Program Length: 3-Week Read
Project Mulberry
Like most seventh-grade girls, Julia Song just wants to be seen as normal. That’s hard to do when her family is the only Korean one in town, and her best friend, Patrick, has an enthusiasm for Korean culture that sometimes makes Julia think he needs to “get his DNA tested.” It’s bad enough that he … Read more
Nim’s Island
A rich, modern, and now classic fable. Nim’s Island takes us to the idyllic spot in the Pacific where a young girl, Nim, lives with her scientist father. They are self-sufficient in their paradise, complete with solar powered computer batteries and a satellite dish. This isn’t a standard stranded-on-a-desert-island story. We spend all our time with … Read more
Shiloh *
“…because there isn’t anything as humble or patient or loving or loyal as the dog I have in my arms right now.” Marty Preston lives in a rural town in West Virginia where one of his favorite activities is exploring the land. Marty’s life is changed when he finds a thin, skittish beagle he names … Read more
Upside-Down Magic
Nory Horace was trying to turn herself into a kitten. She was hiding in case something went wrong. The world went blurry, and Nory’s heart beat faster. Her body stretched and shrank. But wait. Her front legs weren’t kitten legs. And what was this nose? It was more of a snout. A beaver nose. Zamboozle! … Read more
Rescue on the Oregon Trail
Go west, readers, with Ranger in Time, Rescue on the Oregon Trail, a tale of determination, danger, and loyalty that will keep you on the edge of your wagon seat! Ranger is a golden retriever who has been trained as a search-and-rescue dog, but he can’t pass the test because of his love for chasing squirrels. … Read more
The Toothpaste Millionaire
“Rufus’s idea wasn’t to become a millionaire. Just to make toothpaste…” Rufus Mayflower is a can-do kid. He is a sunny problem-solver who charms and inspires the students and friends and even adults around him. When Rufus balks at paying too much for toothpaste, he decides to make his own. When he discovers how easy … Read more
Merci Suárez Changes Gears
Introducing… Merci Suárez! She is fun, spunky, ambitious, mature (and sometimes immature) – making for one highly representative middle-schooler. Merci’s story is one of change, of accepting the hard truths in life and the bumps along the road. Hers is also the story of a loving family that helps during this tricky time. Join Merci … Read more
Rules
“How else can hopes go, but up?” Rules is a book that begins as girl caring for her autistic brother. It is heartfelt and witty, a story that celebrates people’s differences and personal introspection and asks the question: What does normal really look like? We empathize right away with the protagonist, Catherine, who regularly has … Read more
Drita, My Homegirl *
“It’s better to have one true friend than a million others.” Drita and her family are refugees from war-torn Kosovo. Once they have settled in America, all Drita wants to do is fit in. She’s got heart and determination in spades, but Drita speaks very little English and making friends is easier said than done. … Read more
Restart
How many people get a do-over on life? Can a leopard change its spots? After a fall off the roof lands Chase in a coma, he regains consciousness with a concussion and amnesia. The concussion keeps the all-county running back temporarily off the football team. But the real challenge is the amnesia. Chase has to … Read more
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler is a Newbery Award winner that teachers and parents (and even grandparents!) may remember from their childhoods. Claudia and Jamie Kincaid run away from their safe suburban Connecticut home and hide out in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Can they remain undiscovered? … Read more
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind is a nonfiction title that informs, amazes, and inspires all readers, young and not so young. To call it another inspiring must-read doesn’t do it justice. Yes, it has all of the components of a heartfelt hometown hero story. An unlikely hero? Check. An against-all-odds situation? Check. Tragedy and … Read more
Almost Super
Iron resolve. Ferocious courage. And a healthy dose of insanity. In Marion Jensen’s Almost Super, each of these attributes is as important to members of the Bailey family as are the superpowers they receive on the leap year after they turn twelve. But for brothers Rafter and Benny, those coveted superpowers may just look a … Read more
Fish in a Tree
“On the outside, happy and sad often look the same.” What is it like to try to read when the letters seem to move on the page? What is like to be in the room full of people – and still feel all alone? Meet Ally. She’s dyslexic, but she doesn’t know there’s an actual … Read more
Hoot
“It’s important to stand up for what’s right, but sometimes there’s a fine line between courage and stupidity.” Hoot is the great Carl Hiaasen’s first foray into children’s literature, and he won the Newbery Honor for it. Well known for his adult novels with fast-paced, humorous tales of environmental shenanigans in Florida, Hiaasen hit a … Read more
The Year of Billy Miller
Kevin Henkes is one of those special authors who manages to get the tone kids live in – gentle, sweet, provocative – just right. He does it with picture books (Lily’s Purple Plastic Purse); he does it with novels (Olive’s Ocean); and he really gets is right with The Year of Billy Miller, a Newbery Honor … Read more
The Mysterious Abductions
It’s animals on a mission. It’s a mystery to be solved. But it is no ordinary story about animals banding together to solve a problem. For starters, there are no ordinary house pets or farm animals to be found. Instead, we get pangolins and sugar gliders and Yiddish-speaking bats! Oy vey! Also, wombats, jerboas, and coyotes. … Read more
Charlie Bumpers vs. The Teacher of the Year
Charlie Bumpers is an Everyman, or Everykid. He’s someone we’re meant to identify with, a regular kid, not a great student, impish and not quite innocent. And every time he tries to do something interesting or innovative, he somehow gets in trouble. You know that kid, right? “I know all about you, Charlie Bumpers.” In … Read more
Refugee
Three characters; separated by continents, divided by decades, and bound by harrowing circumstances that reach beyond time and place. The journeys of the three protagonists in Alan Gratz’s Refugee are distinct in history, yet they share a common trajectory of escaping cruelty to find freedom. Josef from Germany in the 1930s, Isabel from Cuba in … Read more
Ban This Book *
We all know that student who loves books — really, really loves books. Amy Anne Ollinger is just that student. Her favorite place in the whole world is her school library, and her favorite book is From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. You can imagine her shock when this book-loving girl finds … Read more
Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library
“A library doesn’t need windows… We have books, which are windows into worlds we never even dreamed possible.” Kyle Keeney loves games – especially those created by world-renowned game maker, Mr. Luigi Lemoncello. As luck would have it, Mr. Lemoncello has built a public library in Kyle’s hometown. Students in Kyle’s class are challenged to … Read more
My Side of the Mountain
Sometimes a chestnut from another generation can be just the right antidote for our times. So it may be with Jean Craighead George’s Newbery Honor book, My Side of the Mountain. While the modern world offers many conveniences like a weather report on your phone or groceries delivered to your doorstep, a life more closely … Read more
Cleo Edison Oliver, Playground Millionaire
“You can do anything you want with your name. It’s yours.” Cleo Edison Oliver is confident, independent, and enterprising. She is ready to take on the world– and she is open for business. She’s also just a kid, a young African-American girl navigating elementary school. Amid her various enterprising business schemes this novel is also … Read more