2009 Rebecca Caudill Young Readers' Book Award

The winner of the 2009 Rebecca Caudill Young Readers’ Book Award is:

 The Lightning Thief

2^nd Place is: The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

3^rd Place is: shug by Jenny Han

Other 2009 Nominees:

• Alabama Moon by Watt Key
• Black Duck by Janet Taylor Lisle
• Black Storm Comin' by Diane Lee Wilson
• Blood on the River: James Town 1607 by Elisa Carbone
• Cornelia and the Audacious Escapades of the Somerset Sisters by Lesley M.M. Blume
• A Drowned Maiden's Hair: A Melodrama by Laura Amy Schlitz
• Gossamer by Lois Lowry
• The Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages
• Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson
• Heat by Mike Lupica
• Letters From Wolfie by Patti Sherlock
• Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer
• Oh, Rats!: The Story of Rats and People by Albert Marrin
• Penny from Heaven by Jennifer L. Holm
• Project Mulberry by Linda Sue Park
• Rules by Cynthia Lord
• Wolf Brother by Michelle Paver

More than 42,550 Illinois students in grades 4-8 cast votes for this year’s winner.  Three cheers for the winners and the readers!