Hickory Creek Middle School students vote for favorite book through state program

Some 600 sixth through eighth grade students at Frankfort’s Hickory Creek Middle School voted for their favorite book through a state program, the Rebecca Caudill Young Readers Book Award.  Food and prizes were available to students as they came to the Library Media Center to celebrate their favorite books.

The annual award is given to the author of the book voted most outstanding by students in grades four through eight in participating Illinois schools.  The program was developed to encourage children and young adults to read for personal satisfaction.  The award is named in honor of author Rebecca Caudill who lived and wrote in Urbana, Illinois for 50 years. The list of book titles and more information about the program can be found at the website www.rcyrba.org.

Any school in Illinois may participate in the voting by agreeing to meet the program requirements.  This is the tenth year that Hickory Creek Middle School has participated.  The program is sponsored by a District 157-C Education Foundation grant for books and materials. 

Through the program, students were challenged to read as many books as they could from a master list.  Students could qualify as official judges by reading three or more of the 20 nominated titles.  All judges had the opportunity to vote for their favorite title and help chose the 2014 Caudill book for Illinois. 

Thirty-one students went above and beyond the required reading of three books to become judges and read all 20 books on the list.  The students included Aurora Abbott, Kendall Blankenburg, Delaney Boyne, Michael Clarkin, Elise Clayton, Elizabeth Co, Sara Cooley, Lauren Dauber, Gemma Fazekas, Matthew Ferracuti, Husna Hussaini, Cameron Kavanaugh, Jake Leonard, Jack Malcom, Ellie Marion, Kira Martin, Zach Martin, Vona McAllister, Brendon McCray, Abby McCreary, Colin Murphy, Elizabeth Myotte, Anna Ostmann, Alicia Pearson, Zoe Randolph, Mackenzie Rhode, Allie Ritz, Paige Sackman, Lauren Sandberg, Mandeep Singh and Audrey Vanderpool.