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.
Edith Pattou is an American writer of fantasy fiction, including the novel East, an ALA Top Ten Best Book for Young Adults for 2004. She was born in Evanston, Illinois, and she graduated from the Francis W. Parker School, Scripps College, Claremont Graduate School and UCLA (M.L.I.S.). She is married to Charles Emery, a professor of psychology at Ohio State University. They have one child, a daughter.
Carmelina Marchetta is an Australian writer and teacher. Marchetta is best known as the author of teen novels, Looking for Alibrandi, Saving Francesca and On the Jellicoe Road. She has twice been awarded the CBCA Children's Book of the Year Award: Older Readers, in 1993 and 2004. For Jellicoe Road she won the 2009 Michael L. Printz Award from the American Library Association, recognizing the year's best book for young adults.
Russell A. Freedman was an American biographer and the author of nearly 50 books for young people. He may be known best for winning the 1988 Newbery Medal with his work Lincoln: A Photobiography.
Sharon G. Flake is an American writer of children and young adult literature. She has lived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with her daughter for many years. She is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh with a BA in English.
The Lightning Thief is a 2005 American fantasy-adventure novel based on Greek mythology, the first young adult novel by Rick Riordan. The opening installment in the series Percy Jackson & the Olympians, the book was recognized among the year's best for young adults. Riordan followed the novel with various books and spin-off series, spawning the Camp Half-Blood Chronicles media franchise.
Polly Horvath is an American-Canadian author of novels for children and young adults. She won the 2003 U.S. National Book Award for Young People's Literature for The Canning Season, published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. In 2010, Horvath received the Vicky Metcalf Award for Literature for Young People.
Kathryn Reiss is an American author of award-winning children's and young adult fiction.
Catherine Jinks is an Australian writer of fiction books for all age groups. She has won many awards including the Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Award four times, the Victorian Premier's Literary Award, the Aurealis Award for science fiction, the IBBY Australia Ena Noel Encouragement Award, the Adelaide Festival Award, and the Davitt Award for crime fiction.
So B. It is a children's novel by Sarah Weeks, released in 2004. It received awards in Illinois and Kansas. The book recounts the story of a young girl's relationship with her disabled mother, her quest to learn more about her family, and her desire to discover the truth.
Ibtisam Barakat is a Palestinian-American bilingual author, poet, artist, translator, and educator. She was born in Beit Hanina-East Jerusalem. Barakat received her bachelor's degree from Bir Zeit University, near Ramallah in the West Bank. In 1986, she moved to New York City, where she interned with The Nation magazine. She went on to earn a master's degree in journalism and another master's degree in human development and family studies from the University of Missouri.
Under the Blood Red Sun is a historical novel by Graham Salisbury, published in 1995. An award-winning feature film by Japanese American director Tim Savage and produced by Dana Satler Hankins, from a screenplay by Salisbury, was released in 2014.
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.
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.
Rebecca Stead is an American writer of fiction for children and teens. She won the American Newbery Medal in 2010, the oldest award in children's literature, for her second novel When You Reach Me.
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 by Jonathan Stroud. It follows three young operatives of a psychic detection agency as they fight ghosts in London, England.
Yolonda's Genius is a Newbery Honor book written by Carol Fenner and published in 1995 by Aladdin Paperbacks. It was also a Rebecca Caudill Young Reader's Book Award Nominee in 1998.
Ghost is a young adult novel by Jason Reynolds, published August 30, 2016 by Atheneum Books. It is the first book of Reynold's Track series, followed by Patina (2017), Sunny (2018), and Lu (2018).
