Books We Are Reading!

Kindergarten

Junie B. Jones book cover of her in a jail outfit

Kindergarten - Junie B. Jones Is Not a Crook by Barbara Park

When Junie B. searches for her missing mittens, she discovers that they are not in the lost and found, but a wonderful pen "is." It's only right that she should get to keep it, right?

Junie B. Jones and her Big Fat Mouth cover with her holding her cheeks

Junie B. Jones and her Big Fat Mouth By Barbara Parks

Junie B.'s having a rough week. First she got punishment for shooting off her mouth in kindergarten. And now she's in big trouble again! 'Cause Monday is Job Day, and Junie B. told her class that she's got the bestest job of all. Only, what the heck is it?

Grade One

The Case of the Runaway Dog book cover of two kids painting

The Case of the Runaway Dog By James Preller

Jigsaw Jones has another mystery to solve, but this time it is one of his own. His dog Rags is missing, and the only witness is an old man with poor eyesight. Jigsaw never did like Thanksgiving very much, and it looks like this one will not be full of thanks. Or will it?

Grade Two

Giants Don't Go Snowboarding book cover of a giant and kids snowboarding

Giants Don't Go Snowboarding by Debbie Dadey

The snowboarding teacher at the Golden Egg Ski Lodge is the tallest person the kids have ever seen. Liza suspects that he's the giant from Jack and the Beanstalk, but she needs some real proof.

Grade Three

Old Yeller book cover of boy and dog

Old Yeller by Fred Gipson

The narrator Travis begins the novel by telling why they gave Old Yeller his name. He was yellow, or "yeller," in color and he had a loud bark. Travis says how Old Yeller made him so mad when he first came that he wanted to kill him but when he had to kill him later on it is really hard, since he had come to think very highly of the dog. Old Yeller arrives in the late 1860s, the same time Papa leaves to Abilene on the cattle drive for money. Travis is left behind with his brother, Little Arliss, and Mama to take care of the place and protect and provide for the family. Travis finishes the chores for that day, including plowing between the cornrows with their mule Jumper, and feels confident he can handle things while Papa is gone.

Books cover of the Hundred Dresses with border of dresses and person standing in middle

The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes

Eleanor Estes’s The Hundred Dresses won a Newbery Honor in 1945 and has never been out of print since. At the heart of the story is Wanda Petronski, a Polish girl in a Connecticut school who is ridiculed by her classmates for wearing the same faded blue dress every day. Wanda claims she has one hundred dresses at home, but everyone knows she doesn’t and bullies her mercilessly. The class feels terrible when Wanda is pulled out of the school, but by that time it’s too late for apologies. Maddie, one of Wanda’s classmates, ultimately decides that she is “never going to stand by and say nothing again.” This powerful, timeless story has been reissued in paperback with a new letter from the author’s daughter Helena Estes, and with the Caldecott artist Louis Slobodkin’s original artwork in beautifully restored color.

Grade Four

Among the Imposters book cover of clouded area

Among the Impostors by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Luke Garner is an illegal third child. All his life has been spent in hiding. Now, for the first time, Luke is living among others. He has assumed a deceased boy's identity and is attending Hendricks School for Boys, a windowless building with cruel classmates and oblivious teachers. Luke knows he has to blend in, but he lives in constant fear that his behavior will betray him. Then one day Luke discovers a door to the outside. He knows that beyond the walls of Hendricks lie the secrets he is desperate to uncover. What he doesn't know is whom he can trust--and where the answers to his questions may lead him.

Grade Five

Haddix book cover of lodge anf boy in background

Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Luke has never been to school. He's never had a birthday party, or gone to a friend's house for an overnight. In fact, Luke has never had a friend.Luke is one of the shadow children, a third child forbidden by the Population Police. He's lived his entire life in hiding, and now, with a new housing development replacing the woods next to his family's farm, he is no longer even allowed to go outside.

Then, one day Luke sees a girl's face in the window of a house where he knows two other children already live. Finally, he's met a shadow child like himself. Jen is willing to risk everything to come out of the shadows--does Luke dare to become involved in her dangerous plan? Can he afford not to?