SASQUATCH 2011 Nominees

The Sasquatch Award gives students in Washington State the opportunity to nominate and vote for their

favorite books. Librarians and teachers also help nominate books.

Students who read at least two books from the 2011 list can vote for their favorite one in late March.

The twelve 2011 nominees are:

A spine-tingling, time-travel adventure.

Miri is the only single child in the middle of a family with two sets of twins--older brothers and younger sisters. When the family moves to an old farmhouse, Miri accidentally travels back in time to 1935 only to discover Molly, a girl bullied by her mean cousin. Miri is determined to bring Molly to the present, but how is she going to do that?

AR Level 3.2 - 2 points

Fun drawings, comic frames, and speech

balloons.

When Ellie’s family moves to a new town, she’s sure she won’t fit in. Nobody else likes to read as much as she does, and even the teachers can’t get her name right. But when the students need someone to help them rally against unfair lunch lines, it’s Ellie to the rescue—and if shorter lines and better food prevail, can friendship be far behind?

AR Level 4.1 – 5 points

Will the war ever end?

Evan Treski is people-smart. He is good at talking with people, even grownups. His younger sister, Jessie, on the other hand, is math-smart—but not especially good at understanding people. They get along great, until the summer when Evan learns that his smart sister will skip a grade and be in his class – disaster! So begins the lemonade war. There really is no telling who will win—and even more important, if their fight will ever end!

AR Level 4.1 – 4 points

Will Willow’s dog, Roxy, survive being blinded?

This story in verse blends exciting survival adventure with a modern day girl’s discovery of family roots and secrets. Middle-schooler Willow longs to run sled dogs by herself. But when her beloved dog, Roxy, is blinded in an accident (partly Willow’s fault), and her parents want to put the dog down, Willow tries to take Roxy to Grandma and Grandpa. The two are caught in a raging blizzard, and Willow is helped by the spirits of her ancestors, who live on in the wild animals around her.

AR Level 4.3 – 2 points

Will Sophie ever learn to ride?

A hilarious first-person novel about growing up with horses. Though most girls love horses, Sophie has only experienced a biting pony named Really (Mean), Sweetheart, a trick-playing Arabian, and Fancy Free, a huge, scary buckskin. Though many schoolmates at first befriended her to ride her horses, only Melissa and Rachel stick around to become true friends. But Sophie is stubborn and dreams of galloping across the beach at her island home in Maine. Can Sophie face her fears, confront a bully, and learn that horses can be friends, too?

AR Level 5.6 – 6 points

A dangerous adventure

Haddix's (Among the Hidden) latest science fiction series starts off with a bang. A plane arrives at an airline gate unnoticed by radar and most personnel. There are no flight attendants, no pilot, in fact no adults at all, but there are 36 passengers—all infants. Thirteen years later, adopted teenagers Jonah and Chip begin receiving ominous messages declaring that they are among "the missing" and that someone is coming to get them. Frightened yet curious, the boys begin a search for their real identities with the help of Jonah's younger sister. Their search leads them into danger greater than they ever imagined possible.

AR Level 5.0 – 9 points

Can two girls overcome a lifetime of prejudice?

Like Ruby Bridges, twelve-year-old Rosemary Patterson must face racism to go to school. She is one of the first African American students to enter the white school in her town. Headstrong, smart Rosemary welcomes the challenge, but starting this new school gets more daunting when her best friend is hospitalized for polio. Suddenly, Rosemary must face all the stares and whispers alone. Then an old enemy starts being a bit nice. Can an enemy become a friend?

AR Level 4.1 – 6 points

He has the power to control the universe!

Sixth-grader Simon Bloom can’t believe his luck when he finds a book that enables him to control the laws of physics. By simply speaking the words it contains, he can cancel gravity to fly around his bedroom, or decrease friction so he can slide down the street as if he were on Rollerblades. When two thugs with evil intentions come after Simon, he must use the formulas to save himself and the book from falling into their hands.

AR Level 4.1 – 6 points

The author of Stinky Cheese Man tells his

hilarious life story

How did Jon Scieszka get so funny, anyway? Growing up as one of six brothers was a good start, but that was just the beginning. Throw in Catholic school, lots of comic books, lazy summers at the lake with time to kill, babysitting misadventures, TV shows, jokes told at family dinner, and the result is Knucklehead . Part memoir, part scrapbook, this hilarious trip down memory lane provides a unique glimpse into an author’s creative mind.

AR Level 4.6 – 2 points

What would it be like to live under the ice?

Peter is THRILLED to leave New York City with his parents on an expedition to Greenland to study global warming. There he learns that he has far-seeing abilities.

Generations ago, the people of Thea’s community were hunted for possessing unusual abilities, so they fled beneath the ice. When Thea and Peter meet accidentally, they learn much about each other’s history. Together with some amazing dogs, they go against their families to fight for what is right.

AR Level 4.8 – 10 points

Corpses, graves, & buried treasure!

Eleven-year-old Thomas Hammond is in for the ride of his life when he's swept downstream and underground aboard a styrofoam raft. Washing up on a dark subterranean "beach," his only companions are a flaky dog … and a corpse. What Tom finds under Leepike Ridge—a castaway, four graves, a tomb, and buried treasure—will answer questions he hadn't known to ask and change his life forever. Now, if he can only find his way home again. A journey though the dark of the grave and back out into the light.

AR Level 4.8 – 7 points

Who is the real JoEllen?

Since her parents divorced when she was an infant, life has been split between them: “School days in the city with Mom / weekends on the farm with Dad.” Even her names are different—Ellen with Mom; Jo with Dad. But as she turns 13, she begins to wonder about her life. Is she a city girl who hangs out with friends, plays the sax, and loves old movies? Or is she a country girl, nicknamed Joey, who rides horseback with her cousin, goes fishing, and listens to bluegrass? Told in free verse with lots of illustrations.

AR Level 4.8 – 7 points

How to Enter

SASQUATCH READING AWARD

CONTEST

•Read (or have read to you) at least 2 books to vote for your favorite book in late March.

2011 Sasquatch List

1. Magic Half

2. Ellie McDoodle

3. Lemonade War

4. Diamond Willow

5. Truth About Horses

6. Found

7. Friendship for Today

8. Simon Bloom

9. Knucklehead

10.First Light

11.Leepike Ridge

12.42 Miles

SASQUATCH CONTEST

You must read (or have read to you) at least 2 books to vote for your favorite book in late March.