Illinois Book Awards

I am a creature of many habits.  One of my better habits is reading.  I seem to read just about anything.  I read anything and everything from picture books to books made for grown ups.  (Yes, this includes the 50 shades trilogy ashamed to say).

The one year I did a stint as a school librarian led me to a wealth of new authors and titles that I had never heard of or read before.  The start of my bedside reading that year was with award winners.  In Illinois, the Illinois School Library Media Association nominates books at different grade levels for awards.

The Monarch book award has been in existence since 2005.  20 books are nominated for children in grades K-3.  Click the link below and it will take you to this year's list.

For older children there is the Rebecca Caudill book award.  Rebecca Caudill was an author from Illinois.  This award is for kids in grades 4-8.  It started in 1988.  The link will take you to this year's list.  Previous winners have been Frindle, The Hunger Games, and Matilda.

The Bluestem book award started in 2011.  This is the newest award.  There seemed to be a big difference between the books that were chosen for the Monarch (mostly picture books) and the Caudill award (mostly upper elementary and middle school).  Sooooo, the Bluestem award was started.

Lastly, there is the Abraham Lincoln Book Award.  It is for high school readers, so no links, but I had to give it a mention.

I try to read as many of these as I can.  I may be blogging about them from time to time if they are good and have some really good reading strategies or lessons that might go good with them.  I will also add them to my books page and link the books to the blog post.

Happy Tuesday everyone!