From the Desk of Zoe Washington!!
I am so excited about this win. Zoe Washington is such a great realistic fiction story. I'm delighted students connected with Zoe and were compelled by her struggle to free her wrongfully accused father from prison.
I'll be honest, election week is exciting to me because it's the culmination of over a years worth of work. For the year before a list is published I work with teachers and we are constantly reading, discussing our favorite titles, meeting to decide which ones are the best for our students, and finalizing the list. It really is a labor of love. And then when students get to vote it is fun to see which titles are preferred. I separate the ballots by grade level so it's also interesting to see if the favorite is building wide (like last year) or driven by a grade level (like this year). This year Zoe Washington was queen at the 7th grade favorite and managed to snag enough votes to become the 2023 overall winner.
The 6th grade favorite this year went to Alone by Megan Freeman. This is a survival adventure story told in verse.
The 8th grade favorite was the autobiographical graphic novel, They Called Us Enemy by George Takei.
I'm thrilled that 62% of JMS students that participated in the end of the year survey read and voted for their favorite title. This year's list focusing on book awards was quite popular. I'm excited to meet with teachers this week and begin the process all over again!
Happy reading!
Ms. Anderson