2014-2015 Sasquatch Nominees!

Yesterday, my friends on the Sasquatch committee – Washington State’s chapter book award for 4th – 6th grade students – met to debate the titles for next year’s award list.  Their hours of reading and spirited discussion paid off.

Announcing the twelve nominees for the 2015 Sasquatch Award:

Wow!  Of these 12 books, I’ve only read three (Fake Mustache, Wonder, Three Times Lucky).  The Amazon order has been placed for the others, which I expect to read in the next couple of weeks.  It was a bit odd to read the announcement over email, as this was the first year since 2007 that I hadn’t been on the Sasquatch committee.  I appreciate the range of genres in this list, and I can’t wait to read each one.

The titles and publisher summaries:

Fake Mustache by Tom Angleberger

• Publisher Summary: Lenny Flem Jr. is the only one standing between his evil-genius best friend, Casper, and world domination as Casper uses a spectacularly convincing fake mustache and the ability to hypnotize to rob banks, amass a vast fortune, and run for president.

The Puzzler’s Mansion by Eric Berlin

• Publisher Summary: Winston attends a weekend of puzzles at a famous musician’s mansion, but when he and other young guests pursue a thief, they find themselves in big trouble. Puzzles for the reader to solve are included throughout the text.

The Adventures of Beanboy by Lisa Harkrader

• Publisher Summary: Wheaton, Kansas seventh-grader Tucker MacBean loves comic books, so when his favorite comic has a contest to create a sidekick, he is hopeful that he can win, thereby fixing his struggling family.

Have a Hot Time, Hades by Kate McMullan

• Publisher Summary: In this story with a modern twist, Hades tells his own version of how he became King of the Underworld and Zeus became King of the Gods.

Something to Hold by Katherine S Noe

• Publisher Summary: In the early 1960s, Kitty is one of only two white children in her class on Warm Springs Reservation, Oregon, where her father is a government forester, and although past injustices and pain are still very much alive there, she eventually finds friendships and opportunities to make a difference.

Wonder by R.J. Palacio

• Publisher Summary: Ten-year-old Auggie Pullman, who was born with extreme facial abnormalities and was not expected to survive, goes from being home-schooled to entering fifth grade at a private middle school in Manhattan, which entails enduring the taunting and fear of his classmates as he struggles to be seen as just another student.

Red Thread Sisters by Carol A Peacock

• Publisher Summary: After an American family adopts eleven-year-old Wen from a Chinese orphanage, she vows to find a family for her best friend, too.

Shadow on the Mountain by Margi Preus

• Publisher Summary: In Nazi-occupied Norway, fourteen-year-old Espen joins the resistance movement, graduating from deliverer of illegal newspapers to courier and spy.

Deadweather and Sunrise by Geoff Rodkey

• Publisher Summary: Thirteen-year-old Eggbert, a planter’s son on a pirate-infested Caribbean island chain, is on the run from a wealthy and powerful villain trying to kill him for his connection to a hidden treasure.

Lincoln’s Grave Robbers by Steve Sheinkin

• Publisher Summary: A dramatic account of the 1875 attempt to steal the 16th president’s body describes how a counterfeiting ring plotted to ransom Lincoln’s body to secure the release of their imprisoned ringleader and how a fledgling Secret Service and an undercover agent conducted a daring election-night sting operation.

The Grave Robber’s Apprentice by Allan Stratton

• Publisher Summary: Hans, a foundling raised by a grave robber, helps Countess Angela Gabriela, nearly thirteen, when she is torn away from her dream of being a professional puppeteer by an evil archduke out to destroy her and her parents.

Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage

• Publisher Summary: Washed ashore as a baby in tiny Tupelo Landing, North Carolina, Mo LoBeau, now eleven, and her best friend Dale turn detective when the amnesiac Colonel, owner of a café and co-parent of Mo with his cook, Miss Lana, seems implicated in a murder.