Books for the Kindergartener
Aylesworth, Jim. Little Bitty Mousie.
In this alphabet book, Little Bitty Mousie
sneaks into a house one night and
discovers many tantalizing new things as
well as one very scary thing.*
Beaumont, Karen. I Like Myself!
In rhyming text, a child expresses her selfesteem.*
Binklow, Howard. Howard B.
Wigglebottom Learns to Listen.
Howard Wigglebottom has a great deal of
difficulty listening, which gets him into a
great deal of trouble.
Brett, Jan. The Mitten.
Several animals sleep snugly in Nicki’s
mitten until the bear sneezes.*
Bridwell, Norman. Clifford’s Busy Week.
Clifford and Emily Elizabeth set out to
retrace the big red dog’s week in an attempt
to find his lost mouse.
Everyone’s favorite big red dog continues to
delight young readers with many new
adventures.*
Brown, Marc. D. W. All Wet.
Part of a series about an aardvark family.
D.W. announces, “I don’t like the beach and
I don’t like to get wet.”*
Capucilli, Alyssa Satin. Biscuit Finds a
Friend.
A puppy helps a little duck find its way to the
pond.*
Carle, Eric. The Grouchy Ladybug.
Hour by hour, a hungry, irritable ladybug
challenges everyone she meets to a fight.*
Carlson, Nancy. Get Up and Go!
Author’s signature characters, rabbit and pig
speak directly to children to take care of
themselves by getting exercise and what
fun it can be.*
Catalanotto, Peter. Ivan the Terrible.
Illustrations and simple text tell a story
about a terrier named Ivan who keeps
interrupting story hour.
Cristolow, Ellen. Five Little Monkeys
Jumping on the Bed.
It’s bedtime at the monkey house, yet the
five rambunctious little monkeys keep
jumping on their bed until, one by one, each
falls off and has to visit the doctor.
Cronin, Doreen. Wiggle.
In rhyming text, a busy, happy dog shows
readers the many ways and places to
wiggle.*
Curtis, Jamie Lee. I’m Gonna Like Me:
Letting Off a Little Self-Esteem.
Traces the day of two children and focuses
on everyday occurrences that can build selfesteem.*
Dannenberg, Julie. First Day Jitters.
Sarah is afraid to start at a new school, but
both she and the reader are in for a surprise
when she gets to class.
Ehlert, Lois. Color Zoo.
Introduces colors and shapes with
illustrations of shapes on die-cut pages that
form animal faces when placed on top of
one another.*
Falconer, Ian. Olivia.
Whether getting ready for the day, enjoying
the beach or preparing for bedtime, Olivia is
a feisty pig who has too much energy for
her own good.*
Feiffer, Jules. Bark, George.
George’s mother is in for a big surprise
when she takes him to the veterinarian to
find out when he doesn’t bark.
Havill, Juanita. Jamaica’s Find.
A little girl finds a stuffed dog in the park
and decides to take it home.*
Books for the Kindergartener
Henkes, Kevin. Wemberly Worried.
A mouse named Wemberly, who worries
about everything, finds that he has a whole
list of things to worry about when he faces
the first day of nursery school.*
Henkes, Kevin. Kitten’s First Full Moon.
Kitten mistakes the full moon for a bowl of
milk, she ends up tired, wet and hungry
trying to reach it.*
Keller, Holly. Help: A Story of Friendship.
Mouse hears a rumor that Snake does not
like mice and while trying to avoid his former
friend, he falls into a hole from which neith
Hedgehog, Squirrel, nor Rabbit can help
him out. This is an engaging tale of
friendship and forgiveness.*
Lehman, Barbara. The Red Book.
A wordless story in which a little girl finds a
red book in the snow that holds an
astonishing surprise.
Lester, Helen. Listen, Buddy.
A lop-eared rabbit named Buddy finds
himself in trouble with the Scruffy Varmint
because he never listens.
Lionni, Leo. Swimmy.
Swimmy, a small black fish, finds a way to
protect a school of red fish from their natural
enemies.*
Lionni, Leo. Little Blue and Little Yellow.
Two blobs of paint play together but when
they meet and hug, something happens!*
Marshall, James. Red Riding Hood. (retold
and illustrated)
A humorous retelling of the story of the little
girl who meets a hungry wolf in the forest on
her way to grandmother’s house.*
Martin, Bill. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.
An alphabet rhyme/chant that relates what
happens when the whold alphabet tries to
climb a coconut tree.*
Munsch, Robert. Thomas’ Snowsuit.
His mother, teacher and principal have a
hard time trying to convince Thomas to
wear his snowsuit.*
Pierce, Terry. Mother Goose Rhymes. (6
set series)
Illustrations give a fresh take on the
traditional Mother Goose nursery rhymes
organized by everyday themes. Set
contains familiar to lesser known rhymes.*
Reynolds, Peter. The Dot.
Vashti believes that she cannot draw, but
her art teacher’s encouragement leas her to
change her mind.
Rohmann, Eric. My Friend Rabbit.
Something always seems to go wrong when
Rabbit is around, but Mouse lets Rabbit play
with his toy plane anyway because he is his
good friend.
Sendak. Maurice. Where the Wild Things
Are.
Max dreams of a voyage to the island where
the wild things are after he is sent to bed
without dinner for behaving like a wild
thing.*
Seuss, Dr. Green Eggs and Ham.
Sam-I-Am wins a campaign to get another
character to try a plate of green eggs and
ham.*
Shannon, David. No, David!
Tells the adventures of young David doing
all kinds of things he isn’t supposed to do.*
Willems, Mo. Knuffle Bunny: a Cautionary
Tale.
Trixie becomes very unhappy when she
accompanies her daddy to the Laundromat
and realizes she has lost her stuffed
bunny.*
Books for the Kindergartener
Willems, Mo. Can I Play Too?
Elephant and Piggie’s adventure starts out
smoothly but when Snake shows up and
wants to play, it causes concern since he is
different. This story offers guidance to
children on friendship among peers and
differences.
In the Elephant and Piggie series the
characters continue to learn many of life’s
lessons through their adventures.*
Wilson, Karma. Hilda Must Be Dancing.
Hilda Hippo tries other, quieter, activities
when her jungle friends are disturbed by her
dancing. Nothing else makes her happy
until Water Buffalo suggests swimming and
she finds a new way to express herself.*
Books for the First
Adler, David. Bones and the Cupcake
Mystery. (Viking easy-to-read series)
Detective Jeffery Bones finds he does not
need fancy equipment to solve the schoollunch mystery of “Not Me” Amy’s missing
cupcake.
Allard, Harry. Miss Nelson Is Missing.
The kids in Room 207 take advantage of
their teacher’s good nature until she
disappears and they are faced
with a vile substitute.
Arnold, Tedd. I Spy Fly Guy!
While playing hide-and-seek with Buzz, Fly
Guy is taken away by a garbage man.
Bang, Molly. When Sophie Gets Angry —
Really, Really Angry.
When Sophie gets angry she goes outside
and runs, cries, climbs her favorite tree –
and then, calmed by the breeze, she is soon
ready to go back home.
Bemelmans, Ludwig. Madeline.
Madeline, smallest and naughtiest of the
twelve little charges of Miss Clavel, wakes
up one night with an attack of appendicitis.
Brett, Jan. Honey-Honey-Lion!: A Story
from Africa.
After working together to obtain honey, the
African badger always shares it with his
partner, the honeyguide bird, until one day
when the honey badger becomes greedy
and his feathered friend decides to teach
him a lesson.
Brown, Marc. Arthur and the True
Francine.
Francine and Muffy are good friends until
Muffy lets Francine take blame for cheating
on a test.
Bunting, Eve. Picnic in October.
A boy finally comes to understand why his
grandmother insists that the family come to
Ellis Island each year to celebrate Lady
Liberty’s birthday.
Grader
Burton, Virginia Lee. The Little House.
A country house is unhappy when the city,
with all its buildings and traffic grows up
around her.
Burton, Virginia Lee. Mike Mulligan and
His Steam Shovel.
Although Mike Mulligan’s steam shovel is
too old fashioned to compete with newer
models, the people of Popperville find a way
to keep it working.
Chaconas, Dori, Cork & Fuzz : Best
Friends.
A possum and a muskrat become friends
despite their many differences.
(Cork & Fuzz series)
Clements, Andrew. Dogku.
Tells a story through haiku about a dog
named Mooch and the many things it does,
such as riding in a car, barking at the
neighbors, and chewing on dirty socks.
Cronin, Doreen. Click, Clack, Moo: Cows
That Type.
When Farmer Brown’s cows find a
typewriter in the barn they start making
demands, and go on strike when the
farmer refuses to give them what they want.
DePaola, Tomie. Strega Nona: an Original
Tale.
When Strega Nona leaves him alone with
her magic pasta pot, Big Anthony is
determined to show the townspeople how it
works.
Finchler, Judy. Miss Malarkey Doesn't
Live in Room 10.
A first-grade boy is shocked, then pleased,
when he finds out that his teacher has a live
away from school.
Books for the First
Fleming, Denise. Buster Goes to Cowboy
Camp.
When Buster the dog's owner goes away for
a few days, he sends Buster to Sagebrush
Kennels for Cowboy Camp, where Buster is
homesick at first, but then has fun herding
balls into the corral, gathering sticks for a
campfire, and making wanted posters with
his paw prints.
Frazee, Marla. A Couple of Boys have the
Best Week Ever.
Friends James and Eamon enjoy a
wonderful week at the home of Eamon's
grandparents during summer vacation.
Henkes, Kevin. Chester’s Way.
Chester and Wilson share the same exact
way of doing things, until Lilly moves into
the neighborhood and shows them that new
ways can be just as good.
Herriges, Ann. Dolphins.
Simple text and supportive images
introduce beginning readers to dolphins.
(Blastoff! Readers series)
Holabird, Katharine. Angelina and the
Princess.
Angelina is too sick to dance well during the
tryouts for the lead for the “Princess of
Mouseland” ballet, but when the leading
ballerina sprains her foot, Angelina is ready
to prove she is still the best dancer of all.
Johnson, Crockett. Harold and the Purple
Crayon.
Harold uses his fantastic purple crayon to
draw himself some wonderful adventures.
Joose, Barbara M. Mama, Do You Love
Me?
An Inuit child learns that her mother’s love is
unconditional when she disobeys and
journeys across the Arctic from village to ice
floe, in search of her puppy.
Grader
Katz, Alan. Take Me Out of the Bathtub
and Other Silly Dilly Songs.
Well-known songs, including “Oh
Susannah” and “Row, Row, RowYour Boat”
are presented with new words and titles,
such as “I’m So Carsick” and “Go, Go, Go to
Bed”.
Lester, Helen. Tacky the Penguin.
Tacky the penguin does not fit in with his
sleek and graceful companions, but his odd
behavior comes in handy when hunters
come with maps and traps.
Marshall, James. George and Martha.
Relates several episodes in the friendship of
two hippopotamuses.
Munsch, Robert. Stephanie’s Ponytail.
When all the kids in Stephanie’s class keep
copying her hairstyle by making ponytails of
their own, she threatens to shave off her
hair.
Murray, Julie. Iguanas.
An introduction to the physical
characteristics, behavior, habitat, and life
cycle of iguanas, lizards that range in length
from a few inches to many feet.
(Animal Kingdom series)
Numeroff, Laura. If You Give a Mouse a
Cookie.
A young boy, having given a cookie to a
bossy mouse, is run ragged by the
energetic rodent's subsequent requests.
O'Connor, Jane. Fancy Nancy.
A young girl who loves fancy things helps
her family to be fancy for one special night.
Park, Linda Sue. Bee-bim Bop!
Newbery Award winner about a young
Korean girl who helps her mother with
shopping, food preparation, and table
setting for her favorite meal. Presented in
rhyming verse.
Books for the First
Grader
Pinkney, Jerry. The Lion and the Mouse.
In this wordless retelling of an Aesop fable,
an adventuresome mouse proves that even
small creatures are capable of great deeds
when he rescues the King of the Jungle.
Silverman, Erica. Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa.
Cowgirl Kate and her always-hungry horse
Cocoa, count cows, share a story, and help
each other fall asleep.
(Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa series)
Prelutsky, Jack. There's No Place Like
School: Classroom Poems.
A collection of eighteen illustrated lassroom
poems
Stead, Philip Christian. A Sick Day for
Amos McGee.
Zookeeper Amos McGee, who is adored by
all the animals, gets some unexpected
guests while home sick one day.
Rathmann, Peggy. Officer Buckle and
Gloria.
The children at Napville Elementary School
always ignore Officer Buckle’s safety tips,
until a police dog named Gloria
accompanies him when he gives his safety
speeches.
Rey, H. A. Curious George.
The curiosity of a newly-captured monkey
gets him into continual trouble.
Rylant, Cynthia. Henry and Mudge and the
Big Sleepover.
Henry and Mudge are going to a sleepover
at Patrick's house! There's pizza and
popcorn, games and monster movies...and
Mudge even has his own sleeping bag (he's
too big to share Henry's). But will anyone at
this sleepover ever get to sleep?
(Henry and Mudge series)
Scanlon, Elizabeth Garton. All the World.
Follows a group of family members and
friends through the course of a day as they
learn the importance of all things great and
small
Scarborough, Sheryl. About Bugs.
Describes the life cycle, colors, senses,
defense mechanisms, sizes, and shapes of
bugs.
(We Both Read series)
Sharmat, Marjorie. Nate the Great and the
Owl Express.
Nate investigates when an owl named Hoot
disappears on board the Owl Express.
(Nate the Great series)
Stevenson, James. Candy Corn: Poems.
A collection of short poems with titles such
as “The Morning After Halloween”,
“Dumpsters”, and “What Frogs Say to Each
Other”.
Tarpley, Natasha. I Love My Hair.
A young African-American girl describes the
different, wonderful ways she can wear her
hair.
Van Leeuwen, Jean. Chicken Soup.
When they hear that Mrs. Farmer is making
soup, all the frightenened chickens run for
their lives, but Mr. Farmer finds Little
Chickie, who has a bad cold, and he takes
her to the kitchen for some nice hot
vegetable soup.
Waber, Bernard. The House on East 88th
Street.
A family moving into a new house discovers
in their bathtub a talented crocodile named
Lyle, who soon becomes an important part
of the family.
Waber, Bernard. Ira Sleeps Over.
A little boy is excited at the prospect of
spending the night at his friend’s house but
worries how he’ll get along without his teddy
bear.
Watt, Melanie. Scaredy Squirrel.
Scaredy Squirrel is afraid to leave his nut
tree, but when he is finally one day forced
out of his home, he discovers some
interesting things about the great unknown.
Books for the First
Wilson, Karma. Bear Snores On.
On a cold winter night many animals gather
to party in the cave of a sleeping bear, who
then awakes and protests that he has
missed the food and fun.
Winters, Kay. This School Year will be
the Best!
When a teacher asks her students on the
first day of school what they wish for in the
coming year, the answers range from
having a good school picture to receiving a
perfect report card.
Yee, Wong Herbert. Mouse and Mole: a
Winter Wonderland.
Best friends Mouse and Mole enjoy playing
in the snow with Sno-Mouse and Sno-Mole,
two more best friends.
(Mouse and Mole series)
Yolen, Jane. How do Dinosaurs Say
Good Night?
Mother and child ponder the different ways
a dinosaur can say goodnight, from
slamming his tail and pouting to giving a big
hug and kiss.
Grader
Books for the Second
Adler, David A. A Picture Book of
Abraham Lincoln. A brief biography of the
sixteenth president from his childhood on
the frontier to his assassination after the
Civil War.
(Picture Book Biographies series.)
Andreae, Giles. Captain Flinn and the
Pirate Dinosaurs.
Flinn’s imagination send him on a high seas
adventure when he enters the art room
closet.
Auch, Mary Jane. Chickerella.
A humorous banyard version of Cinderella.
Baker, Keith. Meet Mr. & Mrs. Green.
A loving alligator couple enjoy going
camping, eating pancakes and visiting the
county fair.
Bang, Molly. Paper Crane.
A mysterious man enters a restaurant and
pays for his dinner with a paper crane that
magically comes alive and dances.
Blume, Judy. Freckle Juice.
Andrew wants freckles so badly that he
buys Sharon’s freckle recipe for fifty cents.
Brezenoff, Steven. The Zoo with the
Empty Cage.
During a field trip to the zoo, Edward. G.
Garrison, better known as Egg, discovers
the endangered foxes have been stolen.
(Field Trip Mysteries series.)
Broach, Elise. When Dinosaurs Came
with Everything.
When a boy is shopping with his mother,
every shop in town is giving away real
dinosaurs to their customers.
Cannon, Janell. Stellaluna.
After she falls headfirst into a bird’s nest, a
baby bat is raised like a bird util she is
reunited with her mother.
Grader
Cherry, Lynne. The Great Kapok Tree: a
Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest.
The many different animals that live in the
great kapok tree in the Brazilian rainforest
try to convince a man with an ax of the
importance of not cutting down their home.
Cronin, Doreen. Diary of a Spider.
A young spider discovers, day by day, that
there is a lot to learn about being a spider,
including how to spin webs and avoid
vacuum cleaners.
Demi. The Empty Pot.
When Ping admits that he is the only child in
China unable to grow a flower from the
seeds distributed by the Emperor, he is
rewarded for his honesty.
DePaola, Tomie. Fin M’Coul: the Giant of
Knockmany Hill.
Fin M’Coul’s wife, Oonagh, helps him outwit
his arch rival, Cucllin.
DiCamillo, Kate. Mercy Watson Goes for
a Ride.
Mercy the pig finds herself driving Mr.
Watson’s Cadillac on their Sunday drive.
Florian, Douglas. Bow Wow Meow Meow:
It’s Rhyming Cats and Dogs.
A collection of short poems about dogs and
cats.
Flournoy, Valerie. The Patchwork Quilt.
Using scraps cut from the family’s old
clothing, Tanya helps her grandmother and
mother make a beautiful quilt that tells the
story of her family’s life.
Golenbock, Peter. Teammates.
Describes the racial prejudice experienced
by Jackie Robinson when he joined the
Brooklyn Dodgers to become the first
African-American player in Major League
baseball and depicts the acceptance and
support he received from his white
teammate Pee Wee Reese.
Books for the Second
Hoffman, Mary. Amazing Grace.
Although classmates say she cannot play
Peter Pan in the school play because she is
balck and a girl, Grace discovers that she
can do anything she sets her mind to do.
Howe, James. Horace and Morris but
Mostly Delores.
Three mice friends learn that the best clubs
include everyone.
James, Brian. Camp Buccaneer.
Captain Stinky’s students compete in sailing
races, treasure hunts and swashbuckling
events.
(Pirate School series.)
Kimmel, Eric A. Anansi and the Magic
Stick.
Anansi the Spider steals Hyena’s magic
stick so he won’t have to do chores, but
when the stick’s magic won’t stop, he gets
more than he bargained for.
McCully, Emily A. Mirette on the High
Wire.
One hundred years ago in Paris, Mirette
learns tightrope walking from Monsieur
Bellini, a guest in her mother’s boarding
house, not knowing that he is a celebrated
tightrope artist who has withdrawn from
performing because of fear.
McDermott, Gerald. Raven, a Trickster
Tale from the Pacific Northwest.
Raven sets out to find the sun.
Mazar, Anne. Mabel Makes the Grade.
Mabel worries about her little sister’s
magical abilities in Kindergarten.
(Sister Magic series).
Mosel, Arlene. The Funny Little Woman.
While chasing a dumpling, a little lady is
captured by wicked creatures from showm
she escapes with the means of becoming
the richest woman in Japan.
Grader
Osborne, Mary Pope. Dinsaurs Before
Dark
Eight-year-old jack and his younger sister
Annie find a magic tree house, which shisks
them back to an ancient time zone where
they see live dinosaurs.
(Magic Tree House series.)
Palatini, Margie. Zoom Broom.
When her broom breaks down, Gritch the
Witch visits a foxy salesman in search of a
new Zoom Broom but ends up with
something unexpected.
Parish, Peggy or Herman. Amelia Bedelia
Helps Out.
Amelia Bedelia shows her niece Effie Lou
how to follow instructions to the letter as
they dust the potato bugs and sew seeds.
(Greenwillow Read-Alone Books – Amelia
Bedelia series or I-Can-Read Level 2
series.)
Park, Barbara. Junie B. Jones and a Little
Monkey Business.
Through a misunderstanding, Junie B.
thinks that her new baby brother is really a
baby monkey, and her report of this news
creates excitement and trouble in her
kindergarten class.
(Junie B. Jones series.)
Peet, Bill. The Whingdingdilly.
Tired of a dog’s life, Scamp visits the wicked
little witch in the woods and becomes a
whingdindilly.
Polacco, Patricia. Emma Kate.
Emma Kate and her best friend share many
activities, such as homework and soccer
practice, and even have their tonsils out at
the same time, all the things best friends do.
But there is more to this best friend than
meets the eye.
Pennypacker, Sara. The Great Egyptian
Grave Robbery.
Flat Stanley must stop robbers from stealing
priceless artifacts in Egypt.
(created by Jeff Brown, Flat Stanley’s
Worldwide Adventure series.)
Books for the Second
Grader
Prellar, James. Case of Hermie the
Missing Hamster.
Jigsaw Jones, private eye, and his partner
Mila, investigate the disappearance of their
friend Wingnut’s hamster.
(Jigsaw Jones series.)
Steptoe, John. Mufaro’s Beautiful
Daughters: an African Tale.
In this African version of the Cinderella tale,
Mufaro’s two beautiful daughters, one badtempered, on kind and sweet, go before the
king, who is choosing a wife.
Prelutsky, Jack. The Dragons Are Singing
Tonight.
A collection of poems about dragons,
including “I’m and Amiable Dragon”, “If You
Don’t Believe in Dragons”, and “A Dragon is
in My Computer”.
Stevens, Janet. Great Fuzz Frenzy.
When a tennis ball lands in a prairie dog
town, residents find that their newfound
frenzy for fuzz creates a fiasco.
Ringgold, Faith. Tar Beach.
Eight-year-old Cassie dreams of flying
above her Harlem home, claiming all she
sees for herself and her family. Based on
the author’s quilt painting of the same
name.
Roy, Ron. The Absent Author.
Dink Duncan and his two friends investigate
the apparent kidnapping of famous mystery
author Wllis Wallace.
(A to Z Mysteries series.)
San Souci, Robert D. The Talking Eggs:
A Folktale from the American South.
The flavor of the American South is
captured in this Creole folktale in which kind
Blanche, following the instructions of an old
woman, gains riches, while her greedy
sister makes fun of the old woman is duly
rewarded.
Simon, Francesca. Horrid Henry.
Horrid Henry causes problems for his
brother Perfect Peter.
Steig, William. Brave Irene.
Plucky Irene, a dressmaker’s daughter,
braves a fierce snowstorm to deliver a new
gown to the duchess in time for the ball.
Steig, William. Doctor De Soto.
Dr. De Soto, a mouse dentist, copes with
the toothaches of various animals except
those tiwh a taste for mice, until the day a
fox comes to him in great pain.
Thaler, Mike. Teacher’s Pet from the
Black Lagoon.
The students in Miss Gren’s class let their
imaginations run wild as they anticipate a
new class pet.
Van Allsburg, Chris. The Polar Express.
A magical train ride on Christmas Eve takes
a boy to the North Pole to receive a special
gift from Santa Claus.
Yolen, Jane. Owl Moon.
On a winter night under a full moon, a father
and daughter trek into the woods to see the
Great Horned Owl.
Zelinsky, Paul O. Rumpelstiltskin.
In this beautifully illustrated and award
winning version of the classic fairy tale, a
strange little man helps the miller’s daughter
spin straw into gold for the king on the
condition that she will give him her first-born
child.
Books for the Third
Abbot, Tony. The Hidden Stairs and the
Magic Carpet.
Eric and his friends find entry into the world
of Droon by using a staircase in Eric's
basement.
(Secret of Droon series)
Adler, David. Cam Jansen and the Green
School Mystery.
On Green Day, Cam and her classmates
discuss ways to protect the environment,
but when money collected for the school's
new skylights disappears, Cam uses her
photographic memory to solve the mystery.
Anderson, Laurie Halse. Fight for Life.
With the help of her veterinarian
grandmother and the other volunteers at the
Wild at Heart Animal Clinic, eleven-year-old
Maggie rescues sick puppies from an illegal
puppy mill.
(Vet Volunteers)
Barrow, Annie. Ivy & Bean.
When seven-year-old Bean plays a mean
trick on her sister, she finds unexpected
support for her antics from Ivy, the new
neighbor, who is less boring than Bean first
suspected.
(Ivy & Bean series)
Blume, Judy. Fudge-a-mania.
Pete describes the family vacation in Maine
with the Tubmans, highlighted by the antics
of his younger brother Fudge.
Brown, Jeff. Flat Stanley.
Relates the humorous adventures of
Stanley, a little boy who wakes up flat (four
feet tall, about a foot wide, and half an inch
thick) after a bulletin board falls on him
during the night.
(Flat Stanley series)
Grader
Christopher, Matt. The Dog that Called the
Pitch.
Mike and his dog Harry, the Airedale with
ESP, are shocked to discover that the new
umpire for Mike's baseball games can hear
their mental conversations.
(Matt Christopher Readers series)
Cleary, Beverly. Beezus and Ramona.
Four-year-old Ramona has an imagination
that makes her a menace to everyone
around her, particularly her older sister,
Beezus.
Clements, Andrew. Jake Drake, Bully
Buster.
When a bully moves into his neighborhood,
its up to Jake Drake to stop him.
(Jake Drake series)
Dadey, Debbie. Dragons Don’t Throw
Snowballs.
The Bailey School Kids investigate whether
a snow sculpture of a dragon has been
brought to life.
(The Adventures of the Bailey School Kids
series)
Dahl, Roald. Fantastic Mr. Fox.
Three farmers, each one meaner than the
other, try all-out warfare to get rid of the fox
and his family.
dePaola, Tomie. 26 Fairmount Avenue.
Children's author-illustrator Tomie De Paola
describes his experiences at home and in
school when he was a boy.
diTerlizzi, Tony. The Field Guide.
When the Grace children go to stay at their
Great Aunt Lucinda's worn Victorian house,
they discover a field guide to fairies and
other creatures and begin to have some
unusual experiences.
(The Spiderwick Chronicles series)
Books for the Third
Fleischman, Sid. The White Elephant.
In old Siam, young elephant trainer RunRun and his old charge, Walking Mountain,
must deal with the curse of a sacred white
elephant.
Florian, Douglas. Dinothesaurus:
Prehistoric Poems and Paintings.
Presents illustrated verse about various
carnivorous and herbivorous dinosaurs,
including the Iguanodon, Spinosaurus, and
long-necked plesiosaurs.
Greenburg, Dan. Great-Grandpa’s in the
Litter Box.
Zack takes home from the local animal
shelter a scruffy tomcat who not only talks
but claims to be the reincarnation of Zack's
Great-Grandpa Julius.
(Zack Files series)
Gutman, Dan. Miss Daisy is Crazy!
Miss Daisy's unusual teaching methods
surprise her second grade students,
especially reluctant learner A.J.
(My Weird School series)
Hicks, Betty. Basketball Bats.
Henry and his basketball teammates, the
Bats, take on the Tigers, and Henry learns a
lesson about working as a team.
(Gym Shorts series)
Jenkins, Emily. Toys Go Out: Being the
Adventures of a Knowledgeable
Stingray, a Tough Little Buffalo, and
Someone Called Plastic.
Six stories relate the adventures of three
best friends, who happen to be toys.
(Toys Go Out series)
Kline, Suzy. Horrible Harry in Room 2B.
Doug discovers that though being Harry's
best friend in Miss Mackle's second grade
class isn't always easy, as Harry likes to do
horrible things, it is often a lot of fun.
(Horrible Harry series)
Grader
Krulik, Nancy. Anyone But Me.
Third-grader Katie Carew gains insight into
the thinking of the class bully when she is
magically transformed into a hamster--an
animal the bully fears.
(Katie Kazoo, Switcheroo series)
Looke, Lenore. Ruby Lu, Brave and True.
"Almost-eight-year-old" Ruby Lu spends
time with her baby brother, goes to Chinese
school, performs magic tricks and learns to
drive, and has adventures with both old and
new friends.
Lowry, Lois. Gooney Bird Greene.
A most unusual new student who loves to
be the center of attention entertains her
teacher and fellow second graders by telling
absolutely true stories about herself,
including how she got her name.
(Gooney Bird series)
Marsden, Carolyn. Gold-Threaded Dress.
When Oy and her Thai American family
move to a new neighborhood, her thirdgrade classmates tease and exclude her
because she is different.
McDonald, Megan. Judy Moody.
Third grader Judy Moody is in a first day of
school bad mood until she gets an
assignment to create a collage all about
herself and begins creating her
masterpiece, the Me collage.
(Judy Moody series)
McDonald, Megan. Stink: the Incredible
Shrinking Kid.
The shortest kid in the second grade,
James Moody, also known as Stink, learns
all about the shortest president of the United
States, James Madison, when they
celebrate Presidents' Day at school.
(Stink series)
Park, Linda Sue. Tap Dancing on the
Roof: Sijo Poems.
Presents twenty-six sijo, traditional Korean
syllabic poems, on "inside" and "outside"
themes.
Books for the Third
Pennypacker, Sara. Clementine.
While sorting through difficulties in her
friendship with her neighbor Margaret, eightyear-old Clementine gains several unique
hairstyles while also helping her father in his
efforts to banish pigeons from the front of
their apartment building.
Roy, Ron. The Absent Author.
Dink Duncan and his two friends investigate
the apparent kidnapping of famous mystery
author Wallis Wallace.
(A to Z Mysteries series)
Sachar, Louis. Marvin Redpost:
Kidnapped at Birth?
Red-haired Marvin is convinced that the
reason he looks different from the rest of his
family is that he is really the lost prince of
Shampoon.
(Marvin Redpost series)
Silverstein, Shel. Runny Babbit: a Billy
Sook.
A group of animals speak a topsy-turvy
language of rhyme. Features stories and
illustrations about Runny Babbit and his
friends Toe Jurtle, Skertie Gunk, Rirty Dat,
Dungry Hog, and Snerry Jake.
Smith, Lane. John, Paul, George, and
Ben.
A humorous look at five of our country's
founding fathers.
St. George, Judith. So You Want to be
President?
A colorful picture book that features a
young, science-minded boy who goes to the
beach to collect and examine anything
floating that has been washed ashore and
discovers an underwater camera that
contains a collection of unusual pictures.
Stilton, Geronimo. The Lost Treasure of
the Emerald Eye.
When Geronimo Stilton's sister Thea
discovers an old map, they begin a secret
hunt for treasure on a faraway island.
(Geronimo Stilton series)
Grader
White. E.B. Charlotte’s Web.
Wilbur, the pig, is desolate when he
discovers that he is destined to be the
farmer's Christmas dinner until his spider
friend, Charlotte, decides to help him.
Wiesner, David. Flotsam.
A colorful picture book that features a
young, science-minded boy who goes to the
beach to collect and examine anything
floating that has been washed ashore and
discovers an underwater camera that
contains a collection of unusual pictures.
Books for the Fourth
Grader
Atwater, Richard. Mr. Popper’s Penguins.
This is a favorite story about a man who
leaves his job as a house painter to train a
vaudeville troupe of penguins.
Catling, Patrick. The Chocolate Touch.
Everything this boy touches to his lips turns
into chocolate with very funny and
disastrous results.
Avi. Poppy.
Poppy, a young deer mouse, lives near a
large corn field with her family in a land
ruled by Mr. Ocax, the owl. (Tales from the
Dimwood Forest series)
Cleary, Beverly. Ramona’s World.
Enjoy the adventures of nine-year-old
Ramona as she experiences fourth grade
and finds a new best friend, Daisy.
Baglio, Ben. Labrador on the Lawn.
While staying at her parent's vacation house
in the Lake District, Mandy and James find
a Labrador on the lawn, but he has no
identification and no way of finding the
owner. (Animal Ark series)
Birney, Betty G. The World According to
Humphrey.
Humphrey, pet hamster at Longfellow
School, learns that he has an important role
to play in helping his classmates and
teacher. (According to Humphrey series)
Blume, Judy. Double Fudge.
Peter’s younger brother’s obsession with
money and the discovery of his cousins
Flora and Fauna make for embarrassing
moments for Peter.
Bunting, Eve. Nasty, Stinky Sneakers.
Colin needs to find his missing sneakers in
time to enter the Stinkiest Sneakers in the
World contest.
Cabot, Meg. Moving Day.
Nine-year-old Allie Finkle has rules for
everything and is even writing her own rule
book, but her world is turned upside-down
when she learns that her family is moving
across town, which will mean a new house,
school, best friend, and plenty of new rules.
(Allie Finkle’s Rules for Girls series)
Clements, Andrew. Frindle.
When he decides to turn his fifth-grade
teacher’s love of the dictionary around on
her, clever Nick Allen invents a new word
and begins a chain of events that quickly
moves beyond his control.
Codell, Esme Raji. Sahara Special.
Struggling with school and her feelings
since her father left, Sahara gets a fresh
start with a new and unique teacher who
supports her writing talents and the
individuality of each of her classmates.
Coerr, Eleanor. Sadako and the Thousand
Paper Cranes.
Hospitalized with the dreaded bomb
disease, leukemia, a child in Hiroshima
races against time to fold one thousand
paper cranes to verify the legend that by
doing so a sick person will become healthy.
Coville, Bruce. Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon
Hatcher.
Small for his age but artistically talented,
twelve-year old Jeremy Thatcher
unknowingly buys a dragon’s egg.
Creech, Sharon. Love That Dog.
A young student, who comes to love poetry
through a personal understanding of what
different famous poems mean to him,
surprises himself by writing his own inspired
poem.
Books for the Fourth
Dahl, Roald. The BFG.
Sophie is kidnapped by the BFG (big
friendly giant) and taken to Giantland, where
the other giants eat children.
Davies, Nicola. Extreme Animals: The
Toughest Creatures on Earth.
Describes the physical characteristics and
biological processes that enable particular
animals to survive in extremely hot and cold
climates.
DiCamillo, Kate. Because of Winn-Dixie.
Ten-year-old Opal Buloni describes her first
summer in the town of Naomi, Florida, and
all the good things that happen to her
because of her dog, Winn-Dixie.
Fleming, Candace. The Fabled Fourth
Graders of Aesop Elementary School.
An unlikely teacher takes over the disorderly
fourth-grade class of Aesop Elementary
School with surprising results.
Florian, Douglas. Comet, Stars, the Moon
and Mars: Poems and Paintings.
A collection of twenty whimsical poems
about comets, the stars, moon, and the
planets.
Funke, Cornelia. Igraine the Brave.
The daughter of two magicians, twelveyear-old Igraine wants nothing more than to
be a knight; and when their castle is
attacked by a treacherous neighbor bent on
stealing their singing magic books, Igraine
has an opportunity to demonstrate her
bravery.
Gifford, Peggy Elizabeth. Moxy Maxwell
Does Not Love Stuart Little.
With summer coming to an end, about-tobe-fourth-grader Moxy Maxwell does a
hundred different things to avoid reading her
assigned summer reading book.
Grader
Giovanni, Nikki. Rosa.
This book presents an illustrated account of
Rosa Parks’ refusal to give up her seat on a
bus in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955, and
the subsequent bus boycott by the black
community.
Gutman, Dan. Shoeless Joe and Me.
Joe Stoshack travels back to 1919, where
he meets Shoeless Joe Jackson and tries to
prevent the fixing of the World Series.
(Baseball Card Adventure series)
Hale, Bruce. The Chameleon Wore
Chartreuse.
When hired by a fellow fourth-grader to find
her missing brother, Chet Gecko uncovers a
plot involving a Gila monster’s revenge
upon the school football team. (Chet Gecko
mystery series)
Howe, Deborah. Bunnicula: A Rabbit Tale
of Mystery.
Harold the Dog discovers the new pet rabbit
is really a vampire.
Jenkins, Steve. Living Color.
Looks at a wide range of colorful animals,
describing how their feathers, scales, shells,
and skin help them survive, warn predators,
signal friends, attract a mate, or hide from
their enemies.
Korman, Gordon. The Abuction.
Aiden teams up with the FBI to track down
his sister Meg who was kidnapped while
they were walking home from school..
(Kidnapped series)
Lensey, Namioka. Yang the Youngest and
His Terrible Ear.
Everyone in the Yang family is a talented
musician except for nine-year-old Yang who
prefers baseball.
Books for the Fourth
Levine, Gail Carson. Ella Enchanted.
In this Cinderella story, a fairy puts a spell
on Ella which causes her to always be
obedient.
Lin, Grace. Where the Mountain Meets the
Moon.
Minli, an adventurous girl from a poor
village, buys a magical goldfish, and then
joins a dragon who cannot fly on a quest to
find the Old Man of the Moon in hopes of
bringing life to Fruitless Mountain and
freshness to Jade River.
Moss, Marisa. Amelia’s Bully Survival
Guide.
Amelia has her first day of fifth grade. Her
journal talks about the kids in her class, her
teacher, and how she survives the bullies at
school and at space camp.
Grader
Park, Linda Sue. The Firekeeper’s Son
In eighteenth-century Korea, after Sanghee's father injures his ankle, Sang-hee
attempts to take over the task of lighting the
evening fire which signals to the palace that
all is well.
Prelutsky, Jack. Scranimals: Poems.
A series of poems leads readers through a
land where vegetables, flowers, and
animals are scrambled together.
Riordan, Rick. The Maze of Bones.
Amy and Dan, members of the powerful
Cahill family, try to uncover the thirty-nine
clues which will reveal the secrets of their
lineage and find out what really happened to
their parents. (39 Clues series)
Naylor, Phyllis. Shiloh.
What should Marty Preston do when he
finds a beagle that has been mistreated by
its owner?
Rockwell, Thomas. How to Eat Fried
Worms.
For fifty dollars, Billy takes the bet of eating
fifteen worms – one a day. His friends and
family help him create various ways to cook
them.
Nobleman, Marc Tyler. Boys of Steel : the
creators of Superman.
Explores the lives and achievements of
Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the men
responsible for the creation of Superman.
Rodda, Emily. Rowan of Rin.
Rowan realizes that he possesses a trait
that is unique among the local villagers.
This trait causes him to depart on an
adventure that is life-changing.
O’Connor, Barbara. How to Steal a Dog.
Living in the family car in their small North
Carolina town after their father leaves them
virtually penniless, Georgina, desperate to
improve their situation and unwilling to
accept her overworked mother's calls for
patience, persuades her younger brother to
help her in an elaborate scheme to get
money by stealing a dog and then claiming
the reward that the owners are bound to
offer.
Rodda, Emily. The Forests of Silence.
The evil Shadow Lord is planning to take
over the land of Deltora and enslave all its
people. In order to stop him 16-year old Lief
and former palace guard Barda must find all
seven stones from the magic belt of Deltora.
(Deltora Quest series)
Rosen, Michael J. Balls!
Presents an overview of sports balls, in
simple text with illustrations, providing
information on their history, science, and
how they are used in each sport.
Books for the Fourth
Sachar, Louis. Sideways Stories from
Wayside School.
Humorous episodes from the classroom on
the thirtieth floor of Wayside School, which
was accidentally built sideways with one
classroom on each story.
Scieszka, Jon. Knights of the Kitchen
Table.
A magical book places three friends in
medieval England where they defeat a
dragon, knight, and giant. (The Time Warp
Trio series)
Selznick, Brian. The Invention of Hugo
Cabret.
When twelve-year-old Hugo, an orphan
living and repairing clocks within the walls of
a Paris train station in 1931, meets a
mysterious toyseller and his goddaughter,
his undercover life and his biggest secret
are jeopardized.
Spinelli, Jerry. Eggs.
Mourning the loss of his mother, nine-yearold David forms an unlikely friendship with
independent, quirky thirteen-year-old
Primrose, as the two help each other deal
with what is missing in their lives.
Winkler, Henry. Help! Somebody Get Me
Out of Fourth Grade.
Fearing that he may be failing fourth grade,
Hank enlists the help of his friends, and
even his annoying younger sister, in an
effort to prevent his parents from attending
a parent-teacher conference. (Hank Zipzer
series)
Woodson, Jacqueline. Show Way.
Describes quilts which once served as
maps for freedom-seeking slaves, and
illustrates how the tradition has been
passed on from mother to daughter.
Grader
Books for the Fifth
Grader
Anderson, Laurie Halse. Fever, 1793.
Sixteen-year-old Matilda Cook, separated
from her sick mother, learns about
perseverance and self-reliance when she is
forced to cope with the horrors of the yellow
fever epidemic in Philadelphia in 1793.
Cleary, Beverly. Dear Mr. Henshaw.
In his letters to his favorite author, ten-yearold Leigh reveals his problems in coping
with his parents' divorce, being the new boy
in school, and generally finding his own
place in the world.
AVI. Seer of Shadows.
Photographer Horace Carpetine is
commissioned to do a portrait for society
matron Mrs. Frederick Von Macht; however,
the photos evoke both the image and the
ghost of the Von Macht's dead daughter,
Eleanora, who has returned to seek
vengence on those who killed her.
Creech, Sharon. Ruby Holler.
Thirteen-year-old fraternal twins Dallas and
Florida have grown up in a terrible
orphanage, but their lives change forever
when
an eccentric but sweet older couple invites
them each on an adventure, beginning in an
almost magical place called Ruby Holler.
Babbitt, Natalie. Tuck Everlasting.
The Tuck family is confronted with an
agonizing situation when they discover that
a ten-year-old girl and a malicious stranger
now share their secret about a spring whose
water prevents one from ever growing any
older.
Curtis, Christopher Paul. Elijah of Buxton.
Eleven-year-old Elijah Freeman, the first
free-born child in Buxton, Canada--a haven
for slaves fleeing the American South in
1859--uses his wits and skills to try to bring
to justice the lying preacher who has stolen
money that was to be used to buy a family's
freedom.
Bauer, Marion Dane. On My Honor.
When his best friend drowns while they are
both swimming in a treacherous river that
they had promised never to go near, Joel is
devastated and terrified at having to tell
both sets of parents the terrible
consequences of their disobedience.
Dahl, Roald. Danny, the Champion of the
World.
This is the exciting and tender story of a
motherless boy and his father and their
great adventure together.
Bloor, Edward. Tangerine.
Twelve-year-old Paul, who lives in the
shadow of his football hero brother Erik,
fights for the right to play soccer despite his
near blindness and slowly begins to
remember the incident that damaged his
eyesight.
DiCamillo, Kate. The Tale of Despereaux:
being the story of a mouse, a princess,
some soup, and a spool of thread.
This is a story about the adventures of
Despereaux Tilling, a small mouse of
unusual talents, the princess that he loves,
the servant girl who longs to be a princess,
and a devious rat determined to bring them
all to ruin.
Clements, Andrew. A Week in the Woods.
Mark’s survival skills and his ability to relate
to a teacher who seems out to get him are
tested during the fifth grade’s annual
camping trip in the woods.
D’Lacey, Chris. The Fire Within.
College student David Rain rents a room in
an unusual boardinghouse full of clay
dragons, not realizing that they, along with
some lively squirrels, will help jumpstart his
writing career.
Books for the Fifth
Funke, Cornelia Caroline. Dragon Rider.
After learning that humans are headed
toward his hidden home, Firedrake, a silver
dragon, is joined by a brownie and an
orphan boy in a quest to find the legendary
valley known as the Rim of Heaven,
encountering friendly and unfriendly
creatures along the way, and struggling to
evade the relentless pursuit of an old
enemy.
Gantos, Jack. Joey Pigza Loses Control.
Joey, who is still taking medication to keep
him from getting too wired, goes to spend
the summer with the hard-drinking father he
has never known and tries to help the
baseball team he coaches win the
championship.
Grader
Hunter, Erin. Warriors: Into the Wild.
Rusty, a bored house kitten, is apprenticed
by the ThunderClan and must struggle to fit
in when the group of feral cats is threatened
by the enemy ShadowClan. (Warriors
series.)
Ibbotson, Eva. The Secret of Platform 13.
Odge Gribble, a young hag, accompanies
an old wizard, a gentle fey, and a giant ogre
on their mission through a magical tunnel
from their Island to London to rescue their
King and Queen’s son who had been stolen
as an infant.
Gardiner, John. Stone Fox.
Willie hopes to pay the back taxes on his
grandfather’s farm with the winnings from a
dog sled race he enters.
Jonell, Lynne. Emmy and the Incredible
Shrinking Rat.
When Emmy discovers that she and her
formerly loving parents are being drugged
by their evil nanny with rodent potions that
can change people in frightening ways, she
and some new friends must try everything
possible to return things to normal.
George, Jean. My Side of the Mountain.
A young boy relates his adventures during
the year he spends living alone in the
Catskill Mountains including his struggle for
survival, his dependence on nature, his
animal friends, and his ultimate realization
that he needs human companionship.
Konigsburg, E. L. From the Mixed-Up Files
of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.
Claudia Kincaid is an eleven-year-old who
decides to run away from home with her
little brother and moves into the
Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York
City.
Giff, Patricia Reilly. Lily’s Crossing.
During a summer spent at Rockaway Beach
in 1944, Lily’s friendship with a young
Hungarian refugee causes her to see the
war and her own world differently.
Lewis, C. S. The Lion, the Witch, and the
Wardrobe.
In the series, The Chronicles of Narnia, all
the tales deal with the struggle between
good and evil. Peter, Susan, Edmund, and
Lucy go through the back of a wardrobe and
meet the lion, Aslan. They join up with Aslan
and fight at his side to the bitter end.
(Chronicles of Narnia series.)
Hahn, Mary Downing. Deep and Dark and
Dangerous: A Ghost Story.
When thirteen-year-old Ali spends the
summer with her aunt and cousin at the
family's vacation home, she stumbles upon
a secret that her mother and aunt have
been hiding for over thirty years.
Little, Jean. From Anna.
When the family moves from Germany to
Canada in the 1930s, a nine-year-old girl
discovers the reason for her awkwardness
and apparent inability to do anything right.
Books for the Fifth
Grader
Lord, Cynthia. Rules.
Frustrated at life with an autistic brother,
twelve-year-old Catherine longs for a
normal existence but her world is further
complicated by a friendship with a young
paraplegic.
O’Dell, Scott. Island of the Blue Dolphins.
Records the courage and self-reliance of an
Indian girl who lived alone for eighteen
years on an isolated island off the California
coast when her tribe emigrated and she was
left behind.
Lowry, Lois. Number the Stars.
In 1943, during the German occupation of
Denmark, ten-year-old Annemarie learns
how to be brave and courageous when she
helps shelter her Jewish friend from the
Nazis.
Paolini, Christopher. Eragon.
In Alagalesia, a fifteen-year-old boy of
unknown lineage called Eragon finds a
mysterious stone that weaves his life into an
intricate tapestry of destiny, magic, and
power, peopled with dragons, elves, and
monsters.
Lupica, Mike. Heat.
Pitching prodigy Michael Arroyo is on the
run from social services after being banned
from playing Little League baseball because
rival coaches doubt he is only twelve years
old and he has no parents to offer them
proof.
McAllister, Margaret. Urchin of the Riding
Stars.
A group of animals, led by an orphaned
squirrel, learns about friendship and loyalty
when they band together to defend their
island kingdom against evil forces.
(Mistmantle Chronicles Series)
Paterson, Katherine. Bridge to Terabithia.
The life of a ten-year-old boy in rural
Virginia expands when he becomes friends
with a newcomer who meets an untimely
death trying to reach their secret hideaway,
Terabithia, during a storm.
Peck, Richard. A Year Down Yonder.
During the recession of 1937, fifteen-yearold Mary Alice is sent to live with her feisty,
larger-than-life grandmother in rural Illinois
and comes to a better understanding of this
fearsome woman.
Nimmo, Jenny. Midnight for Charlie
Bone.
Charlie Bone's life with his widowed mother
and two grandmothers undergoes a
dramatic change when he discovers that he
can hear people in photographs talking.
(Charlie Bone Series)
Ryan, Pam Munoz. Esperanza Rising.
Esperanza and her mother are forced to
leave their life of wealth and privilege in
Mexico to go work in the labor camps of
Southern California, where they must adapt
to the harsh circumstances facing Mexican
farm workers on the eve of the Great
Depression.
O’Brien, Robert C. Mrs. Frisby and the
Rats of NIMH.
With nowhere else to turn, a field mouse
asks the clever escaped lab rats living
under the rosebush to help save her son,
who lies in the path of the farmer’s tractor,
too ill to be moved.
Sachar, Louis. Holes.
As further evidence of his family's bad
fortune which they attribute to a curse on a
distant relative, Stanley Yelnats is sent to a
hellish correctional camp in the Texas
desert where he finds his first real friend, a
treasure, and a new sense of himself.
Books for the Fifth
Grader
Smith, Jeff. Bone 1: Out from Boneville.
Fone Bone, Phoney Bone, and Smiley Bone
are run out of their home, Boneville, and
become separated in the wilds, but better
fortune begins when the three cousins
reunite at a farmstead in a deep forested
valley, where Fone meets a young girl
named Thorn. Graphic Novel. (Bone series.)
VanDraanen, Wendelin. Sammy Keyes
and the Sisters of Mercy.
Sammy continues to make life with her
grandmother interesting as she tries to
discover who is stealing from St. Mary’s
church, befriends a homeless girl, and plays
in a softball tournament against a bitter rival.
(Sammy Keyes series)
Smith, Robert Kimmel. Chocolate Fever.
From eating too much chocolate, Henry
breaks out in brown
bumps that help him foil some hijackers and
teach him a valuable lesson about selfindulgence.
Wright, Betty R. The Dollhouse Murders.
A dollhouse filled with a ghostly light in the
middle of the night and dolls that have
moved from where she last left them, lead
Amy and her sister to unravel the mystery
surrounding grisly murders that took place
years ago.
Smith, Roland. Peak.
A fourteen-year-old boy attempts to be the
youngest person to reach the top of Mount
Everest.
Spinelli, Jerry. Maniac Magee.
After his parents die, Jeffrey Lionel Magee's
life becomes legendary, as he accomplishes
athletic and other feats which awe his
contemporaries.
Spinelli, Jerry. Wringer.
As Palmer comes of age, he must either
accept the violence of being a wringer at his
town's annual Pigeon Day or find the
courage to oppose it.
Stewart, David. You Wouldn’t Want to be
an Egyptian Mummy!: Disgusting
Things You’d Rather Not Know.
This is a light-hearted approach to the
process of mummification in ancient Egypt.
(non-fiction)
Stewart, Trenton Lee. The Mysterious
Benedict Society.
After passing a series of mind-bending
tests, four children are selected for a secret
mission that requires them to go undercover
at the Learning Institute for the Very
Enlightened, where the only rule is that
there are no rules. (Series)
Books for the Sixth
Anderson, Laurie Halse. Chains.
After being sold to a cruel couple in New
York City, a slave named Isabel spies for
the rebels during the Revolutionary War.
Balliett, Blue. Chasing Vermeer.
When seemingly unrelated and strange
events start happening and a precious
Vermeer painting disappears, eleven-year
olds Petra and Calder combine their talents
to solve an international art scandal.
Barry, Dave. Peter and the
Starcatchers.
Peter, an orphan boy, and his friend Molly
fight off thieves and pirates in order to keep
the secret safe away from the diabolical
Black Stache and his evil associate Mister
Grin.
Birdsall, Jeanne.The Penderwicks:
A Summer Tale of Four Sisters,
Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy.
While vacationing with their widowed father
in the Berkshire Mountains, four lovable
sisters, ages four through twelve, share
adventures with a local boy, much to the
dismay of his snobbish mother.
Bridges, Ruby. Through My Eyes.
Ruby Bridges recounts the story of her
involvement, as a six-year-old, in the
integration of her school in New Orleans
in 1960.
Choldenko, Gennifer. Al Capone Does My
Shirts.
A twelve-year-old boy named Moose moves
to Alcatraz Island in 1935 when guards’
families were housed there, and has to
contend with his extraordinary new
environment in addition to life with his
autistic sister.
Colfer, Eoin. Artemis Fowl.
When a twelve-year-old evil genius tries to
restore his fortune by capturing a fairy and
demanding a ransom in gold, the
fairies fight back with magic, technology,
and a particularly nasty troll.
Grader
Collins, Suzanne. Gregor the Overlander.
When eleven-year-old Gregor and his twoyear-old sister are pulled into a strange
underground world,
they trigger an epic battle involving humans,
bats, rats, cockroaches, and spiders while
on a quest
foretold by ancient prophecy.
Cooper, Susan. The Grey King.
Will Stanton, visiting in Wales, is swept into
a desperate quest to find the golden harp
and to awaken the ancient Sleepers to help
stop the Dark from rising.
Creech, Sharon. Walk Two Moons.
After her mother leaves home suddenly,
thirteen-year old Sal and her grandparents
take a car trip
retracing her mother’s route. Along the way,
Sal recounts the story of her friend Phoebe,
whose mother also left.
Curtis, Christipher Paul. Bud, Not Buddy.
By Curtis, Christopher Paul.
Ten-year-old Bud, a motherless boy living in
Flint, Michigan, during the Great
Depression, escapes a bad foster home and
sets out in search of the man he believes to
be his father—the renowned
bandleader, H.E.Calloway of Grand Rapids.
Dahl, Roald. Boy : tales of childhood.
Presents humorous anecdotes from the
author’s childhood, including his summer
vacations in Norway and life at an English
boarding school.
DuPrau, Jeanne. The City of Ember.
In the city of Ember, twelve-year-old Lina
trades jobs on Assignment Day to be a
Messenger to new places in her decaying
but beloved city, perhaps even to glimpse
Unknown Regions.
Funke, Cornelia. Inkheart.
Twelve-year-old Meggie learns that her
father Mo, a bookbinder, can “read” fictional
Books for the Sixth
characters to life when an evil ruler named
Capricorn, freed from
the novel “Inkheart” years earlier, tries to
force Mo to release an immortal monster
from the story.
Gaiman, Neil. The Graveyard Book.
The orphan Bod, short for Nobody, is taken
in by some inhabitants of a cemetary as a
child of eighteen months and raised lovingly
and carefully
to the age of eighteen years by the
community of ghosts and otherworldly
creatures.
Giff, Patricia Reilly. Pictures of Hollis
Woods.
A troublesome twelve-year-old orphan,
staying with an elderly artist who needs her,
remembers the only other time she was
happy in a foster home, with a family that
truly seemed to care about her.
Haddix, Margaret Peterson. Among the
Hidden.
In a future where the Population Police
enforce the law limiting a family to only two
children, Luke has lived all his twelve years
in isolation and fear on his family’s farm,
until another “third” convinces him that the
government is wrong.
Hiaasen, Carl. Hoot.
Roy, who is new to his small Florida
community, becomes involved in another
boy’s attempt to save a
colony of burrowing owls from a proposed
construction site.
Jacques, Brian. Redwall.
When the peaceful life of ancient Redwall
Abbey is shattered by the arrival of the evil
rat Cluny and his
villainous hordes, Matthias, a young mouse,
determines to find the legendary sword of
Martin the Warrior which,
he is convinced, will help Redwall’s
inhabitants destroy the enemy.
Grader
Kadohata, Cynthia. Kira-Kira.
Chronicles the close friendship between two
Japanese-American sisters growing up in
rural Georgia during the late 1950s and
early 1960s, and the despair when one
sister becomes terminally ill.
Korman, Gordon. Swindle.
After unscrupulous collector S. Wendell
Palamino cons him out of a valuable
baseball card, sixth-grader Griffin
Bing puts together a band of misfits to break
into Palomino's heavily guarded store and
steal the card back, planning
to use the money to finance his father's
failing invention, the Smart Pick fruit picker.
Law, Ingrid. Savvy.
Recounts the adventures of Mibs
Beaumont, whose 13th has revealed her
“savvy”, a magical power unique to each
member of her family--just as her father is
injured in a terrible accident
Martin, Ann M. A Dog’s Life : the
Autobiography of a Stray.
Squirrel, a stray puppy, tells her life story,
from her nurturing mother and brother to
making her own way in
the world, facing busy highways, changing
seasons, and humans both gentle and
brutal.
McCaughrean, Geraldine. Greek Gods and
Goddesses.
A collection of fifteen retellings of Greek
myths.
Montgomery, Sy. Kakopo Rescue: Saving
the World’s Strangest Parrot.
Provides an introduction to the kakapo, a
flightless bird found on Codfish Island off
the coast of New Zealand, and looks at how
the country's National Kakapo Recovery
Team is working to save the kakapos,
whose population numbers less than one
hundred.
Books for the Sixth
Grader
Park, Linda Sue. A Single Shard.
Tree-ear, a thirteen-year-old orphan in
medieval Korea, lives under a bridge near a
potters’ village, and longs to
learn how to throw the delicate celadon
ceramics himself.
Ryan, Pam Munoz. Becoming Naomi
Leon.
When Naomi’s absent mother resurfaces to
claim her, Naomi runs away to Mexico with
her great-grandmother and younger brother
in search of her father.
Paterson, Katherine. The Same Stuff as
Stars.
When Angel’s self-absorbed mother leaves
her and her younger brother with their poor
great-grandmother, the
eleven-year-old girl worries not only about
her mother and brother, her imprisoned
father, the frail old woman,
but also about a mysterious man who
begins sharing with her the wonder of the
stars.
Scieszka, Jon. Knucklehead.
Presents a memoir of what it was like to
grow up in the 1950s and other almost true
stories by American children's author Jon
Scieszka.
Paulsen, Gary. Hatchet.
After a plane crash, thirteen-year-old Brian
spends fifty four days in the wilderness,
learning to survive with only
the aid of a hatchet given him by his mot
her, and learning also to survive his parents’
divorce.
Rex, Adam. The True Meaning of
Smekday.
Twelve-year-old Gratuity "Tip" Tucci is left
to fend for herself after Earth is
colonized by aliens and her mother is
abducted, and must try to stop
another alien invasion with only the help of
a cat named Pig and an alien named J. Lo.
Riordon, Rick. The Red Pyramid.
Brilliant Egyptologist Dr. Julius Kane
accidentally unleashes the Egyptian god
Set, who banishes the doctor to oblivion
and forces his two children to embark on a
dangerous journey, bringing them closer to
the truth about their family and its links to a
secret order that has existed since the time
of the pharaohs.
Spinelli, Jerry. Milkweed : a novel.
A street child, known to himself only as
Stopthief, finds community when he is taken
in by a band of orphans in Warsaw ghetto
which helps him weather the horrors of the
Nazi regime.
Spinelli, Jerry. Stargirl.
Stargirl, a teen who animates quiet Mica
High with her colorful personality, suddenly
finds herself shunned for her refusal to
conform.
Stead, Rebecca. When You Reach Me.
As her mother prepares to be a contestant
on the 1980s television game show, "The
$20,000 Pyramid," a twelveyear-old New York City girl tries to make
sense of a series of mysterious notes
received from an anonymous source that
seems to defy the laws of time and space.
Taylor, Mildred D. The Gold Cadillac.
Two black girls living in the North are proud
of their family’s beautiful new Cadillac until
they take it on a visit to the South and
encounter racial prejudice for the first time.
Tolan, Stephanie S. Surviving the
Applewhites.
Jake, a budding juvenile delinquent, is sent
for Home schooling to the arty and eccentric
Applewhite family’s Creative Academy,
where he discovers talents and interests he
never knew he had.
Books for the Sixth
Vanderpool, Clare. Moon Over Manifest.
Twelve-year-old Abilene Tucker is the
daughter of a drifter who, in the summer of
1936, sends her to stay with an old friend in
Manifest, Kansas, where he grew up, and
where she hopes to find out some things
about his past.
Watkins, Yoko Kawashima. So Far from
the Bamboo Grove.
A fictionalized autobiography in which
eleven-year-old Yoko escapes from Korea
to Japan with her mother and sister at the
end of World War II.
Winters, Kay. Voices of Ancient Egypt.
Individual craftsmen, artists, and laborers
describe the work that they do in Egypt
during the time of the Old Kingdom, and the
historical note places them in context.
Wood, Maryrose. The Mysterious
Howling.
Fifteen-year-old Miss Penelope Lumley, a
recent graduate of the Swanburne
Academy for Poor Bright Females, is hired
as governess to three young children who
have been raised by wolves and must
teach them to behave in a civilized manner
quickly in preparation for a Christmas ball.
Yolen, Jane. Dragon’s Boy.
Young Arthur meets a dragon and comes
to accept him as a friend and mentor.
3791390
Grader
Series:
Mythlopedia
Buckley, Michael. The Sisters Grimm.
Delaney, Joseph. The Last Apprentice.
Flanagan, John. The Ranger’s Apprentice.
Hunter, Erin. Warriors.
Riordan, Percy. Percy Jackson.
Stewart, Paul. The Edge Chronicles.
Springer, Nancy. Enola Holmes Mysteries.