Young Reader's Choice Award 2006

The Pacific Northwest Library Association's Young Reader's Choice Award is the oldest children's choice award in the U.S. and Canada. The award was established in 1940 by a Seattle bookseller, the late Harry Hartman, who believed every student should have an opportunity to select a book that gives her or him pleasure.

Nominations are taken only from the children, teachers, parents and librarians of the Pacific Northwest: Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Idaho, Montana, British Columbia, and Alberta.

Nominated titles were published three years previously, printed in the U.S. or Canada and are already favorites with the readers. Only 4th to 12th graders in the Pacific Northwest are eligible to vote. Read at least two books in your grade category and vote for your favorite in March 2006.

Nominees for the 2006 award are:

Junior Division, Grades 4-6

	Granny Torrelli Makes Soup by Sharon Creech	With the help of her wise old grandmother, twelve-year-old Rosie manages to work out some problems in her relationship with her best friend, Bailey, the boy next door.
	Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins	When eleven-year-old Gregor and his two-year-old sister are pulled into a strange underground world, they trigger an epic battle involving men, bats, rats, cockroaches, and spiders while on a quest foretold by ancient prophecy.
	Kensuke's Kingdom by Michael Morpurgo	When Michael is swept off his family's yacht, he washes up on a desert island, where he struggles to survive--until he finds he is not alone.
	The Mayor of Central Park by Avi	Oscar Westerwit, a squirrel who loves baseball and Broadway musicals, fights back when a gangster rat named Big Daddy Duds and his thugs move uptown, invade Central Park, and evict Oscar and his animal friends from their homes.
	Olive's Ocean by Kevin Henkes	On a summer visit to her grandmother's cottage by the ocean, twelve-year-old Martha gains perspective on the death of a classmate, on her relationship with her grandmother, on her feelings for an older boy, and on her plans to be a writer.
	Rodzina by Karen Cushman	A twelve-year-old Polish-American girl is boarded onto an orphan train in Chicago with fears about traveling to the West and a life of unpaid slavery.
	Sahara Special by Esme Raji Codell	Struggling with school and her feelings since her father left, Sahara gets a fresh start with a new and unique teacher who supports her writing talents and the individuality of each of her classmates.
	The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo	The adventures of Despereaux Tilling, a small mouse of unusual talents, the princess that he loves, the servant girl who longs to be a princess, and a devious rat determined to bring them all to ruin.

Intermediate Division, Grades 7-9

	The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau	In the year 241, twelve-year-old Lina trades jobs on Assignment Day to be a Messenger to run to new places in her decaying but beloved city, perhaps even to glimpse Unknown Regions.
	The Conch Bearer by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni	In India, a healer invites twelve-year-old Anand to join him on a quest to return a magical conch to its safe and rightful home, high in the Himalayan mountains.
	East by Edith Pattou	A young woman journeys to a distant castle on the back of a great white bear who is the victim of a cruel enchantment.
	Eragon by Christopher Paolini	In Alagaesia, a fifteen-year-old boy of unknown lineage called Eragon finds a mysterious stone that weaves his life into an intricate tapestry of destiny, magic, and power, peopled with dragons, elves, and monsters.
	Into the Wild by Erin Hunter	When Rusty, an ordinary housecat, becomes ThunderClan's new apprentice, he realizes that his past life has not prepared him for the hardships he now faces and so must work extra hard to prove he can be a true warrior. First book in the Warriors series.
	Millicent Min, Girl Genius by Lisa Yee	In a series of journal entries, eleven-year-old child prodigy Millicent Min records her struggles to learn to play volleyball, tutor her enemy, deal with her grandmother's departure, and make friends over the course of a tumultuous summer.
	The River Between Us by Richard Peck	During the early days of the Civil War, the Pruitt family takes in two mysterious young ladies who have fled New Orleans to come north to Illinois.
	Shakespeare Bats Cleanup by Ron Koertge	When a fourteen-year-old baseball player catches mononucleosis, he discovers that keeping a journal and experimenting with poetry not only helps fill the time, it also helps him deal with life, love, and loss.

Senior Division, Grades 10-12

	Acceleration by Graham McNamee	Stuck working in the Lost and Found of the Toronto Transit Authority for the summer, seventeen-year-old Duncan finds the diary of a serial killer and sets out to stop him.
	Breakout by Paul Fleischman	While acting in her own one-woman play about an L.A. traffic jam, Del's comedy is actually a reflection of her own life, when she fled Los Angeles eight years earlier, and her struggle for identity and community.
	Fat Kid Rules the World by K. L. Going	Seventeen-year-old Troy, depressed, suicidal, and weighing nearly 300 pounds, gets a new perspective on life when a homeless teenager who is a genius on guitar wants Troy to be the drummer in his rock band
	A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly	In 1906, sixteen-year-old Mattie, determined to attend college and be a writer against the wishes of her father and fiance, takes a job at a summer inn where she discovers the truth about the death of a guest. Based on a true story.
	The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger	The love story of Henry and Clare, told from both points of view, whose lives are complicated by a genetic condition that causes Henry to involuntarily time travel to moments of emotional gravity in his life.