Texas Bluebonnet Award and Name that Book

As a means of keeping up with current children's books, I've tried over the past couple of years to read the books nominated for the Texas Bluebonnet Award. Last year was easy, since my daughter was participating in a Name that Book competition in her school district and the list was largely composed of Bluebonnet nominees. I read along with her last year; this year, however, Laura isn't sure she's going to participate in the competition, so I have to make a concerted effort to read the books on my own.

The list of books can be found here:
http://www.txla.org/groups/tba/nominees.html

So far I've read two of the books (Ballet for Elephants and The Misadventures of Maude March). Today I stopped by the library and picked up a few more: Double Identity by Margaret Peterson Haddix, The Earth Dragon Awakes: The San Francisco Earthquake of 1906 by Lawrence Yep, and The Greatest Skating Race by Louise Borden.

Along the same lines, I'm reading off the high school list of books for the Houston Independent School District Name that Book competition to keep up with young adult literature. The list has a mix of true YA books and adult books (both fiction and non-fiction). That list can be found here:
http://www.hisdlibraryservices.org/Name_that_bookHS.html

So far I've read a few off this list, too: American Born Chinese, Freedom Riders, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, Nineteen Minutes, Road of the Dead, and The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing: The Pox Party.

Several of the books on the list were ones I read before the list was published:
Catcher in the Rye, Devil in the White City, Like Water for Chocolate, Neverwhere, and The Book Thief.

Good reading all around.