This document provides summaries of 14 books nominated for the 2014 Kentucky Bluegrass Award for grades 3-5. The books cover a wide range of topics from survival stories to mysteries to stories about friendship. Authors include Michael Morpurgo, Erin E. Moulton, J. Patrick Lewis, Jane Yolen, Caroline Starr Rose, Katherine Applegate, Natalie Standiford, Sheila Turnage, Cynthia DeFelice, R.J. Palacio, and Tracey E. Fern. The document also includes links to author and book websites for additional information.

1. Grades 3-5

2. 2013 KBA Winner

3. Grades 3-5
2014

4. Listen to an excerpt: http://michaelmorpurgo.com/books/an-elephant-in-the-garden
Title: An Elephant in the Garden
Author: Michael Morpurgo
Lizzie and Karl's mother, Mutti,
working at a local zoo in Dresden,
Germany, during World War II while
their father is away fighting in France,
brings home Marlene, a baby elephant
that is slated to be destroyed as the
Allied bombing grows closer, and when
they are forced to flee, Mutti feels they
must take Marlene with them, adding
even more danger to their journey.

5. Michael Morpurgo
From the
author’s
website

6. Title: Flutter: the Story of Four Sisters and One Incredible
Journey
Author: Erin E. Moulton
Nine-and-a-half-year-old Maple
and her older sister, Dawn, must
work together to face treacherous
terrain, wild animals, and
poachers as they trek through
Vermont's Green Mountains
seeking a miracle for their
prematurely-born sister.

7. Title: Last Laughs: Animal Epitaphs
Author: J. Patrick Lewis and Jane Yolen
Humorous, pun-filled
poetry describes the
demise of a variety of our
beloved pets and animal
companions.
What is an epitaph?
What does demise mean?

8. Last Laughs: Animal Epitaphs
by J. Patrick Lewis and Jane Yolen
• The pun is a form of
word play which
suggests two or more
meanings
• An epitaph is a short
text honoring a
deceased person,
strictly speaking that
is inscribed on their
tombstone or plaque
(www.wikipedia.com)

9. J. Patrick Lewis
From the author’s website

10. Jane Yolen
From the author’s website

11. Title: May B: a Novel
Author: Caroline Starr Rose
When a failed wheat crop nearly
bankrupts her family, May is sent to
spend several months helping out on
a neighbor’s Kansas prairie farm, but
finds herself abandoned and alone
with winter approaching. May must
fight to survive the harsh conditions
and her own internal struggles with
reading and school in this novel in
verse.

12. Caroline Starr Rose
Book Trailer
Coming 2015!
Blue Birds
Blue Birds, a middle-grade novel in verse,
centers on a forbidden friendship between
Alis, the only girl in Virginia's doomed first
settlement, and Kimi, a Roanoke girl.
Coming 2014!
Over in the Wetlands
From the author’s website
Based on the traditional rhyme, Over in the
Meadow, this picture book follows the
animals of the Louisiana shoreline as they
prepare for and withstand a hurricane.

13. http://theoneandonlyivan.com/
Title: The One and Only Ivan
Author: Katherine Applegate
When Ivan, a gorilla who has lived
for years in a down-and-out circusthemed mall, meets Ruby, a baby
elephant that has been added to
the mall, he decides that he must
find her a better life.
Winner of the 2013 Newbery Award

14. Katherine Applegate
 The One and Only
Ivan is a work of
fiction, but the
inspiration for this
imagined tale lies
with a true story.
 Ivan, a real gorilla,
lived at Zoo Atlanta,
but on the way to
that happy ending,
he spent almost
three decades
without seeing
another of his own
kind before being
moved to Zoo
Atlanta in 1994
From the book’s website

15. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAnURGc-lH8
Title: The Secret Tree
Author: Natalie Standiford
In her last summer before middle
school, Minty navigates a new
friendship while investigating the
mysteries in her neighborhood,
including the Witch House, the
Man Bat, and the Secret Tree,
where people leave secrets written
on slips of paper.

16. Natalie Standiford
March 2014

17. Title: Three Times Lucky
Author: Sheila Turnage
Eleven-year-old Mo LoBeau and her
best friend Dale Earnhardt Johnson
III help investigate a murder in the
small town of Tupelo Landing, North
Carolina, while Mo searches for her
birth mother and works in the café
run by her "adoptive" parents, the
Colonel and Miss Lana.

18. Sheila Turnage
From the author’s website

19. http://cynthiadefelice.com/
Title: Wild Life
Author: Cynthia DeFelice
When twelve year-old Erik, who has
just received his hunting license, is
sent to a small town in North Dakota to
live with grandparents he hardly
knows, the threat of a hostile
grandfather and losing the dog he
rescued prompts Erik to run away in
this story of adventure and survival.

20. Cynthia DeFelice
www.cynthiadefelice.com
(site includes Book Trailer)
From the author’s website

21. http://rjpalacio.com/
Title: Wonder
Author: R.J. Palacio
Ten-year-old Auggie
Pullman, born with an
extreme facial deformity,
struggles to fit in as he makes
the transition from
homeschooling to private
school.

22. R. J. Palacio
From the author’s website

23. http://www.traceyfern.com/barnumsbones.html
Title: Barnum's Bones: How Barnum Brown Discovered the
Most Famous Dinosaur in the World
Author: Tracey E. Fern
True story about
early 20th century
paleontologist, Barnum
Brown who discovers the
first documented skeleton
of the Tyrannosaurus Rex
and other important
dinosaurs.

24. Tracey Fern
www.traceyfern.com
From the author’s website

25. 2014 Kentucky Bluegrass Award Nominees
Grades 3-5

26. Recreated by: Christy Havens
Library Media Specialist, North Butler Elementary School
Feel free to use, share, edit, etc.