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The Monarch Award: Illinois’ K-3 Children’s Choice Award is presented annually to the author and/or illustrator of the book voted as their favorite by students in Kindergarten through Grade Three in participating Illinois schools or public libraries. The Monarch is sponsored by the Illinois School Library Association.
The name Monarch (butterfly) was chosen because of its familiarity to K-3 children and to symbolize the growth, change and freedom that becoming a reader brings. The Monarch is designed to encourage children to read critically and become familiar with children's books, authors and illustrators. The program is open to all K-3 age children in Illinois.
Each year a committee creates a list of 20 books to be read by the children. The titles include a range of interest and reading levels for grades K-3. The list contains picture books, easy readers, and chapter books. Students are encouraged to read books from the list during the school year.

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For Students in Grades 2-3.
Read 5 books and pass the AR quizzes to be eligible to vote for your favorite book from the list.

Students who read at least 10 books and pass each quiz will be invited to a Monarch Reader's Party.
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The Monarch Award : Illinois’ K-3 Children’s Choice Award

BUTTERWORTH, CHRIS * * * * * Sea Horse: The Shyest Fish in the Sea;

CRIMI, CAROLYN * * * * * Henry and the Buccaneer Bunnies;

DAVIES, NICOLA * * * * * Surprising Sharks;

HARRINGTON, JANICE * * * * *The Chicken-Chasing Queen of Lamar County Giroux;

JURMAIN, SUZANNE * * * * * George Did It;

KINSEY-WARNOCK * * * * * Natalie Nora’s Ark;

KNUDSEN, MICHELLE * * * * * Library Lion;

MCDONALD, MEGAN * * * * * Stink: The Incredible Shrinking Kid;

MCLEOD, BOB * * * * * Superhero ABC;

MCKISSACK, PATRICIA AND ONAWUMI, JEAN MOSS * * * * * Precious and the Boo Hag;

O’MALLEY, KEVIN * * * * * Once Upon a Cool Motorcycle Dude;

PENNYPACKER, SARA * * * * * Clementine;

ROSENTHAL, AMY KROUSE * * * * * Cookies: Bite-size Life Lessons;

RYLANT, CYNTHIA * * * * * Henry and Mudge and the Great Grandpas;

SCHACHNER, JUDITH * * * * * Skippyjon Jones;

SIERRA, JUDY * * * * * The Secret Science Project That Almost Ate the School;

STEVENS, JANET AND SUSAN STEVENS CRUMMEL * * * * * The Great Fuzz Frenzy;

WALKER, ALICE * * * * * There is a Flower at the Tip of My Nose Smelling Me;

WILLEMS, MO * * * * * Today I Will Fly!;

WRIGHT, BETTY REN * * * * * The Blizzard.

2008 St. John Winners:
1st: The SOS File
2nd: Miss Daisy Is Crazy
3rd: If I Built A Car

Official Winners:

1st Place: If I Built a Car written and illustrated by Chris Van Dusen

2nd: Bad Kitty Written and illustrated by Nick Bruel

3rd: Fancy Nancy by Jane O'Connor illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser.

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The Rebecca Caudill Young Readers' Book Award was developed to encourage children and young adults to read for personal satisfaction. It is an Illinois award for outstanding literature for young people and is sponsored by the Illinois Reading Council, the Illinois School Library Media Association, and the Illinois Association of Teachers of English.
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• Cornelia and the Audacious Escapades of the Somerset Sisters by Lesley M.M. Blume
• Blood on the River: James Town 1607 by Elisa Carbone
• shug by Jenny Han
• Penny from Heaven by Jennifer L. Holm
• Alabama Moon by Watt Key
• The Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages
• Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson
• Black Duck by Janet Taylor Lisle
• Rules by Cynthia Lord
• Gossamer by Lois Lowry
• Heat by Mike Lupica
• Oh, Rats!: The Story of Rats and People by Albert Marrin
• Project Mulberry by Linda Sue Park
• Wolf Brother by Michelle Paver
• Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer
• The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
• A Drowned Maiden's Hair: A Melodrama by Laura Amy Schlitz
• The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
• Letters From Wolfie by Patti Sherlock
• Black Storm Comin' by Diane Lee Wilson

* * * * St. John Winners 2008 * * * *
1st. Drums, Girls & Dangerous Pie
2nd. The Old Willis Place

Just Announced:
The winner of the 2008 Rebecca Caudill Young Readers' Book Award is Drums, Girls, & Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick.
2nd: The Old Willis Place by Mary Downing Hahn
3rd. MVP*: *Magellan Voyage Project by Douglas Evans finishing third.
Congratulations to all the top finishers!

This is a reading program sponsored by the Wheaton Public Library in which students from different schools read books from a selected list, form teams representing their schools, and play against other local schools in a College-Bowl type format.

The new season for 4th and 5th grade begins in January. Lincoln, St. John, St. Michael and Wheaton Christian Grammar School are participating.

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William Shakespeare & The Globe . . . Aliki.
Sounder . . . Armstrong, William.
Poppy and Rye . . . Avi.
Tuck Everlasting . . . Babbitt, Natalie.
Runt . . . Bauer, Marion.
A Little Princess . . . Burnett, Frances.
Wanted...Mud Blossom . . . Byers, Betsy.
The Chocolate Touch . . . Catling, Patrick.
The Mouse and the Motorcycle . . . Cleary, Beverly.
Frindle . . . Clements, Andrew.
Thank You, Jackie Robinson . . . Cohen, Barbara.
Ruby Holler . . . Creech, Sharon.
Because of Winn-Dixie . . . DiCamillo, Kate.
The Birchbark House . . . Erdrich, Louise.
The Great Brain . . . Fitzgerald, John.
Harriet the Spy . . . Fitzhugh, Louise.
Kids at Work . . . Freedman, Russell.
Stone Fox . . . Gardiner, John Reynolds.
Nory Ryan's Song . . . Patricia Giff.
Do Bananas Chew Gum? . . . Gilson, Jamie.
Honus & Me . . . Gutman, Dan.
Ida B: . . and Her Plans to Maximize Fun . . . Hannigan, Katherine.
King of the Wind . . . Henry, Marguerite.
The Year of Miss Agnes . . . Hill, Kirkpatrick.
Penny from Heaven . . . Holm, Jennifer.
Bunnicula . . . Howe, James.
Baseball Fever . . . Hurwitz, Johanna.
Onion Tears . . . Kidd, Diana.
The Canada Geese Quilt . . . Kinsey-Warnock, Natalie.
Ben and Me . . . Lawson, Robert.
Hana's suitcase . . . Levine, Karen.
The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe . . . C.S.Lewis.
Rules . . . Lord, Cynthia.
The Hundred Penny Box . . . Mathis, Sharon.
Snow Treasure . . . McSwigan, Marie.
Owls in the Family . . . Mowat, Farley.
Hachiko Waits . . . Newman, Leslea.
The Graduation of Jake Moon . . . Park, Barbara.
Project Mulberry . . . Park, Linda Sue.
The Westing Game . . . Baskin, Ellen.
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever . . . Robinson, Barbara.
Riding Freedom . . . Ryan, Pam.
Doing Time Online . . . Siebold, Jan.
Sign of the Beaver . . . Speare, Elizabeth.
Colt . . . Springer, Nancy.
The Bully of Barkham Street . . . Stolz, Mary.
The Junkyard Dog . . . Tamar, Erika.
Beauty . . . Wallace, Bill.
Charlotte's Web . . .White, E.B.
Behind the Bedroom Wall . . . Williams, Laura.

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Chasing Vermeer . . . by Blue Balliett
Squashed . . . by Joan Bauer
The Terrorist . . . by Caroline B. Cooney
The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963: a novel . . . by Christopher Paul Curtis
A Murder for Her Majesty . . . by Beth Hilgartner
Far North . . . by Will Hobbs
The Ghost in the Tokaido Inn . . . by Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler
Red scarf Girl: a memoir of the Cultural Revolution . . . by Ji-Li Jiang
Ella Enchanted . . . by Gail Carson Levine
Travel Team . . . by Mike Lupica
The Lightning Thief . . . by Rick Riordan
Esperanza Rising . . . by Pam Munoz Ryan
The Wednesday Wars . . . by Gary Schmidt
The Schwa Was Here . . . by Neal Schusterman
The Hobbit: or, There and back again . . . by J.R.R. Tolkien
Heir Apparent . . . by Vivian Vande Velde
Jackaroo . . . by Cynthia Voight
Memory Boy: a novel . . . by Will Weaver
Bell Prater’s Boy . . . by Ruth White
Dealing with Dragons . . . by Patricia C. Wrede