Announcing: Team RC20

Are you ready for a challenge? A reading challenge? Good, because we've got one for you!

There are 20 titles on the 2010 Rebecca Caudill list. All of them are great books just begging to be read. Can you read all 20 before the end of April? Yep, that's your challenge. We already have two 6th graders who are making an attempt and both have over half of the books completed already. Last year, we had one student who accomplished this feat. Will we have more this year?

Here's how it works:

1. Sign up to join the team in the Zion library. It doesn't cost anything to join. You are simply agreeing to try your best to read all 20 titles. Think of it as signing a contract with yourself!

2. Start reading. You may read the books in any order, in any way that you wish (listening to the books on audio tape or CD counts). When you have finished a book, take the book's AR test. A score of 70% or better will mean you successfully finished the book. If you receive a score of less than 70%, see Mrs. Sutera. Successful completion of the AR test will be 'proof' that you read the book.

3. You may have started reading the 2010 Rebecca Caudill's last spring and might have even finished a few this summer. They all still count towards your goal of reading all 20. In order to qualify for our challenge this year, the deadline for reading all 20 will be April 30th, 2010. Please note that in order to vote for your favorite, you will need to have three read by February. But because we're getting a late start this year, we're making the deadline for this year's 2010 challenge to be the end of April.

4. Are you interested in trying but the idea of reading 20 books scares you? That's OK, try anyway. Why not set a beginning goal to read 5 of the titles. Then once you've finished 5, set another goal to read an additional 5. That will give you 10 titles read, which means you're half-way there. Now the 20 doesn't sound so bad, right? If you take the list in small chunks, you can do it!

Sound interested? Are you up to it? Sign up in the library today!

The Mozart Question

Written by Michael Morpurgo

Illustrated by Michael Foreman

Most enjoyed by 4th through 8th graders

'The Mozart Question' is one of the titles on the 2010 Rebecca Caudill list. It belongs there. Not only is it a great story, but it's one that should be read by everyone, not just those that participate in the Caudill program like we do at Zion.

Lesley is a new reporter for a newspaper when she gets the call reporters dream of. She is asked to make a trip to Italy to interview the great violinist Paolo Levi. A stern warning accompanies the invitation - do not ask the famous musician the Mozart question. As Lesley prepares for the trip, she keeps wondering about the Mozart question, realizing that the more she wonders, the harder it will be to avoid asking the question. When she finally meets the great man, she stumbles to get her words out and in the process, asks him how he began playing the violin. What follows is a story Paolo Levi has never shared with anyone, the story of the beginning of a musical career built on pain, suffering, and ultimately, the beauty of music.

I can't go much further in describing 'The Mozart Question' without giving the story away so I'll simply suggest that you read this book. It is beautifully illustrated and one that will stay with you long after you turn the last page.

2010 Rebecca Caudill List Available

The 2010 Rebecca Caudill list has been published. I know some of you like to get a jump on your reading so now is the time to start on next year's list! We have 9 of the 20 titles available already in the Zion library with the remainder on order. Stop in and check one out!

Special note: The 2010 titles are not on the Rebecca Caudill shelf yet. Once we've voted on the 2009's, I'll replace the current titles with those from the new list.

Shooting the Moon

By Frances O'Roark Dowell

Most enjoyed by 5th through 8th graders

Twelve-year-old Jamie Dexter and her 17-year-old brother T.J. live and breathe army life. Taught that the army way is the best way by their father, the Colonel, they grow up playing endless war games with their toy soldiers, planning elaborate mock battles. 'The army way is the right way', says the Colonel and Jamie and T.J. answer with a ready hooah. So it seems only natural that when T.J. turns 18, he enlists in the army, ready to serve his time in Vietnam. Jamie is as proud of her brother as she can be and she can't wait for his letters telling her all about the war and combat. But it's the reaction of the Colonel that confuses the two. He seems less than excited about T.J.'s enlistment and tries to convince him to postpone army life for college life. T.J. won't hear of it and leaves for Vietnam sure that this will be the noble role he's dreamed of.

To pass the time, Jamie helps out at the rec center, cleaning and playing cards with Private Hollister. When T.J.'s first letter arrives, Jamie tears into it only to find that T.J. has not send her a letter but a roll of film with a short note asking her to develop it herself. Jamie is puzzled; where is the description of battle she was convinced he'd send? She's further puzzled by the pictures she develops - most of them are of the moon in various stages. But among those pictures are some that are more graphic - a wounded soldier, bloody bandages on his chest, being carried to a medical helicopter; a soldier staring off in the distance, the stump of his leg obvious. These photos shock Jamie - is this what T.J. is seeing every day? Where are the medals, the glory? How can this army life be so different from what they had grown up believing? When Private Hollister announces that he will soon be sent overseas, Jamie realizes that this is her opportunity to put into action the message she understands T.J. is sending about war.

'Shooting the Moon' is a thoughtful and timely story of war that is especially good to read as we continue to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan. While it doesn't make army life grand and glorious, it also doesn't bash it. Instead, it offers readers a chance to consider for themselves what courage is and how worthy war, any war, is for those fighting and those at home.