Virginia%20Readers

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Virginia Readers ChoiceGrades 4 - 5

• 2008 - 2009

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Purpose

• To encourage young readers to become acquainted
  with contemporary books with outstanding literary
  appeal
• To broaden students awareness of literature as a
  life-long pleasure
• To encourage reading aloud in classrooms and at
  home
• To honor favorite books and their authors

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Last Year's Winners
Primary
Elementary
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Clementine.  Sara Pennypacker, Atheneum,
2006.Everyone is always telling Clementine to
pay attention.  She believes she is paying
attention, but it is usually to something outside
her classroom window.  Clementine frequently gets
into trouble, but she means well. Children can
relate to her feisty personality. A.R. Level
4.5 / 2 points
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Counting on Grace.  Elizabeth Winthrop, Random
House, 2006.Grace, a twelve-year-old living in
Vermont in 1912, is forced to leave school and
work on the looms in a textile mill.  Graces
life is changed when the famous photographer
Lewis Hines comes to photograph the underage
children working in the mills. A.R. Level 4.5
/ 8 points
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The Ghosts Grave.  Peg Kehret, Dutton,
2005.When Josh is shipped off to his
Great-Great-Aunt Ethels home, he thinks it will
be the most boring summer of his life without
television, without e-mail, and without
internet!  He meets a ghost who needs his help
and when Josh attempts to aid the ghost he puts
his own life in danger. A.R. Level 5.0 / 6
points
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Henrys Freedom Box.  Ellen Levine, Scholastic,
2007.This is a fictionalized account of the
escape of Henry Box Brown from a plantation in
Virginia to Philadelphia.  He always celebrated
his birthday as the day he shipped himself to
freedom in a mail crate. A.R. Level 3.0 / 0.5
points
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The Homework Machine.  Dan Gutman, Simon
Schuster, 2006.An unlikely group of fifth
graders join together to do their homework with
the help of a computer that does all the work. 
The story is told in alternating viewpoints by
the students, their mothers, and their teacher. 
Will their work end in friendship, or will they
all get in trouble? A.R. Level 4.8 / 4 points
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Owen Mzee The True Story of a Remarkable
Friendship. Isabella Hartkoff, Scholastic,
2006.This is a true story about the friendship
of Owen, a baby hippo, and Mzee, a 130-year-old
giant tortoise.  Owen is separated from his
family during a devastating tsunami and he is
adopted and accepted by Mzee as his mother.

A.R. Level 6.0 / 1 point
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Phineas L. MacGuire Erupts!  Frances ORoark
Dowell, Atheneum, 2006.Phineas takes the science
fair very seriously and he and his best friend
always wow the crowd.  However, this year Phineas
is paired with a new boy who thinks dinosaurs and
volcanoes are cool. A.R. Level 5.0 / 2 points
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Rules.  Cynthia Lord, Scholastic,
2006.Twelve-year-old Catherine just wants a
normal life.  However, that seems impossible with
an autistic brother and a family that revolves
around his disability. She has tried to teach
David the rules-from a peach is not a
funny-looking apple to keep your pants on in
public. During the summer Catherine meets Jason,
a paraplegic boy, and Kristi, the next-door
friend shes always wished for. Her brother and
her new friends along with her own shocking
behavior forces her to ask herself What is
normal? A.R. Level 3.9 / 4 points
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The Winners Walk.   Nancy Ruth Patterson,
Farrar,Straus,Giroux, 2006. Nine-year-old Case
struggles to find his special talent in a family
with a swimming star sister, a champion horse
trainer father, and a talented stage actress
mother. Nothing seems to work for Case until a
stray dog comes along who seems to be the perfect
match to bring him success. When he learns about
the dog's background he has a tough decision to
make in order to do the right thing and to be a
real winner. A.R. Level 4.8 / 2 points
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Punished.   David Lubar, Darby Creek, 2005.Logan
and his friend are playing tag in the library
when he runs into a mysterious man.  Eventually,
Logan realizes he has been punished and can only
speak in puns.  Logan has three days to break the
spell by finding examples of word play. A.R.
Level 3.6 / 1 point
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• Students must read at least 4 of the books on
  their list, or they may have the books read to
  them
• Each qualified voter may cast one vote for
  his/her favorite book
• The deadline for completing the books and voting
  is March 13th, 2009
• Votes will be included in a state wide tally.
  Winners will be announced in April.