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Several years ago Mrs. Helen Ruffin, a very dynamic and innovative person, was the library media specialist at Sky Haven Elementary School in DeKalb County, Georgia. In 1985, she served on the selection committee for the Georgia Children’s Book Award nominee program. This literature program began in the Department of Language Education at the University of Georgia’s College of Education. This literature program inspired her to use the nominee books to encourage her students to read.
Mrs. Ruffin created a unique reading competition in a game format using the award nominees. It was called the Reading Bowl. Her vision was to have teams comprised of students from different schools compete to test their knowledge of the selected books. She shared this vision with her colleagues. They embraced her idea and pressed forward.
Today, the Georgia Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl is open to students in grades four through twelve across the state.
Throughout the year, a select group of 4th and/or 5th-grade students will work with our Media Specialist, Mrs. David, to prepare for the Richmond County Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl.
2025 Georgia Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl Elementary School Booklist (Grades 4-5)
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Brockenbough, M. (2023). To Catch a Thief. Scholastic.
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Case, J. (2022). Little Monarchs. Margaret Ferguson Books.
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Kuyatt, M. E. (2023). Good Different. Scholastic.
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Ortega, C. A. (2023). Frizzy. First Second Books.
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Reynolds, J. (2023). It’s the End of the World and I’m in My Bathing Suit. Scholastic.
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Souders, T. (2023). The Mystery of the Radcliffe Riddle. Sourcebooks.
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Tandon, N. (2022). The Way I Say It. Charlesbridge.
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Tang, B. (2023). Parachute Kids. Graphix.
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Thomas, A. (2023). Nic Blake and the Remarkables: The Manifestor Prophecy. Balzer + Bray.
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Warga, J. (2022). A Rover’s Story. Balzer + Bray.
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Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl Book List 2022-2023
The following list is for elementary schools.
- Baptist, K. J. (2020). Isaiah Dunn is my hero. Crown Books for Young Readers.
- Berry, J. (2021). Hope springs. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.
- Fipps, L. (2021). Starfish. Nancy Paulsen Books.
- Gennari, Jennifer. (2021). Muffled. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.
- Holm, J. L. (2021). The lion of Mars. Random House Books for Young Readers.
- LaMotte, L. (2020). Measuring up (A. Xu, Illus.). HarperAlley.
- McAnulty. S. (2020). Millionaires for the month. Random House Books for Young Readers.
- Nisson, S. (2021). Power up. Clarion Books.
- Royce, E. (2021). Root magic. Magic Pond Press.
- Standish, A. (2020). How to disappear completely. HarperCollins.
