Books!

The Tapscott students have created a summer reading list. Our students are discriminating and avid readers and they were very thoughtful and passionate about their choices this year.

Click here to view the summer reading list.

Caldecott Winner

The 2008 Winner!

The results of the 2008 Caldecott and Newberry awards are here! Librarians and children of all ages whooped and hollered when the winner of the Caldecott award was named. The Caldecott Award is generally given to a children’s picture book for illustrations. The Invention of Hugo Cabret, written and illustrated by Brian Selznick, breaks with tradition by being a 500 page semi-graphic novel. Here is the American Library Association review:

“From an opening shot of the full moon setting over an awakening Paris in 1931, this tale casts a new light on the picture book form. Hugo is a young orphan secretly living in the walls of a train station where he labors to complete a mysterious invention left by his father. In a work of more than 500 pages, the suspenseful text and wordless double-page spreads narrate the tale in turns. Neither words nor pictures alone tell this story, which is filled with cinematic intrigue. Black and white pencil illustrations evoke the flickering images of the silent films to which the book pays homage.” Click here for more information on the awards.

Caldecott Honor Books for 2008

The 2008 Newbery Winner!

The 2008 Newbery Medal Winner is Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz. Thirteenth-century England springs to life using 21 dramatic individual narratives that introduce the young inhabitants of village and manor. Schlitz's elegant monologues and dialogues draw back the curtain on the period, revealing character and relationships, hinting at stories untold. Explanatory interludes add information and round out this historical and theatrical presentation.

“Schlitz adds a new dimension to books for young readers — performance,” said Committee Chair Nina Lindsay. “Varied poetic forms and styles offer humor, pathos, and true insight into the human condition. Each entry is superb in itself, and together the pieces create a pageant that transports readers to a different time and place.” For more information visit the Newbery Award homepage.

The 2008 Newbery Honor Books