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Middle School Library

What are the PandaBook Awards?

The Panda Book Awards were founded at the International School of Beijing in 2009 by Nadine Rosevear. In 2015 the Panda Book Awards expanded to include Chinese Literature. ISB participates every year. Learn more here

Chinese Panda Book Awanrds

“悦读熊猫”中文读书计划

“悦读熊猫”读书计划始于2015年,此计划旨在培养学生对中文阅读的兴趣和文学鉴赏能力,并且能够从阅读中获得愉悦。该阅读计划的书单由“悦读熊猫”计划筹委会的中文老师们推荐后精选产生。我们由衷希望不同年龄段的中文学习者都能广泛阅读不同时期、地域以及不同文体的作品,并从中体味中文之美。

自2015年12月正式启动以来,此阅读计划每年产生一份新的推荐书单,学生可以为自己最喜欢的中文书投票。投票时间通常为每年的三月份,获奖书单将会在每年的世界图书与版权日公布。在今后的日子里,我们也会邀请作家及嘉宾来校内参与活动,与学生近距离互动,为学生们举办座谈、写作坊、诵读工作坊,以及其他语言相关活动,希望有兴趣的学生能够有更多的机会接触中文,运用中文,以多种形式、在不同平台上发表自己的作品,并得到专业人士的反馈。

希望老师和家长们鼓励学生积极参与“悦读熊猫”读书计划。阅读滋养心灵,书香引领成长。开卷有益!

“悦读熊猫”相关活动:

  • 邀请著名作家做客ISB
  • “熊猫杯”书行万里读书挑战赛

Welcome to 2020 Chinese Panda Reading Initiative! To maintain, develop and improve our students’ proficiency either in their mother tongue or in their bilingual literacy, this initiative has been a Prek-12 effort to build capable and lifelong Chinese readers for 5 years.

Our Chinese Panda Reading Initiative also has attracted other international schools to join us in the past. We hope to create a reading culture for bilingual literacy in International School Community. Promoting independent, self-selected and joyful reading experience can help reach that goal.

For more information about this reading initiative, the booklists from the previous years, and the Panda literacy events, you may visit here.

We look forward to another year of celebrating reading with you! 

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Panda Book Award Nominees 2020 - 2021

Amy Wu and the Perfect Bao

Meet the funny, fierce, and fearless Amy Wu, who is determined to make a perfect bao bun today. Can she rise to the occasion? Amy loves to make bao with her family. But it takes skill to make the bao taste and look delicious. And her bao keep coming out all wrong. Then she has an idea that may give her a second chance...Will Amy ever make the perfect bao?

My Beijing

Yu'er and her grandpa live in a small neighborhood in Beijing--and it's full of big personalities. In one tale, Yu'er wants to swim in the Special Olympics, a sports competition for people with disabilities. But she and her grandpa don't have a pool! Their trick to help Yu'er practice wows the whole neighborhood. In another story, a friend takes Yu'er to a wild place full of musical insects. Later, Yu'er hears a special story about her grandparents. And in the final story, Yu'er and her grandpa show a cranky painter the sweet side of life.

All Are Welcome

A warm, welcoming picture book that celebrates diversity and gives encouragement and support to all kids. Follow a group of children through a day in their school, where everyone is welcomed with open arms. A school where kids in patkas, hijabs, and yarmulkes play side-by-side with friends in baseball caps. A school where students grow and learn from each other's traditions and the whole community gathers to celebrate the Lunar New Year.

Other Words for Home

A gorgeously written, hopeful middle grade novel in verse about a young girl who must leave Syria to move to the United States. At first, everything in America seems too fast and too loud. The American movies that Jude has always loved haven't quite prepared her for starting school in the US--and her new label of "Middle Eastern," an identity she's never known before. But this life also brings unexpected surprises--there are new friends, a whole new family, and a school musical that Jude might just try out for.

A Big Mooncake for Little Star

Little Star's soft feet tiptoed to the Big Mooncake. Little Star loves the delicious Mooncake that she bakes with her mama. But she's not supposed to eat any yet! What happens when she can't resist a nibble? Grace Lin creates a heartwarming original story that explains phases of the moon.

Click

A graphic novel about friendship and finding where you "click" in middle school, perfect for fans of Smile and Real Friends. Olive wants to get in on the act . . . . . . Any act! Olive "clicks" with everyone in the fifth grade--until one day she doesn't. When a school variety show leaves Olive stranded without an act to join, she begins to panic, wondering why all her friends have already formed their own groups . . . without her. Will Olive be able to find her own place in the show before the curtain comes up?

Just in Case You Want to Fly

Funny and sweet, told with lyrical text and bright, unexpected illustrations, Just in Case You Want to Fly is a celebration of heading off on new adventures--and of knowing your loved ones will always have your back when you need them. A joyful, inclusive cast of children fly, sing, and wish their way across the pages, with everything they could ever need--a cherry if you need a snack, and if you get itchy here's a scratch on the back--to explore the world around them.

The Last Human

In a future when humans are believed to be extinct, what will one curious robot do when it finds a girl who needs its help? In the future, robots have eliminated humans, and 12-year-old robot XR_935 is just fine with that. Without humans around, there is no war, no pollution, no crime. Every member of society has a purpose. Everything runs smoothly and efficiently. Until the day XR discovers something impossible: a human girl named Emma.

How to Give Your Cat a Bath

Step one- fill the bath Step two- put the cat in the bath Step three- put shampoo on the cat Step four- rinse the cat Step five- dry the cat Seems simple, right? One problem- the cat has no intention of doing ANY of these things! Watch as the steps keep changing, the cat keeps escaping, the girl keeps eating cookies and the mess keeps escalating.

It's Me

Meet Catwad! He's blue, he's a bit of a grouch, and his best friend is a dim-witted cat named Blurmp who can see the bright side of anything. From pizza and computers, to love and happiness, this crabby tabby has a funny take on just about everything, and he's not afraid to share it.

Hello Lighthouse

Watch the days and seasons pass as the wind blows, the fog rolls in, and icebergs drift by. Outside, there is water all around. Inside, the daily life of a lighthouse keeper and his family unfolds as the keeper boils water for tea, lights the lamp's wick, and writes every detail in his logbook. Step back in time and through the door of this iconic lighthouse into a cozy dollhouse-like interior.

Stargazing

Moon is everything Christine isn't. She's confident, impulsive, artistic . . . and though they both grew up in the same Chinese American suburb, Moon is somehow unlike anyone Christine has ever known. But after Moon moves in next door, these unlikely friends are soon best friends. Moon even tells Christine her deepest secret: that she has visions, sometimes, of celestial beings who speak to her from the stars. Moon's visions have an all-too-earthly root, however, and soon Christine's best friend is in the hospital, fighting for her life.

Big Boys Cry

It's Levi's first day at a new school, and he's scared. When his father tries to comfort Levi, he falls back on the line his own father used with him- "Big boys don't cry." Though he immediately understands his misstep, he can't find the words to right the ship, and Levi leaves for school, still in need of reassurance. Fortunately, along his walk to school, Levi sees instance after instance of grown men openly expressing their sadness and fear.

The Neighbors

As a young girl climbs the seven stories to her own (very boring!) apartment, she imagines what's behind each of the doors she passes. Does the door with all the locks belong to a family of thieves? Might the doorway with muddy footprints conceal a pet tiger? When the girl finally reaches her own apartment, she is greeted by her parents, who might have a secret even wilder than anything she could have imagined!

Bear Came Along

A cheerful and action-packed adventure about the importance of friendship and community. Once there was a river flowing through a forest. The river didn't know it was capable of adventures until a big bear came along. But adventures aren't any fun by yourself, and so enters Froggy, Turtles, Beaver, Racoons, and Duck. These very different animals take off downstream, but they didn't know they needed one another until thankfully, the river came along.

This Zoo Is Not for You

When a platypus stops by the zoo one day, all the animals assume he wants to join their zoo, and he is swiftly taken through a rigorous interview process. But the platypus is far too bland for the chameleons, he's not nearly graceful enough for the flamingos, and his tricks will never impress the monkeys. After he leaves, the animals soon regret their behavior. A heartfelt story about acceptance and belonging.

Aquatica

Welcome to future Earth. Our oceans have become polluted to such an extent that all marine life is now just a memory. Rising from the murky depths stirs new mechanical life, created by humans and now evolving outside any control. These new species have grown to threaten humanity as we know it. Welcome to the world of Aquatica.

Wolf Girl: Into the Wild

A wildly exciting new adventure series from bestselling author Anh Do. I crawled onto the bank and collapsed, exhausted.
From the dirt, I looked up in amazement at four dogs staring down at me. Was I dreaming? Had I gone mad? It all seemed very real. 'You guys saved me!' I said, as I sat up in my dripping clothes. 'I owe you.'

When disaster separates Gwen from her family, she must fend for herself, all alone in the wilderness.

The Goldfish Boy

A boy struggling with OCD is uniquely qualified to solve a kidnapping. Matthew Corbin suffers from severe obsessive-compulsive disorder. He hasn't been to school in weeks. His hands are cracked and bleeding from cleaning. He refuses to leave his bedroom. To pass the time, he observes his neighbors from his bedroom window, making mundane notes about their habits as they bustle about the cul-de-sac. When a toddler staying next door goes missing, it becomes apparent that Matthew was the last person to see him alive.

Welcome

Welcome to the Panda Book Awards

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What is the Panda Book Award?

The Panda Book Award, initiated in 2008 by librarian Nadine Dewit Rosevear, invites students and teachers from participating international schools in China and beyond to vote for their favorite book published in the previous two to three school years.

 

Titles chosen for the shortlists of the Panda Book Award meet selection criteria that focus on social justice, diversity and inclusion by up and coming authors and illustrators from across the world. There is an added spotlight on titles that feature Asian settings, characters or creators. 

 

The Panda Book Steering Committee, which includes an international representation of school librarians, is responsible for collecting input from schools, advertising the initiative, and organizing the voting.

 

There are six separate title lists according to age level:

  • Early Years Readers (3-5 years) - picture books - Elementary School
  • Younger Readers (5-8 years) – picture books - Elementary School
  • Middle Readers (7 to 11 years) – chapter books - Elementary School/Middle School
  • Middle Readers Graphic Novels (7 to 11 years) - Elementary School/Middle School
  • Older Readers (11 to 14 years) – Middle School
  • Mature Readers (15 to 18 years) – High School

 

The panda was chosen as the program’s mascot as it holds a special place in the hearts of the Chinese people and is a symbol of peace and a token of forging friendly ties.

The Panda Book Award reading program promises to take our students on an exciting reading adventure. Classroom teachers, language arts teachers, and librarians are encouraged to distribute the reading lists to their students and to incorporate them into their daily teaching.

 

How can schools participate?

Fill out the registration survey (see left hand side of the page). This will ensure that your school's name will appear on the Panda voting site that you will receive by email in the lead up to voting.

Your students will have three weeks to cast their votes.

 

The Panda Award yearly timeline

 

November - January : nominating titles for next year

  • Each participating school nominates lists of titles. These lists are discussed by the Panda Book Steering Committee who will take into consideration individual schools’ requests.
  • The Steering Committee will decide on the final lists and make these public by mid March. This gives participating schools time to order multiple copies of the titles to arrive over the summer.
  • Obido is the official book supplier for the Panda Book Awards in mainland China.

 

July – August :

  • Schools may promote the titles through a summer reading program.

 

September – Chinese New Year: activities in schools culminating in voting

  • Schools organize reading promotion activities and plan.
  • Promotional materials (flyers, posters, bookmarks) are created yearly and available for download.
  • The Panda Book Steering Committee organizes the student and teacher voting sessions to be done during a period of three weeks after the Chinese New Year holiday

 

After the voting : and the winners are....

  • The Steering Committee meets to count votes and confirm the winners of the Panda Book Awards.
  • Winning authors, illustrators, and translators are contacted as soon as possible after winning.