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    The Children's Book Review

    2013 National Book Award Winner: Young People’s Literature

    Bianca SchulzeBy Bianca Schulze6 Mins Read Ages 4-8 Ages 9-12 Award Winners Best Kids Stories Book Lists Chapter Books Gift Books Teens: Young Adults
    The Thing About Luck Book
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    The Children’s Book Review | November 22, 2013

    Winner

    The-Thing-About-LuckThe Thing About Luck

    By Cynthia Kadohata

    There is bad luck, good luck, and making your own luck—which is exactly what Summer must do to save her family in this National Book Award Finalist from Newbery Medalist Cynthia Kadohata.

    Summer knows that kouun means “good luck” in Japanese, and this year her family has none of it. Just when she thinks nothing else can possibly go wrong, an emergency whisks her parents away to Japan—right before harvest season. Summer and her little brother, Jaz, are left in the care of their grandparents, who come out of retirement in order to harvest wheat and help pay the bills.

    The thing about Obaachan and Jiichan is that they are old-fashioned and demanding, and between helping Obaachan cook for the workers, covering for her when her back pain worsens, and worrying about her lonely little brother, Summer just barely has time to notice the attentions of their boss’s cute son. But notice she does, and what begins as a welcome distraction from the hard work soon turns into a mess of its own.

    Having thoroughly disappointed her grandmother, Summer figures the bad luckmust be finished—but then it gets worse. And when that happens, Summer has to figure out how to change it herself, even if it means further displeasing Obaachan. Because it might be the only way to save her family.

    Cynthia Kadohata’s ode to the breadbasket of America has received six starred reviews and was selected as a National Book Award Finalist.

    Ages 10-14 | Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers | June 4, 2013 | ISBN-13: 978-1416918820

    Finalists

    The-True-Blue-Scouts-Of-Sugar-Man-SwampThe True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp

    By Kathi Appelt

    Meet Bingo and J’miah, raccoon brothers on a mission to save Sugar Man Swamp in this National Book Award finalist from Newbery Honoree Kathi Appelt.

    Raccoon brothers Bingo and J’miah are the newest recruits of the Official Sugar Man Swamp Scouts. The opportunity to serve the Sugar Man—the massive creature who delights in delicious sugar cane and magnanimously rules over the swamp—is an honor, and also a big responsibility, since the rest of the swamp critters rely heavily on the intel of these hardworking Scouts.

    Twelve-year-old Chap Brayburn is not a member of any such organization. But he loves the swamp something fierce, and he’ll do anything to help protect it.

    And help is surely needed, because world-class alligator wrestler Jaeger Stitch wants to turn Sugar Man swamp into an Alligator World Wrestling Arena and Theme Park, and the troubles don’t end there. There is also a gang of wild feral hogs on the march, headed straight toward them all.

    The Scouts are ready. All they have to do is wake up the Sugar Man. Problem is, no one’s been able to wake that fellow up in a decade or four…

    Newbery Honoree and National Book Award finalist Kathi Appelt’s story of care and conservation has received five starred reviews, was selected as a National Book Award finalist, and is funny as all get out and ripe for reading aloud.

    Ages 8-12 | Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers | July 23, 2013 | ISBN-13: 978-1442421059

    Far-Far-AwayFar Far Away 

    By Tom McNeal

    National Book Award Finalist

    A dark, contemporary fairy tale in the tradition of Neil Gaiman.

    Jeremy Johnson Johnson hears voices. Or, specifically, one voice: the ghost of Jacob Grimm, one half of The Brothers Grimm. Jacob watches over Jeremy, protecting him from an unknown dark evil whispered about in the space between this world and the next.

    But Jacob can’t protect Jeremy from everything. When coltish, copper-haired Ginger Boultinghouse takes a bite of a cake so delicious it’s rumored to be bewitched, she falls in love with the first person she sees: Jeremy. In any other place, this would be a turn for the better for Jeremy, but not in Never Better, where the Finder of Occasions—whose identity and evil intentions nobody knows—is watching and waiting, waiting and watching. . . And as anyone familiar with the Brothers Grimm know, not all fairy tales have happy endings.

    Veteran writer Tom McNeal has crafted a young adult novel at once grim(m) and hopeful, full of twists, and perfect for fans of contemporary fairy tales like Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book and Holly Black’s Doll Bones. The recipient of five starred reviews, Publishers Weekly called Far Far Away“inventive and deeply poignant.”

    Ages 12 and up | Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers | July 23, 2013 | ISBN-13: 978-0375849725

    17465457Picture Me Gone 

    By Meg Rosoff

    Printz Award-winning author Meg Rosoff’s latest novel is a gorgeous and unforgettable page-turner about the relationship between parents and children, love and loss.

    Mila has an exceptional talent for reading a roomsensing hidden facts and unspoken emotions from clues that others overlook. So when her father’s best friend, Matthew, goes missing from his upstate New York home, Mila and her beloved father travel from London to find him. She collects information about Matthew from his belongings, from his wife and baby, from the dog he left behind and from the ghosts of his pastslowly piecing together the story everyone else has missed. But just when she’s closest to solving the mystery, a shocking betrayal calls into question her trust in the one person she thought she could read best.

    Ages 12 and up | Publisher: Putnam Juvenile | October 3, 2013 | ISBN-13: 978-0399257650

    Boxers-And-SaintsBoxers & Saints Boxed Set 

    By Gene Luen Yang

    Boxers & Saints Boxed Set Edition
    One of the greatest comics storytellers alive brings all his formidable talents to bear in this astonishing new work.
    In two volumes, Boxers & Saints tells two parallel stories. The first is of Little Bao, a Chinese peasant boy whose village is abused and plundered by Westerners claiming the role of missionaries. Little Bao, inspired by visions of the Chinese gods, joins a violent uprising against the Western interlopers. Against all odds, their grass-roots rebellion is successful.
    But in the second volume, Yang lays out the opposite side of the conflict. A girl whose village has no place for her is taken in by Christian missionaries and finds, for the first time, a home with them. As the Boxer Rebellion gains momentum, Vibiana must decide whether to abandon her Christian friends or to commit herself fully to Christianity.
    Boxers & Saints is one of the most ambitious graphic novels First Second has ever published. It offers a penetrating insight into not only one of the most controversial episodes of modern Chinese history, but into the very core of our human nature. Gene Luen Yang is rightly called a master of the comics form, and this book will cement that reputation.
    This boxed set includes the trade paperback Boxers as well as the trade paperback Saints, packaged together in one slipcase.

    One of Publishers Weekly‘s Best Comic Books and Best Children’s Books of 2013

    Ages 12-17 | Publisher: First Second | September 10, 2013 | ISBN-13: 978-1596439245

    What to Read Next:

    1. Newbery Award: John Newbery Winners | 2014 Children’s Literature
    2. Best Children’s Books of 2009 … Beyond the Half-Way Mark
    3. Best Selling Middle Grade Books | November 2013
    4. Best Kids Books of 2013

    *Disclosure: Please note that this post may contain affiliate links that share some commission. Rest assured that these will not affect the cost of any products and services promoted here. Our team always provides their authentic opinion in all content published on this site.

    Cynthia Kadohata Gene Luen Yang Kathi Appelt Meg Rosoff Tom McNeal
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    Bianca Schulze
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    Bianca Schulze is the founder of The Children’s Book Review. She is a reader, reviewer, mother and children’s book lover. She also has a decade’s worth of experience working with children in the great outdoors. Combined with her love of books and experience as a children’s specialist bookseller, the goal is to share her passion for children’s literature to grow readers. Born and raised in Sydney, Australia, she now lives with her husband and three children near Boulder, Colorado.

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