eBranch Blog

February 27, 2008

New Bluebonnet, Lone Star, Tayshas and 2X2 Book Lists

Each year committees from the Texas Library Association create book lists for children and young adults. These popular book lists are:

The 2X2 Reading List for ages 2 through second grade.
The Texas Bluebonnet Award for third through sixth grade.
The Lone Star Reading List for sixth through eighth grade.
The Tayshas Reading List for high school.

The 2 X 2 Reading List is a project of the Children's Round Table, a unit of the Texas Library Association and is a list of 20 books recommended for children age 2 to grade 2.

Robert O. Bruel. Bob and Otto
Otto the worm is shocked to discover that his best friend Bob is actually a caterpillar who emerges one day as a butterfly.



Matthew McElligott. Bean Thirteen
Two bugs, Ralph and Flora, try to divide thirteen beans so that the unlucky thirteenth bean disappears, but they soon discover that the math is not so easy.

The Texas Bluebonnet Award is a project of the Texas Library Association and is co-sponsored by the Children's Roundtable and the Texas Association of School Librarians, both of the Texas Library Association from suggestions from librarians, teachers, parents, students, and others. Students in grades 3-6 vote in January for the winner.

Barbara O'Connor. How to Steal a Dog
Living in the family car in their small North Carolina town after their father leaves them virtually penniless, Georgina, desperate to improve their situation and unwilling to accept her overworked mother's calls for patience, persuades her younger brother to help her in an elaborate scheme to get money by stealing a dog and then claiming the reward that the owners are bound to offer.



Catherine Thimmesh. Team Moon: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon
Culled from direct quotes from the people behind the scenes, NASA transcripts, national archives and NASA photos, the whole story of Apollo 11 and the first moon landing emerges.

The Texas Lone Star Reading List is a reading incentive program designed for young adults of Texas, (grades 6-8), who are encouraged to read books from a selected reading list. This list is prepared by the Texas Lone Star Reading List Committee, a part of the Texas Library Association Executive Board and the Young Adult Round Table of the Texas Library Association.

Shane Berryhill. Chance Fortune and the Outlaws
For as long as he can remember, 14-year-old Joshua Blevins has wanted to be a superhero. There's only one problem: he doesn't have any superpowers, but Josh isn't about to let that stop him.



Jennifer L. Holm. Middle School is Worse than Meatloaf: A Year Told Through Stuff
Told entirely through notes, grocery receipts, report cards, bottle caps, newspaper clippings, and other pieces of a young girls life, Newbery Honor winner Holm delivers the story of Ginnys seventh-grade year using all the things that "really" matter.

The objectives of the Tayshas Reading List are to motivate young adults to read more and to enjoy opportunities to become a community of readers in Texas.

Caroline B. Cooney. Enter Three Witches
Lady Mary's life is forever changed when her father, Lord Cawdor, betrays the Scottish king and is hanged as a traitor. Now a ward of Lord and Lady Macbeth, she's trapped in a castle with a power-hungry couple who will do anything to get what they want in this retelling of Shakespeare's tragedy.



Jordan Sonnenblick. Notes From the Midnight Driver
After being assigned to perform community service at a nursing home, sixteen-year-old Alex befriends a cantankerous old man who has some lessons to impart about jazz guitar playing, love, and forgiveness.