Welcome

Welcome to our first Brown Bag Awards blog. On this page you can enter your comments about the books we are reading for our Brown Bag Lunch Group. You can rate the books and tell us what you think. You can also see what others are saying about the books they are reading. We will be voting for the Webster Award in January.

All of the Above by Shelley Pearsall

Five urban middle school students, their teacher, and other community members relate how a school project to build the world's largest tetrahedron affects the lives of everyone involved.
(Cover by Jaraka Steptoe)

Ask Me No Questions by Marina Tamar Budhos

Fourteen-year-old Nadira, her sister, and their parents leave Bangladesh for New York City, but the expiration of their visas and the events of September 11, 2001, bring frustration, sorrow, and terror for the whole family.
(Cover by Ferdinando Scianna)

Bella at Midnight by Diane Stanley

Raised by peasants, Bella discovers that she is actually the daughter of a knight and finds herself caught up in a terrible plot that will change her life and the kingdom forever.
(Cover by Bagram Ibatoulline)

Black Duck by Janet Taylor Lisle

Ruben Hart tells the story of how, in 1929 Newport, Rhode Island, his family and his best friend's family were caught up in the violent competition among groups trying to control the local rum-smuggling trade.
(Cover by Tony Sahara)

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Death relates the story of Liesel--a young German girl whose book-stealing and story-telling talents help sustain her family and the Jewish man they are hiding, as well as their neighbors during World War II.
(Cover by Colin Anderson)

Bread and Roses, Too by Katherine Paterson

Jake and Rosa, two children, form an unlikely friendship as they try to survive and understand the 1912 Bread and Roses strike of mill workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts.
(Cover by Lyn Hughes)

The Case of the Missing Marquess by Nancy Springer

Enola Holmes, much younger sister of detective Sherlock Holmes, must travel to London in disguise to unravel the disappearance of her missing mother.
(Cover by Peter Ferguson)

Counting on Grace by Elizabeth Winthrop

Twelve-year-old Grace does her best working at the mill to bring in more money for her family, and when Grace writes a secret letter to the Child Labor Board describing her working conditions, things change when a concerned reporter shows up to get the story.
(Cover by Lewis Wickes Hine/Kenny Holcomb)

Crossing the Wire by Will Hobbs

Fifteen-year-old Victor Flores journeys north in a desperate attempt to cross the Arizona border and find work in the United States to support his family in central Mexico.
(Cover by Vince Natale)

Freedom Walkers by Russell Freedman

Personal accounts of the Mississippi Bus Boycott that lasted 381 days and spurred the Civil Rights movement into the forefront of American history of the 1960's.
(Cover by Don Cravens)

Gossamer by Lois Lowry

While learning to bestow dreams, a young dream-giver tries to save an eight-year-old boy from the effects of both his abusive past and the nightmares inflicted on him by the frightening Sinisteeds.
(Cover by Kathy Black)

Here Lies the Librarian by Richard Peck

Fourteen year old PeeWee and PeeWee's brother run a repair garage in a small town in Indiana in 1914. Their lives are turned upside down when library students from the university come to town to apply for the job of town librarian.
(Cover by Mark Summers)

The Homework Machine by Dan Gutman

Four fifth-grade students--a geek, a class clown, a teacher's pet, and a slacker--as well as their teacher and mothers, each relate events surrounding a computer programmed to complete homework assignments.
(Cover design by Dan Santat)

King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner

Eugenides, still known as a Thief of Eddis, faces palace intrigue and assassins as he strives to prove himself both to the people of Attolia and to his new bride, their queen.
(Cover by Vince Natale)

The Loud Silence of Francine Green by Karen Cushman

In 1949, thirteen-year-old Francine goes to Catholic school in Los Angeles, where she becomes best friends with a girl who questions authority and is frequently punished by the nuns, causing Francine to question her own values.
(Cover by Michelle Gengaro-Kokmen)

New Moon by Stephanie Meyer

Bella has to adjust after her boyfriend Edward leaves town. She strikes up a friendship Jacob who suddenly changes and gets involved with a local "cult" and seems to change overnight.
(Cover art by

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo

Edward Tulane, a cold-hearted and proud toy rabbit, loves only himself until he is separated from the little girl who adores him and travels across the country, acquiring new owners and listening to their hopes, dreams, and histories.
(Cover by Bagram Ibatoulline)

Part of Me by Kimberly Willis Holt

Stories revolving around the lives of four generations of one family in Louisiana from the 1939 to present day. You will meet Rose at age 14, her son Merle Henry, his daughter Annabeth and her son Kyle.
(Cover bySteve Cieslowski)

Penny from Heaven by Jennifer Holm

Events bring Penny closer to her Italian American roots while growing up in the 1950's. During the summer of 1959 she learns a secret about her father's death.
(Cover by Craig Nelson)

The Poet Slave of Cuba by Margarita Engle and Sean Qualls

Born a slave, raised by a woman not his mother, and denied an education, Juan overcame all the personal obstacles he faced as a child in order to reach freedom, pursue his natural talents, and become a celebrated poet .
(Cover art by Sean Qualls)

River Secrets by Shannon Hale

Despite his shortcomings as the shortest and slowest soldier in the group, Razo's patience and unique thinking skills come in handy when the king sends his soldiers out on an important peacekeeping mission that will affect everyone he knows and loves.
(Cover by Alison Jay)

Shug by Jenny Han

Shug, a twelve year old girl in the south learns about growing up, friendships and first love.
(Cover by Brain Hugiwara)

Team Moon by Catherine Thimmesh

From the engineers to the suit testers, the story of the many people in various professions who worked behind-the-scenes to get Apollo 11 on the moon and safely back is presented through quotes, transcripts, national archives, and NASA photos.
(Cover by Denis Scott)

A True and Faithful Narrative by Katherine Sturtevant

In London in the 1680s, Meg--now sixteen years old--tries to decide whether to marry either of the two men who court her, taking into account both love and her writing ambitions.
(Cover by Kelly Murphy)

Victory by Susan Cooper

Alternating chapters follow the connection between a homesick English girl living in present-day America and an eleven-year-old boy serving in the British Royal Navy in 1803, aboard the H.M.S. Victory, commanded by Admiral Horatio Nelson.
(Cover by Steve Rawlings)

Vive La Paris

Paris McCray, a fifth-grader tries to help her older brother deal with a bully from her class. She learns about the Holocaust through her piano teacher Mrs. Rosen and research in the school library.
(Cover by Christine Kettner)

The Wright 3 by Blue Balliet

In the midst of a series of unexplained accidents and mysterious coincidences, sixth-graders Calder, Petra, and Tommy lead their classmates in an attempt to keep Frank Lloyd Wright's famous Robie House from being demolished.
(Cover by Brett Helquist)

Yellow Star by Jennifer Roy

Written in prose, the story of a young girl Jewish girl, Syviafrom 1939 when she is four and a half years old, to 1945 when she has just turned ten, as she and her family survive in Poland's Lodz ghetto during the Nazi occupation.
(Cover by George C. Beresford)