The Rebecca Caudill Young Readers' Book Award (RCYRBA) is an annual award given to the author of the book voted most outstanding by students in grades four through eight in participating Illinois schools and libraries. It is named in honor of children's author Rebecca Caudill, who lived and worked in Urbana, Illinois, and has been presented annually since 1988. It is administered by a volunteer board of directors and presented in cooperation with the Illinois Association of Teachers of English, the Illinois Reading Council, and the Illinois School Library Media Association.
John Feinstein is an American sportswriter, author and sports commentator.
Stormbreaker is a young adult action-adventure book written by British author Anthony Horowitz, and is the first novel in the Alex Rider series. The book was released in the United Kingdom on the 4th of September 2000, and in United States release on 21 May 2001, where it became a New York Times Bestseller. Since its release, the book has sold more than nine million copies worldwide, been listed on the BBC's The Big Read, and in 2005 received a California Young Reader Medal.
The Lightning Thief is a 2005 American fantasy-adventure novel based on Greek mythology, the first young adult novel written by Rick Riordan in the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series. It won the Adult Library Services Association Best Books for Young Adults, among other awards. The novel is followed by The Sea of Monsters and spawned two sequel series and the extended universe of the Camp Half-Blood Chronicles.
Flipped (2001) is a young adult novel by Wendelin Van Draanen set from c.1994 to 2000. It is a stand-alone teen romance with the two protagonists alternately presenting their perspective on a shared set of events.
Richard Russell Riordan Jr. is an American author, best known for writing the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series. Riordan's books have been translated into forty-two languages and sold more than thirty million copies in the United States. 20th Century Fox adapted the first two books of his Percy Jackson series as part of a series of films, while a Disney+ adaptation is in production. His books have spawned related media, such as graphic novels and short story collections.
The Wednesday Wars is a 2007 young adult historical fiction novel written by Gary D. Schmidt, the author of Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy. The novel is set in suburban Long Island during the 1967–68 school year. The Vietnam War is an important backdrop for the novel. It was given a Newbery Honor medal in 2008, and was also nominated for the Rebecca Caudill Young Reader's Book Award in 2010.
Mary Downing Hahn is an American writer of young adult novels and a former school librarian. She is known for books such as Stepping On The Cracks and Wait Till Helen Comes. She published her first book in 1979 and has since written over 30 novels. Her novel What We Saw was published in September 2022.
Cover Up: Mystery at the Super Bowl is a mystery novel written by sportswriter John Feinstein. It is the third book in the sports beat series, along with Last Shot: A Final Four Mystery and Vanishing Act.
Rebecca Caudill Ayars was an American writer of children's literature. More than twenty of her books were published. Tree of Freedom was a Newbery Honor Book in 1950. A Pocketful of Cricket, illustrated by Evaline Ness, was a Caldecott Honor Book.
Someone Named Eva is a young adult novel by Joan M. Wolf. It follows life of Milada, an eleven-year-old Czech girl who is placed in the Lebensborn program during World War II, after Hitler annexes Czechoslovakia during the years 1942–1945.
Smile is an autobiographical graphic novel written by Raina Telgemeier. It was published in February of 2010 by Graphix, an imprint of Scholastic Inc. The novel provides an account of the author's life, characterized by dental procedures and struggles with fitting in, from sixth grade to high school. The book originated as a webcomic, which was serialized on Girlamatic. It is most appropriate for readers between fourth and sixth grade. Smile has had a pedagogical impact, and reviews have been written on this novel.
Amy Sarig King is an American writer of short fiction and young adult fiction. She is the recipient of the 2022 Margaret A. Edwards Award for her "significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature."
Lockwood & Co. is a young adult supernatural thriller series written by Jonathan Stroud. The series follows three young operatives of a psychic detection agency as they fight ghosts in London, England.
Rebecca Podos is an American author of young adult fiction and a literary agent, best known for her Lambda Literary Award-winning novel Like Water.
Sadie is a novel written by Courtney Summers. The book was released on September 4, 2018, and is told from two perspectives: some chapters offering Sadie's point of view and some chapters being styled as transcripts from a podcast called "The Girls" hosted by a man named West McCray. The release of the book was accompanied by the release of a mock true-crime podcast titled The Girls: Find Sadie which is available on Apple Podcasts and Stitcher.
The Rock and the River is a young adult historical fiction novel by Kekla Magoon, published January 6th 2009 by Aladdin.
Free Lunch is a middle-grade memoir by Rex Ogle, published September 10, 2019, by Norton Young Readers. The book follows Ogle's middle school experience of being "a poor kid in a wealthy school district."
Susan Vaught is an American author and neuropsychologist.
The Zoe Washington series is a series of middle grade novels by Janae Marks, consisting of the following books: From the Desk of Zoe Washington (2020) and On Air with Zoe Washington (2023). Several outlets included From the Desk of Zoe Washington in their list of the best children's books of 2020. It is also slated to be adapted into a film by Disney Branded Television.
