RECOMMENDED SUMMER READING

Pre K Entering Kindergarten

Adding With Ants (Animal Math) - Tracey Steffora ©2014 It's time for some math "ant-ics"! Illustrated with cut-out photos on striking, colorful backgrounds to retain reluctant mathematician's interest, this book looks at adding with ants! Age Range: 4 - 6 Years Grade Level: Preschool - 1 Ava’s Poppy - Marcus Pfister ©2012 Ava is delighted when she discovers a red poppy in the field of her house. She sits with the flower in the sunny days of summer and shields it in the rain until one day the petals start to drop and the beautiful flower fades. But when spring comes again, Ava is surprised anew. Age Range: 3 - 8 Years Grade Level: Preschool - 3 Blue Chicken – Deborah Freedman ©2011 In this deceptively simple picture book, author-illustrator Deborah Freedman has created an irresistible character that springs to life and wreaks havoc in a farmyard with a pot of blue paint. Age Range: 3 - 5 Years Grade Level: Preschool - Kindergarten Can You Count 10 Toes? - Lezlie Evans ©1999 Counting book you can learn to count in ten different languages: Spanish, French, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Tagalog, Russian, Hindi, Hebrew, and even Zulu! Age Range: 5 - 8 Years Grade Level: Kindergarten - 3 Centipede's 100 Shoes - Tony Ross ©2004 But when are one hundred shoes too many shoes? And what do you do with too many shoes? Why, you give them away! Find out who gets them in this delightfully silly story about a centipede with sore feet. Age Range: 4 - 7 Years Grade Level: Preschool - 1 The Cow Loves Cookies Rhyming - Karma Wilson ©2010 While all the other animals on the farm enjoy eating their regular food, the cow chooses to eat the one thing that she loves best. Age Range: 3 - 7 Years Grade Level: Preschool - 1 Dogku - Andrew Clements ©2007 Wandering through the neighborhood in the early-morning hours, a stray pooch follows his nose to a back-porch door. After a bath and some table scraps from Mom, the dog meets three lovable kids. Age Range: 4 - 8 Years Grade Level: Kindergarten - 3 Duck and Goose at the Beach - Tad Hills ©2014 Beloved Duck and Goose star in yet another adventure that cements their friendship. Goose is cautious and less adventuresome than Duck. "Let's go away," says Duck. "Sounds like a fine way to twist your ankle," replies Goose. Yet because they are friends, they both hike to the beach. Age Range: 3 – 7 Years Grade Level: Preschool – 2 The Duckling Gets a Cookie - Mo Willems ©2012 The Pigeon is back (hooray!) and this time the drama centers on an adorable little duckling who gets a cookie just by asking--politely. Just by asking?! Politely reminds the duckling, but the Pigeon is already off on a hilarious rant about all the things he asks for--many of which readers of the earlier Pigeon books will remember--ending with the all-too- familiar refrain, “It’s not fair.” Age Range: 2 – 6 Years Grade Level: Preschool - Kindergarten The Gift Box – Rohan Henry ©2012 One day Ollie’s mother tells him that he is “a beautiful gift.” Delighted with this new “identity,” Ollie invites his friend Benjamin to guess what it is. When poor Benjamin cannot guess, despite many hints, Ollie refuses to play with him. Age Range: 2 – 6 Grade Level: Preschool - Kindergarten Glasswings a Butterflys Story - Elisa Kelven ©2013 Claire, a glasswing butterfly whose transparent reflect her lush home, finds herself lost in the city after being separated from her family. She doesn’t know how they will ever see her, but she finds new city friends, a pigeon, an ant, and a ladybug, who search for the flowers Claire needs to live. Age Range: 3 - 5 Years Grade Level: Kindergarten - 1 Jesus A to Z – Michael O’Neill McGrath ©2007 This colorful and inviting children's ABC book combines delightful illustrations with alliterative and whimsical (yet appropriate) Scripture story allusions. Age Range: 3 - 7 Years Grade Level: Kindergarten – 2

2 March 15, 2015 Little White Rabbit - Kevin Henkes ©2011 As he hops along a little rabbit wonders what it would be like to be green as grass, tall as fir trees, hard as rocks, and flutter like butterflies. Age Range: 4 - 7 Years Grade Level: Preschool – Kindergarten Out of the Ballpark - Alex Rodriguez © 2012 features the familiar story of a young boy who achieves his ballpark dreams through hard work and determination. His team is in the playoffs, but he is having a terrible game. The Caribes win, nonetheless, and they're on their way to the championship. Alex, however, wants to improve, and practices constantly with a friend (even going so far as to get up at 5:00 a.m. to practice before school). Age Range: 4 – 8 Years Grade Level: Preschool - Kindergarten Quiet Bunny Many Colors - Lisa McCue ©2010 Quiet Bunny loves the beautiful colors of springtime in the forest so much, he wants to change his fur’s colors. Age Range: 3 - 5 Years Grade Level: Preschool - Kindergarten Sam and Dave Dig a Hole - Mac Barnett © 2014 Sam and Dave, who are either identical twin boys or friends who look astonishingly alike and share a sartorial sensibility, set out to dig a hole in the hopes of finding "something spectacular." With shovels in hand, the boys (with an eager terrier looking on) begin to tunnel into the soil, but they just can't seem to find anything of interest. What works spectacularly is the clever play between words and pictures. Age Range: 4 – 8 Years Grade Level: Preschool – 3 Swirl by Swirl: Spirals in Nature - Joyce Sidman ©2011 What makes the tiny snail shell so beautiful? Why does that shape occur in nature over and over again—in rushing rivers, in a flower bud, even inside your ear? Age Range: 4 – 8 Years Grade Level: Kindergarten - 3 This Is Not My Hat - Jon Klassen © 2012 A little fish thinks he can get away with stealing a hat. Caldecott Medal Book Age Range: 4 - 8 Years Grade Level: Preschool - 3

3 March 15, 2015 Kindergarten Entering First Grade

All the World – Liz Garton Scanlon illus. by Marla Frazee ©2009 Frazee's small vignettes and sweeping double-page spreads invite readers to share a joyful day with a diverse, multigenerational community. Caldecott Honor Book Age Range: 3 - 7 Years Grade Level: Kindergarten - 1 Blackout - John Rocco ©2011 One hot summer night in the city, all the power goes out. The TV shuts off and a boy wails, "Mommm!" His sister can no longer use the phone, Mom can't work on her computer, and Dad can't finish cooking dinner. What's a family to do? Caldecott Honor Book Age Range: 5 – 8 Years Grade Level: Kindergarten - 2 Have You Filled a Bucket Today – C:arol McCloud ©2006 Through sweet, simple prose and vivid illustrations, this book encourages positive behavior as children see how very easy and rewarding it is to express kindness, appreciation, and on a daily basis. Age Range: 5 – Up Years Grade Level: 1 – Up Ivy and Bean – Annie Barrows ©2007 The moment they saw each other, Bean and Ivy knew they wouldn't be friends. But when Bean plays a joke on her sister, Nancy, and has to hide quick Ivy comes to the rescue, proving that sometimes the best of friends are people never meant to like each other. Age Range: 6 – 10 Years Grade Level: 1 – 4 Larry Gets Lost in Philadelphia – John Skewes ©2013 In Larry the adorable pooch's latest adventure, he goes on vacation with Pete and the family to Philadelphia, home of the Liberty Bell and other great American historical landmarks. Age Range: 5 – 7 Years Grade Level: Kindergarten - 2 Let’s Go for a Drive - Mo Willems ©2012 Elephant Gerald and Piggie want to go for a drive, but as Gerald thinks of one thing after another that they will have to take along, they come to realize that they lack the most important thing of all. Theodore Seuss Geisel Honor Book Age Range: 4 - 8 Years Grade Level: Kindergarten – 2 Library Book for Bear – Bonny Becker ©2014 Curmudgeonly Bear succumbs to Mouse’s entreaties and discovers the joy of books in a hilarious story that fans will covet for their own library. Age Range: 4 – 7 Years Grade Level: Kindergarten - 2 Library Mouse - Daniel Kirk ©2010 One night in the library, Sam meets fellow mouse Sarah. Sam learns that Sarah is quite the explorer. She loves to scurry to the tops of shelves and explore the darkest corners of the building. Sam never climbs far up—he’s too afraid! He prefers to research subjects— such as exploration—and write about them. Age Range: 6 – 9 Grade Level: 1 - 4 Lots of Ladybugs! : Counting by Fives - Michael Dahl ©2005 Teaches young children to count to fifty by fives using the spots on the ladybug. Age Range: 4 - 8 Years Grade Level: 1 – 2 Monster Musical Chairs - Stuart J. Murphy ©2000 In this book about subtraction, written in couplets with a beat as definite as that of the rock band supplying the music, six smiling monsters are engaged in an animated game of musical chairs. The action begins when the little creatures forcefully throw chairs across the room, telling everybody to "duck." The game proceeds with chairs and monsters being eliminated one by one. Age Range: 5 – 8 Grade Level: 1 - 2 Mortimer’s First Garden - Karma Wilson ©2009 Little Mortimer Mouse, longing to see something green at winter's end, follows the lead of the big people and plants, waters, and weeds his last sunflower seed until; finally, with God's help and a lot of patience, he harvests his crop. Age Range: 5 - 8 Years Grade Level: 1 - 2 My Friend Rabbit - Eric Rohmann ©2002 When Mouse lets his best friend, Rabbit, play with his brand- new airplane, trouble isn't far behind. Of course, Rabbit has a solution -- but when Rabbit sets out to solve a , even bigger problems follow. Caldecott Medal Book Age Range: 5 - 8 Years Grade Level: 1 - 2 Nothing but Trouble: The Story of Althea Gibson - Sue Stauffacher ©2011 Althea is nothing but trouble! Everyone agrees: her mama, her daddy, her teacher, even the policeman. But when Buddy Walker, the play leader on Althea's street in Harlem, watches her play paddle tennis, he sees something more: pure possibility. Buddy buys Althea her very own stringed tennis racket, and before

4 March 15, 2015 long, she's on her way to becoming a great athlete—and to proving that she's more than just trouble. Age Range: 5 - 7 Years Grade Level: 2 - 4 Oops! - Alan Katz ©2008 Puns and parodies are part of the raucous wordplay in these nonsense rhymes, with sly, black-and-white drawings by New Yorker cartoonist Koren extending the fun. In “The Rear Wiper,” Dad talks about getting a new wiper for the back window of the car, but the kid gets a different picture from his father’s words. With gross puns about gas, “Macbath” (“To pee or not to pee”), and “’snot where you start,” the look and sound of words are lots of fun (“Why doesn’t cough / rhyme with rough . . . ridiculous stough”). Age Range: 7 - 10 Years Grade Level: 1 - 4 Puppy is Lost – Harriet Ziefert ©2011 Max's dog, Puppy, is lost! She was here, and now she's gone. Where can Puppy be? Max can't sleep! Max can't eat! He calls for her, plasters posters all over town, and searches everywhere for his beloved pet. It's not until both Max and Puppy have the same idea that they finally find each other. Age Range: 4 - 8 Years Grade Level: 1 - 3 A Sick Day for Amos McGee – Philip C. Stead ©2010 Every day he spends a little bit of time with each of his friends at the zoo, running races with the tortoise, keeping the shy penguin company, and even reading bedtime stories to the owl. But when Amos is too sick to make it to the zoo, his animal friends decide it’s time they returned the favor. Caldecott Medal Book Age Range: 5 – 6 Years Grade Level: 1 - 2 Something to Tell the Grand Cows – Eileen Spinelli ©2004 What kind of exciting stories could Emmadine the cow tell her grandcows? About the time she swatted seventeen horseflies? Right. Or the time she chased a crow from the corn? Whoop-dee-doo. So when Emmadine learned that Admiral Richard E. Byrd was looking for a few good cows to take to the South Pole, she volunteered--boldly going where no cow had gone before. Loosely based on a historical event, Eileen Spinellis humorous tale of Emmadines adventures will delight young readers, while Bill Slavins bold acrylic illustrations bring this unique and heroic cow to life. Age Range: 6 – 9 Years Grade Level: 1 - 4 The Song of Francis – Tomie DePaola ©2009 Francis, the Little Poor One, is so filled with the love of God that he bursts into song, and he is joined by birds of every color. Age Range: 5 - 7 Years Grade Level: Kindergarten - 1 Straga Nona Does It Again – Tomie DePaola ©2013 Angelina is so beautiful that all the young men in the village are chasing her, but the one she has eyes for doesn’t know she exists. At his wits’ end, her father sends her to his dear cousin—Strega Nona. Age Range: 5 - 8 Years Grade Level: 1 - 3 Take me out to the Yakyu - Aaron Meshon ©2013 You may know that baseball is the Great American Pastime, but did you know that it is also a beloved sport in Japan? Come along with one little boy and his grandfathers, one in America and one in Japan, as he learns about baseball and its rich, varying cultural traditions. Age Range: 5 - 8 Years Grade Level: 1 - 3 365 Penguins - Jean-Luc Fromental ©2006 On New Year's Day, a family receives an anonymous package containing a penguin. The young narrator chases the bird around the house as it runs amok and knocks over lamps and furniture. His sister, Amy, finds a note, I'm number 1. Feed me when I'm hungry. Just as the message implies, there are more to come; by the end of the year, 365 in all. Age Range: 4 – 8 Years Grade Level: 1 - 4 We All Need Forgiveness – Mercer Mayer ©2014 Little Critter is glad he has such nice friends who forgive him when he makes mistakes. But when one of his friends accidentally does something that affects him, Little Critter gets upset and stays angry at his friend for a while. But Little Critter’s pals teach him that saying “it’s okay” helps the person who acted up—and it helps him feel better much sooner. Age Range: 5 – 7 Years Grade Level: Kindergarten - 3 What Do You Do with a Tail Like This? - Robin Page and Steve Jenkins ©2003 Children will learn that lizards can completely break off their tail as a defense and that it will grow back. And, they'll find out that crickets' ears are on their knees. Age Range: 5 - 8 Years Grade Level: 1 – 3

5 March 15, 2015 First Grade Entering Second Grade

Alligator and Crocodile – Gail Gibbons ©2010 Humans have always been frightened of and intrigued by alligators and crocodiles. With her acclaimed style combining accessible text and detailed pictures, Gail Gibbons shares fascinating facts about these magnificent cold-blooded reptiles: how they live, how they hunt, and the differences between them. Age Range: 6 – 10 Years Grade Level: 3 – 5 Annie and Snowball and the Teacup Club - Cynthia Rylant ©2009 Annie loves her cousin Henry and his dog Mudge, but she also loves dainty things like teacups--and with a dog the size of Mudge, there's nothing dainty in Henry's room. Annie wishes she knew someone who loved teacups as much as she does. Annie needs some teacup friends. Age Range: 5 – 7 Years Grade Level: 1 - 2 Born in the Wild: Baby Mammals and Their Parents – Lita Judge ©2014 What do grizzly bear cubs eat? Where do baby raccoons sleep? And how does a baby otter learn to swim? Every baby mammal, from a tiny harvest mouse "pinky" to a fierce lion cub, needs food, shelter, love, and a family. Age Range: 5 – 8 Years Grade Level: 1 - 3 Boy, Were We Wrong about Dinosaurs - Kathleen V. Kudlinski ©2005 The ancient Chinese thought they were magical dragons. Some old-time scientists thought that because they were so big, all they could do was float in water. Boy, were they wrong! CCS Age Range: 6 - 8 Years Grade Level: 1 - 3 Buy My Hats - Dave Horowitz ©2010 Frank and Carl have plenty of hats to sell, and their booth is open for business…but no one is buying! Story can be used for a math lesson. Age range: 5 - 8 Years Grade Level: 1 - 3 Dodsworth in New York - Tim Egan ©2009 Dodsworth wanted adventure. He wanted to see the world. He especially wanted to visit New York City. What he didn’t want was to be joined by a duck. A crazy duck. A duck that misbehaves. Age Range: 6 - 9 Years Grade Level: 1 - 4 God Found Us You – Lisa Tawn Bergren ©2009 When Little Fox asks his mother to tell his favorite story, Mama Fox recounts the day he arrived in her life, from God to her arms. Age Range: 6 - 8 Years Grade Level: 1 - 3 Have I Got a Book for You – Melanie Watt ©2013 Scaredy Squirrel presents a character you just can't say "no" to: salesman Mr. Al Foxword. Al can sell anything. You can't help but be impressed by his lineup of satisfied customers: he's sold an icebox to a penguin, an umbrella to a fish and a dirt vacuum to a mole. Al knows you're looking for a great book, and this is your lucky day. Age Range: 6 – 9 Years Grade Level: 2 - 4 Noah Webster and His Words – Jeri Chase Ferris ©2012 A portrait of the man who wrote the first U.S. dictionary traces his youth as a bookish Connecticut farm boy and his twenty-year effort to write the all- American dictionary that was published in 1828 when he was seventy years old. Biography Age Range: 5 - 8 Years Grade Level: 1 - 2 The Little Red Pen - Jannett Stevens ©2011 When a little red pen accidentally falls into the waste basket while trying to correct papers all by herself, the other classroom supplies must cooperate to rescue her. Age Range: 6 - 9 Years Grade Level: 1 - 3 One Voice, Please – Sam McBratney ©2008 A collection of fifty-six short tales, some familiar and some new, from around the world. Age Range: 7 - 10 Years Grade Level: 2 - 5 Penny and her Marble – Kevin Henkes ©2012 Penny finds a beautiful marble on her neighbor's lawn and must decide whether or not to keep it. 2014 Geisel Honor Book Age Range: 5 – 8 Years Grade Level: Kindergarten - 3 The Sign Painter – Allen Say ©2000 An assignment to paint a large billboard in the desert changes the life of an aspiring artist. CCS Age Range: 7 - 9 Years Grade Level: 1 - 4 The Unforgettable Season: Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams and the Record-Setting Summer of1941 – Phil Bildner ©2011 At the start of the 1941 baseball season, neither Joe DiMaggio of But that all changed when Joe started a 56-game hitting streak and Ted's batting average rose to over .400. Despite numerous challenges along the way-Joe had his bat stolen by an overeager fan and Ted's batting average dipped to

6 March 15, 2015 .3995 on the last day of the season-the records set by "Joltin' Joe" and "The Splendid Splinter" have yet to be broken. Age Range: 7 – 9 Years Grade Level: 2 - 4 Things I Learned in Second Grade - Amy Schwartz ©2004 A young boy shares all of the things he learned and how he changed in second grade, what he still wonders about, and what he hopes to accomplish when he is in third grade. Age Range: 5 - 7 Years Grade Level: Kindergarten - 2 Wolves - Seymour Simon ©2009 In Wolves, award-winning science writer Seymour Simon introduces elementary-school readers to wolves through engaging descriptions and stunning full-color photographs. He teaches readers all about wolves through pictures and diagrams. This book includes a glossary and index. CCS Age Range: 4 - 8 Years Grade Level: 3 - 5 Xander's panda party – Linda Sue Park ©2013 Xander's plan to host a panda party falls through, since he is the only panda at the zoo, but when he extends the invitation to all of the bears, complications ensue. Includes author's note on the wonders of the animal kingdom and the international effort to save pandas from extinction. Age Range: 5 - 8 Years Grade Level: 1 - 3

7 March 15, 2015 Second Grade Entering Third Grade

Ah, Music! – Aliki @2005 Surveys the history and components of music, concentrating on Western musical traditions. Age Range: 5 - 8 Years Grade Level: 1 - 3 Almost Zero – Nikki Grimes ©2010 Dyamonde really wants red high-top sneakers. Too bad they're so expensive! A classmate tells her it's her mom's job to give her what she needs, but when Dyamonde tries that argument, her mom teaches her a lesson by literally only giving her what she needs. Age Range: 7 – 9 Years Grade Level: 2 – 4 The Astonishing Secret of Awesome Man - Balloons Over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy's Parade - Melissa Sweet ©2011 Everyone’s a New Yorker on Thanksgiving Day, when young and old rise early to see what giant new balloons will fill the skies for Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Who first invented these "upside-down puppets"? Meet Tony Sarg, puppeteer extraordinaire! In brilliant collage illustrations, Caldecott Honor artist Melissa Sweet tells the story of the puppeteer Tony Sarg, capturing his genius, his dedication, his zest for play, and his long-lasting gift to America—the inspired helium balloons that would become the of Macy’s Parade. Robert F. Sibert Medal and the NCTE Orbis Pictus Award Age Range: 5 - 8 Years Grade Level: 1 - 3 Ben Franklin and the Magic Squares - Frank Murphy ©2009 A funny, entertaining introduction to Ben Franklin and his many inventions, including the story of how he created the "magic square." A magic square is a box of nine numbers arranged so that any line of three numbers adds up to the same number, including on the diagonal! Age Range: 7 - 10 Years Grade Level: 1 - 4 The Case of the Lost Boy – Dori Hillestad Butler ©2010 "My name is King. I am a dog. I am also a detective." King has a very big mystery to solve. His family is missing, and he's been put in the P-O-U- N-D. Why doesn't his beloved human (Kayla) come to get him? When King is adopted by Connor and his mom, things get more confusing. The new family calls him Buddy! Dear Primo a Letter to My Cousin – Duncan Tonatiuh ©2010 Two cousins, one in Mexico and one in New York City, write to each other and learn that even though their daily lives differ, at heart the boys are very similar. Age Range: 5 - 8 Years Grade Level: 1 - 3 From Seed to Plant – Gail Gibbons ©1993 Explores the intricate relationship between seeds and the plants which they produce. CCS Age Range: 5 - 8 Years Grade Level: 1 - 3 How I Learned Geography - Uri Shulevitz ©2008 Recounting memories of his family's flight from the Warsaw Blitz and his years as a refugee during World War II, Shulevitz employs watercolor and ink to depict a boy liberated from his dreary existence. Caldecott Honor Book Age Range: 5 - 8 Years Grade Level: 1 – 3 The Iridescence of Birds: A Book About Henri Matisse - Patricia MacLachlan ©2014 If you were a boy named Henri Matisse who lived in a dreary town in northern France, what would your life be like? Would it be full of color and art? Full of lines and dancing figures? Age Range: 5 – 8 Years Grade Level: 1 - 3 It's Probably Penny - Loreen Leedy ©2007 Lisa’s class is learning about probability. For part of her homework, she has to think of an event that will happen, one that might happen, and one that can’t happen. Who is that Boston terrier that keeps popping into Lisa’s imagination? It’s probably Penny! Age Range: 5 - 8 Years Grade Level: 1 - 3 Just Grace Goes Green - Charise Mericle ©2009 Grace can do a lot of things ... but can she save the planet? Or at the very least, can she help her best friend get her favorite stuffed animal back? Age Range: 6 - 9 Years Grade Level: 1 - 4 Junkyard Wonders – Patricia Polacco ©2010 When young Trisha finds out her class at the new school is known as “The Junkyard,” she is devastated. She moved from her old town so she wouldn’t be in a special class anymore! But then she meets her teacher, the quirky and invincible Mrs. Peterson, and her classmates, an oddly brilliant group of students each with his or her own unique talent. And it is here in

8 March 15, 2015 The Junkyard that Trisha learns the true meaning of genius, and this group of misfits are, in fact, wonders, all of them. Age Range: 6 - 9 Years Grade Level: 1 – 4 Libby of High Hopes – Elise Primavera ©2012 Ten-year-old Libby Thump loves two things: her dog Margaret and horses. She dreams about them, draws them all the time, and more than anything she wants to take lessons and learn to ride like a real horsewoman. Age Range 7 – 10 Years Grade Level: 2 - 4 Minette's Feast: The Delicious Story of Julia Child and Her Cat - Susanna Reich ©2012 While Julia is in the kitchen learning to cook up elaborate, delicious dishes; the only feast Minette is truly interested in is that of fresh mouse. Age Range: 5 - 8 Years Grade Level: 1 - 3 Music for the End of Time - Jennifer Bryant ©2005 While detained in a German prison camp, a French composer is given a rare opportunity to write music again. Age Range: 9 - 12 Years Grade Level: 3 – 7 My Senator and Me: A Dog's Eye View of Washington, D.C. – Edward Kennedy ©2010 There's an old saying: "If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog." Senator Ted Kennedy decided to do just that. His beloved Portuguese Water Dog Champion Amigo's Seventh Wave (nicknamed Splash) is one of the most famous canines on Capitol Hill. Here we follow Senator Kennedy and Splash through a busy day in D.C., from press conferences to meetings with school groups to committee discussions to a floor vote. Age Range: 5 – 8 Grade Level: 1 - 3 The 13 Clocks – James Thurber ©2008 Once upon a time, in a gloomy castle on a lonely hill, where there were thirteen clocks that wouldn’t go, there lived a cold, aggressive Duke, and his niece, the Princess Saralinda. She was warm in every wind and weather, but he was always cold. His hands were as cold as his smile, and almost as cold as his heart. CCS Age Range: 7 - 10 Years Grade Level: 2 - The Trouble with Chickens - Doreen Cronin ©2011 A hard-bitten former search-and-rescue dog helps solve a complicated missing chicken case. Age Range: 6 - 10 years Grade Level: 1 - 4 We the Children (Benjamin Pratt and the Keepers of the School) - Andrew Clements ©2011 Benjamin Pratt’s school is about to become the site of a new amusement park. It sounds like a dream come true! But lately, Ben has been wondering if he’s going to like an amusement park in the middle of his town—with all the buses and traffic and eight dollar slices of pizza. Age Range: 7 - 10 Years Grade Level: 2 - 4 Year of Billy Miller - Kevin Henkes @2013 Seven-year-old Billy Miller starts second grade with a bump on his head and a lot of worries, but by the end of the year he has developed good relationships with his teacher, his little sister, and his parents and learned many important lessons. Newbery Honor Book Age Range: 8 – 10 Years Grade Level: 2 - 4

9 March 15, 2015 Third Grade Entering Fourth Grade

Adventure According to Humphrey - Betty G. Birney ©2010 The students in Room 26 are learning about boats and building their own for a race on Potter's Pond. Humphrey the hamster loves dreaming about being a pirate and watching his friends build ships. Age Range: 8 - 11 Years Grade Level: 3 - 6 Because of Winn Dixie - Kate DiCamillo ©2009 Ten-year-old India Opal Buloni describes her first summer in the town of Naomi, Florida, and all the good things that happen to her because of her big ugly dog Winn-Dixie. Newbery Honor Book Age Range: 9 - 12 Years Grade Level: 3 - 7 Casey at the Bat: A Ballad of the Republic Sung in the Year 1888 – Ernest Lawrence Thayer ©2000 "And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout; But there is no joy in Mudville- mighty Casey has struck out." Those lines have echoed through the decades, the final stanza of a poem published pseudonymously in the June 3, 1888, issue of the San Francisco Examiner. Its author would rather have seen it forgotten. Caldecott Honor Book and CCS Age Range: 9 - 12 Years Grade Level: 3 - 7 Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave – Laban Carrick Hill, illus. by Bryan Collier ©2010 Collier’s arrestingly beautiful artistic interpretation of Hill’s poetic text reveals Dave the potter’s artistic process while also conveying the dignified triumph of his humanity in the face of oppression. Lush, earth- toned, multimedia collages are illuminated in soft, ethereal light that focuses the eye on the subject of each spread. Caldecott Honor Book Age Range: 5 – 10 Years Grade Level: 1 – 4 Dexter the Tough - Margaret Peterson Haddix @2008 It's only the first day of school for Dexter, but he's already mad at the principal, and the secretary, and the janitor, and the kids who laugh at him. When his teacher tells the class to write a story, Dexter writes about how tough he is -- and how he's already gotten into a fight. Is any of Dexter's story true? Why was the other boy crying before Dexter hit him? And why would the other boy still want to be Dexter's friend? Age Range: 8 - 10 Years Grade Level: 3 - 5 Duke – Kirby Larson ©2013 With World War II raging and his father fighting overseas in , eleven-year-old Hobie Hanson is determined to do his part to help his family and his country, even if it means giving up his beloved German shepherd, Duke. Hoping to help end the war and bring his dad home faster, Hobie decides to donate Duke to Dogs for Defense, an organization that urges Americans to "loan" their pets to the military to act as sentries, mine sniffers, and patrol dogs. Age Range: 8 - 12 Years Grade Level: 3 – 7 El Deafo – Cece Bell ©2014 Going to school and making new friends can be tough. But going to school and making new friends while wearing a bulky hearing aid strapped to your chest? That requires superpowers! In this funny, poignant graphic novel memoir, author/illustrator Cece Bell chronicles her hearing loss at a young age and her subsequent experiences with the Phonic Ear, a very powerful—and very awkward—hearing aid. Newbery Honor Book Age Range: 8 - 12 Years Grade Level: 3 – 7 Hooper Finds a Family: A Hurricane Katrina Dog's Survival Tale – Jane Paley ©2011 Here comes Hooper, one plucky, spunky dog whose warm spirit and goofy personality are irresistible. Hooper tells his own dramatic rescue tale after being left homeless in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and taking a daring trip from New Orleans to New York to meet his new family. Age Range: 8 - 12 Years Grade Level: 3 - 7 Hurricanes: Earth’s Mightiest Storms – Patricia Lauber ©2000 An introduction to the power, majesty, and destruction of hurricanes contains eyewitness accounts of the storms, scientific facts about all types of hurricanes, and full-color photographs. CCS Age Range: 9 - 12 Years Grade Level: 3 - 7 Jake Drake, Bully Buster – Andrew Clements ©2007 When Jake was three years old at Miss Lulu's Dainty Diaper Day Care Center, what did he know about bullies? Nothing! But he learned fast! Why?

10 March 15, 2015 Because Jake was kind of smart and not a tattletale, and he had no big brother to protect him. He was a perfect bully magnet. Age Range: 7 - 11 Years Grade Level: 1 - 5 Lemonade War -- Jacqueline Davies ©2009 When money disappears from fourth-grader Evan's pocket and everyone thinks that his annoying classmate Scott stole it, Evan's younger sister stages a trial involving the entire class, trying to prove what happened. (Math) Age Range: 9 - 12 Years Grade Level: 3 - 7 Locomotive – Brian Floca ©2013 Learn what it was like to travel on the transcontinental railroad in the 1860s. Sibert Honor Book, Caldecott Medal Book Age Range: 5 - 10 Years Grade Level: 1 - 4 Queen of the Falls – Chris Van Allsburg ©2011 The story of Annie Edson Taylor, who in 1901 decided to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel. Age Range: 7 – 11 Years Grade Level: 2 - 5 Revolutionary Friends: General George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette - Selene Castrovilla ©2013 The Marquis de Lafayette has just ventured to American from France to join the Patriotic Cause and meet General George Washington. Despite his resistance to this meeting, Washington is impressed with Lafayette. The young Frenchman is dedicated and determined to prove himself. Age Range: 8 – 10 Years Grade Level: 2 - 4 The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus – Jen Bryant ©2014 For shy young Peter Mark Roget, books were the best companions -- and it wasn’t long before Peter began writing his own book. But he didn’t write stories; he wrote lists. Peter took his love for words and turned it to organizing ideas and finding exactly the right word to express just what he thought. Caldecott Honor Book, Sibert Medal Winner Age Range: 8 – 11 Years Grade Level: 2 - 5 The Volcano of Fire - Geronimo Stilton ©2011 After receiving a message summoning him to a meeting, Geronimo Stilton finds himself back in the Kingdom of Fantasy, summoned by the Elves, who want him to travel to the Great Explanatorium to find an answer to the earthquakes that are threatening the Kingdom. Age Range: 7 - 11 Years Grade Level: 1 - 5 Weather – Seymour Simon ©2006 Explores the causes, changing patterns, and forecasting of weather. Age Range: 6 - 11 Years Grade Level: 1 - 5 Who Was Ben Franklin? – Dennis Brindell Fradin ©2002 Ben Franklin was the scientist who, with the help of a kite, discovered that lightning is electricity. He was also a statesman, an inventor, a printer, and an author- a man of such amazingly varied talents that some people claimed he had magical powers! Age Range: 8 - 12 Years Grade Level: 2 - 5

11 March 15, 2015 Fourth Grade Entering Fifth Grade

Back in Time with Benjamin Franklin – Dan Gutman ©2005 One minute Qwerty Stevens is researching a last-minute report on the Internet, and the next minute Benjamin Franklin is sitting on his bed! Age Range: 9 - 12 Years Grade Level: 4 – 7 Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library – Chris Grabenstein ©2014 Kyle Keeley is the class clown and a huge fan of all games—board games, word games, and particularly video games. His hero, Luigi Lemoncello, the most notorious and creative game maker in the world, just so happens to be the genius behind the construction of the new town library. Age Range: 10 - 12 Years Grade Level: 5 – 7 Extra Credit – Andrew Clements ©2011 It isn’t that Abby Carson can’t do her schoolwork. She just doesn’t like doing it. And consequently, Abby will have to repeat sixth grade—unless she meets some specific conditions, including taking on an extra credit project: find a pen pal in a distant country. But when Abby’s first letter arrives at a small school in Afghanistan, complications arise. The elders agree that any letters going back to America must be written well, but the only qualified English- speaking student is a boy. Age Range: 9 - 12 Years Grade Level: 4 – 7 George Washington's Spy (Time Travel Adventure) – Elvira Woodruff ©2012 Ten-year-old Matt Carlton and six friends are accidentally swept back in time--to Boston in 1776! The British now occupy the city, and redcoat guards are everywhere! While the boys are being held captive by a den of Patriot spies, the girls have been taken in by a wealthy Tory family. Age Range: 9 - 12 Years Grade Level: 4 – 7 Go Figure! A Totally Cool Book About Numbers - Johnny Ball ©2005 Experience the mysterious and magical world of numbers as never before. This unique book investigates mathematical marvels such as why daisies always have 34, 55, or 89 petals, why the world's phone numbers appear in pi, and other patterns and paradoxes that will make readers look at numbers in a whole new way. (Math) Age Range: 10 - 12 Years Grade Level: 4 - 8 Henry Knox: Bookseller, Soldier, Patriot - Anita Silvey ©2010 A hearty eater, dapper dresser, bookseller to Loyalists and Patriots a like, and married into a staunch Loyalist family, Henry Knox may seem an unlikely hero. But his fascination with warfare and strategy and his support of the Patriot cause prepared him to do what no one else thought was possible: transport heavy artillery from Fort Ticonderoga, up and down snow-covered hills and across frozen lakes, to relieve the siege of Boston. Age Range: 10 - 11 Years Grade Level: 4 - 6 Jake and Lily – Jerry Spinelli ©2013 Jake and Lily are twins. Despite their slightly different interests and temperaments, they feel exactly the same—like two halves of one person. But the year they turn eleven, everything changes. Their parents announce it’s time for separate bedrooms. Jake starts hanging out with a pack of boys on the block. And Lily is devastated, not to mention angry. Who is she without Jake? And as her brother falls under the influence of the neighborhood bully, he also must ask himself— who is the real Jake? Age Range: 10- 12 Years Grade Level: 5 – 7 King of the Mound: My Summer with Satchel Paige – Wes Tooke ©2012 When Nick is released from the hospital after suffering from polio, he is sure that his father will never look at him in the same way again. Once the best pitcher in youth league, Nick now walks with a limp and is dependent on a heavy leg brace. He isn’t sure he will ever return to the mound, never mind be the star he once was. Age Range: 10 - 12 Years Grade Level: 5 - 7 Liberty or Death: The American Revolution - Betsy Maestro ©2005 It began in Boston, with angry colonists objecting to the tyranny of a king who ruled from an ocean away. It was voiced by patriots such as Sam Adams and Patrick Henry and echoed by citizens from New all the way to the Carolinas. Age Range: 9 - 11 Years Grade Level: 3 - 5

12 March 15, 2015 The Mad Potter: George E. Ohr, Eccentric Genius - Jan Greenberg ©2013 When George Ohr's trove of pottery was discovered in 1967, years after his death, his true genius was discovered with it. The world could finally see how unique this artist really was! Born in 1856 in Biloxi, Mississippi, George grew up to the sounds of the civil war and political unrest. When he was 22, his boyhood friend introduced him to the pottery wheel. The lost young man suddenly found his calling. Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal Age Range: 10 - 12 Years Grade Level: 4 – 7 Maze of Bones (39 Clues, No. 1) – Rick Riordon ©2008 Grace is the last matriarch of the Cahills, the world's most powerful family. Everyone from Napoleon to Houdini is related to the Cahills, yet the source of the family power is lost. 39 Clues hidden around the world will reveal the family's secret, but no one has been able to assemble them. Age Range: 10 - 12 years Grade Level: 4 - 7 Never Blame the Umpire - Gene Fehler ©2012 Eleven-year-old Kate is having a wonderful summer, playing baseball and taking a poetry class, until her mother is diagnosed with terminal cancer, causing Kate to struggle to keep her faith and trust in God. Age Range: 9 - 12 Years Grade Level: 4 – 7 One and Only Ivan - Katherine Applegate ©2012 Having spent 27 years behind the glass walls of his enclosure in a shopping mall, Ivan has grown accustomed to humans watching him. He hardly ever thinks about his life in the jungle. Instead, Ivan occupies himself with television, his friends Stella and Bob, and painting. Newbery Medal Book Age Range: 10 - 12 Years Grade Level: 4 - 7 Surviving Jamestown - Gail Karwoski ©2001 Sam Collier, a twelve-year-old, serves as page to John Smith during the relentless hardship experienced by the founders at the first permanent English settlement in the New World. Age Range: 9 - 12 Years Grade Level: 4 – 7 The Might Miss Mallone - Christopher Paul Curtis ©2012 "We are a family on a journey to a place called wonderful" is the motto of Deza Malone's family. Deza is the smartest girl in her class in Gary, Indiana, singled out by teachers for a special path in life. Age Range: 9 - 12 Years Grade Level: 4 – 7 The Tale of Despereaux - Kate DiCamillo ©2003 He has big dreams and gets out of the world of mice and into the world of people and rats. Newbery Medal Book Age Range: 9 - 12 Years Grade Level: 4 – 7 Turtle in Paradise – Jennifer L. Holm ©2013 When Nick is released from the hospital after suffering from polio, he is sure that his father will never look at him in the same way again. Once the best pitcher in youth league, Nick now walks with a limp and is dependent on a heavy leg brace. He isn’t sure he will ever return to the mound, never mind be the star he once was. Age Range: 10 - 12 Years Grade Level: 4 - 7 Two Minute Drill - Mike Lupica ©2009 Chris Conlan is the coolest kid in sixth grade? The golden-armed quarterback of the football team and the boy all the others look up to. Scott Parry is the new kid, the boy with the huge brain, but with feet that trip over themselves. Age Range: 10 - 12 Years Grade Level: 4- 7 Young Fredle – Cynthia Voight ©2011 A young mouse cast out of his home, faces dangers and predators outside, makes some important discoveries and allies, and learns the meaning of freedom as he struggles to return home. Age Range: 10 - 12 Years Grade Level: 4 - 7

13 March 15, 2015 Fifth Grade Entering Sixth Grade

Abby Carnelia’s One and Only Magical Power – David Pogue ©2014 One day, Abby Carnelia, ordinary sixth grader, realizes she has a magical power. Okay, it’s not a fancy one: she can make a hard- boiled egg spin by tugging on her ears. But it’s the only one she has, and it’s enough to launch her into an adventure where she meets a host of kids with similarly silly powers, becomes a potential guinea pig for a drug company, and hatches a daring plan for escape. Age Range: 9 - 12 Years Grade Level: 4 - 7 Al Capone Does My Homework - Gennifer Choldenko ©2013 Alcatraz Island in the 1930s isn't the most normal place to grow up, but it is home for Moose Flanagan, his autistic sister, Natalie, and all the families of the guards. When Moose's dad gets promoted to Associate Warden, despite being an unlikely candidate, it's a big deal. Age Range: 10 – 14 Years Grade Level: 5 - 8 Around the World - Matt Phelan ©2011 Challenged with circling the world at the end of the nineteenth century, three very different adventurers--avid bicyclist Thomas Stevens, fearless reporter Nellie Bly, and retired sea captain Joshua Slocum--embark on epic journeys. Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction Age Range: 9 - 12 Years Grade Level: 4 - 7 Because of Anya – Margaret Peterson Haddix ©2002 While ten-year-old Anya faces the difficulties of losing her hair to alopecia, her classmate Keely learns how to stand up for what she knows is right. Age Range: 9 - 12 Years Grade Level: 4 - 7 The Boy Who Saved Baseball - John H. Ritter ©2003 The fate of a small California town rests on the outcome of one baseball game, and Tom Gallagher hopes to lead his team to victory with the secrets of the now disgraced player, Dante Del Gato. Age Range: 9 - 12 Years Grade Level: 4 - 7 The Boy at the End of the World – Greg Van Eekhout ©2011 In a future world, Fisher is the last boy on earth. But evidence suggests there may be a far-away survival bunk with other humans. In order to get there, he'll need to rely on a ragtag team he assembles, including a robot, a mammoth, and a prairie dog with basic English skills. Readers will be riveted as this unlikely team races toward survival. Age Range: 10 - 14 Years Grade Level: 5 - 8 Candymakers -Wendy Mass ©2011 In the town of Spring Haven, four children have been selected to compete in the national candymaking contest of a lifetime. Who will make a more delicious than the Oozing Crunchorama or the Neon Yellow Lightning Chew? Age Range: 8 - 12 years Close to Famous – Joan Bauer ©2011 Twelve-year-old Foster dreams of growing up to become a celebrity chef despite her reading disability. Can the quirky townsfolk of tiny Culpepper help Foster succeed? Age Range: 10 - 14 Years Grade Level: 5 - 8 Dead End in Norvelt – Jack Gantos ©2011 In the historic town of Norvelt, Pennsylvania, twelve-year- old Jack Gantos spends the summer of 1962 grounded for various offenses until he is assigned to help an elderly neighbor with a most unusual chore involving the newly dead, molten wax, twisted promises, Girl Scout cookies, underage driving, lessons from history, typewriting, and countless bloody noses. Newbery Medal Book Age Range: 10 - 14 Years Grade Level: 5 – 8 Dorko the Magnificent – Andrea Beaty ©2013 Robbie Darko is a magician. An old-school, pull-a-rabbit- out-of-your-hat-style magician. Robbie loves magic and he’s good at it—sort of. Despite his best efforts, passion, and practice, something always goes wrong with his tricks, landing Robbie in trouble. Enter crotchety Grandma Melvyn, who calls everyone “Trixie” and complains about everything. Age Range: 8 - 12 Years Grade Level: 3 - 7 Eggs – Jerry Spinelle ©2008 David has recently lost his mother to a freak accident, his salesman father is constantly on the road, and he is letting his anger out on his grandmother. Primrose lives with her unstable, childlike, fortuneteller mother, and the only evidence of the father she never knew is a framed picture. Despite their age difference (David is 9, Primrose is 13), they forge a tight yet tumultuous

14 March 15, 2015 friendship, eventually helping each other deal with what is missing in their lives. Age Range: 8 - 12 Years Grade Level: 3 - 7 Flora and Ulysses - Kate DiCamillo ©2013 Rescuing a squirrel after an accident involving a vacuum cleaner, comic-reading cynic Flora Belle Buckman is astonished when the squirrel, Ulysses, demonstrates astonishing powers of strength and flight after being revived. Newbery Medal Book Age Range: 8 - 12 Years Grade Level: 3 – 7 Moon over Manifest - Clare Vanderpool ©2010 The town of Manifest is based on Frontenac, Kan., the home of author Clare Vanderpool’s maternal grandparents. Newbery Medal Book Age Range: 8 - 12 Years Grade Level: 3 – 7 Pie – Sarah Weeks ©2011 When Alice's Aunt Polly, the Pie Queen of Ipswitch, passes away, she takes with her the secret to her world-famous pie-crust recipe. Or does she? In her will, Polly leaves the recipe to her extraordinarily fat, remarkably disagreeable cat, Lardo . . . and then leaves Lardo in the care of Alice. Age Range: 8 - 12 Years Grade Level: 3 - 7 Savvy - Ingrid Law ©2012 Thirteen is when a Beaumont’s savvy hits—and with one brother who causes hurricanes and another who creates electricity, Mibs Beaumont is eager to see what she gets. But just before the big day, Poppa is in a terrible accident. And now all Mibs wants is a savvy that will save him. Newbery Honor Book Age Range: 8 - 12 Years Grade Level: 3 - 7 The Strange Case of Origami Yoda - Tom Angleberger©2012 In this funny, uncannily wise portrait of the dynamics of a sixth-grade class and of the greatness that sometimes comes in unlikely packages, Dwight, a loser, talks to his classmates via an origami finger puppet of Yoda. If that weren’t strange enough, the puppet is uncannily wise and prescient. Origami Yoda predicts the date of a pop quiz, guesses who stole the classroom Shakespeare bust, and saves a classmate from popularity-crushing embarrassment with some well-timed advice. Dwight’s classmate Tommy wonders how Yoda can be so smart when Dwight himself is so clueless. Age Range: 8 - 12 Years Grade Level: 3 – 7 The Tale of the Mandarin Ducks – Katherine Paterson ©2001 Award-winning American author and illustrators combine to recount an ancient Japanese folktale. Long ago and far away in the land of the rising sun lived a pair of mandarin ducks. Coveted for his great beauty, the drake was captured and caged by an avaricious lord. CCS Age Range: 8 – 12 Years

15 March 15, 2015 SIXTH GRADE ENTERING SEVENTH GRADE

Assassin - Anna Myers ©2005 In alternating passages, a young White House seamstress named Bella and the actor John Wilkes Booth describe the events that lead to the latter's assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Age Range: 12 - 17 Years Grade Level: 7 - 10 Counting by 7s – Holly Goldberg Sloan @2014 “On the 7th day of the 7th month (is it any wonder I love the number?) my new parents drove north to a hospital 257 miles from their home, where they named me after a cold-climate tree and changed the world.” Age Range 11 – 14 Grade Level: 6 - 8 Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie – Jordan Sonnenblick ©2005 When his younger brother is diagnosed with leukemia, thirteen-year-old Steven tries to deal with his complicated emotions, his school life, and his desire to support his family. Age Range: 12 – 14 Years Grade Level: 7 – 9 Eight Keys – Suzanne LaFleur ©2012 Elise and Franklin have always been best friends. Elise has always lived in the big house with her loving Uncle and Aunt, because Elise's parents died when she was too young to remember them. There's always been a barn behind the house with eight locked doors on the second floor. Age Range: 11 – 12 Years Grade Level: 6 - 7 Feathers – Jacqueline Woodson ©2010 “Hope is the thing with feathers” starts the poem Frannie is reading in school. Frannie hasn’t thought much about hope. There are so many other things to think about. Each day, her friend Samantha seems a bit more “holy.” There is a new boy in class everyone is calling the Jesus Boy. And although the new boy looks like a white kid, he says he’s not white. Who is he?” Age Range: 11 – 13 Years Grade Level: 6 - 8 Football Genius – Tim Green ©2008 Troy White can predict any football play before it happens. And when his single mom gets a job with the Atlanta Falcons, Troy knows it's his big chance to help them out of their slump—and finally prove his football genius. Age Range: 11 – 12 Years Grade Level: 6 - 7 Good Brother, Bad Brother: The Story of Edwin Booth and John Wilkes Booth – James Giblin ©2005 Most people know the name John Wilkes Booth, but few likely have heard of his elder brother Edwin. Find out about the brothers through first-hand accounts. Learn how alike and how different they were, and how each made a lasting impression on American history. Age Range: 10 – 14 Years The Great Fire – Jim Murphy ©2006 Vivid firsthand descriptions by persons who lived through the 1871 Chicago fire are woven into a gripping account that is absorbing and riveting reading. Newbery Honor Book and CCS Age Range: 11 – 12 Years Grade Level: 6 - 7 Heartbeat - Sharon Creech ©2004 RUN, RUN, RUN that’s what twelve-year-old Annie loves to do. When she’s barefoot and running she can hear her heart beating. Age Range: 10 – 12 Years Grade Level: 5 - 7 Jesse Bowman: A Union Boy's War Story – Tom McGowen ©2008 In this action-packed historical fiction novel, Jesse Bowman joins the Union Army in hopes of finding adventure. However, this teenage soldier learns that victory comes at a great cost. He discovers the hardships of war, the horror of battle, and the loss of friendship on his journey through the Civil War. Age Range: 10 – 12 Years Grade Level: 5 - 7 Math Trek: Adventures in the Math Zone - Ivars Peterson ©2000 Explores various mathematical concepts--such as knots, fractals, secret codes, and chaos theory--and relates them to everyday life. CCS Age Range: 10 – 12 Years Grade Level: 5 – 7 Notes from the Dog – Gary Paulsen ©2009 When Johanna shows up at the beginning of summer to house-sit next door to Finn, he has no idea of the profound effect she will have on his life by the time summer vacation is over. Age Range: 12 - 14 Years Grade Level: 7 - 9 Paul Revere's Ride – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow ©1990 The famous narrative poem recreating Paul Revere's midnight ride in 1775 to warn the people of the Boston countryside that the British were coming. CCS Age Range: 9 - 12 Years Grade Level: 3 – 8

16 March 15, 2015 Powerless – Matthew Cody ©2009 Twelve-year-old Daniel, the new kid in town, soon learns the truth about his nice—but odd—new friends: one can fly, another can turn invisible, yet another controls electricity. Incredible. The superkids use their powers to secretly do good in the town, but they’re haunted by the fact that the moment they turn thirteen, their abilities will disappear—along with any memory that they ever had them. Is a memory-stealing supervillain sapping their powers? Age Range: 10- 12 years Grade Level: 5 - 7 Ranger’s Apprentice Book One: The Ruins of Gorlan – John Flanagan ©2006 He had always wanted to be a warrior. The Rangers, with their dark cloaks and shadowy ways, made him nervous. The villagers believe the Rangers practice magic that makes them invisible to ordinary people. And now fifteen year- old Will, always small for his age, has been chosen as a Ranger’s apprentice. Age Range: 12 - 14 Years Grade Level: 7 - 9 Sand Dollar Summer – Kimberly K. Jones ©2008 Twelve-year-old Lise watches her safe world fall apart when her strong, self-reliant mom is injured in a car accident. To recuperate, Mom takes Lise and her bright little brother to live in a rattletrap house on the beach in Maine for the summer. Although her mother grew up there, this is Lise's first experience with the ocean. She's terrified by what may be lurking in the cold depths and confused by the ways that Maine is changing her mother. Age Range: 11 - 13 Years Grade Level: 6 - 8 Shooting the Moon – Frances O’Roark Dowell ©2009 When twelve-year-old Jamie Dexter's brother joins the Army and is sent to Vietnam, Jamie is plum thrilled. She can't wait to get letters from the front lines describing the excitement of real-life combat: the sound of helicopters, the smell of gunpowder, the exhilaration of being right in the thick of it. Age Range: 12 - 14 Years Grade Level: 7 - 9 So B. It: a novel – Sarah Weeks ©2004 After spending her life with her mentally retarded mother and agoraphobic neighbor, twelve-year-old Heidi sets out from Reno, Nevada, to New York to find out who she is. Age Range: 11 - 13 Years Grade Level: 6 – 8 The Trial – Jennifer Bryant ©2004 Living in Flemington, New Jersey, in 1935, a 12year old court observer describes, in a series of poems, the trial of Bruno Hauptmann for the kidnapping and murder of Charles Lindbergh's baby. Age Range: 12 - 13 Years Grade Level: 7 - 8 The Wednesday Wars - Gary D. Schmidt ©2007 Seventh-grader, Holling Hoodhood, is convinced his teacher hates him. Through their Wednesday afternoon Shakespeare sessions she helps him cope with events both wildly funny and deadly serious. Newbery Honor Book Age Range: 10 - 14 &ears Wonder - R. J. Palacio ©2007 August Pullman was born with a facial deformity that, up until now, has prevented him from going to a mainstream school. Starting 5th grade at Beecher Prep, he wants nothing more than to be treated as an ordinary kid—but his new classmates can’t get past Auggie’s extraordinary face. Age Range: 8 - 12 Years

17 March 15, 2015 SEVENTH GRADE ENTERING EIGHTH GRADE

Black Ships Before Troy: The Story of The Iliad – Rosemary Sutcliff ©2005 Retells the story of the Trojan War, from the quarrel for the golden apple, and the flight of Helen with Paris, to the destruction of Troy. CCS Age Range: 12 – 13 Years Grade Level: 7 - 8 Chasing Lincoln's Killer The Search for John Wilkes Booth – James L. Swanson ©2009 Based on rare archival material, obscure trial manuscripts, and interviews with relatives of the conspirators and the man hunters, Chasing Lincoln's Killer is a fast-paced thriller about the pursuit and capture of John Wilkes Booth: a wild twelve-day chase through the streets of Washington, D.C., across the swamps of Maryland, and into the forests of Virginia. Age Range: 12 – 13 Years Grade Level: 7 - 8 Children of the Great Depression - Russell Freedman ©2005 Life was hard for children during the Great Depression: kids had to do without new clothes, shoes, or toys and many couldn't attend school because they had to work. Age Range: 11 - 14 Years Grade Level: 6 – 9 Code Talker: A Novel About The Navajo Marines Of World War Two - Joseph Bruchac ©2005 After being taught in a boarding school run by whites that Navajo is a useless language, Ned Begay is recruited by the Marines to become a Code Talker, sending urgent messages during WW2 in his native tongue. Age Range: 12 – 13 Years Grade Level: 7 – 8 Countdown (Sixties Trilogy) – Deborah Wiles ©2013 Franny Chapman just wants some peace. But that's hard to get when her best friend is feuding with her, her sister has disappeared, and her uncle is fighting an old war in his head. Her saintly younger brother is no help, and the cute boy across the street only complicates things. Worst of all, everyone is walking around just waiting for a bomb to fall. Age Range: 12 – 13 Years Grade Level: 7 – 8 The Dark is Rising – Susan Cooper ©1973 On his eleventh birthday, Will Stanton discovers that he is the last of the Old Ones, destined to seek the six magical Signs that will enable the Old Ones to triumph over the evil forces of the Dark. CCS Age Range: 12 - 15 Years Grade Level: 7 - 10 Do the Math: Secrets, Lies, and Algebra – Wendy Lichtman ©2007 Tess has always loved math, and she uses mathematical concepts to help her understand things in her life, so she is dismayed to find out how much math--and life--can change in eighth grade. (Math) Age Range: 12 - 15 Years Grade Level: 7 - 10 Down the Rabbit Hole: An Echo Falls Mystery – Peter Abrahams ©2006 Eighth grader Ingrid Levin- Hill idolizes Sherlock Holmes, so it is not surprising when, stumbling across a murder, she opts to keep what she knows a secret and tries to solve the crime herself. 12 – 13 Years Grade Level: 7 – 8 Elephant Run – Roland Smith ©2007 Nick endures servitude, beatings, and more after his British father's plantation in Burma is invaded by the Japanese in 1941, and when his father and others are taken prisoner and Nick is stranded with his friend Mya, they plan a daring escape on elephants, risking their lives to save Nick's father and Mya's brother from a Japanese prisoner of war camp. Age Range: 12 – 13 Years Grade Level: 7 – 8 Esperanza Rising – Pam Munoz Ryan ©2000 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 Newbery Honor Book Age Range: 12 – 13 Years Grade Level: 7 – 8 Fly Girl – Sherri L. Smith ©2010 All Ida Mae Jones wants to do is fly. Her daddy was a pilot, and years after his death she feels closest to him when sheÕs in the air. But as a young black woman in 1940s Louisiana, she knows the sky is off limits to her, until America enters World War II, and the Army forms the WASPÑWomen Airforce Service Pilots. Ida has a chance to fulfill her dream if sheÕs willing to use her light skin to pass as a white girl. Age Range: 12 - 15 Years Grade Level: 7 - 10 The Good Fight:How World War II was Won – Stephen Ambrose ©2005 Stephen E. Ambrose, one of the finest historians of our time, has written an extraordinary chronicle of World War II for young readers. From Japanese warplanes soaring over Pearl Harbor, dropping devastation from the sky, to the against-all-odds Allied victory at Midway, to the Battle of the Bulge during one of the coldest winters in

18 March 15, 2015 Europe's modern history, to the tormenting decision to bomb Nagasaki and Hiroshima with atomic weapons, The Good Fight brings the most horrific -- and most heroic -- war in history to a new generation in a way that's never been done before. Age Range: 12 – 13 Years Grade Level: 7 - 8 Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad – Ann Petry ©1995 Born a slave, Harriet Tubman dreamed of freedom. And through hard work and her willingness to risk everything-including her life-she was able to make that dream come true but after making her escape, Harriet realized that her own freedom was not enough. So she became a conductor on the Underground Railroad, and devoted her life to helping others make the journey out of bondage. CCS Age Range: 12 – 13 Years Grade Level: 7 – 8 Leap of Faith - Kimberly Brubaker Bradley ©2007 Forced to attend a Catholic middle school because of her conduct, Abigail discovers a talent for theater and develops a true religious faith. Age Range: 12 – 13 Years Grade Level: 7 - 8 Million Dollar Throw – Mike Lupica ©2005 Nate Brodie is nicknamed “Brady” not only for his arm, but also because he’s the biggest Tom Brady fan. He’s even saved up to buy an autographed football. Age Range: 12 – 13 Years Grade Level: 7 - 8 Navy Seal Dogs-My Tale of Training Canines for Combat – Mike Ritland ©2015 Trident K9 Warriors gave readers an inside look at the SEAL teams' elite K9 warriors--who they are, how they are trained, and the extreme missions they undertake to save lives. From detecting explosives to eliminating the bad guys, these powerful dogs are also some of the smartest and highest skilled working animals on the planet. Mike Ritland's job is to train them. Age Range: 13 to 18 Years Grade Level: 8 - 12 Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer - John Grisham ©2011 In the small city of Strattenburg, there are many lawyers, and though he’s only thirteen years old, Theo Boone thinks he’s one of them. Theo knows every judge, policeman, court clerk—and a lot about the law. He dreams of being a great trial lawyer, of a life in the courtroom. National Book Award Winner Age Range: 12 – 13 Years Grade Level: 7 - 8 The Thing About Luck – Cuthnia Kadohata ©2014 Summer knows that kouun means "good luck" in Japanese, and this year her family has none of it. Just when she thinks nothing else can possibly go wrong, an emergency whisks her parents away to Japan--right before harvest season. Summer and her little brother are left in the care of their grandparents -- Obaachan and Jiichan -- who come out of retirement in order to harvest wheat and help pay the bills. Age Range: 13 - 14 Years Grade Level: 6 - 9

19 March 15, 2015