DCF Books 2008-2009

Dorothy Canfield Fisher Award Books 2008-2009
for Grades 4 - 8


All quoted comments credited to DCF Committee Members, 2008-2009	Official DCF Site	DCF Blog

	Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate "Kek, an African refugee, is confronted by many strange things at the Minneapolis home of his aunt and cousin, as well as in his fifth grade classroom, and longs for his missing mother, but finds comfort in the company of a cow and her owner." Good for Gr. 6 and up.		The Traitors' Gate by Avi "When his father is arrested as a debtor in 1849 London, 14-year-old John Huffman must take on unexpected responsibilities, from asking a distant relative for help to determining why people are spying on him and his family." Good for Gr. 5 and up.
	Jack Plank Tells Tales by Natalie Babbitt An unemployed pirate, Jack Plank attempts to find work in just about any trade - including as a farmer, fortune-teller, fisherman, barber, musician, and goldsmith. Each of these are, in the most interesting of ways, uniquely unsuitable for him. Thanks to his friends at Mrs. DelFresno's boardinghouse, he uncovers his perfect job in the nick of time. Good for Gr. 4 and up.		Tasting the Sky by Ibtisam Barakat "A memoir of a Palestinian woman's childhood experiences during the Six-Day War and its aftermath." Good for Gr. 7 and up.
	Tracking Trash by Loree Griffin Burns "Describes the work of a man who tracks trash as it travels great distances by way of ocean currents." Good for Gr. 5 and up.		No Talking by Andrew Clements "The noisy fifth-grade boys of Laketon Elementary School challenge the equally loud fifth-grade girls to a 'no talking' contest." Good for Gr. 4 and up.
	Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis "In 1860, eleven-year-old Elijah Freeman, the first free-born child in Buxton, Canada, which is a haven for slaves fleeing the American south, uses his wits and skills to try to bring to justice the lying preacher who has stolen money that was to be used to buy a family's freedom." Good for Gr. 6 and up.		Who Was First? by Russell Freedman "Examines the debate over who really discovered America, looking at Columbus, the Vikings, the Chinese and the native peoples who came many thousands of years earlier." Good for Gr. 5 and up.
	Blue Lipstick by John Grandits "A teenaged girl named Jessie voices typical and not so typical concerns in this unique, hilarious collection of concrete poems." For more fun, read Technically, It's Not My Fault, another collection of humorously clever concrete poems by the same author. Good for Gr. 6 and up.		Chase by Jessie Haas Phin, an orphaned stable boy, witnesses a murder and quickly finds himself on the run for his life, pursued by the murderer, a mysterious man, and a black stallion that seems to be able to track him like a bloodhound. Set in Pennsylvania coal-mining country in the 1870's. What a great survival story! Good for Gr. 5 and up.
	Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale Fifteen-year-old Dashti, a mucker and maid to Lady Saren, is walled into a tower with her lady, who has disobeyed her father by refusing to marry the dreaded Lord Khasar. This retelling of a Grimm Brothers fairy tale, set in central Asia, is a suspenseful and satisfying read! Good for Gr. 6 and up.		Do Not Pass Go by Kirkpatrick Hill "When Deet's father is jailed for using drugs, Deet learns that prison is not what he expected, nor are other people necessarily the way he thought they were." Good for Gr. 6 and up.
	Middle School Is Worse Than Meatloaf by Jennifer Holm Ginny begins seventh grade with a list of things to accomplish. This list, along with lots of other "stuff" -- refrigerator notes, IM messages, cards from grandpa, shopping receipts-- presented in full color digital collages on each page that record the ups and downs of Ginny's year. This humorously touching book is also truly fun to pore over. Very cool and very clever! Good for Gr. 5 and up.		The Seems: The Glitch in Sleep by John Hulme & Michael Wexler "When twelve-year-old Becker Drane is recruited by The Seems, a parallel universe that runs everything in The World, he must fix a disastrous glitch in the Department of Sleep that threatens the ability of everyone to ever fall asleep again." Good for Gr. 5 and up.
	Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat by Lynne Jonell "When Emmy discovers that she and her formerly loving parents are being drugged by their evil nanny, who has access to rodent potions that can change people in frightening ways, she and some new friends must try everything possible to return things to normal." Good for Gr. 4 and up.		Cracker! by Cynthia Kadohata "A young soldier in Vietnam bonds with his German Shepherd whom he trains to sniff out booby traps." By the author of Kira-Kira and Weedflower. Good for Gr. 6 and up.
	Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney Greg, a fairly clueless seventh grader, relates his attempts to navigate through those difficult middle school years. Full of schemes that always backfire, Greg finds himself in big trouble with his mom, dad, teachers, best friend, even the neighborhood bullies. Online game developer and cartoonist Jeff Kinney has created the first of many winners here. Good for us! See also the second in the series: Rodrick Rules. Good for Gr. 5 and up.		Schooled by Gordon Korman "Home schooled by his hippie grandmother, Capricorn (Cap) Anderson has never watched television, tasted a pizza, or even heard of a wedgie. But when his grandmother lands in the hospital, Cap is forced to move in with a social worker and attend the local middle school. While Cap knows a lot about tie-dyeing and Zen Buddhism, no education could prepare him for the politics of public school." If you liked Jerry Spinelli's Stargirl, you might enjoy this book. Good for Gr. 6 and up.
	The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex "When her mother is abducted by aliens on Christmas Eve (or "Smekday" Eve since the Boov invasion), 11 year-old Tip hops in the family car and heads south to find her and meets an alien Boov mechanic who agrees to help her and save the planet from disaster." Good for Gr. 5 and up.		Beowulf; A Hero's Tale Retold by James Rumford A beautifully illustrated retelling of the old epic tale of Beowulf, an Anglo-Saxon warrior who travels across the wide sea to Denmark with fourteen friends to attempt to defeat the monster Grendel, who lives in the cold dragon marshes near King Hrothgar’s castle and has broken into the king’s great hall dark night after dark night for 12 years to eat his fill of Hrothgar’s men. A great and gory adventure tale from 800 CE. Good for Gr. 4 and up.
	Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! by Laura Amy Schlitz Through the voices of this cast of young characters, living on or near an English manor in 1255, we get a picture, not always rosy, of what life was like in medieval times. You will hear from the blacksmith's daughter, the falconer's son, a runaway, a sniggler (eel catcher), the lord's daughter, and a mud slinger. Have fun finding each of the 23 characters on a map of the manor and environs. Good for Gr. 5 and up.		The Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt "During the 1967 school year, on Wednesday afternoons when all his classmates go to either Catechism or Hebrew school, seventh-grader Holling Hoodhood stays in Mrs. Baker’s classroom where they read the plays of William Shakespeare and Holling learns much of value about the world he lives in." Good for Gr. 6 and up.
	The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick This extraordinary book combines theater techniques, charcoal illustrations, and historical photos to tell the touching story of a 12-year-old orphan who lives secretly in a Paris train station in the 1930's, keeping the clocks running and continuing his father's work on an automaton. Absolutely fascinating! Good for Gr. 4 and up.		Elephant Run by Roland Smith Soon after Nick is sent to Burma to live on his father's timber plantation following the German blitz bombing of London in 1941, Japanese invade the country. When they are captured and his father and others are sent off to a brutal labor camp, Nick and the daughter of the head mahout (elephant trainer) try desperately to escape to find them. Secret passageways, unsure loyalties, a cruel captain, and dying prisoners combine for a great survival story filled with danger, intrigue, and amazing plot twists! Good for Gr. 7 and up.
	Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow by James Sturm and Rich Tommaso Told through the eyes of Emmet Wilson, a fictional black farmer who played in the Negro Leagues, this graphic novel about Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Satchel Paige is set in the south in the 1940’s, a time of segregation and racism. Through Emmet, we hear how Satchel Paige fought against Jim Crow through his humorous antics on the ballfield, his extraordinary skills as a pitcher, and his determination. Good for Gr. 6 and up.		Dragon's Egg by Sarah L. Thomson When Mella discovers a strange black object in a cave, she soon learns it is the egg of a wild dragon sought by a knight staying at her parents' inn. Caught in a promise to safely deliver the egg to the hatching grounds far off in the Dragontooth Mountains, Mella embarks on this secret, dangerous quest with a surprising companion, the knight's squire, Roger. This is an exciting, fast-paced adventure and a wonderful dragon fantasy. If you like reading about dragons, you will love this book. Good for Gr. 4 and up.
	A Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban "When her agoraphobic father brings home a vinyl-seated Perfectone D-60 organ instead of the shiny grand piano she has dreamed of, 10-year-old Zoe is forced to make adjustments, and finds unexpected success along the way. This story, narrated in very brief chapters by Zoe, is filled with hope, humor, and tenderness. A winner! Good for Gr. 5 and up.		Robot Dreams by Sara Varon When Dog's friend Robot becomes rusty and unable to move, following a fun swim in the ocean, a sad Dog finally leaves him on the beach, unsure of what to do. He gradually makes new friends, but they all come with disappointments and limitations. As Dog realizes he misses Robot, Robot dreams of what might have been, if only things had worked out differently. A surprisingly sophisticated wordless graphic novel that humorously and touchingly captures the power of friendship and loss. Good for Gr. 4 and up.
	Red Moon at Sharpsburg by Rosemary Wells "As the Civil War breaks out, India, a young Southern girl, summons her sharp intelligence and the courage she didn't know she had to survive the war that threatens to destroy her family, her Virginia home, and the only life she has ever known." Good for Gr. 6 and up.		Way Down Deep by Ruth White Twelve-year-old Ruby was discovered on the steps of the courthouse in the town of Way Down Deep in the Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia when she was a toddler. She has been raised by Miss Arbutus Ward, the elderly proprietor of the boardinghouse called The Roost. Life has been happy for the kind-hearted Ruby and the quirky residents of the sleepy little town who love her. The winds of change begin to blow, however, when a family moves into town with a crazy story that may hold the key to Ruby's past. A humorous but warm-hearted story about family ties by the author of Belle Prater's Boy. Good for Gr. 5 and up.

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