Theme for the Year

One of my yearly summer tasks is to read the nominees and I'm almost finished with that reading. Some years I see a theme that unifies a number of the nominees. It is always interesting to see if the students agree with me.
I think that there is a theme for 2008-2009. Many of the main characters are having trouble fitting in with other kids at home and at school. They don't feel that they are accepted by other kids and they are struggling with that.

Nominees for 2008-2009

The nominees are listed at http://www.goldensower.org/nominees.htm
The club meets at lunchtime. Students discuss the books they are reading while they eat their lunch. It is an open forum. They do a great job discussing the books without giving away the plot to those who have not yet read the book.
Does anyone want to comment on which book is their favorite of the ones they have read so far? Some years the favorites change as students read more books, and some years there is a clear favorite right from the start. The Old Willis Place was a clear favorite all year before it won in 2007. The preliminary votes in 2008 were much closer and it was not clear that The World According to Humphrey would be the winner until we started to vote.

Golden Sower Club

The Golden Sower Award (http://www.goldensower.org/) is a children’s choice book award in the state of Nebraska. There are three divisions: Primary and Intermediate, and Young Adult. The Golden Sower Club is a lunch-time reading group open to fifth and sixth graders at Walnut Creek Elementary School. The students have been meeting on designated Fridays. Fifth graders strive to read seven of the Intermediate nominees while six graders strive to read all ten. Some of the sixth graders also read some of the Young Adult nominees. Their goal is to read the books and pass Reading Counts comprehension tests. This year the students will also be asked to participate in this blog. The students really enjoy discussing the books while they eat their lunch.