Island kids can vote on favorite books
By Jolie Jean Cotton
Special to The Advertiser
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Each year, Hawai'i's elementary and middle school students vote for their favorite fiction book, and the author is presented with the state's Nene Award.
Voting for the 2008 Nene is now under way and will continue through the March 14 deadline.
Some of the top contenders for this year's award are:
Set in 1943, one year after the end of "Under the Blood-Red Sun," (which won the Nene in 1998), Tomi's Papa and Grandpa are still under arrest, and Hawai'i lives in fear, waiting for another attack, while trying to recover from Pearl Harbor. As a Japanese-American, Tomi and his family have new enemies everywhere, vigilantes who suspect all Japanese.
The first book in a fantasy series tells the story of the Grace family, which moves from the big city to their Great Aunt Lucinda's dilapidated Spiderwick estate. Strange things begin to happen once the kids find a field guide to fairies. A movie based on the book, "The Spiderwick Chronicles," is set to open in theaters next week on Valentine's Day.
The first of three books in a series that continues to hold steady on The New York Times Best-Sellers list after 38 weeks. Twelve-year-old Percy Jackson, who lives in modern-day New York, discovers he is a demigod. His father is Poseidon and his mother a mortal. Percy is an appealing hero, having been kicked out of six schools in as many years, he has dyslexia and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. When Poseidon is accused of sealing Zeus' lightning bolt, Percy has to return it.
Harry Mazer, the author of the 2007 Nene Award for "Boy at War," will not be present to accept his award at the ceremony on the Battleship Missouri Memorial on May 9. Incorrect information appeared in a previous version of this story. Also, readers in fourth, fifth or sixth grades can vote at participating schools and public libraries.
