Sci. Fi/Fantasy/Sports/Novels-in-verse

Falling In by Frances O’Roark Dowell

Genre: Fantasy

Age Level: 8 & up

Isabelle Bean is a unique, imaginative young girl. After she is sent to the principal’s office for not paying attention in class, she stumbles into the nurse’s office. A classmate is frightened by a mouse and tells Isabelle it went in the closet, so Isabelle turns the doorknob and “falls in” to another world- a world where children are running to camps away from their houses because they think that a witch is after them. The witch turns out to be Isabelle’s grandmother, which explains why Isabelle always felt she was a changeling; taken by fairies as a baby and switched to another world. Imaginative story, loosely referenced ‘Hansel and Gretel’; two children in the woods being coaxed by a witch, the main characters names are Hen and Grete. This is a very creative story that asks young readers to explore their imaginations.

Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

Genre: Fantasy

Newberry Honor Book

Age Level: 8 & up

This take on ‘Cinderella’ is about a young girl, Ella, who was given a curse by a fairy when she was born. The curse is that no matter what the circumstance, Ella must be obedient and always follow any commands given to her by anyone. No matter how much Ella tries to fight the curse, she becomes terribly ill when she doesn’t obey it. She befriends not only Prince Charmont because of her wit and charm, but the ogres and elves and other mythical creatures near her hometown Frell. When her mother passes away her father decides to send her off to finishing school when she meets her future step-sisters. The ending very much follows the story of Cinderella such as Ella becoming her evil step-mother and step-sisters scullery maid and treated badly with the exception of her fairy godmother helping her. Prince Charmont holds a ball to greet a potential wife, when really he only wants Ella but she denies him thinking her curse will cause harm. Ella sneaks off to the ball and loses her glass slipper at midnight…and you know the ending right? I really enjoyed this version of Cinderella and am glad I had an excuse to read it for this week because I’ve wanted to for awhile and haven’t had the chance to.

 

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

Genre: Science Fiction

Age Level: 10 & up 

Meg and Charles Wallace Murry’s father is a physicist who is on a secret mission for the government and has been missing for a while. Meg’s brother Charles Wallace and schoolmate Calvin O’Keefe are brought to Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which. The three elderly “women” explain to Meg and the two boys that a tesseract is a ‘wrinkle in time’ or the lines in between space and time.  They transport the three children to the planet Camazotz where the Murry father is being trapped. Before they can reach or rescue their father though, Charles Wallace gets hypnotized by IT who controls all of the human’s activities and thoughts. Once Meg breaks through to get her father to escape, she and Calvin must now see if it is too late to get her brother Charles Wallace back from IT’s control. Meg also has to face The Black Thing, an evil darkness, in order to get back to her brother. Science fiction and books like this might not be my cup of tea, but they definitely get your brain to think and wonder about things such as life outside of Earth?

The Giver by Lois Lowry

Genre: Science Fiction

Newberry Award Winner

Reading Level: Ages 12 & up

Okay I take back what I said about not liking Science Fiction books once I realized The Giver was a science fiction book! I remember reading this book and loving it as a child. It certainly brings you to think about life outside of what we know of it. The main character Jonas lives in a community based upon “sameness” where jobs and basically every decision is assigned. The people living in sameness are happy because they don’t know any better and have no choices to make, but they also are deprived of emotions such as love, colors since they are all colorblind and even knowledge of anything else.  Pills and genetic engineering are used to suppress and manipulate them. The children’s toys and belongings are allocated by how old they are. For example, Jonas’ sister wants a bicycle but can’t get one until she turns 9 and so on. Jonas is one of the ‘Elevens’ because he is eleven-years old, and when he and the others turn twelve they will be assigned their job by the Committee of Elders based upon their personalities. Jonas is assigned to be the next ‘Receiver of Memory’ a job that requires Jonas to learn knowledge outside of his community such as memories and pain and pleasure. He is trained for his job by the last Receiver of Memory, the Giver. The Giver introduces many things to Jonas through memories; violence, loss, family, beauty, animals. He gives Jonas the knowledge of life outside of what he knows, which makes Jonas start to think what would happen if he left the community and shared all of his memories? This is an amazing book with great details and I highly recommend everyone, regardless of age/gender/reading preferences, to read.

The Hit-Away Kid by Matt Christopher

Genre: Sports

Grade Level: 2 & up

While Barry McGee is playing baseball for the Mudders team he makes a catch in the outfield and then proceeds to drop the ball, but no one sees the ball roll out of his glove except his sister. Instead of telling the truth, Barry decides to pretend he didn’t drop the ball and gets away with it. Then Barry’s rival Alec, the pitcher of another team, steals Barry’s younger brother’s statue and will give it back if Barry hits two homeruns off of him. Barry hits one homerun off of Alec, and then on another hit he misses touching second base but keeps running. He decides to be honest and tell the truth and gets himself out because he remembered how it felt when he had lied about catching that ball. Not only does Alec respect Barry’s honesty about missing second base and gives back his brother’s figurine, but the message is clear to the young readers: that being honest even if no one else saw what happened but you, is always the right choice to make. 

 

The Big Field by Mike Lupica

Genre: Sports

Age Level: 10 & up

Being a shortstop means everything to Keith Hutchinson a.k.a. Hutch. His hero is Yankee’s player Derek Jeter and Hutch’s own dad was even a professional shortstop back in the day, but that all changes when the great Darryl Williams joins the team and Hutch is put at second base. Not only does Hutch feel inferior to Darryl because he’s a great player and took over his position, but he can’t seem to get along with Darryl at first no matter how hard he tries because of Darryl’s attitude. Then when Hutch discovers his dad, who seems to have no interest in Hutch or his baseball playing, hitting ground balls to Darryl he feels horribly betrayed. Not only is this a good story for a baseball lover to read, but it covers strongly the subject matter on how fathers and sons struggle in their relationships. Hutch and his father share this love of the game, yet something is hindering them from bonding. I think that many young boys would like this book and others by Mike Lupica even if they are not athletic or have father-son issues.

Heat by Mike Lupica

Genre: Sports

Reading Level: ages 10 & up

Michael Arroyo is not your typical twelve-year-old baseball player. He has an arm comparable to ‘El Grande’ the Yankees’ most prominent pitcher (fictional character). Michael and his best friend Manny play for the South Bronx Clippers, a youth male summer baseball team that is headed to the Little League World Series. This has been Michael’s dream for as long as he can remember and he should be thrilled with this opportunity- but there’s a deep secret that Michael and his brother Carlos have been keeping from everyone. No one but their neighbor Mrs. Cora and Manny know that their father had passed away from a heart attack, leaving Michael and Carlos alone in New York City. Carlos and Michael don’t want to be split up and decide to not tell anyone of their father’s death. It has been working out for them until a rival baseball team’s jealousy of Michael’s “heat” (great pitching arm) challenge him by asking to prove he is twelve years old. Michael must come up with a birth certificate in order to be allowed to play in the World Series. With no relatives in America to help, and his birth certificate being lost when they emigrated from Cuba, how will Michael prove he really is twelve? Or more importantly, can he keep the secret from getting out and separating him and Carlos? This was an awesome book; many references to baseball (my favorite sport) and the Yankees (my favorite team). If you like baseball you’ll love this book.

Out of the Dust by Karen Hesses

Genre: Verse Novel

Newberry Winner

Age Level: 9 & up

Out of the Dust is written in poems, or free-verse form, from the perspective of fourteen-year-old Billie Jo who lives in Oklahoma during the Dust Bowl years of the Depression. The dust storms are completely destroying their lives and making life harder and harder each day. Then due to a horrible, tragic accident, her mother and unborn baby brother die. The accident also leaves Billie Jo with her hands damaged and with guilt that she played a role in the horrible accident that killed her mother. The despair of these storms comes through in Billie Jo’s poems; how the dust is ruining everything around her and how miserable it must have been for these people that lived through this. This book made me curious to research the dust bowl years because I only remember them vaguely from school. I liked Hesse’s writing style of diary entries put in poems, and she tied in Billie Jo’s love of piano and what that meant to her. Although a sad subject, this book was cleverly written, and can help students learn about this terrible time period of American history.

Fractured Fairy tales/Chick Lit

The Three Little Fish and the Big Bad Shark by Ken Geist Illustrated by Julia Gorton

Age Level: 4 & up

This is an adorable remake of ‘The Three Little Pigs’ classic. Just like the piglets, the three young fish (two brothers Tim and Jim, and their sister Kim) must leave their mama and build their houses in the ocean. The Big Bad Shark destroys Jim and Tim’s house made of seaweed and sand, but is outsmarted by Kim’s idea to live with her brothers in an abandoned boat. It is a very cute fractured fairytale and the illustrations are awesomely bright; young kids will love this book.

The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig by Eugene Trivizas Illustrated by Helen Oxenbury

Age Level: 7 & up

Here is another remake of the famous fairytale, only this time it is the pig that is bad and the wolves are the good guys. The wolves are smart so they build houses of brick, concrete, and eventually barbed wire and armor plates. But the ending is a little silly to me; the Big Bad Pig smells all these lovely flowers and decides to change his mean ways. He decides to become a good pig and becomes friends with the wolves. I didn’t buy it, but I think that children would enjoy the role-reversal theme.

The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs! By A. Wolf as told to Jon Scieszka Illustrated by Lane Smith

Age Level: 5 & up

I have read this with students before and it is a hit! It is the story of, once again, ‘The Three Little Pigs’, only it is told from the Wolf’s point-of-view. Alexander T. Wolf explains how the story that’s heard is all wrong and that he isn’t the bad guy everyone thinks he is. His story describes that he was out of sugar and went to ask his neighbors, the pigs’ houses, to borrow some. He also had a cold that was making him sneeze, accidently breaking the pigs’ houses. The houses collapsing caused the pigs to die and he couldn’t leave “a perfectly good ham dinner lying there” so he ate two of the three pigs up. The third pig was mean to him and said mean things about his granny so the wolf got angry and was trying to break his door down as well as huffing and puffing and sneezing. He did not eat the third pig because the cops were called, and he was “framed” by the news reporters trying to “jazz up the story”.

The Three Silly Girls Grubb by John and Ann Haassett

Age Level: 5 & up

This is an adorable take on ‘The Three Billy Goats Gruff’. There are three sisters named Grubb; one is small, one is medium, and one is extra large. Instead of a troll under the bridge, there is Ugly-Boy Bobby who wants to not eat the girls –but their jelly donuts. The smallest sister tells Ugly-Boy Bobby that she only has one jelly donut but to wait for her medium sister that has six and the medium sister says she only has six but the extra large sister has twelve. The extra large sister scares off Ugly-Boy Bobby by saying she will give him her dozen donuts after she gives him “a dozen mushy kisses” on his nose. He runs off and the girls get to school safely. The illustrations look like they are made with watercolors and are very nice!

Three Cool Kids by Rebecca Emberley

Reading Level: Ages 4 & up

This rendition of ‘The Three Billy Goats Gruff’ tells about the three Cool Kids. The Cool Kids come in small, medium, and large sizes and they live in the city. Alike the original fairytale, the three main characters are goats who need to go elsewhere to find grass to eat. In this version though, they must face a big, ugly rat that lives in the sewer in order to cross lots. I am not a fan of rats, and the illustrations of this rat are grotesque; long whiskers and claws and a long tail - yuck! I think children will like the modern and hip details of this story such as one goat’s love of his new sneakers, and the girl goat wearing “jingling silver bracelets”.

The Three Little Gators by Helen Ketteman Illustrated by Will Terry

Grade Level: Pre-K & up

This also is a version of the ‘The Three Little Pigs’, only it involves three sibling alligators and a ‘Big-Bottomed Boar’ as the bad-guy. Same story line: the mama says you must build yourself houses. They go off and two out of the three build houses that don’t stand up against the bad-guy or in this case, the Boar. The first gator who worked hardest building his house comes to the rescue of his siblings and the three of them scare off the boar when he climbs down the chimney and burns his bottom. This is a cute book and the illustrations are wonderful; they are full-paged and bright. I bet students, especially young ones, will have a laugh every time they hear about the boar’s “rump” or “bottom” – they love stuff like that!

24 girls in 7 days by Alex Bradley

Reading Level: Ages 14 & up

Jack Grammar, the main character and narrator, is an all-around nice guy who is in his senior year of high-school and alike many seniors-feels the pressure of having the perfect prom date. His two best friends Percy and Natalie know what a great guy he is and decide to place an ad in the school newspaper for him. They pretend that the ad is from Jack himself and ask girls who are interested in being his prom date to e-mail him. Jack feels inexperienced and nervous with girls. He says awkward things when he gets nervous, so “dating” 24 girls in 7 days is completely overwhelming for him! I won’t give away the ending, but what I liked about this book was that it was a romance book coming from a boy’s perspective. I think that a lot of seniors, boy or girl, feel that pressure for the perfect night and date and could easily relate to how Jack feels.

Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging Confessions of Georgia Nicolson by Louise Rennison

Reading Level: Ages 13 & up

This book is hilarious!! It is also the first in a series of ten (the Confessions of Georgia Nicolson), which is great because now I want to read the others! Georgia Nicolson is 14 years old and lives with her “mum” dad, and 3 year old sister in England. The book’s design is her journal entries. The entries are her hysterical outlook on life. They discuss the typical teenager topics such as boys, kissing or “snogging”, parents not understanding, rebelling, and so on. Not only is the book very funny, but Louise’s interview in the back of the book explains that all the situations that take place in the book are based off of her true life experiences!! Louise also provides an excellent glossary; ‘Georgia’s Glossary’ that helps explain some of the terms that are used that may not be known to American readers. I think it’s safe to say that any female teenager would enjoy this book!

I also read Then He Ate My Boy Entrancers #6 in the series by Louise Rennison and it was just as good as the first! When I checked out these books, it was the titles that grabbed me (I also have Are These My Basoomas I See Before Me? but have not yet gotten to it). And after I read the first book, I knew that I liked the author because of her humor – only I wasn’t sure if the books could continue to be as funny as the first was...yet they are! She packs out these books from front to back with witty jokes and hilarious comments and never fails to bring a laugh or smile to your face while reading. The language that she uses, not only is it a little foreign to us like “bloke” and “knickers”, but Georgia the main character, and her girlfriends have their own language as well, shortening and abbreviating a lot of words (just like American female teenagers!) like “pressies” or “gorgey” or “fabby”. I could go on and on about this series but I will wrap it up by saying it is brilliant! And that I would absolutely recommend them to mature middle-school/high-school students.

Reading Level: Ages 13 & up

If We Kiss by Rachel Vail

Reading Level: Ages 12 & up

Charlotte also known as Charlie, a freshman in high-school, calls herself a prude because she has never kissed a boy yet. But that changes one day when Kevin takes her to the side of the building and kisses her. Before Charlie gets the chance to describe to her best friend Tess all about her first kiss, Kevin kisses Tess at a party! Then Tess and Kevin start dating and Charlie decides to not even mention that she and Kevin kissed. She hates having to hear about Kevin through Tess because she likes him and kissed him first, but then it gets even worse- Charlie’s mom and Kevin’s dad start dating! As if it wasn’t weird enough hiding this secret from Tess, now Charlie must see Kevin and spend time away with him and his family for Christmas. That would be a good thing though right? Being able to spend time alone with the guy you liked. Well then Kevin kisses Charlie again although he’s still dating Tess, and oh yeah- their parents get engaged making them step-siblings! Cute book; if I was in middle-school I’d love it.

Graphic Novels

Good As Lily by Derek Kirk Kim Illustrated by Jesse Hamm

Recommended Reading Grade: 8 & up

This was my first time reading a Graphic Novel –and I really liked it! I thought that black and white cartoons would be slightly dull but they weren’t at all. The pictures in these graphic novels I read were so good and entertaining and grasped my interest. The stories read so much faster than an ordinary novel that I could see how this could intrigue children that don’t necessarily like to read. Good As Lily is about a girl Grace Kwon who turns 18 and has this weird experience with a piñata that results in her meeting herself at different ages of her life. She encounters a 70 year-old version of herself, a 29 year-old version, and a 6 year-old version simultaneously. Grace has to deal with her present situation of hiding her other selves, but along the way the other Graces help enlighten or waken her up to certain things in her life that will happen if she doesn’t change. It’s a really cool book and even has some Korean translations.

Friends with Boys by Faith Erin Hicks

Reading Level: Ages 12 & up

Friends with Boys is about a girl Maggie who has been homeschooled her whole life and is going to attend public school for the first time. Not only has she never had any friends outside of her three brothers, she is starting high school where many kids that have attended public school all along still don’t know who they are or where they fit it. On top of trying to find out who she is, Maggie is dealing with her mother’s abandonment and a ghost who is stalking her! This is an awesome graphic novel; and some pages don’t even have (or need) words-the illustrations do all the talking. Again, I didn’t think I’d like this style of writing and couldn’t put it down!

As You Like It Manga Shakespeare Adapted by Richard Appignanesi Illustrated by Chie Kutsuwada

Age Level: 12 & up

Manga Shakespeare is a series of graphic novels that take William Shakespeare’s plays and adapt them. I loved reading Shakespeare in high school and college courses so I thought this would be really neat and it delivered. Appignanesi takes the play As You Like It and transports the basis to an Oriental setting with some twists. I’m not going to lie; it was a little hard to get through-but so is the original plays! There is a lot going on (fighting, four weddings, girls who dress like boys-many ideas from the original version) but Appignanesi supplies the reader with a colored (the rest of the book is black-and-white) character glossary in the beginning that you can refer back to, which I needed to in order to keep track of who is who. Overall I thought it was cool to see a Japanese version of Shakespeare, especially in graphic novel form! Very unique and would recommend to students who may need to read Shakespeare but don’t like to read or are having trouble understanding his works; this is a great alternative.

Michael Townsend’s Amazing Greek Myths of Wonder and Blunders

Age Level: 8 & up, Grade Level: 3^rd & up

This book is adorable, and does a great job simplifying 9 common Greek myths. The graphics are not only all in bright, vivid color, but are pretty funny. They (the graphics) mock the myths’ literal interpretations; like “Arachne Gets a Big Head” taken literally and she’s pictured with a blown up head and so on. Although these graphics are comical and clever, they do get the actual messages across from the myths and explain why they occurred. This is an excellent resource for students learning about Greek myths and classic tales, and I believe it would definitely be more memorable with the graphics rather than just reading about them.

Tales from Outer Suburbia by Shaun Tan

Reading Level: Ages 12 & up

This book was strange; very imaginative but weird to me. It is a graphic novel and contains more pictures and fewer words, but wasn’t a graphic novel in the sense of cartoon strips. It is a compilation of 15 stories, each containing a strange circumstance or random event that takes place in this made-up suburban community. There could very well be an underlying message or theme here, but I didn’t comprehend it. Although, I could see how some children might see this as an interesting, different type of book, and enjoy the author’s bizarre imagery. The two short stories I liked best were the one about the community decorating their government-issued missiles, and the one about the foreign exchange student who liked discovering small things found on the ground.

Fish You Were Here by Colleen Af Venable Illustrated by Stephanie Yue

Grade Level: 2^nd & up Age Level: 7 & up

This is a part of the Guinea Pig Pet Stop Private Eye series (#4). Mr. Venezi hires a new assistant for his pet store, Viola. At first the pets love her and all that she does for them, but then they see that Viola plans on not doing any work once Mr. Venezi is not around. The pets, mainly the hamster and the guinea pig, are upset when they think that Mr. Venezi has left them. They consider themselves detectives and decide to team up with the other pets to figure out where Mr. Venezi has gone. This is a great example of getting younger readers to read without realizing they are. I think that young readers, especially boys, would enjoy these types of graphic novels because of all the pictures. I thought the facts on Goldfish and Plecos, as well as the job recommendations for animal lovers in the back of the book were adorable!

BabyMouse Queen of the World by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm

Grade Level: 2^nd & up Age Level: 7 & up

This was my first experience with BabyMouse – and she is adorable! I loved that this was a girls’ graphic novel, or I should say this would probably be a girl-based audience, because of the girliness of the main character. For example, BabyMouse is fashionable and loves tiaras and big, pretty dresses, she seeks fame and glamour, she wears a heart on her dress, she talks about having curly ‘whiskers’ (which I thought was so cute), and every page number is placed in a pink heart. The pages are in black-and-white with touches of pink only throughout the book. Most graphic novels I thought were male-based, where as this definitely stood out to me. There’s a moral to the book too. So BabyMouse desperately wants to be invited to Felicia FurryPaws’ sleepover to show everyone how fun and adventurous she is. After sacrificing her book report and almost her friendship to her true friend Wilson, BabyMouse finds out that this sleepover and Felicia FurryPaws isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be.

Ann M. Martin’s The Baby-Sitters Club #4 Claudia and Mean Janine by Raina Telgemeier

Age Level: 8 & up, Grade Level: 3^rd & up

I couldn’t believe it when I first saw The Baby-Sitters Club books in the graphic novel section! I grew up reading these and adored them, and had no idea that some of them were turned into graphic novels. Since I have read them all (ages ago), I was curious to see how accurate they were or how much of the story was included. The story summed up is Claudia, one of the members of the club, is having issues with her older sister Janine. When their grandmother has a stroke, the family must come together to help get her back on track. I think it was cool that some of the books were turned into graphic novels so that students who may not be avid readers would get to know these awesome books. What I didn’t like though, was that the graphics give the readers an image of the members and characters in the book. I think that most readers come up with their own images in their minds while reading, and seeing them from an illustrator’s perspective can ruin that experience for the reader – not that this illustrator wasn’t on with certain characteristics because she was and did a great job. I just feel that, in general, an author’s descriptions of characters or settings can be interpreted slightly different from each reader. So I think that’s a disadvantage to readers who are given the image, instead of them picturing it for themselves.  

The Boston Tea Party by Matt Doeden illustrated by Charles Barnett III & Dave Hoover

Age Level: 8 & up, Grade Level: 3^rd & up

This is an amazing resource for learning about the Boston Tea Party, and should be used in social studies lessons to help instruct. We live in a visual world where a lot of students learn better visually, so for topics that are harder to understand or remember, graphics are definitely a great choice to use. This non-fiction book describes the colonists’ protest against being ruled by Britain. It includes an index, a glossary, a table of contents, key facts, Internet sites, and more books to be read on the topic. I found out that they have published many other graphic history novels such as The Battle of the Alamo, The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, The Salem Witch Trials, and The Sinking of the Titanic to name a few. I would absolutely add these to my classroom library as an elementary teacher because they are perfect for students to read up on topics, with pictures included, that they normally wouldn’t understand just by reading the words. Graphic novels are perfect for remembering history because the pictures aid the memory.  

Biographies in Picture Book Format/Picture Books for Older Readers

A Picture Book of Amelia Earhart by David A. Adler

Age Level: 6 & up

This is an awesome book that tells the story of “the first woman to cross the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean” by airplane. It tells the biography of Amelia as well as her quest and determination. She was a very courageous woman that stood up for women’s’ rights and challenged others to take risks. Illustrations are colorful, and this book would be great for any student looking to find information on Amelia Earhart and what she contributed to the aviation world.

A Picture Book of Robert E. Lee is another one of David A. Adler’s many picture biography books. This tells the life story of military officer Robert E. Lee. He was named lieutenant colonel, superintendent, and appointed commander of the army in Virginia. He fought for his hometown, the Confederates, during the Civil War but always remained a “dignified…American” throughout. Although he fought the North and attacked them, he felt slavery was evil and was torn as to which side to fight for. He was looked at as a very brave, wise leader. Illustrations are decent; not full page like Amelia Earhart’s biography (published four years apart).

Age Level: 6 & up

A Picture Book of Benjamin Franklin by David A. Adler

Age Level: 6 & up

This book is cool because Benjamin Franklin was such an amazing guy. He did so much for so many people and really was ahead of his time. In my opinion, he was brilliant! He had his hand in almost everything: he was a printer, he wrote a famous almanac, he helped set up the first lending library and hospital as well as Philadelphia’s first fire and police departments, he invented many, many things, he spoke to England and France and tried to get them to help Americans, he wrote the Declaration of Independence, he spoke out against slavery…the list goes on and on! Could you imagine if we had a present-day Ben Franklin?! He was beyond successful in so many different ways- there aren’t words to describe him! But Adler does a great job supplying the reader with such interesting facts.

Pink and Say by Patricia Polacco

Reading Level: Ages 6 & up

Pink and Say is about two soldiers, Pinkus “Pink” and Sheldon “Say”. Say is rescued by Pink when he is shot in the leg during a battle. Say brings him back to his house and introduces him to his mother Moe Moe Bay who helps nurse him back to health. Say is embarrassed to admit to Pink that he can’t read but tells them that he’s done something important: shook President Lincoln’s hand. He is scared to go back to fighting but when the marauders find and kill Moe Moe Bay, he tries to be brave and they set out. The boys get taken prisoners of the Confederate Army not short after and are separated. Say is released months later but Pink never makes it. He was hanged; his last words to Say are “let me touch the hand that touched Mr. Lincoln”. Sheldon tells the true story to his daughter Rosa, Patricia Polacco’s great-grandmother! Patricia dedicates the book to Pinkus and asks for the readers to vow to remember him always. That is so neat to honor him like that. I love Patricia Polacco books; her writing styles and her illustrations. She also adds, what I think are, real family photographs to her books which is really cool. Awesome book.

Betty Doll by Patricia Polacco is a story of a doll made by Patricia Polacco’s mother and grandmother. The doll, Betty Doll, had been Mary Ellen’s, Patricia’s mother, best friend and joined her throughout her life and saw every adventure with her. She was a comfort to Mary Ellen whenever she needed it, and Mary Ellen passed Betty Doll on to Patricia knowing that she would need Betty Doll’s comfort once she passed away. This is a true story and is very touching and sweet. The illustrations are so great because the whole book is in black-and-white with only Betty Doll being in color. It really gives a cool effect.

Age Level: Ages 4 & up

Confessions of a Former Bully by Trudy Ludwig

Reading Level: Ages 8 & up

I loved, loved, loved this book! It is a must read for everybody, everywhere – of all ages: young kids, older kids, even parents. Bullying is an epidemic that has reached a sad, sad place. As an elementary teacher I see this happening every single day – not physical bullying, but verbal and emotional bullying. This book has great “tools” that children can follow if put in a bullying situation. It also explains that there are behaviors that you may use that are hurtful without even realizing so. It’s neat because it comes across from the view of a child, and has expressions that are so common and realistic without sounding made-up for a story. This is a must-read to students!

The Man Who Walked Between the Towers by Mordicai Gerstein

Interest Level: Pre-K – Grade 3

Caldecott Award Winner

I could definitely see why this won the Caldecott Award! The pictures are amazing. This is a true story of a man Philippe who walked on a tightrope between the World Trade Center buildings in 1974. I couldn’t believe this was a true story and researched it and found out it is indeed true. How crazy is that?! The illustrations of New York City are breathtaking.

Abe’s Honest Words Doreen Rappaport

Age Range 7-9 years old

The illustrations in this book are awesome; they are drawn but look so real! The attention to detail by the illustrator really shines through. This book explains the life of Abraham Lincoln and his part in freeing the slaves and ending slavery, in simpler words for children. “People felt he spoke from his heart” sums up Abraham’s honesty and integrity; he stood up for what he felt was right even if others didn’t agree, or it wasn’t the popular view. It’s worded perfectly to lead to discussions on this time period and the significant role Mr. Lincoln played during it.

Wash Day by Barbara H. Cole

Age Level: 5 & up

Wash Day tells the story of a little boy and his grandfather, Mrs. Ett, their hired help, and her grandson, Sherman.  The two little boys and Mrs. Ett enjoy listening to the grandfather play his trumpet to keep the boys occupied and away from the fire on wash days. Sherman wishes for a trumpet for Christmas but times are tough for the family, especially when their house burns down. Then grandfather has a stroke and can no longer play the trumpet so he passes it on to Mrs. Ett’s grandson. Sherman makes everyone happy again by playing grandpa’s trumpet. The story ends without saying what happens to grandpa; I thought he was going to pass away, but it doesn’t tell the reader if he does. It is still a nice, sweet story.

Coretta Scott King/Pura Belpre Awards & Multicultural Perspectives

The Dreamer by Pam Muñoz Ryan

Pura Belpré Award 2011

Recommended Age: 9-14

The Dreamer tells a story of a young boy named Neftalí who has an amazing imagination and curiosity for “things” in life. He wonders about and is curious about the things around him in his world such as birds, twigs and swan. His father is verbally abusive to him and cruel, but Neftalí overcomes and discovers a way to get his thoughts and words across to other people. I loved the text choice of the book; the pages are shorter than the average book and the words are double spaced making it easier for younger readers to read. There are Spanish words mixed in throughout the book, which I think is really neat that students can learn some words in another language. There are also pictures every few pages that enhance what is going on in the story at that point. The illustrations are exaggerated thoughts and feelings of Neftalí and are pretty cool/different.

The Tequila Worm by Viola Canales

Pura Belpré Award 2006

Reading Level: 4^th-7^th grade

The Tequila Worm is a story written about a young girl Sofia, who alike Junior in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, is also torn between honoring her native town and culture, with dreams of venturing out and discovering the world around her. Sofia is Mexican and her family means everything to her, but she decides to pursue an academic scholarship to an Episcopal college-prep school 300 miles away from her hometown and all that she knows. The story not only tells about her culture; her family traditions and customs, but blends her dream of attending this prestigious school. There are also some Spanish words mixed in, but not as much as in The Dreamer. I really enjoyed this book and learned things I didn’t know about the Mexican culture! I also didn’t mind all of the Catholic references, whereas I usually get offended the way Catholics are sometimes portrayed in stories. There is also the issue of death in this story but it ties into the story and Sofia’s beliefs greatly. I would definitely recommend this book to all ethnicities to read.

Little Night by Yuyi Morales

2008 Américas Award Honorable Mentions
Reading Level: Ages 2 & up

Little Night was the 2008 honorable mention of the Américas Award. This award recognizes an American work that can be published in either English or Spanish, and that authentically portrays Latin America, the Caribbean, or Latinos living in the United States. Little Night tells a bedtime story with Mother Sky calling for Little Night to get ready for bed. Little Night hides and tells her mother to find her. The story is really cute and would make a great bedtime story. The illustrations are of darker-skinned characters which is nice to see, and the concept of Little Night balancing the moon and having a bath filled of stars is adorable.

The Great Migration: Journey to the North by Eloise Greenfield

Age Level: 3 and up, Grade Level: Preschool and up

2012 Coretta Scott King Honor

Eloise Greenfield tells the story of the migration that thousands took part of; families from the South pursuing their dreams to live up North so that they can be free, so that they could be safe, and have respectable jobs. Eloise was four months old when her family took the trip by train. The book tells the perspective of varying ages such as a child saying goodbye, a woman, and a young woman. The illustrations are very, very cool; in one page the people that are being left behind are camouflaged in with the fields, the next shows the train tracks heading North with the Southern states mapped out.

One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams Garcia

Reading Level: Grades 4-7

Newbery Award Winner, Coretta Scott King Author Award Winner (2011)

Delphine and her two younger sisters, Vonetta and Fern, are sent to California for the summer to meet their mother that abandoned them when they were babies. They don’t know really anything about their mother really and think that this trip will bring them some answers, or at least allow them to get to know their absentee mother, Cecile. When they arrive they do not get the warm, affectionate mother they were hoping for- instead Cecile is cold and seems to not really want to have anything to do with them. Cecile makes the girls attend a summer camp supported by a group of Revolutionists who are trying to spread change. Delphine has to help navigate her sisters throughout this trip. This book is nicely written from the perspective of eleven year old Delphine and is a great way to spark discussions on the Civil Rights Movement.

Journey to Jo'burg : a South African Story by Beverley Naidoo

Reading Level: Ages 9 & up

Journey to Jo'burg : a South African Story is a story of thirteen year old Naledi and her younger brother Tiro. Their younger sister is sick and their mother works far away in the city of Johannesburg, so Naledi decides to sneak off with Tiro to go see their mother for help. Along their way they learn more about the racial segregation dividing their country. Although there are some really horrible things happening, they discover some people who are genuinely nice. This is a good story for all to read to show this horrific time period from children’s’ perspectives.

Seeds of Change by Jen Cullerton Johnson

Interest Level Grades 1 - 6  

Reading Level Grades 3 - 4

Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award for New Talent in Illustrations, Notable Children's Books,
2011 Best Book for Young Children, Children's Africana Book Award, 2011 Notable Books for a Global Society list, Green Earth Book Award Honor, 2011-2012 Great Lakes Great Books Awards ballot, Sigurd Olson Nature Writing Award, Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute
Seeds of Change has won many, many awards. It tells the story, in simpler vocabularly, of Wangari Maathai who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004. Wangari started the Green Belt Movement which involved planting and growing trees in her native country Kenya, as well as spread her message throughout the world. It tells an environmentalist message as well as encourages equal rights for woman. The illustrations are really beautiful!  They’re colorful and unique and add to the story greatly. I can definitely see how the illustrations won the John Steptoe Award for New Talent in Illustrations. 

The Other Side by Jacqueline Woodson

Age Level: 5 & up

This is about two young girls, Clover and Anna. Clover lives on the African-American “side” of town, and Anna on the white side. They are told by their parents to not cross over the fence that separates the two sides. The little girls decide by themselves that they do not care for this fence and would like to be friendly. They know that mother has said not to climb over “but she never said nothing about sitting on it”. I think this book is adorable and shows the strength and admiration of Clover and Anna’s characters. It is a great message to students; that even though adults have rules, more important than those rules are for common respect and courtesy to others.  The illustrations look water-colored and really are beautiful.