Traditional Literature

1. The Frog Prince, Continued by Jon Scieszka

Summary: After the Princess and the Prince are not getting along so well, the prince decides that he wants to turn back into a frog.

2. Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock by Eric A. Kimmel

Summary: Anasi used the moss-covered rock to trick all of the animals, but Little Spotted Deer plays a trick back on him.

3. The Three Snow Bears by Jan Brett

Summary: Aloo-ki loses her dog sled team and finds an igloo where three bears are staying.  She goes inside and eats their soup, tries on their boots, and falls asleep in their beds.

4. The Three Pigs by David Weisner

Summary: Three little pigs build houses to escape a big bad wolf.

5. The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter

 Summary: While Mrs. Rabbit and the other bunnies gather food for supper, Peter runs away and gets into trouble at a garden.

6. The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney

 Summary: A lion and a mouse become friends due to some unlikely circumstances.  When the mouse wakes up the lion he is upset but lets him go.  A few pages later the lion gets caught in a net by some hunters and the mouse gets him out by biting threw the ropes.

7. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

 Summary: The story begins in World War II where a set of brothers and sisters are evacuated out London and sent to live with the Professor.  While there the children find a wardrobe that has a doorway to a magical world called Narnia.

8. Tom Thumb: Grimms’ Tales Retold and Illustrated by Eric Carle

 Summary: A farmer and his wife lived in the forest and were not well off, a Merlin came to their door disguised as a beggar.  The wife wanted nothing more then to have a child.  When the Merlin left they had a child no bigger then a thumb and his name was Tom Thumb.

9. A Christmas Carol By Charles Dickens

Summary: This tale begins on Christmas Eve seven years after the death of Ebenezer Scrooge's business partner Jacob Marley. Scrooge is established within the first stave as a greedy and stingy businessman who has no place in his life for kindness, compassion, charity, or benevolence.

10. The Cajun Gingerbread Boy By Bertha Amoss

Summary: Retelling of classic story in which gingerbread boy keeps running through bayou country until he is outwitted and gobbled up by an alligator. Comes with a die cut figure of gingerbread boy, which is passed through a slit in each page.

11. The Little Red Hen By Paul Galdone

Summary: Henry is a very particular sort of pig. "A place for everything and everything in its place," he always says. But when he looks out his window he is troubled. The farm is a mess!  Henry is worried that nobody will be able to find anything in this mess. So he draws a map showing all the animals exactly where they belong.  And Henry embarks on a journey through the farm, his friends tagging along as he creates his map: sheep in the woolshed, chickens in the coop, the horse in the stable. After the map is complete, Henry uses it to bring himself back home, where he is relieved to know that he is exactly where he belongs.

12.  The Monkey and The Crocodile By Paul Galdone

Summary: On the banks of the Ganges, a monkey lived in the rose apple tree. While he was eating them, one day a crocodile came out of the river, and the monkey threw down a few rose apples. The crocodile chomped on them and found truly wonderful. After that action the monkey and the crocodile became friends. 

13.  The Three Little Kittens By Paul Galdone

Summary: The favorite Mother Goose rhyme about the three careless kittens who lost their mittens is given added appeal with Galdone's bold and colorful illustrations.

Realistic Fiction

1. Joey Pigza Loses Control by Jack Gantos

Summary: Joey has trouble paying attention.  His constant mood swings make his teacher and his parents angry.

2. Owl Moon by Jane Yolen

Summary: A girl and a father take a trip through the woods in the wintertime to go owling, or impersonate an owl in order to get its attention.

3. I Can Be Anything by Jerry Spinelli

Summary: A young boy wonders what he will be when he gets older.

Characters: A young boy.

4. Ramona the Pest by Beverly Cleary

Summary: Ramona Quimby goes to kindergarten for the first time.

5. Superfudge by Judy Blume

Summary: This is a book about two brothers, Peter and Fudge, Fudge is always causing trouble.  He is only four years old and is very smart for his age, according to Peter, Fudge is the biggest pain in the butt ever.

6. When I was Young in the Mountains by Cynthia Rylant

Summary: A brother and sister talk about their experience living in the mountains as children.

7. Junie B. First Grader (at Last!) by Barbara Park

Summary: This book is about a girl that goes to first grade and cannot see what the teacher is writing on the board so she may need classes to see what the teacher is writing.

8. A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Philip C. Stead

Summary: Amos who works at the zoo wakes up sick one day and his friends from the zoo come to visit him while he is sick.

9. Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney

Summary: This book is about a student named Greg Heffley and his struggles in middle school.

10. Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale by Mo Williems

Summary: This book is about a girl and her father going to the laundry mat and this start to go terribly wrong when she leaves her stuffed bunny behind.

11. The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats

Summary: This book is about a boy who steps outside after it has snowed and has all types of adventures in the snow.

12. The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds

Summary: This book is about a girl in art class and she claims she does not know how to draw but her teacher uses some wit and proves her wrong.

13. The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown

Summary: This is a story about a little bunny that keeps running away but his mother always finds him no matter where he hides.

14. Because of Winn Dixie By Kate DiCamillo

Summary: Opal describes all the good things that happen because of her big, ugly dog, Winn-Dixie.

15. Beezus and Ramona By Beverly Cleary
Summary: Ramona invites her entire kindergarten class over one rainy day, without telling her mother! This hilarious book will captivate you.


16.  The Breadwinner By Deborah Ellis
Summary: A courageous young Afghan girl pretends to be a boy in order to support her family.


17.  Dear Mr. Henshaw By Beverly Cleary
Summary: Ten-year-old Leigh confides his troubles in letters to his favorite author.


18.  Eggs Over Evie By Alison Jackson
Summary: Evie tries to cope with her parents' divorce, her dad's new wife, and the idea of a new sibling.

Nonfiction/Biography/Graphic Novels/Poetry

1. Henry’s Freedom Box: A true Story from the Underground Railroad by Ellen Levine

Summary: After a slave is separated from his family growing up and the family he had raised, he decided to run away to Pennsylvania.

2. My Great Aunt Arizona by Gloria Houston

Summary: This story is about a girl named Arizona and her life growing up in school and eventually she grew up to become a school teacher.

3. We the Kids: The Preamble to the Constitution of the United States by Dave Catrow

Summary: This is a story about what they constitution means in the eyes of a child.

4. What Do You Do with a Tail Like This? by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page

Summary: This book is about animals in the wild and what their different body parts do.

5. Around the World by Matt Phelan

Summary: Thomas Stevens was working in a mine and he decides that he want to ride his bicycle across the Unites States.  Once he gets to the coast he decides that he wants to ride his bike around the world in eighty days.

6. Killer Whales by Seymour Simon

Summary: This is a book about Killer Whales and how they live in the ocean and the kinds of things they eat.

7. Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave by Laban Carrick Hill

Summary: Dave is a slave who looks at the dirt and sees clay; he makes bowls out of this clay so he can store things that he needs to survive.

8. Bilby Secrets By Edel Wignel

Summary: This is a delightful non-fiction picture book that teaches us in narrative form about the life of the wonderful bilby, an Australian marsupial. It traces the events of a typical day for mother and baby, and the perils of native and feral animals as the baby Bilby tries to survive life in the Australian landscape.

 

9. Amazing Grace: An Adventure at Sea By Stephanie Owen

Summary: This is a story about the courage of 16-year-old Grace Bussell. The year is 1876, when a steam ship, the 'Georgette', runs aground near Margaret River in Western Australia. On shore an ordinary 16 year old girl sees the unfolding drama and heads off on horseback with the family servant Sam Isaacs to try to help the stranded passengers. Grace and Sam head into the water with their horses and rescue many people. 

 

10. The Boy from Bowral By Robert Ingpen

Summary: Bradman is seen as a legend in any cricket playing nation and Ingpen provides a lucidly written and historically accurate picture of Bradman's early life in Bowral, his rise to prominence as a cricketer, and his sporting career.

 

11. The Legend of Moondyne Joe By Mark Greenwood

Summary: Moondyne Joe was not known for gunfights or holding up stagecoaches in the early days of the colony. It was the convict bushranger's ability to escape each time he was placed behind bars that made him infamous.