2011 Rebecca Caudill and Monarch Books

The 2011 Rebecca Caudill & Monarch book lists have been released! Check the Caudills by clicking here and then clicking the View Now link. You can see the Monarch list by clicking here and then clicking "2011 Master List."

I was really pleased and surprised to see The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins on the Caudill list. The story is incredibly fast-paced and vivid, but I think some parts are a bit dark for the average 4th or 5th grader. Basically the premise is this: in a twisted future society called Panem, twenty-four children between the ages of 12 and 18 are chosen from the districts each year to participate in the Capitol's Hunger Games, where they are forced to fight to the death. (Collins got the idea from the myth of Minos's treaty with Athens, where 14 young Athenian teens were sacrificed periodically to the Minotaur.) See the book trailer here.

As far as the Monarch list goes, my favorite book by far is Margaret Read MacDonald's The Squeaky Door. That book is just oodles of fun and absolutely perfect for reading aloud. When Little Boy spends the night at Grandma's house, he is scared by the squeaking sound the door makes when she closes it after saying good night. So, Grandma asks if he would like to sleep with the cat... then the dog... then the pig... and then the HORSE... until finally the bed breaks. The next morning Grandma has to get out her tool chest, fix the broken bed, and oil the squeaky door. Repetition, sound effects, and a frequently encountered bedtime situation (fear in an unfamiliar spot, or of a strange noise) mix together to make a fantastic picture book.