Jeanie: That’s a great plan. So, my guess is that you just announced this year’s winner, which students in grades four through eight vote for. What’s the winner, from this past list?
Annie: So, Alan Gratz’s book Refugee won for this year. What’s exciting about that is this is the second year in a 
row for him to be a winning author. Last year’s Project 1065 won. Kids are really excited about his books and, so he’s a winner again. Second year in a row.
Congrats to ‘s Refugee which won this year’s Dorothy Canfield Fisher Book Award! Mr. Gratz’s selections have won two years in a row!! Great choice #vted readers!! #dorothyslist #vsla pic.twitter/q2sM3cQmzM
Jeanie: That’s wonderful. When I was both a kindergarten to sixth-grade school librarian and then again in seven to 12, these books flew off my shelf. You all put together such a lovely list. Some of my favorite middle grades reads have been on that list, including now Felix and No Fixed Address.
From the CHMS School Librarian, Steve Madden: The 2019-2020 Dorothy Canfield Fisher Master List is out, and you can check out the books here: pic.twitter/bXiJA0eAX5
We have some great Vermont author books on this year’s list.
We always like to try to put a creepy, scary book on the list every year. Small Spaces by Katherine Arden is a great creepy book, and also a great place book in terms of the setting in Vermont. This one’s going to fly off the shelves. I know for sure.
So, kids are kind of going on this field trip from Hell where they’re like stuck in this field and there are scary scarecrows and there is all kinds of mystery. It all revolves around this book that a woman was going to toss into a river and this kid grabbed it. Then strange things start happening. So, I can’t tell you more than that, but it’s going to be a really fun, scary book that I’m sure will fly off the shelves.
Annie: Oh, yes. In her book, The Benefits of Being an Octopus, again, one of my favorites on the list. And one that the minute I read it in a day, and I said, I could think of so many kids that I’ve worked with that this would be their experience. Again, it’s a book about a kid living in poverty, and living in a situation where her mom is not physically abused, but emotionally and mentally abused and stepping in, much like Felix to have to be the adult in that situation. and just take on a lot of responsibility as a middle school kid that shouldn’t have to be her life.
So, another resilient strong character that is struggling through some hard times in some, again, security around where home is and where there’ll be living and all those things that come with financial struggles and home stability struggles.
Jeanie: I loved that book so much, and I’m really excited because Anne Braden has agreed to come to our Middle Grades Institute conference in June and she’s going to be doing some workshops and meeting with educators and meeting with the students who come there for camps.
Annie: Oh, great. Yeah. I think kids will identify with that book so much. There are other issues too that I talked about and they’re like, gun rights and things like that. So, I think a lot of really interesting topics that kids will connect with and also be able to talk about and discuss with each other.