Announcing the 2016 Abe Award nominees

The Illinois School Library Media Association (ISLMA) released on Monday, March 2 the list of 20 books nominated for the 2016 Abraham Lincoln Award. The complete list, available on this LibGuide, includes titles and authors you might already know: FanGirl by Rainbow Rowell, author of 2015 nominee Eleanor & Park; Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline; and The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson, author of Twisted and Speak. ​

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Join Barb and I as we begin to promote this list of fiction and nonfiction titles and the Abe Award program, itself, which is designed to encourage high school students to read for pleasure and to become lifelong readers. Check out the Antioch catalog or Lakes catalog or visit our new digital media library, Axis360, to get a head start on your reading.
Students who read four or more titles from the list in a year get to vote for their favorite. Although the 2015 winner has yet to be announced (hopefully soon!), here’s how the 2015 contest is shaping up so far in District 117:

At Antioch:

• Six students voted for six different books.
• Five students read all 22 books to qualify for the new ILC Reading Hall of Fame! Each student’s name will be on the plaque and they will get a personalized Read Poster.
• There will be a pizza party/book talk for the eight students who read the minimum of four books required by ISLMA to vote.

At Lakes:

• Six students qualified to vote by reading at least four of the titles, five read at least three of the titles, and 39 read at least one book from the list.
• So far, only two students have voted, but they have a few more days so hopefully all the qualified voters will cast their ballot! We will have a party during a Snack and Learn March 13.
• The two most frequently checked out books on the list were The 5th Wave and The Selection, followed very closely by Throne of Glass.

Personally, I read or listened to the following titles from the 2015 list:

• Anna Dressed in Blood
• Eleanor & Park
• Unbroken
• The Fifth Wave
• Seraphina
• Code Name Verity

​Which one would I vote for? You’ll just have to ask!