ABE LINCOLN NOMINEES FOR 2018 ANNOUNCED

The Illinois School Library Media Association (ISLMA) recently released the list of twenty books nominated for the 2018 Abraham Lincoln Award. The complete list, available on this LibGuide, includes titles and authors you might already know: An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir, Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys, Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo, Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Irin Carmon and Shana Knizhnik, and March: Book One by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell, among others. If these books are any indication, it’s going to be a great reading competition!

2017 Abraham Lincoln Book Award Winner

​Join Kellie and me as we begin to promote this list of fiction and nonfiction titles and the Abe Award program, which is designed to encourage high school students to read for pleasure and to become lifelong readers. Check out the ACHS catalog, or visit our digital media library Axis360 to get a head start on your reading. 

Students who read four or more titles from the list between now and next March get to vote for their favorite book. Students who read all twenty join the ILC Reader Hall of Fame at their respective school.

As we start to hype up the 2018 list, we also retire the 2017 list. The 2017 Abraham Lincoln Book Award went to Red Queen, the first book in a fantasy series by Victoria Aveyard. Here’s how the 2017 contest shaped up among District 117 students:

At ACHS

• Six students voted for six different books: The Naturals, Emmy & Oliver, October Mourning, The Boy in the Black Suit, Challenger Deep, and Laughing at My Nightmare.
• Three students read all twenty books to qualify for the ILC Reader Hall of Fame! Each student’s name will be engraved on the plaque, they will get a personalized Read Poster, and they will be entered into a raffle to win a Kindle Fire.
• There will be a pizza party/book talk for the six students who read the minimum of four books required by ISLMA to vote.
• On April 12, we will have an Abe Lincoln book talk, when we will unveil the new Abe Lincoln books and Reader Hall of Fame requirements.

At Lakes

• Ten students voted for six different books: A Court of Thorns and Roses (four votes), Red Queen (one vote), 100 Sideways Miles (one vote), Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda (two votes), Grave Mercy (one vote), All the Bright Places (one vote).
• Two students read all twenty books to qualify for the ILC Reading Hall of Fame: Enrique Gomez and Kaylee Riffer. Both students' names will be engraved on our Hall of Fame plaque, and they received a $10 Amazon gift card. 
• All students who read at least four books from the list and who voted were entered into a raffle to win a Kindle Fire. They received as many raffle tickets as the number of books that they read. The winners of the Kindles were Kaylee Riffer and Ailyn Daruwala.
• We held a Do Something Cool on March 17 to unveil the 2018 list to students and to encourage students to try to read at least four by next year to qualify to vote.