Golden Sowers 2013-2014

As I finished up my Golden Sower Bulletin board today I couldn't help but think about the amazing titles that have been chosen this year! For those of you that don't know what the Golden Sower award is... it is the student choice award for Nebraska. There are three categories: primary, intermediate, and young adult. These books qualify for the young adult category (grades 7-9).

This year was the first year that I have read ALL of the titles before the school year started so I thought I would rank the titles based upon my experience with the books and see how they fared with the student voting in the spring.

Here is the bulletin board from my classroom. The picture in the middle was done by Peter H. Reynolds to depict the Golden Sower Award. 

1. Legend by Marie Lu--- (Science Fiction)
2. Michael Vey: Prisoner of Cell 25 by Richard Paul Evans (Science Fiction)
3. Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys (Historical Fiction)
4. Jefferson's Sons by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley (Historical Fiction)
5. Payback Time by Carl Deuker (Mystery/ Realistic Fiction)
6. Matched by Ally Condie (Science Fiction)
7. After Ever After by Jordan Sonnenblick (Realistic Fiction)
8. Dark Life by Kat Falls (Science Fiction)
9. Epitaph Road by David Patneaude (Science Fiction)
10. Red Cell by John Kalkowski (Realistic Fiction/ Adventure)

I had the privilege to read for the selection of the 2014-2015 Golden Sowers. I anxiously await the verdict on which 10 books have made the cut! Hopefully I'll find out soon!