Red Dot Suggestions discussion

Just finished reading this book suggested by Nadine at last week's meeting. Stormy Seas: Stories of Young Boat Refugees

Think it's wonderful -- beautiful graphic layout/support and a wide range of stories about refugees throughout recent history. Canadian, 2017, nonfiction. Note that it isn't officially published (e.g., avail on BookDepository as of April 11 for S$14), but you can get it now via Netgalley -- https://s2.netgalley.com/catalog/book... -- which is how I read it.

It's in my current suggested basket for Older: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1k...

Stormy Seas: Stories of Young Boat Refugees
Loved this book - I think we could use it in so many ways - so far the classes I've shown it to have all requested to read it. Will be great for reader-writer workshop

The Girl Who Drank the Moon - confession I haven't read it, but kids and teachers are requesting based on the fact it won the newberry and the description ... or do we stay away from other award winners ...

Booked This 2016 middle school verse novel -- which is totally fine for Grade 4 and 5 students -- features boys and reading -- and refers to lots of other books -- so perfect for encouraging more reading. In fact, I made a list in LibraryThing in May 2016 -- which lists all the other books: http://www.librarything.com/list/1082...

Katie wrote: "Booked This 2016 middle school verse novel -- which is totally fine for Grade 4 and 5 students -- features boys and reading -- and refers to lots of other books -- so perfect for en..."
My students really like verse novels - particularly the ELL students.

Ms. Bixby's Last Day just finished this one - it's definitely going to be a hit in the realistic fiction category.

The Last Wild - in the dystopian but in an elementary school accessible sense. Involves an epic journey, a hero, a sidekick, animals, everything that makes older versions of young hearts beat. And all 3 books in the trilogy are published and available so from a "read on" momentum point of view it also works.

Echo I've just had yet another student come back and return Echo and absolutely swoon over how fantastic it was. And these are not always my top readers. It is gaining a Harry Potter like following amongst students who first balk at the size of it and then just LOVE it.

Nadine wrote: "Echo I've just had yet another student come back and return Echo and absolutely swoon over how fantastic it was. And these are not always my top readers. It is gaining a Harry Potte..." Yes, I think it is a strong contender.

Just finished reading "New Boy" by Nick Earls, a 2015 Australian first-person narrative, about a 12-year Afrikaans boy from South Africa on his first day at school in Australia. Getting a buddy, but struggling to cope with the different slang and how different the two countries are. Racism and bullying are issues he has to deal with. By the end of the book, he gets to be the buddy for another new student, a refugee from South Sudan. Funny and serious. New Boy

This looks great -- French book, coming out in English in September -- so for next year's list: Castle in the Stars: The Space Race of 1869- Book 1

Nadine wrote: "Ms. Bixby's Last Day just finished this one - it's definitely going to be a hit in the realistic fiction category." I agree. One of the best things about it is it will appeal to both girls and boys. Very accessible for our kids!

A reminder -- the working LONGLIST for the Older category is a shelf under the ISLN Goodreads account: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list... -- but we can continue to discuss them here.....