Prairie Pasque Nominees 2008-2009

Isabel Hatkoff

The inspiring true story of two great friends, a baby hippo named Owen and a 130-yr-old giant tortoise named Mzee (Mm-ZAY). When Owen was stranded after the Dec 2004 tsunami, villagers in Kenya worked tirelessly to rescue him. Then, to everyone's amazement, the orphan hippo and the elderly tortoise adopted each other. Now they are inseparable, swimming, eating, and playing together.

Grade Level: 3-5
Publisher: Scholastic, Inc.

Jenny Lombard

In alternating chapters, two fourth grader girls — Drita, whose family is from war-torn Kosova, and Maxie, whose family is suffering the loss of their mother — tell about the development of their unlikely friendship.

Grade Level: 4-6
Publisher: Penguin Group

Cynthia Lord

Twelve-year-old Catherine just wants a normal life. Which is near impossible when you have a brother with autism and a family that revolves around his disability. She's spent years trying to teach David the rules in order to stop his embarrassing behaviors. But the summer Catherine meets Jason, a paraplegic boy, and Kristi, the next-door friend she's always wished for, it's her own shocking behavior that turns everything upside down and forces her to ask: What is normal?

Grade Level: 4-6
Publisher: Scholastic, Inc.

Lois Lowry

Where do dreams come from? What stealthy nighttime messengers are the guardians of our most deeply hidden hopes and our half-forgotten fears? In a haunting story that tiptoes between reality and imagination, two people — a lonely, sensitive woman and a damaged, angry boy — face their own histories and discover what they can be to one another, renewed by the strength that comes from a tiny, caring creature they will never see.

Grade Level: 4-6
Publisher: Gale Group

Claudia Mills

Fifth-grade twins Todd and Amy realize that they have more in common than they thought. Amy is known as the family poet, a disorganized yet creative spirit who usually has her head in a book; and Todd is the logical one, the engineer who keeps his room, his desk, and his life — up till now — running like a well-oiled machine. But when a class project forces the siblings to work outside their comfort zones, they begin to learn more about themselves and one another.

Grade Level: 4-7
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux