A Working Reading List for Catholic School Students

A WORKING READING LIST FOR CATHOLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS

MIDDLE CHILDHOOD GRADE THREE TO GRADE FIVE

KAY BURGESS

National Catholic Educational Association

A WORKING READING LIST FOR CATHOLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS

MIDDLE CHILDHOOD GRADE THREE TO GRADE FIVE

KAY BURGESS

National Catholic Educational Association Copyright©2012 by the National Catholic Educational Association, Arlington, VA. All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or part in any form. Published in the United States of America by the National Catholic Educational Association.

ISBN 1-55833-500-5 Part No. CUR-22-1503 table of contents

Introduction 1

Chapter 1 Faith 3

Chapter 2 Hope 9

Chapter 3 Love 15

Chapter 4 Community 21

Chapter 5 Justice 29

Chapter 6 Courage 35

Chapter 7 Reconciliation 41

Chapter 8 Service 47

Resources 53

About the Author 55 introduction

MANY YEARS AGO, when a little girl raised her hand and volunteered her Mother’s help in the school’s library my life changed. I began a journey through literature, filled with joy in reading and sharing an author’s words of faith, hope, and love of God with children. This journey has led me to creating and sharing a list of books containing virtuous themes woven throughout the author’s words.

Children are impressionable. They are influenced by what is read to them and what they read. Their world today is far more open to many things through TV, music, and the World Wide Web. Teachers experience this influence from the day a child arrives in Pre-Kindergarten. Parents are the first at helping a child on their journey of discovery. Parents and teachers can work together to offer children good literature as a counter balance to their modern day influences.

The reading list provides parents and teachers suggestions of present-day authors who have created characters that learn and grow, demonstrating God’s virtues of faith, hope, and love and the human virtues of justice, courage, forgiveness, and service. These are characters we would like children to emulate. Sharing and offering suggestions of authors who create good characters can open meaningful discussions among parent, child, and teacher.

Reading aloud and sharing books with children helps to bring the characters alive. Children can develop a deeper sense of values by hearing and reading the way a character struggles between good, evil, right, and wrong. Jesus, understanding the power of a good story, taught through parables. Parents and teachers can harness the power of the written word, guiding children to the best of the best in literature.

The list is a starting point for parents, teachers, and children. It can be expanded as readers discover their own virtuous stories. Stories can also often move into other categories. The important thing is to read quality literature. Children become what they see and hear.

I would like to dedicate the reading list to all the students who remember Tikki Tikki Tembo, The Five Chinese Brothers, The Giver, and many more books that I read aloud to them; Sister Mary Arthur Hoagland, IHM, for teaching and sharing so much of her knowledge about libraries and reading; and Sister Catherine Delores White, IHM, and Sister Edward William Quinn, IHM, for their support and belief in me. Thank you, also, to parents and teachers who will use the reading list to bring the awareness of virtue to all their children. Lastly, I am grateful to my husband and children for always being there for me and to my daughter, who raised her hand to begin my journey.

“To love means loving the unlovable, to forgive means pardoning the unpardonable. Faith means believing the unbelievable. Hope means hoping when everything seems hopeless.” —G.K. Chesterton

MIDDLE CHILDHOOD GRADE THREE TO GRADE FIVE | 1

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MIDDLE CHILDHOOD GRADE THREE TO GRADE FIVE | 3 “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” —Hebrews 11.1

Around the Year Once Upon a Time. Ethel Pochocki. Bathgate, ND: Bethlehem Books, 2009. Presents a new set of heavenly friends to readers young and old in this third collection of Once Upon a Time Saints stories.

The Boy Who Saved Cleveland: based on a True Story. James Giblin. New York: Henry Holt, 2006. During a malaria epidemic in late eighteenth-century Cleveland, Ohio, ten-year-old Seth Doan surprises his family, his neighbors, and himself by having the strength to carry and grind enough corn to feed everyone.

The Can Man. Laura E. Williams. New York: Lee & Low Books, 2010. After watching a homeless man collect empty soft drink cans for the redemption money, a young boy decides to collect cans himself to earn money for a skateboard until he has a change of heart.

Drita, My Homegirl. Jenny Lombard. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2006. When ten-year-old Drita and her family, refugees from Kosovo, move to New York, Drita is teased about not speaking English well, but after a popular student named Maxine is forced to learn about Kosovo as a punishment for teasing Drita, the two girls soon bond.

The Father Brown Reader: Stories from Chesterton. G. K. Chesterton; Nancy Carpentier Brown. Lake Ariel, PA: Hillside Education, 2007. The Father Brown Reader is a new book that contains four adaptations of the Father Brown stories by G.K. Chesterton. Nancy Carpentier Brown has done the adaptations.

The Father Brown Reader II: More Stories from Chesterton. G. K. Chesterton; Nancy Carpentier Brown. Lake Ariel, PA: Hillside Education, 2010. Nancy Carpentier Brown has once again chosen and adapted some of G.K. Chesterton’s Father Brown stories for younger readers.

A Good Horse. Jane Smiley. New York: Knopf, 2011. On her family’s California horse ranch in the 1960s, eighth-grader Abby Lovitt faces the possibility of giving up her beloved colt, Jack, when it comes to light that his dam might have been stolen.

4 | A WORKING READING LIST FOR CATHOLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS A Handshake from Heaven. Carol S. Bannon. Edina, MN: Beaver’s Pond Press, 2004. Bannon explains how receiving Communion strengthens one’s relationship with God.

Hanukkah at Valley Forge. Stephen Krensky. New York: Dutton Children’s Books, 2006. During the Revolutionary War, a Jewish soldier from Poland lights the menorah on the first night of Hanukkah and tells General George Washington the story of the Maccabees and the miracle that Hanukkah celebrates.

Heaven for Kids. Randy C. Alcorn. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House, 2006. Kids are full of questions and when it comes to explaining Heaven, the answers aren’t easy to put in their terms.

The Last Synapsid. Timothy Mason. New York: Delacorte Press/Random House Children’s Books, 2009. On a mountain near their tiny town of Faith, Colorado, best friends Rob and Phoebe discover a squat, drooly creature from thirty million years before the dinosaurs, that needs their help in tracking down a violent carnivore that must be returned to its proper place in time, or humans will never evolve.

More Saints: Lives and Illuminations. Ruth Sanderson. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 2007. This volume provides brief stories from the lives of thirty-six Catholic saints of the second millennium.

Never Blame the Umpire. Gene Fehler. Grand Rapids, MI: Zonderkidz, 2010. 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.

Perfectly Chelsea. Claudia Mills. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2004. Nine-year-old Chelsea’s experiences, which include a fight with her best friend, making mistakes in the hand bell concert, and saying goodbye to the only church minister she has ever known, help her to accept that things change and that people, including herself, are not perfect.

Pie. Sarah Weeks. New York: Scholastic Press, 2011. After the death of Polly Portman, whose award-winning pies put the town of Ipswitch, Pennsylvania, on the map in the 1950s, her devoted niece Alice and Alice’s friend Charlie investigate who is going to extremes to find Aunt Polly’s secret pie crust recipe. Includes fourteen pie recipes.

A Saint and His Lion: The Story of Tekla of Ethiopia. Elaine Murray Stone. Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2004. The Ethiopian tale of Saint Tekla, a child prophesied at birth to be destined for greatness, whose friendship with a lion gives him credence when he goes out in the world to spread the Gospel, is presented here.

MIDDLE CHILDHOOD GRADE THREE TO GRADE FIVE | 5 So B. It: a Novel. Sarah Weeks. New York: Scholastic, 2005. 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.

Something to Sing About. C. C. Payne. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 2008. Ten-year-old Jamie Jo’s fear of bees keeps her inside most of the time, but a series of events that begins when her mother is excluded from the church choir brings about many changes, including new friendships and greater trust in God.

The Weight of a Mass: A Tale of Faith. Josephine Nobisso. New York: Gingerbread Press, 2003. On the day of a royal wedding in a kingdom where everyone has grown careless in the practice of their Catholic faith, a poor widow helps to reveal the true value of the Mass.

The World According to Humphrey. Betty G. Birney. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 2005. Humphrey, the pet hamster at Longfellow School, learns that he has an important role to play in helping his classmates and teacher.

“Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him.” —Proverbs 30.5

6 | A WORKING READING LIST FOR CATHOLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS my books on faith

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MIDDLE CHILDHOOD GRADE THREE TO GRADE FIVE | 9 “And now, O Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in you.” —Psalm 39.7

The Absolute Value of Mike. Kathryn Erskine. New York: Philomel Books, 2011. Fourteen-year-old Mike, whose father is a brilliant mathematician, but who has no math aptitude himself, spends the summer in rural Pennsylvania with his elderly and eccentric relatives Moo and Poppy, helping the townspeople raise money to adopt a Romanian orphan.

Ballet for Martha: Making Appalachian Spring. Jan Greenberg; Sandra Jordan. New York: RB/Flash Point, 2010. Tells the story behind the creation of “Appalachian Spring,” describing Aaron Copland’s composition, Martha Graham’s intense choreography and Isamu Noguchi’s set design.

The Beatitudes: From Slavery to Civil Rights. Carole Boston Weatherford. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 2010. The Beatitudes form the backdrop for Weatherford’s free-verse poem that traces the African American journey from slavery to civil rights.

Black Potatoes: the Story of the Great Irish Famine, 1845-1850. Susan Campbell Bartoletti. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2001. Black Potatoes is the story of the Great Irish Famine through the eyes and memories of the Irish people.

Brothers in Hope: The Story of the Lost Boys of Sudan. Mary Williams. New York: Lee & Low Books, 2005. Eight-year-old Garang, orphaned by a civil war in Sudan, finds the inner strength to help lead other boys as they trek hundreds of miles seeking safety in Ethiopia, then Kenya, and finally in the United States.

The Crow-Girl: the Children of Crow Cove. Bodil Bredsdorff; Faith Ingwersen. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2007. After the death of her grandmother, a young orphaned girl leaves her house by the cove and begins a journey which leads her to people and experiences that exemplify the wisdom her grandmother had shared with her.

10 | A WORKING READING LIST FOR CATHOLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS Fern Verdant & the Silver Rose. Diana Leszczynski. New York, NY: Knopf, 2008. Fern Verdant’s mother, a famous botanist, disappears just before Fern’s thirteenth birthday. When Fern discovers that she has inherited the ability to communicate with plants, she realizes that this is the only way she will be able to find and save her mother.

Golden Sun. Whitney Sanderson. New York: Random House, 2010. Sanderson follows Golden Sun, an Appaloosa horse, through several seasons as Little Turtle, a Nez Perce boy, raises and trains him and then takes him along on a vision quest in hopes of saving his friend Pale Moon from serious illness.

Home of the Brave. Katherine Applegate. New York: Feiwel and Friends, 2007. Kek, an African refugee, is confronted by many strange things at the Minneapolis home of his aunt and cousin, as well as in his fifth-grade classroom, and longs for his missing mother, but finds comfort in the company of a cow and her owner.

Jingle Dancer. Cynthia Leitich Smith. New York: Morrow Junior Books, 2000. Jenna, a member of the Muscogee, or Creek, Nation, borrows jingles from the dresses of several friends and relatives so that she can perform the jingle dance at the powwow.

Julia Gillian (and the Art of Knowing). Alison McGhee. New York: Scholastic Press, 2008. Nine-year-old Julia Gillian learns a lot about facing fear as she and her St. Bernard, Bigfoot, take long walks through their Minneapolis neighborhood one hot summer, and she seeks the courage to finish a book that could have an unhappy ending.

Mockingbird (Mok’ing-bûrd). Kathryn Erskine. New York: Philomel Books, 2010. Ten-year-old Caitlin, who has Asperger’s Syndrome, struggles to understand emotions, show empathy, and make friends at school, while at home she seeks closure by working on a project with her father.

Mudville. Kurtis Scaletta. New York: Knopf, 2009. For twenty-two years, since a fateful baseball game against their rival town, it has rained in Moundville, so when the rain finally stops, twelve-year-old Roy, his friends, and foster brother Sturgis dare to face the curse and form a team.

The Mysterious Benedict Society. Trenton Lee Stewart. New York: Little, Brown, 2007. 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.

Penny Dreadful. Laurel Snyder. New York: Random House, 2010. When her father suddenly quits his job, the almost-ten-year-old, friendless Penny and her neglectful parents leave their privileged life in the city for a ramshackle property in the eccentric town of Thrush Junction, Tennessee.

MIDDLE CHILDHOOD GRADE THREE TO GRADE FIVE | 11 Saving the Baghdad Zoo: a True Story of Hope and Heroes. Kelly Milner Halls. New York: Greenwillow Books, 2010. Hundreds of animals were missing and the few remaining were in desperate need of care. And so Captain Sumner accepted a new mission.

Selavi, That is Life: A Haitian Story of Hope. Youme. El Paso, TX: Cinco Puntos Press, 2004. A homeless boy on the streets of Haiti joins other street children and together they build a home and a radio station where they can care for themselves and for other homeless children.

Touch Blue. Cynthia Lord. New York: Scholastic Press, 2010. When the state of Maine threatens to shut down their island’s one-room schoolhouse because of dwindling enrollment, eleven-year-old Tess, a strong believer in luck, and her family take in a trumpet-playing foster child to increase the school’s population.

The Way a Door Closes. Hope Anita Smith. New York: Square Fish, 2011. A collection of poems focuses on thirteen-year-old C.J.’s struggle to cope with his father’s disappearance.

Where the Streets had a Name. Randa Abdel-Fattah. New York: Scholastic Press, 2010. Thirteen-year-old Hayaat of Bethlehem faces check points, curfews, and the travel permit system designed to keep people on the West Bank when she attempts to go to her grandmother’s ancestral home in Jerusalem with her best friend.

White Crane. Sandy Fussell. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press, 2010. Even though he has only one leg, Niya Moto is studying to be a samurai. His five fellow-students are similarly burdened, but sensei Ki-Yaga, an ancient but legendary warrior, teaches them not only physical skills but also mental and spiritual one, so that they are well-equipped to face their most formidable opponents at the annual Samurai Games.

“May your unfailing love rest upon us, O Lord, even as we put our hope in you.” —Psalm 33.22

12 | A WORKING READING LIST FOR CATHOLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS my books on hope

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MIDDLE CHILDHOOD GRADE THREE TO GRADE FIVE | 15 “He that loves not knows not God; for God is love.” —1 John 4.8

The Big Little Book of Happy Sadness. Colin Thompson, La Jolla, CA: Kane/Miller Book, 2008. A little boy who has lost his mother and father and now lives with his grandmother brings a lost dog from the animal shelter home with him and learns that when it comes to love, it’s quality not quantity that counts.

Blackie, the Horse Who Stood Still. Christopher Cerf. New York: Welcome Books, 2006. Born on the Kansas plains, Blackie likes to stay in one place rather than risk missing anything, but is gently persuaded to try his hoof as a rodeo horse, a ranger’s mount in Yosemite National Park, and a town mascot on the California coast, and finds love wherever he stands.

Chancey of the Maury River. Gigi Amateau. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press, 2008. A story about friendship, unconditional love, and second chances. Chancey, an old, albino appaloosa, and Claire, a little girl who is devastated by her parents’ divorce, become best friends that help each other through the hardest times in their lives.

Clementine, Friend of the Week. Sara Pennypacker. New York: Disney-Hyperion Books, 2010. With her kitten, Moisturizer, missing and having fought with her best friend, Margaret, eight- year-old Clementine finds it hard to concentrate on doing her best as her classmate’s Friend of the Week.

Crow Call. Lois Lowry. New York: Scholastic Press, 2009. Nine-year-old Liz accompanies the stranger who is her father, just returned from the war, when he goes hunting for crows in Pennsylvania farmland.

The Dancing Pancake. Eileen Spinelli. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2010. Eleven-year-old Belinda “Bindi” Winkler and her family find their way through tough times with the love and support of the community that grows around their newly opened restaurant, “The Dancing Pancake.”

A Dog’s Life: the Autobiography of a Stray. Ann M. Martin. New York: Scholastic, 2005. 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.

16 | A WORKING READING LIST FOR CATHOLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS Each Little Bird that Sings. Deborah Wiles. Orland, FL: Gulliver Books/Harcourt, 2005. Comfort Snowberger is well acquainted with death since her family runs the funeral parlor in their small southern town, but even so the ten-year-old is unprepared for the series of heart- wrenching events that begins on the first day of Easter vacation with the sudden death of her beloved great-uncle Edisto.

The Earth Dragon Awakes: the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906. Laurence Yep. New York: HarperCollins, 2006. Eight-year-old Henry and nine-year-old Chin love to read about heroes in popular “penny dreadful” novels, until they both witness real courage while trying to survive the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.

Elska. Cathy Hapka. New York: Random House, 2009. Around the year 1000, the Icelandic horse named Elska is born and learns about life and her role in the herd, as well as love and friendship, when she rescues the girl to whom she originally belonged.

The Friskative Dog. Susan Straight. New York: Knopf, 2007. Sharron’s father has disappeared, and she tries to cope with her feelings of loss through the love of a stuffed dog he gave her.

Great Joy. Kate DiCamillo. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press, 2007. Just before Christmas, when Frances sees a sad-eyed organ grinder and his monkey performing near her apartment, she cannot stop thinking about them, wondering where they go at night, and wishing she could do something to help.

The Home-run King. Pat McKissack. New York: Viking, 2008. During the Depression in Nashville, Tennessee, two baseball-loving brothers host Josh Gibson, a star of the Negro Leagues, in their home, and are motivated to get their own team started as well.

Love, Aubrey. Suzanne M. LaFleur. New York: Wendy Lamb Books, 2009. While living with her Gram in Vermont, eleven-year-old Aubrey writes letters as a way of dealing with losing her father and sister in a car accident, and then being abandoned by her grief-stricken mother.

Love Puppies and Corner Kicks. Bob Krech. New York: Dutton Children’s Books, 2010. Thirteen-year-old Andrea is devastated when her parents announce that the family is moving to Scotland for a year-long teacher exchange program, but as she makes new friends, joins a soccer team, and her stutter improves, life does not seem so bad.

Milagros: Girl from Away. Meg Medina. New York: Henry Holt, 2008. Twelve-year-old Milagros barely survives an invasion of her tiny, Caribbean island home, escapes

MIDDLE CHILDHOOD GRADE THREE TO GRADE FIVE | 17 with the help of mysterious sea creatures, reunites briefly with her pirate-father, and learns about a mother’s love when cast ashore on another island.

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. Katie DiCamillio. Cambridge, Mass.: Candlewick Press, 2006. This is an animal fantasy that will allow children to learn about the trials, joys, the meaning of life, and the power of love. It is a story of a beautiful toy rabbit, who is quite vain about his beauty, self-centered, and unconcerned for others. Then, through a “miraculous” series of adventures, experiencing affection and rejection, he finds his heart stirring with love.

The Penderwicks: a Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy. Jeanne Birdsall. New York: Yearling, 2007. While vacationing with their widowed father in the Berkshire Mountains, four young sisters, ages four through twelve, share adventures with a local boy, much to the dismay of his snobbish mother.

A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams. Jennifer Bryant. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 2008. Willie loved to write--words gave him freedom and peace. But he also knew that he needed to earn a living, so when he grew up he went off to medical school and became a doctor-one of the busiest men in town! Yet he never stopped writing.

School Days According to Humphrey. Betty G. Birney. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 2011. Humphrey the hamster is puzzled when unfamiliar students fill Mrs. Brisbane’s classroom at summer’s end, but he soon learns that his friends from last year are fine and that the new class needs his special help.

The Secret World of Walter Anderson. Hester Bass. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press, 2009. Walter Anderson (1903-1965) was one of the most famous American artists from the Mississippi Gulf Coast. He often spent weeks at a time on Horn Island by himself. Once on the island, he braved storms, alligators, and a lack to food in order to sketch and paint the wild beauty around him.

Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs. Betty G. Birney. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2006. Eben McAllister searches his small town to see if he can find anything comparable to the real Seven Wonders of the World.

“I love you, O Lord, my strength.” —Psalm 18.1

18 | A WORKING READING LIST FOR CATHOLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS my books on love

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MIDDLE CHILDHOOD GRADE THREE TO GRADE FIVE | 19 community 4

MIDDLE CHILDHOOD GRADE THREE TO GRADE FIVE | 21 First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time. —1 Timothy 2.1-6

14 Cows for America. Carmen Agra Deedy. Atlanta, GA: Peachtree, 2009. Maasai tribal members, after hearing the story of the September 11th attacks from a young Massai, who was in New York on that day, decide to present the American people with fourteen sacred cows as a healing gift.

Amazing Faces. Lee Bennett Hopkins. New York: Lee & Low Books, 2010. Poems focusing on universal emotions, as expressed by poets from diverse backgrounds, including Joseph Bruchac and Nikki Grimes.

Black Elk’s Vision: A Lakota Story. S. D. Nelson. New York: Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2010. A simple biography of Lakota-Oglala medicine man Black Elk, from his childhood vision which shaped his life through his battles with the Whites and his travels with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show. Includes quotes from Black Elk Speaks and historical photos.

Bless This Mouse. Lois Lowry. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2011. Mouse Mistress Hildegarde musters all her ingenuity to keep a large colony of church mice safe from the exterminator and to see that they make it through the dangerous Blessing of the Animals.

22 | A WORKING READING LIST FOR CATHOLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS The BossQueen, Little BigBark, and the Sentinel Pup. Sarah Clark Jordan. Berkeley, CA: Tricycle Press, 2004. Young Mina must find her place in the order of things when she and the two older dogs move with OurShe into a different house, where the new members of their pack include OurHe, OurBoy, OurGirl, and That Cat.

Brothers. Yin. New York: Philomel Books, 2006. Having arrived in San Francisco from China to work in his brother’s store, Ming is lonely until an Irish boy befriends him.

The Dreamer. Pam Muñoz Ryan. New York: Scholastic Press, 2010. A fictionalized biography of the Nobel Prize-winning Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, who was a painfully shy child, ridiculed by his overbearing father, but who became one of the most widely- read poets in the world.

Extra Credit. Andrew Clements. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2009. As letters flow back and forth--between the prairies of Illinois and the mountains of Afghanistan, across cultural and religious divides--sixth-grader Abby, ten-year-old Amira, and eleven-year-old Sadeed begin to speak and listen to each other.

The Great Wall of Lucy Wu. Wendy Wan Long Shang. New York: Scholastic Press, 2011. Eleven-year-old aspiring basketball star and interior designer Lucy Wu is excited about finally having her own bedroom, until she learns that her great-aunt is coming to visit and Lucy will have to share a room with her for several months, shattering her plans for a perfect sixth-grade year.

Henry and the Kite Dragon. Bruce Edward Hall. New York: Philomel Books, 2004. In New York City in the 1920s, the children from Chinatown go after the children from Little Italy for throwing rocks at the beautiful kites Grandfather Chin makes, not realizing that they have a reason for doing so.

January’s Sparrow. Patricia Polacco. New York: Philomel Books, 2009. After a fellow slave is beaten to death, Sadie and her family flee the plantation for freedom through the Underground Railroad.

The King Who Barked: Real Animals Who Ruled. Charlotte Foltz Jones. New York: Holiday House, 2009. This book contains stories about real animals who have held positions of leadership, from mayor to king.

Moon Over Manifest. Clare Vanderpool. New York: Delacorte Press, 2010. 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.

MIDDLE CHILDHOOD GRADE THREE TO GRADE FIVE | 23 Nasreen’s Secret School: A True Story from Afghanistan. Jeanette Winter. New York: Beach Lane Books, 2009. Based on a true story. After her parents are taken away by the Taliban, young Nasreen stops speaking. But as she spends time in a secret school, she slowly breaks out of her shell.

A Nest for Celeste: A Story About Art, Inspiration, and the Meaning of Home. Henry Cole. New York: Katherine Tegen Books, 2010. Celeste, a mouse longing for a real home, becomes a source of inspiration to teenaged Joseph, assistant to the artist and naturalist John James Audubon, at a New Orleans, Louisiana, plantation in 1821.

One Green Apple. Eve Bunting. New York: Clarion Books, 2006. While on a school field trip to an orchard to make cider, a young immigrant named Farah gains self-confidence when the green apple she picks perfectly complements the other students’ red apples.

Poems to Dream Together - Poemas Para Soñar Juntos. Francisco X. Alarcón. New York: Lee & Low Books, 2006. Bilingual poems for children written for children of Mexican-American families.

Remember Me, Mikwid Hamin: Tomah Joseph’s Gift to Franklin Roosevelt. Donald Soctomah. Gardiner, ME: Tilbury House, 2009. Spending his childhood summers on Campobello Island, young Franklin Delano Roosevelt learns how to canoe from Tomah Joseph, a respected fishing and canoe guide, basket maker and canoe-builder, and former chief of his tribe, who also teaches Franklin about the Passamaquoddy culture.

Sequoyah: The Cherokee Man Who Gave His People Writing. James Rumford. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2004. While walking through a forest of sequoias, a father tells his family the story of the tree’s namesake. Sequoyah was a Cherokee man who invented a system of writing for his people. His neighbors feared the symbols he wrote and burned down his home.

Stitchin’ and Pullin’: A Gee’s Bend Quilt. Pat McKissack. New York: Random House, 2008. As a young African-American girl pieces her first quilt together, the history of her family, community, and the struggle for justice and freedom in Gee’s Bend, Alabama, unfolds.

When the Shadbush Blooms. Cara Messinger. Berkeley, CA: Tricycle Press, 2007. A young Lenni Lenape Indian child describes her family’s life through the seasons. Includes facts about the Lenni Lenape Indians.

24 | A WORKING READING LIST FOR CATHOLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS Where the Mountain Meets the Moon. Grace Lin. New York: Little, Brown, 2009. 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.

MIDDLE CHILDHOOD GRADE THREE TO GRADE FIVE | 25 Praise the Lord

Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise him in the heights above. Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his heavenly hosts. Praise him, sun and moon; praise him, all you shining stars. Praise him, you highest heavens and you waters above the skies. Let them praise the name of the Lord, for at his command they were created, and he established them for ever and ever— he issued a decree that will never pass away. Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures and all ocean depths, lightning and hail, snow and clouds, stormy winds that do his bidding, you mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars, wild animals and all cattle, small creatures and flying birds, kings of the earth and all nations, you princes and all rulers on earth, young men and women, old men and children. Let them praise the name of the Lord, for his name alone is exalted; his splendor is above the earth and the heavens. And he has raised up for his people a horn, the praise of all his faithful servants, of Israel, the people close to his heart. Praise the Lord.

—Psalm 148

26 | A WORKING READING LIST FOR CATHOLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS my books on community

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MIDDLE CHILDHOOD GRADE THREE TO GRADE FIVE | 29 “Yet I am poor and needy; come quickly to me, O God. You are my help and my deliverer; O Lord, do not delay.” —Psalm 70.5

Abe’s Honest Words: The Life of Abraham Lincoln. Doreen Rappaport. New York: Hyperion Books for Children, 2008. An introduction to the life and career of America’s 16th president.

Ain’t Nothing but a Man: My Quest to Find the Real John Henry. Scott Reynolds Nelson. Washington, DC: National Geographic, 2008. Historian Scott Reynolds Nelson recounts how he came to discover the real John Henry, an African-American railroad worker who became a legend in the famous song.

Annie Shapiro and the Clothing Workers’ Strike. Marlene Targ Brill. Minneapolis: Millbrook Press, 2010. Recounts Annie Shapiro’s experiences during the 1910-1911 Garment Workers’ Strike in Chicago.

Clara Barton. Stephen Krensky. New York, NY: DK, 2011. The life and accomplishments of Clara Barton, a teacher who organized efforts to bring nursing care to wounded soldiers during the Civil War and who went on to become the founder of the American Red Cross.

Coretta Scott. Ntozake Shange. New York: Katherine Tegen Books, 2009. This extraordinary union of poetry and monumental artwork captures the movement for civil rights in the United States and honors its most elegant inspiration, Coretta Scott.

Crossing Bok Chitto: A Choctaw Tale of Friedship & Freedom. Tim Tingle. El Paso, TX: Cinco Puntos Press, 2006. In the 1800s, a Choctaw girl becomes friends with a slave boy from a plantation across the great river. When she learns that his family is in trouble, she helps them cross to freedom.

Delivering Justice: W.W. Law and the Fight for Civil Rights. James Haskins. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press, 2005. Presents the life of W.W. Law, an NAACP activist, whose efforts to register Black voters and lead a successful business boycott resulted in Savannah, Georgia, being the first city in the South to end racial discrimination.

30 | A WORKING READING LIST FOR CATHOLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS Emma’s Poem: The Voice of the Statue of Liberty. Linda Glaser. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010. The story of Emma Lazarus, who, despite her life of privilege, became a tireless advocate for the immigrants who arrived in New York City in the 1880s and wrote a famous poem for the Statue of Liberty.

The Escape of Oney Judge: Martha Washington’s Slave Finds Freedom. Emily Arnold McCully. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 2007. Young Oney Judge risks everything to escape a life of slavery in the household of George and Martha Washington to make her own way as a free Black woman.

Freedom Summer. Deborah Wiles. New York: Aladdin, 2005. In 1964, Joe is pleased that a new law will allow his best friend John Henry, who is Black, to share the town pool and other public places with him, but he is dismayed to find that prejudice still exists.

A Friendship for Today. Pat McKissack. New York: Scholastic Press, 2007. In 1954, when desegregation comes to Kirkland, Missouri, ten-year-old Rosemary faces many changes and challenges at school and at home as her parents separate.

Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans. Kadir Nelson. New York: Balzer + Bray, 2011. Heart and Soul is a simple introduction to African-American history, from slavery in the Revolutionary-War era slavery to the election of President Obama.

The Lemonade Crime. Jacqueline Davies. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011. 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.

Maggie & Oliver, or, A Bone of One’s Own. Valerie Hobbs. New York: Henry Holt, 2011. A dog whose beloved owner has died and an orphaned ten-year-old girl find each other while enduring poverty and homelessness in early-twentieth-century Boston.

Martin’s Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Doreen Rappaport. New York: Hyperion Book, 2007. This is the life story of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in simple words and luminous pictures. It also introduces children to Dr. King’s teachings about nonviolence. Throughout the book, key words from Dr. King’s teachings appear as part of the art.

A Place Where Sunflowers Grow - Sabaku Ni Saita Himaware. Amy Lee-Tai. San Francisco, CA: Children’s Book Press, 2006. While she and her family are interned at Topaz Relocation Center during World War II, Mari gradually adjusts as she enrolls in an art class, makes a friend, plants sunflowers, and waits for them to grow.

MIDDLE CHILDHOOD GRADE THREE TO GRADE FIVE | 31 Rickshaw Girl. Mitali Perkins. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge, 2007. In her village in Bangladesh, ten-year-old Naimi excels at painting designs called alpanas, but to help her impoverished family financially she would have to be a boy--or disguise herself as one.

Silent Music: A Story of Baghdad. James Rumford. New York: Roaring Brook Press, 2008. Ali’s hero is Yakut, a famous calligrapher who lived in Baghdad eight hundred years ago. Then, as now, there was a war in Baghdad. And like Yakut, Ali writes to “fill my mind with peace.”

Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up By Sitting Down. Andrea David Pinkney. New York: Little, Brown, 2010. The case is the Woolworth’s lunch counter sit-in, when four college students staged a peaceful protest that became a defining moment in the struggle for racial equality and the growing Civil Rights Movement.

Sparks Fly High: The Legend of Dancing Point. Mary Quattlebaum. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006. When Colonel Lightfoot and the Devil hold a lengthy dance contest to see who will control a plot of land along the James River in Virginia, the result is a surprise for both participants.

The Taxing Case of the Cows: A True Story about Suffrage. Iris Van Rynbach. Boston: Clarion Books, 2010. In the 1800s, Abby and Julia Smith refused to pay an unfair property tax that they had no voice in establishing.

The Voice That Challenged a Nation: Marian and the Struggle for Equal Rights. Russell Freedman. New York: Clarion Books, 2004. In the mid-1930s, Marian Anderson was a famed vocalist who had been applauded by European royalty and welcomed at the White House. But, because of her race, she was denied the right to sing at Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C.

“There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land.” —Deuteronomy 15.11

32 | A WORKING READING LIST FOR CATHOLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS my books on justice

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MIDDLE CHILDHOOD GRADE THREE TO GRADE FIVE | 33

courage 6

MIDDLE CHILDHOOD GRADE THREE TO GRADE FIVE | 35 “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” —Isaiah 41.10

Amelia Earhart: The Legend of the Lost Aviator. Shelley Tanaka. New York: Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2008. Ever since Amelia Earhart and her plane disappeared on July 2, 1937, people have wanted to know more about this remarkable woman. This book follows the charismatic aviator from her first sight of an airplane at the age of ten to the last radio transmission she made before she vanished.

Around the World: Graphic Novel. Matt Phelan. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press, 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.

A Boy Named Beckoning: The True Story of Dr. Carlos Montezma, Native American Hero. Gina Capaldi. Minneapolis: Carolrhoda Books, 2008. This story reveals the life of a Native American boy named Wassaja, who was kidnapped from his tribe and sold as a slave.

The Cats in Krasinski Square. Karen Hesse. New York: Scholastic Press, 2005. Two Jewish sisters, escapees from the infamous Warsaw Ghetto, devise a plan to thwart an attempt by the Gestapo to intercept food bound for starving people behind the dark wall.

Eleven. Patricia Reilly Giff. New York: Wendy Lamb Books, 2008. Sam MacKenzie will turn eleven as his birthday is approaching quickly. There is something about the number eleven that mystifies him. Sam finds some papers in a box in the attic that may answer his questions, but he cannot read.

Freedom Train. Evelyn Coleman. New York: Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2008. Clyde has been selected to recite the Freedom Pledge when the train stops in Atlanta, but he has stage fright, especially because he’s the favorite target of the class bully. Clyde gets a surprise when an African-American boy, William, comes to his rescue.

36 | A WORKING READING LIST FOR CATHOLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS The Grand Mosque of Paris: A Story of how Muslims Saved Jews during the Holocaust. Karen Gray. New York: Holiday House, 2009. During the Nazi occupation of Paris, no Jew was safe from arrest and deportation to a concentration camp. Few Parisians were willing to risk their own lives to help.

How Oliver Olson Changed the World. Claudia Mills. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2009. Afraid he will always be an outsider, like the ex-planet Pluto, nine-year-old Oliver finally shows his extremely overprotective parents that he is capable of doing great things without their help while his class is studying the solar system.

The Librarian of Basra: A True Story from Iraq. Jeanette Winter. Orlando, FL: Harcourt, 2005. Alia Muhammad Baker is a librarian in Basra, Iraq. For fourteen years, her library has been a meeting place for those who love books. Until now. Now war has come and Alia fears that the library--along with the thirty thousand books inside it--will be destroyed forever.

Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom. Carole Boston Weatherford. New York: Hyperion Books for Children, 2006. This book describes Tubman’s spiritual journey as she hears the voice of God guiding her North to freedom on that very first trip to escape the brutal practice of slavery.

Music for the End of Time. Jennifer Bryant. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 2005. While detained in a German prison camp, a French composer is given a rare opportunity to write music again.

Nasreen’s Secret School: A True Story from Afghanistan. Jeanette Winter. New York: Beach Lane Books, 2009. After her parents are taken away by the Taliban, young Nasreen stops speaking. But as she spends time in a secret school, she slowly breaks out of her shell. Based on a true story.

Nick of Time. Ted Bell. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 2008. Nick McIver is no ordinary boy, fighting pirates, beating Nazis at their own game, and traveling through time.

Night Boat to Freedom. Margot Theis Raven. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006. At the request of his fellow slave Granny Judith, Christmas John risks his life to take runaways across a river from Kentucky to Ohio. Based on slave narratives recorded in the 1930s.

Night of the Hurricane’s Fury. Candice F. Ransom. Minneapolis, MN: Millbrook Press, 2009. In 1900, while visiting his aunt in Galveston, Texas, ten-year-old Robert Pettibone is washed into swirling floodwaters when a hurricane takes the town by surprise.

MIDDLE CHILDHOOD GRADE THREE TO GRADE FIVE | 37 Queen of the Falls. Chris Van Allsburg. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2011. The story of Annie Edson Taylor, who in 1901 decided to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel.

Saltypie: A Choctaw Journey from Darkness. Tim Tingle. El Paso, TX: Cinco Puntos Press, 2010. Stories of the author’s Choctaw Indian family, centering particularly on his blind grandmother.

She Touched the World: Laura Bridgman, Deaf-Blind Pioneer. Sally Hobart Alexander. New York: Clarion Books, 2008. When she was just two years old, Laura Bridgman lost her sight, her hearing, and most of her senses of smell and taste.

Shi-shi-etko. Nicola I. Campbell. Toronto: Groundwood Books, 2005. Shi-shi-etko, a Native American girl, spends the last four days before she goes to a residential school learning valuable lessons from her mother, father, and grandmother, and creating precious memories of home.

Tuesdays at the Castle. Jessica Day George. New York: Bloomsbury, 2011. Eleven-year-old Princess Celie lives with her parents, the king and queen, and her brothers and sister at Castle Glower, which adds rooms or stairways or secret passageways most every Tuesday, and when the king and queen are ambushed while travelling, it is up to Celie.

We are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball. Kadir Nelson. New York: Jump at the Sun/Hyperion Books for Children, 2008. The story of Negro League baseball from its beginnings in the 1920s through the decline after Jackie Robinson crossed over to the majors in 1947.

The Year of the Rat: a Novel. Grace Lin. New York: Little, Brown, 2008. In the Chinese Year of the Rat, a young Taiwanese American girl faces many challenges: her best friend moves to California and a new boy comes to her school, she must find the courage to forge ahead with her dream of becoming a writer and illustrator, and she must learn to find the beauty in change.

“For He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we may boldly say: ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?’” —Hebrews 13.5-6

38 | A WORKING READING LIST FOR CATHOLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS my books on courage

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MIDDLE CHILDHOOD GRADE THREE TO GRADE FIVE | 39 reconciliation7

MIDDLE CHILDHOOD GRADE THREE TO GRADE FIVE | 41 “And through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.” —Colossians 1.20

Always My Brother. Jean Reagan. Gardiner, ME: Tilbury House, 2009. Becky slowly returns to the activities she enjoyed with her big brother, John, after learning that he is still part of her family, even after his death.

Back to School. Wanda E. Brunstetter. Uhrichsville, OH: Barbour, 2007. Rachel’s back in school in Lancaster County! And that’s where trouble finds her once again! Except this time, trouble is spelled O-R-L-I-E. That’s the name of the new boy--the freckle-faced kid with a nasty cowlick--who has an ornery attitude when it comes to Rachel.

Because of Mr. Terupt. Rob Buyea. New York: Delacorte Press, 2010. Seven fifth-graders at Snow Hill School in Connecticut tell how their lives are changed for the better by “rookie teacher” Mr. Terupt.

Black Jack Jety: a Boy’s Journey Through Grief. Michael A. Carestio. Washington, D.C.: Magination Press, 2010. Visiting his family’s summer home on the New Jersey shore, Jack begins to work through his feelings about his father’s death in Afghanistan and to find his place among the cousins and other relatives he has never before met.

Bobby vs. Girls (Accidentally). Lisa Yee. New York: Arthur A. Levine Books, 2009. When Bobby inadvertently gets into a fight with his best friend, Holly, their disagreement develops into boys versus girls war involving their whole fourth-grade class.

The Book of the Maidservant. Rebecca Barnhouse. New York: Random House, 2009. In 1413, a young maidservant accompanies her deeply religious mistress, Dame Margery Kempe, on a pilgrimage to Rome.

The Broken Bike Boy and the Queen of 33rd Street. Sharon Flake. New York: Jump at the Sun/Hyperion Books for Children, 2007. Ten-year-old Queen, a spoiled and conceited African-American girl who is disliked by most of her classmates, learns a lesson about friendship from an unlikely “knight in shining armor.”

42 | A WORKING READING LIST FOR CATHOLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS Circle of Secrets. Kimberley Griffiths Little. New York: Scholastic Press, 2010. A year after her mother deserted the family eleven-year-old Shelby goes to stay with her, deep in the Louisiana bayou, where they both confront old hurts and regrets.

Dear Bully: Seventy Authors Tell Their Stories. Carrie Jones. New York, NY: HarperTeen, 2011. Presents top authors for teens as they share their stories about bullying--as silent observers on the sidelines of high school, as victims, and as perpetrators.

Edgar Allan’s Official Crime Investigation Notebook. Mary Amato. New York: Holiday House, 2010. When someone takes a pet goldfish and then other items from Ms. Herschel’s classroom, each time leaving a clue in the form of a poem, student Edgar Allan competes with a classmate to be first to solve the mystery.

Elvis & Olive. Stephanie Elaine Watson. New York: Scholastic Press, 2008. In spite of their differences, Natalie Wallis and Annie Beckett become friends and decide to spend their summer spying on their neighbors.

The Friendship Doll. Kirby Larson. New York: Delacorte Press, 2011. Throughout the twentieth century, Miss Kanagawa, one of fifty-eight dolls made to serve as ambassadors from Japan to the United States, travels the country learning to love while changing the lives of those who need her.

How to Steal a Dog: A Novel. Barbara O’Connor. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2007. Georgina 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.

Just Grace. Charise Mericle Harper. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2007. Misnamed by her teacher, seven-year-old Just Grace prides herself on being empathetic, but when she tries to help a neighbor feel better, her good intentions backfire.

Our Friendship Rules. Peggy Moss. Gardiner, ME: Tilbury House, 2007. Alexandra tells one of her best friend Jenny’s most important secrets in an effort to be accepted by a cool new girl at school, and then she must try to rescue her friendship with Jenny.

Out of Order. Betty Hicks. New Milford, CT: Roaring Brook Press, 2005. Four youngsters, ages nine to fifteen, narrate one side of the story of their newly-blended family’s adjustment, interwoven with grief and loss.

Possum Summer. Jen K. Blom. New York: Holiday House, 2011. While her father is away at war, eleven-year-old Princess ignores his warning that pet ownership leads to pain when she raises an orphaned possum on their Oklahoma ranch, then tries to send it back to the wild.

MIDDLE CHILDHOOD GRADE THREE TO GRADE FIVE | 43 Roxie and the Hooligans. Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2006. Roxie Warbler, the niece of a famous explorer, follows Uncle Dangerfoot’s advice on how to survive any crisis when she becomes stranded on an island with a gang of school bullies and a pair of murderous bank robbers.

Swindle. Gordon Korman. New York: Scholastic Press, 2008. A novel about standing up to bullies and cheats, regardless of who they are, and accepting responsibility for one’s behavior, no matter how well intentioned.

This is Just to Say: Poems of Apology and Forgiveness. Joyce Sidman. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2007. An imaginary class of students writes poems apologizing to friends, family, and each other. Recipients of the poems respond with poems of forgiveness.

Today I Made My First Reconciliation. Dianne Ahern. Ann Arbor, MI: Aunt Dee’s Attic, 2004. A storybook and keepsake, written to help children, their friends, and their family to love and practice this Sacrament.

Tumford the Terrible. Nancy Tillman. New York: Feiwel and Friends, 2011. Even though Tumford the cat is well loved by George and Violet Stoutt, they despair of ever teaching him to apologize when he does something wrong.

Umbrella Summer. Lisa Graff. New York: Laura Geringer Books, 2009. After her brother, Jared, dies, ten-year-old Annie worries about the hidden dangers of everything, from bug bites to bicycle riding, until she is befriended by a new neighbor who is grieving her own loss.

The Year the Swallows Came Early. Kathryn Fitzmaurice. New York: Bowen Press, 2009. After her father is sent to jail, eleven-year-old Groovy Robinson must decide if she can forgive the failings of someone she loves.

“All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.” —2 Cor. 5.18-19

44 | A WORKING READING LIST FOR CATHOLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS my books on reconciliation

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MIDDLE CHILDHOOD GRADE THREE TO GRADE FIVE | 45

service 8

MIDDLE CHILDHOOD GRADE THREE TO GRADE FIVE | 47 So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus... —Philippians 2.1-11

10 Inventors Who Changed the World. Clive Gifford. Lond: Kingfisher, 2009. The legendary inventors include Galileo, Thomas Edison, Ben Franklin, and James Watt, in a graphic novel format..

31 Ways to Change the World: We are what We Do. Tanis Taylor. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press, 2010. This book contains 31 suggestions and activities that kids can do to help the environment and other people.

Adventures of Sheila the Therapy Dog: Based on a True Story. Debbie Fedorovich. Denver, CO: Outskirts Press, 2007. Sheila is a therapy dog who has gone on many adventures to help people in need. Along with her owner, Debbie, the pair has visited nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, schools, libraries, and more.

Animal Rescue Team: Gator on the Loose! Sue Stauffacher. New York: Knopf, 2010. Chaos ensues when Keisha’s father brings an escaped alligator home to Carter’s Urban Rescue, but it gets out of the bathroom while Grandma is guarding it.

48 | A WORKING READING LIST FOR CATHOLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS Be the Change: Your Guide to Freeing Slaves and Changing the World. Zach Hunter. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2007. Describes the existence of slavery around the world today and what teenagers can do to fight against it, with an examination of incidents in the lives of leaders and slaves that have inspired the teenage author.

Blessed Teresa of Calcutta: Missionary of Charity. Mary Kathleen Glavich. Boston, MA: Pauline Books & Media, 2003. Mother Teresa of Calcutta, the Yugoslavian nun who became a missionary to India, dedicated her life to serving the poorest of the poor, and founded the Missionaries of Charity, a congregation of Catholic sisters who carry on her work.

Combat-Wounded Dogs. Sunita Apte. New York, NY: Bearport, 2010. Apte presents information on the use of dogs in the military and discusses their roles in past wars. She provides examples of their bravery in the Iraq War of 2003 and descriptions of the training and medical treatment available to them today.

The Day-Glo Brothers: The True Story of Bob and Joe Switzer’s Bright Ideas and Brand-New Colors. Chris Barton. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge, 2009. This is the story of Joe and Bob Switzer, who experimented with ultraviolet lights and fluorescent paints and invented a new kind of color called Day-Glo.

Do Something! A Handbook for Young Activists. Nancy Lublin. New York: Workman, 2010. Describes projects for the young activist, such as fighting hunger, ending poverty, and saving the environment.

Give a Goat. Jan West Schrock. Gardiner, ME: Tilbury House, 2008. After hearing a story about a girl in Uganda whose life is changed for the better by the gift of a goat, a class of fifth-graders pulls together to raise funds to make a similar donation to someone in need.

Just for Elephants. Carol Buckley. Gardiner, ME: Tilbury House, 2006. Buckley reveals the complexity and intelligence of elephants. She is the keeper of an elephant sanctuary.

Just Grace Goes Green. Charise Mericle Harper. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 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 Mimi get her favorite stuffed animal back?

The Lemonade Club. Patricia Polacco. New York: Philomel Books, 2007. When Marilyn and her teacher, Miss Wichelman both get cancer, they encourage each other and, aided by medical treatments and support from friends, they get better.

MIDDLE CHILDHOOD GRADE THREE TO GRADE FIVE | 49 Lily’s Victory Garden. Helen L. Wilbur. Ann Arbor, MI: Sleeping Bear Press, 2010. Lily gets permission to plant a Victory Garden at the house next door, where the Bishops’ son has died in the war, and slowly the garden helps Mrs. Bishop recover from her grief.

Miss Brooks Loves Books (and I Don’t). Barbara Bottner. New York: Knopf, 2010. A first-grade girl who does not like to read stubbornly resists her school librarian’s efforts to convince her to love books until she finds one that might change her mind.

Mother Teresa. Demi. New York: Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2005. A biography of Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, known as Mother Teresa, who spent most of her life serving “the poorest of the poor” in Calcutta, India.

One Thousand Tracings: Healing the Wounds of World War II. Deborah Hopkinson. New York: Hyperion Books for Children, 2007. The author describes her family’s efforts to help their friends and others who were left homeless and hungry in the aftermath of World War II.

Pararescuemen in Action. Michael Sandler. New York: Bearport, 2008. Learn about U.S. Air Force pararescuemen, a special group that performs tough rescues.

Passing the Music Down. Sarah Sullivan. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press, 2011. A boy and his family befriend a country fiddler, who teaches the boy all about playing the old tunes, which the boy promises to help keep alive.

Riparia’s River. Michael J. Caduto. Gardiner, ME: Tilbury House, 2011. When Gretchen, her twin brother Jason, their little sister Daphne, and a friend find their favorite swimming hole filled with green slime, they learn how the water became polluted and what can be done to clean it up.

Saint Francis of Assisi: A Life of Joy. Robert Francis Kennedy. New York: Hyperion Books for Children, 2006. Tells the story of the man who became one of the most famous saints in the world, from his fun- loving youth through his career as a soldier to the years he spent serving God.

Sarah Emma Edmonds was a Great Pretender: The True Story of a Civil War Spy. Carrie Jones. Minneapolis: Carolrhoda Books, 2011. A picture book biography of Sarah Emma Edmonds, a Canadian-born woman who served as a spy in the Union Army during the Civil War.

Shep: Our Most Loyal Dog. Sneed B. Collard. Chelsea, MI: Sleeping Bear Press, 2006. The true story of a Montana dog that became a worldwide inspiration. In 1936, Shep watched as his master’s body was placed on a train and shipped east.

50 | A WORKING READING LIST FOR CATHOLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS Show Time. Sue Stauffacher. New York: Knopf, 2011. Keisha’s family’s animal rescue center is asked to help at a nearby college that is being overrun with squirrels, while Keisha is trying to deal with her nervousness as she prepares for the regional jump-rope competition.

Special Delivery. Sue Stauffacher. New York: Knopf, 2010. Ten-year-old Keisha and her family’s animal rescue center face more challenges involving a baby crow in a mailbox and a skunk found in the nearby community garden.

The Vermeer Interviews: Conversations with Seven Works of Art. Bob Raczka. Minneapolis, MN: Millbrook Press, 2009. Bob Raczka takes on the role of interviewer and the people in the paintings become his willing subjects.

Wild Lives: a History of the People & Animals of the Bronx Zoo. Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld. New York: Knopf, 2006. Wild Lives takes readers through a century of zoo keeping at one of the most-beloved zoos in the world and shares what zoologists have learned over the years about keeping wild animals.

“What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” —James 2.14-17

MIDDLE CHILDHOOD GRADE THREE TO GRADE FIVE | 51 my books on service

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52 | A WORKING READING LIST FOR CATHOLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS resources

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MIDDLE CHILDHOOD GRADE THREE TO GRADE FIVE | 53 Pauline Discover Hope. Daughters of St. Paul, 2011 (http://store.pauline.org/‌English/‌Books/‌tabid/‌12 6/‌List/‌0/‌CategoryID/‌765/‌Level/‌a/‌Default.aspx?SortField=ProductName%2cProductName)

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Weblog post. Abby the Librarian. eBlogger, 2011 (http://www.abbythelibrarian.com)

Weblog post. Book Aunt. e-Blogger, 2011 (http://bookaunt.blogspot.com)

Weblog post. Bookworm Burrow. Wordpress, 2011 (http://bookwormburrow.wordpress.com)

Weblog post. Reading Together for Life. Mother Daughter Book Club, 2009 (http://motherdaughte rbookclub.com)

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Welcome to the Middle Level Section of NCTE -- Your Home in the Middle! National Council of Teachers of English, 2011 (http://www.ncte.org/‌middle)

“Welcome to the Newbery Medal Home Page!” Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC). American Lib. Assn., 2011 (http://www.ala.org/‌alsc/‌awardsgrants/‌bookmedia/‌newberymedal/‌new berymedal)

“Welcome to the Pura Belpré Award Home Page!” American for Library Service to Children (ALSC). American Lib. Assn., 6 Oct. 2011 (http://www.ala.org/‌alsc/‌awardsgrants/‌bookmedia/‌belpremedal)

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54 | A WORKING READING LIST FOR CATHOLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS about the author

KATHLEEN MARIE BURGESS has taught religious education classes, served as an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion, and volunteered as an adult advisor for her parish CYO. She and her husband, David, Sr., were members of the Fundraising Board for Rosemont College and De Sales University. She served as the treasurer of the Catholic Library Association’s Neumann Chapter and completed courses at Villanova University in Library Science and Technology. Burgess has instructed students in the effective use of the library and encouraged teachers to read aloud and share books with students. While serving as a member of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s Instructional Technology Planning Board, she began instructing teachers and students in the use of computers and Internet tools. Since 1987, she has served as a member of the Elementary Curriculum Committee and is now the Chairman of that Committee. Burgess has written curriculum guidelines and has assisted many elementary schools in the planning, organizing, and setting up of school libraries. She has been a presenter on the topic of the integration of technology in the curriculum and maintains the Elementary Library/Media Committee web site: http://teacherweb. com/PA/AOP/ElementaryLibraryMediaCommittee/h0.aspx.

Burgess and her husband are the parents of Kathleen, a teacher of French and Spanish, and David, Jr., a radio marketing and promotions director, and the grandparents of Jacqueline and Christopher.

MIDDLE CHILDHOOD GRADE THREE TO GRADE FIVE | 55 notes

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56 | A WORKING READING LIST FOR CATHOLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS

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