Rebecca Caudill Young Reader's Book Award
Encyclopedia
The Rebecca Caudill Young Readers' Book Award (RCYRBA) is a program sponsored by the Illinois Association of Teachers of English, the Illinois Reading Council, and the Illinois School Library Media Association. The award has been granted annually since 1988. The program is named after children's author Rebecca Caudill
, who lived and worked in Urbana, Illinois
.
Books honored by this award are selected by a popular vote taken of students between the fourth and eighth grades in the State of Illinois
. Books are nominated two years in advance of a selection year by students, teachers, school and public librarians. The nominations are narrowed down to twenty choices by the 70+ member RCYRBA evaluators committee, and put forward as that year's "Master List." Participating schools and public libraries then collect votes from school children starting during the fall of the prior year, up through the end of February in the awarding year.
Rebecca Caudill
Rebecca Caudill Ayars was an American author of children's literature, publishing over twenty books. Caudill's book, Tree of Freedom , was a Newbery Honor Book in 1950...
, who lived and worked in Urbana, Illinois
Urbana, Illinois
Urbana is the county seat of Champaign County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 41,250. Urbana is the tenth-most populous city in Illinois outside of the Chicago metropolitan area....
.
Books honored by this award are selected by a popular vote taken of students between the fourth and eighth grades in the State of Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
. Books are nominated two years in advance of a selection year by students, teachers, school and public librarians. The nominations are narrowed down to twenty choices by the 70+ member RCYRBA evaluators committee, and put forward as that year's "Master List." Participating schools and public libraries then collect votes from school children starting during the fall of the prior year, up through the end of February in the awarding year.
Winning books
- 2011: The Hunger GamesThe Hunger GamesThe Hunger Games is a first person young-adult science fiction novel written by Suzanne Collins. It was originally published on September 14, 2008, by Scholastic. It is the first book of the Hunger Games trilogy. It introduces sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives in a post-apocalyptic world...
, by Suzanne CollinsSuzanne CollinsSuzanne Collins is an American television writer and novelist.-Early life:Suzanne Collins is the daughter of an Air Force officer. She graduated from the Alabama School of Fine Arts and earned her M.F.A. from New York University in Dramatic Writing.... - 2010: All the Lovely Bad Ones, by Mary Downing HahnMary Downing HahnMary Downing Hahn is an award-winning American author of young adult novels. Her first published book, The Sara Summer, was released in 1979, when she was forty-one years old. Since then she has written over twenty novels...
- 2009: The Lightning ThiefThe Lightning ThiefThe Lightning Thief is a 2005 fantasy-adventure novel based on Greek mythology, the first young adult novel written by Rick Riordan. It is the first novel in the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series, which charts the adventures of modern-day twelve-year-old Percy Jackson as he discovers he is a...
, by Rick RiordanRick RiordanRichard Russell "Rick" Riordan, Jr. is an American author best known for writing the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series. He also wrote the Tres Navarre mystery series for adults and helped to edit Demigods and Monsters, a collection of essays on the topic of his Percy Jackson series... - 2008: Drums, Girls, & Dangerous PieDrums, Girls, and Dangerous PieDrum, Girls & Dangerous Pie is a book aimed at children and young teenagers, and was the 2004 debut novel from author Jordan Sonnenblick, originally published by DayBlue Insights and later by Scholastic...
, by Jordan SonnenblickJordan SonnenblickJordan Sonnenblick is an American writer of young-adult fiction. He is a graduate of New York City's Stuyvesant High School , and of the University of Pennsylvania... - 2007: So B. ItSo B. ItSo B. It is a children's novel by Sarah Weeks. In 2007 it won book awards in Illinois and Kansas .-Plot summary:...
, by Sarah WeeksSarah WeeksSarah Weeks is a children's book author, perhaps best known for writing So B. It which in 2007 won the Rebecca Caudill Young Reader's Book Award and William Allen White Children's Book Award.-Life:... - 2006: EragonEragonEragon is the first book in the Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini, who began writing at the age of 15. After writing the first draft for a year, he spent a second year rewriting it and fleshing out the story and characters. Paolini's parents saw the final manuscript and decided to...
, by Christopher PaoliniChristopher PaoliniChristopher Paolini is an American author. He is best known as the author of the Inheritance Cycle, which consists of the books Eragon, Eldest, Brisingr, and Inheritance... - 2005: HootHoot (novel)Hoot is a young-adult novel by Carl Hiaasen. The story takes place in Coconut Cove, Florida, where Roy and his two new friends try to stop construction of a pancake house which would destroy a colony of burrowing owls who live on the site...
, by Carl HiaasenCarl HiaasenCarl Hiaasen is an American journalist, columnist and novelist.- Early years :Born in 1953 and raised in Plantation, Florida, of Norwegian heritage, Hiaasen was the first of four children and the son of a lawyer, Kermit Odel, and teacher, Patricia... - 2004: StormbreakerStormbreaker (novel)Stormbreaker is the first novel in the Alex Rider series by British author Anthony Horowitz. It was released in the United Kingdom on 4 September 2000 and in the United States on 21 May 2001...
, by Anthony HorowitzAnthony HorowitzAnthony Craig Horowitz is an English novelist and screenwriter. He has written many children's novels, including The Power of Five, Alex Rider and The Diamond Brothers series and has written over fifty books. He has also written extensively for television, adapting many of Agatha Christie's... - 2003: Fever, 1793Fever 1793Fever, 1793 is a historical novel by Laurie Halse Anderson that was published in 2000. Set during the Philadelphia yellow fever epidemic of 1793, its protagonist and narrator is a teenage girl named Matilda Cook who lives with her hardworking mother, war-fought grandfather, and their ex- slave...
, by Laurie Halse AndersonLaurie Halse AndersonLaurie Halse Anderson is an American author who writes for children and young adults.-Career:... - 2002: HolesHoles (novel)Holes is a Newbery Medal-winning novel by Louis Sachar. It was adapted into a screenplay for the 2003 film by Walt Disney Pictures. In 2006, Sachar published Small Steps, a companion novel featuring one of the characters from Holes.-Plot:...
, by Louis SacharLouis SacharLouis Sachar is an American author of children's books who is best known for the Sideways Stories From Wayside School book series and the 1998 novel Holes, for which Sachar won a National Book Award and the Newbery Medal... - 2001: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's StoneHarry Potter and the Philosopher's StoneHarry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is the first novel in the Harry Potter series written by J. K. Rowling and featuring Harry Potter, a young wizard...
, by J. K. RowlingJ. K. RowlingJoanne "Jo" Rowling, OBE , better known as J. K. Rowling, is the British author of the Harry Potter fantasy series... - 2000: Ella EnchantedElla EnchantedElla Enchanted is a Newbery Honor book written by Gail Carson Levine and published in 1997. The story is a retelling of Cinderella featuring various mythical creatures including fairies, elves, ogres, gnomes, and giants...
, by Gail Carson LevineGail Carson LevineGail Carson Levine is an American author of young adult books. Her first novel, Ella Enchanted, received a Newbery Honor in 1998.-Early life:... - 1999: FrindleFrindleFrindle is a 1996 children's novel written by American author Andrew Clements and illustrated by Brian Selznick.Frindle is Clements's first novel. All his previous works had been picture books...
, by Andrew ClementsAndrew ClementsAndrew Clements is an American author of children's books. Clements grew up in Camden, New Jersey and Springfield, Illinois, United States,. As a child, he enjoyed summers at a lakeside cabin in Maine where he spent his days swimming and fishing and his evenings reading books... - 1998: Mick Harte Was Here, by Barbara ParkBarbara ParkBarbara Lynne Park is an author of children's books.Barbara Park is the daughter of a merchant and a secretary, Doris and Brooke Tidswell. She grew up in Mount Holly Township, New Jersey. From 1965 to 1967, she attended Rider College, later finishing her B.S. in 1969 at the University of Alabama....
- 1997: The Best School Year Ever, by Barbara RobinsonBarbara RobinsonBarbara Robinson is an American author best known for her books targeted at children, particularly The Best Christmas Pageant Ever and The Best School Year Ever ....
- 1996: The GiverThe GiverThe Giver is a 1993 soft science fiction novel by Lois Lowry. It is set in a society which is at first presented as a utopian society and gradually appears more and more dystopian. The novel follows a boy named Jonas through the twelfth year of his life...
, by Lois LowryLois LowryLois Lowry is an American author of children's literature. She began her career as a photographer and a freelance journalist during the early 1970s... - 1995: Flight#116 is Down, by Caroline CooneyCaroline B. CooneyCaroline B. Cooney is an American author of suspense, romance, horror and mystery books for young adults. She currently resides in Fort Mill, South Carolina....
- 1994: Shiloh, by Phyllis Reynolds NaylorPhyllis Reynolds NaylorPhyllis Reynolds Naylor is an American author best known for her children and young adult fiction books. Naylor is best known for her children's-novel trilogy Shiloh , Shiloh Season and Saving Shiloh, all made into movies...
- 1993: Maniac MageeManiac MageeManiac Magee is a young adult fiction novel written by American author Jerry Spinelli and published in 1990. Exploring themes of racism and homelessness, it follows the story of an orphaned boy looking for a home in the fictional Pennsylvania town of Two Mills...
, by Jerry SpinelliJerry SpinelliJerry Spinelli is an author of children's novels on adolescence and early adulthood. He is best known for the novels Maniac Magee and Wringer.... - 1992: Number the StarsNumber the StarsNumber the Stars is a work of historical fiction about the Holocaust of the Second World War by award-winning author Lois Lowry. The story centers around ten-year-old Annemarie Johansen, who lived in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1943 and was caught up in the events surrounding the rescue of the Danish...
, by Lois LowryLois LowryLois Lowry is an American author of children's literature. She began her career as a photographer and a freelance journalist during the early 1970s... - 1991: MatildaMatilda (novel)Matilda is a children's novel by British author Roald Dahl. It was published in 1988 by Jonathan Cape in London, with illustrations by Quentin Blake. The story is about Matilda Wormwood, an extraordinary child with ordinary and rather unpleasant parents, who are contemptuous of their daughter's...
, by Roald DahlRoald DahlRoald Dahl was a British novelist, short story writer, fighter pilot and screenwriter.Born in Wales to Norwegian parents, he served in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War, in which he became a flying ace and intelligence agent, rising to the rank of Wing Commander... - 1990: Wait Till Helen Comes: A Ghost Story, by Mary Downing HahnMary Downing HahnMary Downing Hahn is an award-winning American author of young adult novels. Her first published book, The Sara Summer, was released in 1979, when she was forty-one years old. Since then she has written over twenty novels...
- 1989: The Dollhouse Murders, by Betty Ren WrightBetty Ren WrightBetty Ren Wright is an author of children's fiction including Christina's Ghost, The Dollhouse Murders, The Ghosts Of Mercy Manor and A Ghost in The House.- Background :...
- 1988: Indian in the Cupboard, by Lynne Reid BanksLynne Reid BanksLynne Reid Banks is a British author of books for children and adults.She has written forty books, including the best-selling children's novel The Indian in the Cupboard, which has sold over 10 million copies and has been successfully adapted to film. Her first novel, The L-Shaped Room, published...
External links
- Official Site
- Secondary informational site (sponsored by the Bensenville, IllinoisBensenville, IllinoisBensenville is a village located primarily in DuPage County, Illinois, with a small section near O'Hare International Airport in Cook County, Illinois, overlapping into the city of Chicago. As of the 2000 census, the village population was 20,703. Bensenville is home to the Edge Ice Arena, home of...
Community Public Library.) - Meet Rebecca Caudill (Champaign Public Library)
- Meet Caudill's daughter (Champaign Public Library)