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
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
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
“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
“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
The world is dark, and light is precious.Come closer, dear reader.You must trust me.I am telling you a story. Welcome to The Tale of Despereaux, the Newbery Medal winning book from the redoubtable storyteller, Kate DiCamillo. The tale takes place in a castle and is the story of a mouse, a princess, a rat, and … Read more
A second Newbery Medal winner from Kate DiCamillo? Holy Bagumba! Flora Belle Buckman is an avid reader of comic books and self-proclaimed, natural-born cynic. A freak accident (while her neighbor is vacuuming her lawn!) transforms a squirrel into a character with creative superpowers, just like Peter Parker being bitten by an irradiated arachnid. Or like … Read more
“My name is India Opal Buloni, and last summer my daddy, the preacher, sent me to the store for a box of macaroni-and-cheese, some white rice, and two tomatoes and I came back with a dog.” So begins Kate DiCamillo’s widely-loved, Newbery Honor Book, Because of Winn-Dixie. Opal has just moved to Florida with her … Read more
The BFG is one of many fantastic novels written for children by Roald Dahl, the beloved author of imaginative tales told in accessible, reader-friendly prose. If you’ve only read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and/or James and the Giant Peach, it’s time to introduce The BFG to your students and your families The BFG tells the … Read more
Bud, Not Buddy is the Newbery Award-winning follow-up to Christopher Paul Curtis’s acclaimed The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963. It tells the story of Bud (not Buddy), a ten-year-old African-American boy in search of his father in Depression-era Michigan. Bud’s mother has died, landing him in the Home, an orphanage in Flint. When he … Read more
“The sea, the sea, the sea. It rolled and rolled and called to me. Come in, it said, come in.” Prepare to set sail with thirteen-year-old Sophie as she voyages across the Atlantic Ocean from America to England to visit her grandfather, Bompie. She is accompanied by a motley crew of uncles and cousins, all … Read more
A Story About Art, Inspiration, and the Meaning of Home What is a home? Is it a large house? Can it be a cage? The toe of a worn old boot? A nest in a matchbox? A shirt pocket? Or can it be found, instead, in the heart of a friend? Celeste is a mouse … Read more
“Sometimes the things we want and the things we love get tangled up in our hearts like bramble when we try to do what’s right.” This poetic notion encapsulates the adventures in the novel, Brambleheart, written and illustrated by Henry Cole. Sometimes it is hard to choose between the things we want and the things … Read more
It sure is hard to be a dog. If only his Humans knew the struggle. Phew! Fenway and Hattie is the story of a dog and his Humans, their understandings and misunderstandings. It is a charming tale of true dedication and friendship. Fenway and his favorite Short Human, Hattie, find a way to better relate … Read more
“The crate… soared through the air, spinning and glistening until it slammed down onto a tall shelf of rock. The crate was cracked and crumpled, but the robot inside was safe.” Here is a strange and wonderful tale from renowned (and Caldecott-winning) artist, Peter Brown. A novel about a robot marooned on a mysterious island … Read more
A masterpiece is “a painting that can be seen in a hundred different ways.” A boy, a beetle, and a masterpiece all come together for a story that is part art history lesson, part art heist, and all about the power of an unexpected friendship. Marvin is the beetle. He lives with his family in … Read more
Judy Blume published Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing in 1972. The first book in a series of five, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing presents us with the plight of Peter Hatcher, a nine-year-old kid whose two-year-old brother, Fudge, creates havoc wherever he goes. Peter tries hard to put up with his brother’s shenanigans, … Read more
Humphrey is back in his 6th Betty Birney adventure and Read to Them is proud to offer it as another recommended Humphrey title – along with a complete suite of of activities, trivia questions, and assembly ideas. Readers have asked for more Humphrey, so we’re happy to keep ‘em coming. Schools continue to impress with fantastic … Read more
“We are history. This, right here, is all history ever has been: regular people living their regular lives, making things up as they go, hoping they get it right.” That’s what Caitlyn ultimately concludes about her new school. But it takes moving from New York to Vermont and going to a quirky new school to … Read more
El Deafo is a graphic novel that tells Cece Bell’s own story of growing up in Virginia in the 1970s. Students love graphic novels and they are a great way to hook even the most reluctant readers with their colorful illustrations which support the plot and illuminate the world of the story. El Deafo is … Read more
Can a classic written over 100 years ago still have something to share with modern readers? Yes, when the classic is L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, especially in this edition with black-and-white versions of W.W. Denslow’s whimsical illustrations. Come along with Dorothy on her journey from Kansas to Oz and back again, … Read more
The One and Only Ivan, winner of the 2013 Newbery medal, is a very special book. It’s the story of a silverback gorilla, forsaken as a shopping mall attraction. Ivan manages, thanks to an array of supporters, to survive and flourish and discover a new and better habitat. It’s a story told from Ivan’s perspective … Read more
Basketball. Competition. Family. Health. Poetry. Kwame Alexander weaves all these all elements together in his Newbery Medal and Coretta Scott King Award winning novel in verse, The Crossover. OH, WOW – DID YOU SEE THAT NASTY CROSSOVER?Now you see why they call me Filthy.Folks, I hope you got your tickets,Because I’m about to put on … Read more
Zoe Washington is intrepid. She’s just turned 12, she wants to be a pastry chef, she’s interning at a local bakery, and she wants to audition for Food Network’s Kids Bake Off Challenge (and be the first Black girl to win). She’s also trying to navigate a rough patch with her longtime best friend, Trevor. … Read more
