Young Hoosier Book Nominees

1. Young Hoosier Book Nominees Intermediate Books 2014-2015 Association of Indiana School Library Educators

2. Arlington: The Story of Our Nation’s Cemetery by Chris Demarest “The story of the national cemetery—from the Revolutionary War to the present. Arlington recounts the complicated history of one of the nation's most famous and most-visited national monuments and its fascinating daily life. Carefully researched and documented, Chris Demarest's watercolor paintings capture the spirit and pathos of the last resting place of more than 300,000 Americans who have served their country.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEiZmAdKNU4

3. Breaking Stalin’s Nose by Eugene Yelchin “Sasha Zaichik has known the laws of the Soviet Young Pioneers since the age of six: The Young Pioneer is devoted to Comrade Stalin, the Communist Party, and Communism. A Young Pioneer is a reliable comrade and always acts according to conscience. A Young Pioneer has a right to criticize shortcomings. But now that it is finally time to join the Young Pioneers, the day Sasha has awaited for so long, everything seems to go awry. He breaks a classmate's glasses with a snowball. He accidentally damages a bust of Stalin in the school hallway.  And worst of all, his father, the best Communist he knows, was arrested just last night.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwZbwWRW0yY

4. Buffalo Bird Girl: A Hidatsa Story by S.D. Nelson “Blending archival material with original prose and artwork, Nelson (Black Elk's Vision: A Lakota Story) crafts a first-person biography of Waheenee-wea (Buffalo Bird Woman), a member of the Hidatsa tribe that flourished near the Missouri River on the Great Plains. Photographs of the Hidatsa people tending to crops, preparing food, and dressed in traditional attire bring their daily activities and traditions into vivid relief. Nelson's acrylic paintings and b&w pencil drawings are intriguingly interlaced with the photographs, contrasting Native American figures in blunt profile with harvest colors and background textures that mimic dried spears of grass, leather skins, and basket weaves. Quotations from Buffalo Bird Woman's writings (which she recorded in collaboration with an anthropologist in 1906) appear throughout, including a lament over the loss of land and customs after her people were relocated to a reservation: "I am an old woman now. The buffaloes and black-tail deer are gone, and our Indian ways are almost gone. Sometimes I find it hard to believe that I ever lived them." A memorable account of perseverance.”

5. Cardboard by Doug Tennapel “When cardboard creatures come magically to life, a boy must save his town from disaster. Cam's down-and-out father gives him a cardboard box for his birthday and he knows it's the worst present ever. So to make the best of a bad situation, they bend the cardboard into a man, and to their astonishment, it comes magically to life. But the neighborhood bully, Marcus, warps the powerful cardboard into his own evil creations that threaten to destroy them all!” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMcHT05Cazk

6. Chuck Close: Face Book by Chuck Close “This fascinating, interactive autobiography presents Chuck Close’s story, his art, and a discussion of the many processes he uses in the studio. The question-and-answer format is based on real kids’ inquiries about Close’s life and work, and his answers to them. Close, who is wheelchair-bound and paints with a brush strapped to his arm, discusses the severe dyslexia and face blindness he has struggled with since childhood, as well as a collapsed spinal artery that left him nearly paralyzed at the age of 48.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJkwKxLJmdE

7. Citizen Scientists: Be a Part of Scientific Discovery from Your Own Backyard by Loree Griffin Burns “Anyone can get involved in gathering data for ongoing, actual scientific studies such as the Audubon Bird Count and FrogWatch USA. Just get out into a field, urban park, or your own backyard. You can put your nose to a monarch pupa or listen for raucous frog calls. You can tally woodpeckers or sweep the grass for ladybugs.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsNMBTpFsAI

8. Guinea Dog by Patrick Jennings “A humorous story about an unusual pet. Rufus has but one wish—a dog. His stay-at-home Dad does not agree. His list of reasons not to get a dog extends over two pages. Rufus’s sympathetic mom brings home a guinea pig, which Rufus has expressly said he does not want. To his surprise, though, the guinea pig (which he sullenly names Fido) behaves like a dog! She obeys every command Rufus gives her, plays tug-o’-war and even chews shoes. His best friend wishes she were his when, during a Frisbee game, out of nowhere, she retrieves the disc and brings it to Rufus. The family decides to return Fido to the pet store, but a classmate is willing to buy her to replace her hamster—and it’s then that Rufus begins to have second thoughts.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WX06-k7Qi7c

9. Kindred Souls by Patricia MacLachlan “Jake and 88-year-old Billy are "kindred souls." They live on a farm that their family has owned for generations; in fact, Billy was born in a sod house he remembers fondly, the ruins of which still exist on the property. This is an intense, rewarding read: Readers see Billy directly through Jake's young eyes; there is no omniscient voice explaining that Billy is reaching the end of his days, and that's why he is sometimes childlike himself. Some may realize the inevitable early on; Jake's mistaken confidence in Billy's immortality—"I don't worry about him dying. He will live forever. I know that," and "And Billy is going to live forever," are representative thoughts—foreshadows the inevitable. Jake and his siblings undertake a remarkably ambitious project: They rebuild the sod house; Billy moves into it, and he eventually passes away there.”

10. Louisa May’s Battle: How the Civil War Led to Little Women by Kathleen Krull “Louisa May Alcott is best known for penning Little Women, but few are aware of the experience that influenced her writing most-her time as a nurse during the Civil War. Caring for soldiers' wounds and writing letters home for them inspired a new realism in her work. When her own letters home were published as Hospital Sketches, she had her first success as a writer. The acclaim for her new writing style inspired her to use this approach in Little Women, which was one of the first novels to be set during the Civil War. It was the book that made her dreams come true, and a story she could never have written without the time she spent healing others in service of her country.”

11. May B. by Caroline Starr Rose “May is helping out on a neighbor’s Kansas prairie homestead—just until Christmas, says Pa. She wants to contribute, but it’s hard to be separated from her family by 15 long, unfamiliar miles. Then the unthinkable happens: May is abandoned. Trapped in a tiny snow-covered sod house, isolated from family and neighbors, May must prepare for the oncoming winter. While fighting to survive, May’s memories of her struggles with reading at school come back to haunt her. But she’s determined to find her way home again.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FopNl_Y8iQM

12. PLUNKED by Michael Northrop “Sixth grader Jack Mogens has it all figured out: He’s got his batting routine down, and his outfielding earns him a starting spot alongside his best friend Andy on their Little League team, the Tall Pines Braves. He even manages to have a not-totally-embarrassing conversation with Katie, the team’s killer shortstop. But in the first game of the season, a powerful stray pitch brings everything Jack’s worked so hard for crashing down around his ears. How can he explain to his parents and friends why he won’tbe playing? Readers will root for Jack as he finds the courage to step back up to the plate.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6Nki3aS-qM

13. The Second Life of Abigail Walker by Frances O’Roark Dowell “Seventeen pounds. That’s the difference between Abigail Walker and Kristen Gorzca. Between chubby and slim, between teased and taunting. Abby is fine with her body and sick of seventeen pounds making her miserable, so she speaks out against Kristen and her groupies - and becomes officially unpopular. Embracing her new status, Abby heads to an abandoned lot across the street and crosses an unfamiliar stream that leads her to a boy who's as different as they come. Anders is homeschooled, and while he's worried that Abby’s former friends are out to get her, he’s even more worried about his dad, a war veteran home from Afghanistan who is dangerously disillusioned with life. But if his dad can finish his poem about the expedition of Lewis and Clark, if he can effectively imagine what it is to experience freshness and innocence, maybe he will be okay. As Abby dives into the unexpected role as research assistant, she just as unexpectedly discovers that by helping someone else find hope in the world, there is plenty there for herself, as well.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tu9vo3rUSMM

14. Snakes by Nic Bishop “Calling snakes “strange, secretive, and surprising,” Bishop offers an excellent photographic guide to these reptiles in all their diversity. Striking magnified images depict a variety of snake species in the wild and in captivity, including a feathered bush viper (whose scales resemble tree leaves), garter snakes overwintering in a burrow, and an African egg-eating snake living up to its moniker. Bishop accompanies the photographs with factual information about each specimen, as well as observations about the snakes’ physical characteristics and behavior (“Extra-large scales on a snake’s belly act like the tread on your shoes”). Herpetologists in training, look no further.”

15. Sophie Simon Solves Them All by Lisa Graff “Wishes come true when third-grade genius Sophie Simon applies her intellectual skills to her classmates' problems with their parents' expectations and solves a problem of her own. Sophie wants a graphing calculator, Owen Luu wants a rabbit, Julia McGreevy wants to be a journalist and Daisy Pete (and everyone else in her ballet class) wants to avoid the ballet recital. Sophie's parents just want her to be a normal kid, with friends. Everyone ends up happy in this middle-grade spoof. Exaggerations abound: Their teacher’s long list of rules includes “No thinking,” the ballet teacher threatens to chop off toes and Sophie’s parents are distraught that she has visited the library. Sophie is brilliant, reading a calculus text for fun. Daisy is clumsy, Julia math-averse and Owen frightened of nearly everything. A ring-tailed lemur wreaks havoc at Owen’s birthday, and the ballet recital becomes a sit-in.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGJFTa7naew

16. The Spindlersby Lauren Oliver “When Liza’s brother, Patrick, changes overnight, Liza knows exactly what has happened: The spindlers have gotten to him and stolen his soul.  She knows, too, that she is the only one that can save him. To rescue Patrick, Liza must go Below, armed with little more than her wits and a broom. There, she uncovers a vast world populated with talking rats, music-loving moles, greedy troglods, and overexcitablenids . . . as well as terrible dangers. But she will face her greatest challenge at the spindlers’ nests, where she encountersthe evil queen and must pass a series ofdeadly tests — or else her soul, too, will remain Below forever.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXGWB0T_ojY

17. Summer of the Gypsy Moths by Sara Pennypacker “Stella loves living with Great-aunt Louise in her big old house near the water on Cape Cod for many reasons, but mostly because Louise likes routine as much as she does, something Stella appreciates since her mom is, well, kind of unreliable. So while Mom "finds herself," Stella fantasizes that someday she'll come back to the Cape and settle down. The only obstacle to her plan? Angel, the foster kid Louise has taken in. Angel couldn't be less like her name - she's tough and prickly, and the girls hardly speak to each other.But when tragedy unexpectedly strikes, Stella and Angel are forced to rely on each other to survive, and they learn that they are stronger together than they could have imagined. And over the course of the summer they discover the one thing they do have in common: dreams of finally belonging to a real family.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFY4tNjMU1o

18. The Trouble With Chickens by Doreen Cronin “J.J. Tully is supposed to be enjoying peaceful retirement on a farm, but it's a hard adjustment after seven adrenaline-filled years as a search-and-rescue dog, until his simple life on the farm is turned upside down when two chicks go missing. Moosh, the mother hen, is left with a ransom note and comes to J.J. Tully for help. After negotiating a hamburger out of the deal, J.J. takes the case. But things are not what they seem, and no one is telling the whole truth. Let the bird-brained hunt for the lost peeps begin!” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xB0ZrGJdiDM

19. The Vengekeep Prophecies by Brian Farrey “Forget what you know about prophecies—this epic middle-grade fantasy about a clumsy boy born into a family of thieves is fresh, fun, and anything but predictable! The first in an unforgettable trilogy, this Kirkus Reviews Best Children's Book of the Year takes everything you thought you knew about fantasy and spins it into pure magic. JaxterGrimjinx is a born thief. At least, he's supposed to be. For generations, the Grimjinx clan has produced the swiftest, cleverest thieves in Vengekeep. The problem is, Jaxter is clumsy. So clumsy that in his first solo heist, he sets the Castellan's house on fire and lands his family in prison. Even Jaxter's talent for breaking magical locks can't get them out of this bind. Then a suspiciously convenient prophecy emerges, naming the Grimjinx clan as the soon-to-be heroes of Vengekeep. It's good enough to get his family out of jail, but when the doomsday prophecy starts to come true, Jaxter is pretty sure a life behind bars would be a better fate. Now, with the help of his new friend, Callie, Jaxter will have to face down flaming monsters, a bazaar of thieves, and a renegade sorcerer to become the hero he was truly born to be.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VU1klWgpKIU

20. Wild Life by Cynthia DeFelice “Erik Carlson has just passed the New York State Hunter Safety class, and is all set to go on his first-ever pheasant hunting trip, when his life is turned upside down. His Army reservist parents are both being unexpectedly deployed to Iraq. Instead of going hunting with his friend Patrick, Erik is shipped off to North Dakota to live with Big Darrell and Oma, grandparents he barely knows. Oma seems nice enough, but Erik finds Big Darrell to be unwelcoming and downright mean. When Erik rescues a dog that’s been stuck by a porcupine, Big Darrell says he can’t keep her. But Erik has already named the dog Quill and can’t bear to give her up. After finding his Uncle Dan’s shotgun and camping gear, Erik takes Quill and runs away, certain that they can make it on their own out on the prairie. Family relationships and old secrets complicate this wilderness survival story.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgPnVZGucR8

21. Wonder by R.J. Palacio “August (Auggie) Pullman was born with a facial deformity that prevented him from going to a mainstream school—until now. He's about to start 5th grade at Beecher Prep, and if you've ever been the new kid then you know how hard that can be. The thing is Auggie's just an ordinary kid, with an extraordinary face. But can he convince his new classmates that he's just like them, despite appearances?” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOXDD3atWco

22. Work Cited "Arlington: The Story of Our Nation's Cemetery." Barnes & Noble. Web. 18 May 2014. <http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/arlington-chris-l-demarest/1100877380?ean=9781596435179>. "Amazon Prime Free Trial." Breaking Stalin's Nose: Eugene Yelchin: 9780805092165: Amazon.com: Books. Web. 18 May 2014. <http://www.amazon.com/Breaking-Stalins-Nose-Eugene- Yelchin/dp/0805092161>. "Children's Book Review: Buffalo Bird Girl: A Hidatsa Story by S.D. Nelson. Abrams, $19.95 (56p) ISBN 978-1- 4197-0355-3."PublishersWeekly.com. Web. 18 May 2014. <http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1- 4197-0355-3>. "Cardboard by Doug TenNapel | Scholastic.com." Scholastic Teachers. Web. 18 May 2014. <http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/book/cardboard#cart/cleanup>. "Chuck Close." ABRAMS Books. Web. 18 May 2014. <http://www.abramsbooks.com/Books/Chuck_Close- 9781419701634.html>. "Citizen Scientists: Be a Part of Scientific Discovery from Your Own Backyard."Barnes & Noble. Web. 18 May 2014. <http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/citizen-scientists-loree-griffin- burns/1101958281?ean=9780805095173>. “Guinea Dog” Kurkus Reviews. Web. 18 May 2014. <https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book- reviews/patrick-jennings/guinea-dog/>. “Kindred Souls” Kurkus Reviews. Web. 18 May 2014. <https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book- reviews/patricia-maclachlan/kindred-souls-maclachlan/>. "Amazon Prime Free Trial." Louisa May's Battle: How the Civil War Led toLittle Women: Kathleen Krull, CarlynBeccia: 9780802796684: Amazon.com: Books. Web. 18 May 2014. <http://www.amazon.com/Louisa-Mays-Battle-Civil-Little/dp/0802796680>.

23. Work Cited Continued "May B." Goodreads. Web. 18 May 2014. <http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11527309-may-b>. "PLUNKED." Michael Northrop RSS. Web. 18 May 2014. <http://michaelnorthrop.net/?page_id=2616>. "The Second Life of Abigail Walker Summary and Reviews." BookBrowse.com. Web. 18 May 2014. <http://www.bookbrowse.com/reviews/index.cfm/book_number/2767/the-second-life-of-abigail- walker>. "Children's Book Review: Nic Bishop Snakes by Nic Bishop. Scholastic Nonfiction, $17.99 (48p) ISBN 978-0- 545-20638-9."PublishersWeekly.com. Web. 18 May 2014. <http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0- 545-20638-9>. “Sophie Simon Solves Them All” Kurkus Reviews. Web. 18 May 2014. <https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/lisa-graff/sophie-simon-solves-them-all/>. "The Spindlers by Lauren Oliver." The Spindlers by Lauren Oliver. Web. 18 May 2014. <http://thespindlersbook.com/>. "The Official Site of Sara Pennypacker Author of the New York Times Bestselling Children's Books Clementine, Summer of the Gypsy Moths, The Amazing World of Stuart, Flat Stanley, Pierre in Love, Sparrow Girl and More." The Official Site of Sara Pennypacker Author of the New York Times Bestselling Children's Books Clementine, Summer of the Gypsy Moths, The Amazing World of Stuart, Flat Stanley, Pierre in Love, Sparrow Girl and More. Web. 18 May 2014. <http://www.sarapennypacker.com/pennypacker-gypsymoths.htm>. "The Trouble with Chickens by Doreen Cronin | Scholastic.com." Scholastic Teachers. Web. 18 May 2014. <http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/book/trouble-chickens#cart/cleanup>. "Amazon Prime Free Trial." The Vengekeep Prophecies: Brian Farrey, Brett Helquist: 9780062049285: Amazon.com: Books. Web. 18 May 2014. <http://www.amazon.com/Vengekeep-Prophecies-Brian- Farrey/dp/0062049283>.

24. Work Cited Continued "Wild Life." Cynthia DeFelice Wild Life Comments. Web. 18 May 2014. <http://cynthiadefelice.com/novels/wild-life>. "Wonder." Goodreads. Web. 18 May 2014. <http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11387515-wonder>.