The featured books are the Nebraska Golden Sower Nominations for 2008 – 2009

Read at least 4 books from the nominations list and you are entitled to vote for your favorite in February.

2008-2009 Golden Sower Nominations:

Shakespeare’s Secret by Elise Broach

Mystery B.L. 4.0

Named after a character in a Shakespeare play, misfit sixth-grader Hero becomes interested in exploring this unusual

connection because of a valuable diamond supposedly hidden in her new house, an intriguing neighbor, and the

unexpected attention of the most popular boy in school.

Dragon’s Keep by Janet Lee Carey

Fantasy B.L. 5.2

In 1145 A.D., as foretold by Merlin, fourteen-year-old Rosalind, who will be the twenty-first Pendragon Queen of Wilde

Island, has much to accomplish to fulfill her destiny, while hiding from her people the dragon's claw she was born with

that reflects only one of her mother's dark secrets.

A Friend at Midnight by Caroline B. Cooney

Realistic Fiction B.L. 5.0

After rescuing her younger brother abandoned at a busy airport by their divorced father, fifteen-year-old Lily finds her

faith in God sorely tested as she struggles to rescue herself from the bitterness and anger she feels.

Tomorrow, the River by Dianne E. Gray

Historical Fiction B.L. 6.0

In 1896, fourteen-year-old Megan joins her sister and family on their steamboat for the summer riding up the Mississippi

River towards St. Paul, Minnesota, and through all of their adventures, Megan realizes what is her "true calling."

The Legend of Bass Reeves by Gary Paulsen

Historical Fiction B.L. 5.8

Born into slavery, Bass Reeves became the most successful U.S. Marshal of the Wild West and the most successful Federal

Marshal in the U.S. in his day. True to the mythical code of the West, he never drew his gun first.

Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer

Science Fiction B.L. 4.7

Through journal entries sixteen-year-old Miranda describes her family's struggle to survive after a meteor hits the moon,

causing worldwide tsunamis, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions.

Crossing the Wire by Will Hobbs

Realistic Fiction B.L. 4.3

Fifteen-year-old Victor Flores journeys north in a desperate attempt to cross the Arizona border and find work in the

United States to support his family in central Mexico.

Heat by Mike Lupica

Realistic Fiction B.L. 5.3

Pitching prodigy Michael Arroyo is on the run from social services after being banned from playing Little League baseball

because rival coaches doubt he is only twelve years old and he has no parents to offer them proof.

Twilight by Stephanie Meyer

Fantasy B.L. 4.9

When seventeen-year-old Bella leaves Phoenix to live with her father in Forks, Washington, she meets an exquisitely

handsome boy at school for whom she feels an overwhelming attraction and who she comes to realize is not wholly human.

A Summer of Kings by Han Nolan

Historical Fiction B.L. 5.1

Over the course of the summer of 1963, fourteen-year-old Esther Young discovers the passion within her when eighteen-year-old

King-Roy Johnson, accused of murdering a white man in Alabama, comes to live with her family.