The 2011 Ohioana Book Award Finalist for Best Juvenile Book

Here is the 2011 Ohioana Book Award Finalist for Best Juvenile Book.

The books eligible for the 2011 Ohioana Book Award were published in either 2008 or 2009 and received by Ohioana by 2009.

Best Juvenile Book

Interested in one or more of these books? Click the mouse on the book cover to order it from your local CLEVNET library.

Out of My Mind

Author: Draper, Sharon
Format: Hardcover
Type: Juvenile Book
Page Count: 295pp.
Pub. Date: March 2010
Publisher: Simon and Schuster Children’s Publishing

Nominated for the 2011 Ohioana Book Award for Best Juvenile Book

Publisher’s Summary:
Melody has a photographic memory. She remembers everything that has ever happened to her in precise, exact detail — from the words to a song she once heard when she was little to what she ate for a typical mundane breakfast. She also knows thousands and thousands of facts. Her head is like a video camera that is always recording. Always — and there’s no delete button. She’s the smartest kid in her whole school — but, NO ONE knows because she has virtually no way of communicating.

Melody has cerebral palsy. All most people see is a special needs kid — never suspecting that trapped inside this eleven-year old girl is more information and insight than they ever imagined.

Being stuck inside her head is making Melody go out of her mind — that is until she discovers a computerized talking device that will allow her communicate for the first time ever. A dream come true! At last, she’s able to talk, to be in a regular classroom, and have regular conversations!

Melody even joins the Whiz Kids Quiz Team — and becomes one of their most valuable members. She’s showing everyone what she is really capable of and surprising even herself with the power of her computerized voice. But, what if people — teachers, classmates, friends — don’t want Melody to succeed? And what if Melody’s new voice isn’t loud enough to be heard over all her difficulties?

From multiple Coretta Scott King Award winner Sharon Draper comes a story full of heartache and hope. Melody is learning to communicate with the world . . . and teaching the world how to communicate with her. If you are brave enough, strong enough, if you can bear to listen, hers is a story you need to hear.

What Happened on Fox Street

Author: Springstubb, Tricia
Illustrator: Heather Ross
Format: Hardcover
Type: Juvenile Book
Page Count: 218pp.
Pub. Date: August 2010
Publisher: Balzer + Bray

Nominated for the 2011 Ohioana Book Award for Best Juvenile Book

The eBook is available from the CLEVNET eMedia Collection.

Publisher’s Summary:
Fox Street was a dead end. In Mo Wren’s opinion, this was only one of many wonderful, distinguishing things about it.

Mo lives on Fox Street with her dad and little sister, the Wild Child. Their house is in the middle of the block — right where a heart would be, if the street were a person.

Fox Street has everything: a piano player, a fix-it man, the city’s best burrito makers, a woman who cuts Mo’s hair just right, not to mention a certain boy who wants to teach her how to skateboard. There’s even a mean, spooky old lady, if ringing doorbells and running away, or leaving dead mice in mailboxes, is your idea of fun.

Summers are Mo’s favorite time, because her best friend, Mercedes, comes to stay.

Most important, though, Fox Street is where all Mo’s memories of her mother live. The idea of anything changing on Fox Street is unimaginable — until it isn’t.

This is the story of one unforgettable summer — a summer of alarming letters, mysterious errands, and surprising revelations — and how a tuft of bright red fur gives Mo the courage she needs.

Snook Alone

Author: Nelson, Marilyn
Illustrator: Timothy Basil Ering
Format: Hardcover
Type: Juvenile Book
Page Count: 48pp.
Pub. Date: September 2010
Publisher: Candlewick Press

Nominated for the 2011 Ohioana Book Award for Best Juvenile Book

Publisher’s Summary:
A faithful little dog must survive on his own in the wild in this evocative tale of loss and reunion from acclaimed poet Marilyn Nelson and the inimitable Timothy Basil Ering.

Abba Jacob is a monk who lives on a far, far away island with his loyal rat terrier, Snook.

Every day, from the wee hours of dawn till the sun sets over the sea, Snook keeps Abba Jacob company as he prays or works, tending the gardens or fixing the plumbing of the little hermitage he calls home.

But when the two are separated by a ferocious storm, Snook must learn to fend for himself in the wild, all alone in a world of fierceness and wonder. Will he ever again hear the loving voice that he waits for?

Simply and lyrically told by award-winning poet Marilyn Nelson and beautifully illustrated by Timothy Basil Ering with wit, warmth, and affection for the natural world, this captivating tale of friendship lost and found conveys the power of faith against all odds.

The Ink Garden of Brother Theophane

Author: Millen, C. M.
Illustrator: Andrea Wisnewski
Format: Hardcover
Type: Juvenile Book
Page Count: 32pp.
Pub. Date: July 2010
Publisher: Charlesbridge Publishing, Inc.

Nominated for the 2011 Ohioana Book Award for Best Juvenile Book

Publisher’s Summary:
In medieval Ireland, Theophane’s boredom with his duties as a scribe distracts the other monks, but when he is sent to the kitchens he discovers that he can make inks of many colors from plants, allowing the others to illustrate their work.

Includes facts about the history of monasteries, scriptoriums, and illuminated manuscripts.

Hip-pocket Papa

Author: Markle, Sandra
Illustrator: Alan Marks
Format: Hardcover
Type: Juvenile Book
Page Count: 32pp.
Pub. Date: February 2010
Publisher: Charlesbridge Publishing, Inc.

Nominated for the 2011 Ohioana Book Award for Best Juvenile Book

Publisher’s Summary:
A male hip-pocket frog — Assa darlingtoni — protects his offspring while they grow from tadpoles to froglets in pouches located inside his legs.

The 2011 Ohioana Book Award Nominations Series:

Part 1 — Best Fiction
Part 2 — Best Non-Fiction
Part 3 — About Ohio
Part 4 — Best Poetry
Part 5 — Juvenile Book