally declares that he has to go. But then Marley does something so incredibly good that everyone,
even Mommy, agrees that Marley can stay.
Fancy Nancy and the Posh Puppy, by Jane O'Connor
Fancy Nancy's family is going to get a dog! Nancy wants a dog like Jewell, her
neighbor's cute little papillon, who is small, delicate, and perfect for "fancying." But her parents want a large,
plain dog. Nancy arranges to puppysit Jewell so her family can see how perfect a fancy little dog would be. But things
don't go exactly as Nancy planned, and soon she realizes that a plain dog from the shelter might be the poshest puppy of all.
The Gingerbread Girl, by Lisa Campbell Ernst
The little old woman who lost her Gingerbread Boy to the fox tries again, this time baking a
pretty Gingerbread Girl. Alas! This cookie runs away, too, and even encounters the same fox that ate her brother. But the
Gingerbread Girl is not the airhead everyone thinks she is. Like her brother, she outruns everyone who chases her. But
unlike her brother, she manages to outfox the fox!
Henry's Freedom Box, by Ellen Levine
As a young slave, Henry is taken from his mother and given to their master's son to work in the tobacco factory. Eventually
he marries and has children of his own. Unfortunately, they, too, are taken from him and sold to other masters. Knowing he will
never see his family again, Henry makes a desperate plan to gain his freedom. With the help of people who believe slavery is wrong,
Henry mails himself to Philadelphia! Based on a true story.
"Knuffle Bunny too: A Case of Mistaken Identity, by Mo Willems
When Trixie takes her one-of-a-kind Knuffle Buny to school, she finds out he isn't the only one. Another girl, Sonja, also
has a Kuffle Bunny! The girls fight over their bunnies, and their teacher takes both bunnies away until the end of the school day.
That night, Trixie suddenly wakes up with the realization that she has the wrong bunny. Nothing will do but to call Sonja's house and
arrange for an exchange. Both girls then realize that their love for their bunnies overrides the fact that they aren't unique, and soon
they are best friends.
Library Lion, by Michelle Knudsen
One day a lion walks into the library. Mr. McBee, the assistant librarian, reports the lion's presence to Miss Merriweather,
who is known for her insistence that everyone follow the rules in the library: no running, no noise. Since the lion is not breaking
any rules, he is allowed to stay. In fact, the lion becomes quite a good library helper - he dusts the shelves with his tail, licks
the envelopes of the overdue notices, and lets children climb on his back to reach books on the higher shelves. And every day he sits and
listens quietly during story hour. But one day he breaks a rule and is banished by Mr. McBee. Everyone misses the lion and wonders where he
is. Now it's up to Mr. McBee to find the lion and for everyone to realize that sometimes there's a good reason to break the rules.
Move Over, Rover!, by Karen Beaumont
As the rain pours down, more and more animals squeeze into Rover's doghouse, until the presence of one animal makes all the others
scatter. Rhyming text and adorable full-page illustrations make this a charming addition to the list of books similar to Jan Brett's
The Mitten.
The Perfect Nest, by Catherine Friend
Jack the cat builds the perfect nest. But the nest isn't for Jack. It's for the perfect chicken that Jack hopes will move in and
lay the perfect egg, so Jack can cook a perfect omelet. Soon a chicken does move in and lay an egg, but then in comes a duck and a goose,
who also lay eggs. The birds then fight over the nest, and no matter what Jack does to get them to leave their eggs, they stay put.
Finally Jack figures out a way to get the birds out of the nest, but by then the babies have hatched, and guess who they think is their
mother?
Poor Puppy, by Nick Bruel
Puppy wants to play, but Kitty doesn't want to. So Puppy has to play by himself with all of his toys: 1 airplane, 2 balls, 3 cars,
4 dolls, and so on through the alphabet. Then he takes a nap and dreams of all the things he and Kitty could do together: Apple Bobbing in
Antarctica, Baseball in Brazil, Checkers in Canada, and so on through the alphabet again. Bruel's hilarious illustrations make this sequel
to Bad Kitty another winner!
The Three Snow Bears, by Jan Brett
While looking for her lost huskies, young Eskimo Aloo-ki comes upon a giant igloo, empty because the three polar bears who live there
have gone on a walk while their soup cools. With a twist on the Goldilocks tradition, Aloo-ki tastes the soup, tries on the bears' boots, and
goes to sleep in Baby Bear's bed. When the bears return and find her asleep, Aloo-ki runs outside to find that while she was sleeping, the
bears have found her huskies. In delightful Jan Brett fashion, the borders are filled with arctic animals in fur parkas and hats, frolicking
on the snow and ice.
Clementine by Sara Pennypacker
Clementine is a third grader who will remind you of Junie B. Jones, except that she uses better grammar. Clementine spends much of her
time in school paying attention, but not to what her teacher would like her to pay attention to. Thus she also spends a great deal of time
in the principal's office, and brings home many notes that read, "Clementine did not have a good day today." Her antics get her in trouble
at home, too, but her parents are extremely understanding and have a nice sense of humor. Clementine's voice is absolutely spot-on, and the
situations she gets herself into are hilarious. Clementine is just spectacularful!
Diary of a Wimpy Kid, by Jeff Kinney
A year in the life of seventh grader Greg Heffley is offered month by month in his diary, which he swears at the beginning is NOT a
diary, but a journal. Nevertheless, his middle school trials and tribulations are all there for us to sympathize with and laugh about.
Girls, dorks, morons and bullies are all fodder for Greg's diary, and most of these personality types are detailed from experience, not
just observation. Family members are not exempt from Greg's story either.
All of Greg's diary entries are accompanied by black-line
cartoons, many of which carry conversation balloons that add details to Greg's narrative. Greg's voice is perfect for an adolescent boy.
All in all, this first volume in a planned series of three is just plain lots of fun.
Gossamer, by Lois Lowry
Where do dreams come from? Perhaps, as in this story, they come from dream-givers, fairy-like creatures who bestow dreams on humans
during the night. Littlest One is a dream-giver in training. She learns to gather memories from people's possessions and return the
pleasant memories as dreams with a gossamer touch. She is trained by Thin Elderly, an old, very experienced dream-giver who must exercise
enormous amounts of patience to deal with Littlest One's incessant chatter and enthusiasm. Their newest assignment is especially difficult:
an old woman and her recently acquired foster child John, who came from an abusive home. Not only must they find pleasant memories from
which to bestow dreams, they must also fight the dark dream-givers called Sinisteeds, who visit the boy each night with nightmares that
counter the attempts of Littlest One and Thin elderly to bring happiness to John and his foster mother.
This is a sweet story with a
nice balance between dark and light (the description of giving a dream to a dog is especially cute), and you will find yourself wishing
you could meet the dream-giver who gives you sweet dreams with a light kiss.
Heat, by Mike Lupica
Twelve-year-old Michael Arroyo has an amazing pitching arm, and he lives for baseball - his own Little League team, the Clippers, and the
New York Yankees, whose stadium is within walking distance from his house in the Bronx. The Clippers are hoping to get to the national Little
League championships in Williamsburg. But Michael also has a secret: his father has died, and he and his brother Carlos are trying to stay
out of the foster care system until his brother turns 18 in a few months. Only his best friend Manny and their neighbor, Mrs. Cora,
know this.
But when the Clippers play Westchester South, Michael has a run-in with their talented but arrogant pitcher, Justin, whose father is the
coach. Justin's father files a complaint with the Little League commission, charging that Michael must be older than twelve, the oldest that
a Little Leaguer can be and still play. Michael, Carlos and their dad escaped from Cuba on a boat, like many Cubans escaping Castro's
government, and he has no birth certificate to prove his age. While Michael and Carlos try to contact people in Cuba, Michael tries to evade
the man from Social Services, who suspects that Michael's father has deserted the family.
This is an outstanding sports story, with excellent descriptions of baseball plays and rules. It is also a terrific coming-of-age
story, as Michael struggles with his own misgivings about lying, at the same time trying to stay with his brother and not go into foster
care. This is a terrific book for baseball fans and non-fans alike!
The Homework Machine, by Dan Gutman
Four fifth graders in Ms. Rasmussen's class are grouped together for class projects, and they are the most unlikely bunch to work
together that you would ever guess. Sam is the class clown, Judy is an overachiever, Kelsey is a slacker, and Brenton is a first class geek.
But Brenton, who has no real need to do homework because he's so smart, has invented a computer that does his homework for him automatically.
He lets the others in on the secret, and that's when the trouble begins. The story is told by all the kids, as well as some of their mothers
and their teacher. Would you like a machine to do your homework for you? Read this book before you decide!
May-Bird and the Ever After, by Jodi Lynn Anderson
Ten-year-old May is a misfit. She lives near a deserted town, on the edge of Briery Swamp, and has no friends except her odd cat,
Somber Kitty. One day she finds a letter addressed to her in the town's old post office. The letter tells her to go through the woods to a
lake. After May falls into the lake, she can suddenly see ghosts, and realizes that for years she has been haunted, or protected, by a ghost
named Pumpkin. And when Somber Kitty disappears into the woods, May goes after him, only to be dragged into the lake. When she comes back to
shore, she realizes that she is in a different world. In fact, she is in the Ever After, where people go when they die. The place is crawling
with ghosts, specters, and spirits of all kinds.
Realizing she can't go back, May goes into this scary world in the hopes of finding a way out by going through instead. She needs to
find the Book of the Dead, which will tell her about the future, and whether she can get back home. But as she travels through this
nightmarish place, she is constantly reminded that evil Bo Cleevil, the leader of all the ghouls, is out to conquer the whole world.
Can she escape all the evil monsters out to get her? Can she find the way out of the Ever After? Read this chilling first of three horror
stories to see what happens to May and Somber Kitty.
No Talking, by Andrew Clements
Could you go without talking for three days? How would you respond to teachers' questions? Or your parents? Could you actually spend
time with your friends and not talk? That's what this book is about. The fifth graders at Laketon Elementary School are known as the
"Unshushables." They've been called that since they were in kindergarten. All the teachers agree that this particular class is the noisiest
they have ever encountered.
But then Dave Packer learns about Mahatma Ghandi and how he spent one day of every week not speaking, just to bring order to his mind.
Dave decides to try not talking for one day, just to see if he can do it. Because he isn't talking, he starts listening. And he hears all
the noise the Unshushables are making at lunch. Suddenly he explodes, and yells at Lynsey Burgess. An argument ensues, and then a challenge
to see who can say the fewest words in two days, boys against girls. They work it out so that they can answer a teacher's questions, but with
a three word limit.
The teachers catch on to the contest pretty fast, and have different reactions to it. And the students are forced to think about their
answers, and how to respond to their parents, since they are not allowed to talk at all outside of school. Clements has always told great
school stories, mining the humanity of both the students and the teachers. This just may be his best school story yet.
Peak, by Roland Smith
Fourteen-year-old Peak was born to climb. He is the son of a world famous climbing couple, Josh and Teri Wood. But Teri's climbing
career ended when she fall from a cliff when Peak was a toddler. Peak now lives with his mom, his stepfather Rolf, and his younger twin
sisters. He hasn't seen or heard from his father for over ten years. But when Peak is arrested after climbing a skyscraper in New York City,
everything changes. To keep Peak from spending time in jail, Josh arranges for him to go to Nepal with him. Josh is in the middle of leading
an expedition up Mount Everest, and intends for Peak to go with him. If Peak makes it to the summit, he'll be the youngest person to climb
Mt. Everest.
When Peak gets to Katmandu, he meets Sun-jo, a Nepalese boy his age, and Sun-jo's grandfather, a monk who will act as a Sherpa to get
Peak to the summit. But what is Sun-jo's role in this adventure? And who invited Holly, the loudmouth reporter who intends to document
Peak's climb? Will Peak actually become the youngest person to make it to the summit? This is a first rate adventure, full of information
about climbing and about Mt. Everest, but it is also full of twists in the story, so you never know who is really going to get to the top
until the very end. One thing you won't forget after reading this book: Climbing Mt. Everest isn't a competition. It's life and death.
Rules, by Cynthia Lord
"No toys in the fish tank." "Chew with your mouth closed." These are a few of the simple rules that Catherine tries to teach her autistic
younger brother. But some rules are more complicated - like "Sometimes people laugh because they like you, but sometimes people laugh to hurt
you." Catherine feels hurt when people look at her brother with pity, or when they laugh at the things he does. But sometimes she can't help
being embarrassed when David screams, or runs around flapping his arms.
She knows that David needs more from her parents than she does, but why don't they seem to realize that she matters too? When Kristi,
a girl Catherine's age, moves in next door, Catherine wonders what she'll think of David. But a surprising new friend changes her perspective
on what is normal and what is different, and Catherine may have to revise her own rules.
The Sea of Monsters, by Rick Riordan
In this sequel to The Lightning Thief, Percy Jackson has just completed his 7th grade year without any disasters happening. Oops! It's the
last day of school, and monsters show up in gym class. The ensuing battle practically destroys the school, and Percy is forced to escape,
with the help of fellow half-blood Annabeth and Percy's new friend Tyson, a Cyclops in disguise. They make it to Camp Half-Blood, only to
find that the tree protecting its borders has been poisoned, Chiron has been fired, and the new headmaster is vicious. The only cure for the
tree is the Golden Fleece, rumored to be on an island in the Sea of Monsters, somewhere in the Bermuda Triangle.
Percy, Annabeth, and Tyson take on the quest to find the Golden Fleece, and at the same time they hope to be able to rescue Grover,
who is communicating his dangerous situation to Percy through dreams. Meanwhile, they are pursued by Luke, the half-blood who has turned
against the campers and is gathering his own followers in hopes of destroying Mt. Olympus. The action in this book is even more fast-paced
than in the first, while the humor and empathy among the characters is still as fresh and real. Riordan continues to refresh readers'
familiarity with Greek mythology while providing a modern version of the classic heroic quest.