Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl
by Anne Frank
Discovered in the attic in which she
spent the last years of her life, Anne
Frank's remarkable diary has become a
world classic -- a powerful reminder of
the horrors of war and an eloquent
testament to the human spirit. In 1942,
with the Nazis occupying Holland,
13-year-old Anne and her Jewish family
went into hiding in the "secret annex"
of an old office building; while living
there, Anne recorded her experiences in
a diary. By turns thoughtful, moving,
and amusing, her account offers a
fascinating commentary on human courage
and a compelling self-portrait of an
extraordinary young woman whose life was
tragically cut short.
Chasing Redbird
by Sharon Creech
Zinnia Taylor lives in Bybanks,
Kentucky, with too many brothers and
sisters -- a mess of "tadpoles" and
"pumpkins" is what her uncle Nate calls
them. When Zinny discovers a mysterious,
overgrown trail that begins on her
family's farm, she's determined to clear
it, from start to finish. For she's
finally found a place of her own, a
place where she can go, away from her
family, to hear herself think. But what
Zinny didn't realize is that the
mysteries of the trail are intertwined
with her own unanswered questions and
family secrets, and that the trail --
and her passion to uncover it -- is
leading her on a journey home. CHASING
REDBIRD is a powerful, beautifully
crafted story about a young girl
discovering that life is a tangle of
mysteries, surprises, and everyday
occurences -- a journey that often needs
unravelling and that sometimes must be
traveled alone.
Dear Mr. Henshaw
by Beverly Cleary, Paul
O. Zelinsky (illus.)
When fourth grader Leigh Botts asks Mr.
Henshaw to write to him personally, he
gets more than he bargained for. Mr.
Henshaw's letters are full of questions,
and Leigh is getting tired of answering
them. But as he continues his
correspondence with his favorite author,
he not only gets plenty of tips on
writing, but he also finds a wise and
thoughtful friend to whom he can tell
his troubles.
Frindle
by Andrew Clements,
Brian Selznick (illus.)
When he decides to turn his fifth-grade
teacher's love of the dictionary around
on her, clever Nick Allen invents a new
word and begins a chain of events that
quickly moves beyond his control.
From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil
E. Frankweiler
by E. L. Konigsburg
The enchanting story of the
unappreciated Claudia Kincaid, "boring
straight-A Claudia" (oldest child and
only girl and almost too old for
half-fare tickets), who runs away with
her little brother Jamie to live in the
Metropolitan Museum, FILES is a
sentimental favorite with a remarkable
heroine. Crammed with fascinating
details -- strategies for hiding in a
museum, techniques for bathing in a
fountain, the smell of a 16th-century
bed (musty), and tantalizing peeks at
the Met and its treasures -- it's a
grand adventure. More important, FILES
is the story of Claudia's quest to
define herself. In the fulfillment of
that quest, her own resourcefulness is
bolstered by a statue that may or may
not be by Michelangelo; a brother who
proves to be a fabulous ally; and the
wise, prickly Mrs. Frankweiler herself.
Holes
by Louis Sachar
As further evidence of his family's bad
fortune, which they attribute to a curse
on a distant relative, Stanley Yelnats
is sent to a hellish boys' juvenile
detention center in the Texas desert. As
punishment, the boys here must each dig
a hole every day, five feet deep and
five feet across. Ultimately, Stanley
"digs up the truth" -- and through his
experience, finds his first real friend,
a treasure, and a new sense of himself.
HOLES is a wildly inventive, darkly
humorous tale of crime and punishment --
and redemption.
In the Year of the Boar and Jackie
Robinson
by Bette Bao Lord, Marc
Simont (illus.)
Shirley Temple Wong sails from China to
America with a heart full of dreams. Her
new home is Brooklyn, New York. America
is indeed a land full of wonders, but
Shirley doesn't know any English, so
it's hard to make friends. Then a
miracle -- baseball -- happens. It is
1947, and Jackie Robinson, star of the
Brooklyn Dodgers, is everyone's hero.
Jackie Robinson is proving that a black
man, the grandson of a slave, can make a
difference in America. And for Shirley
as well, on the ball field and off,
America becomes the land of opportunity.
Island of the Blue Dolphins
by Scott O'Dell
In the Pacific there is an island that
looks like a big fish sunning itself in
the sea. Around it, blue dolphins swim,
otters play, and sea elephants and sea
birds abound. Once, Indians also lived
on the island. And when they left and
sailed to the east, one young girl was
left behind. This is the story of
Karana, the Indian girl who lived alone
for years on the Island of the Blue
Dolphins. Year after year, she watched
one season pass into another and waited
for a ship to take her away. But while
she waited, she kept herself alive by
building a shelter, making weapons,
finding food, and fighting her enemies,
the wild dogs. Island of the Blue
Dolphins is not only an unusual
adventure of survival but also a tale of
natural beauty and personal discovery.
Matilda
by Roald Dahl, Quentin
Blake (illus.)
Matilda Wormwood started reading books
at the age of four, but her crooked
father and bingo-playing mother regard
book reading as a waste of time -- and
much prefer watching TV. In fact, they
take no notice of their genius daughter
at all! Only Miss Honey, Matilda's
lovely and gentle teacher, recognizes
her special gifts. Yet Miss Honey has
problems of her own: Her aunt is the
tyrannical Miss Trunchbull, an evil
headmistress who bullies children and
parents alike -- and has taken Miss
Honey's house and money. Can Matilda use
her extraordinary talents to seek
revenge -- and make all of the
wrong-doing grown-ups pay? Also
recommended: James and the Giant
Peach.
Mick Harte Was Here
by Barbara Park
How could someone like Mick die? He was
the kid who freaked out his mom by
putting a ceramic eye in a defrosted
chicken, the kid who did a wild dance in
front of the whole school -- and the kid
who, if only he had worn his bicycle
helmet, would still be alive today. But
now Phoebe Harte's 12-year-old brother
is gone, and Phoebe's world has turned
upside down. With her trademark candor
and compassion, beloved middle-grade
writer Barbara Park tells how Phoebe
copes with her painful loss in this
story filled with sadness, humor -- and
hope.
My Daniel
by Pam Conrad
Wandering through the Natural History
Museum with her grandchildren, Julia
Creath feels the presence of her dead
brother, Daniel. She remembers a time
when fossil fever hit everyone, old and
young -- a time when people would even
kill for those old bones under the
ground. Julia becomes the Nebraska farm
girl she once was, as she weaves
together the story of the great dinosaur
rush -- an adventurous tale of love and
treachery, but most of all the story of
her own childhood, and of the older
brother she loved more than anything.
Daniel had a dream: to save their family
farm by finding a dinosaur. It was a
dream that Julia shared -- and that she
alone would see come true.
Number the Stars
by Lois Lowry
Ten-year-old Annemarie Johansen and her
best friend Ellen Rosen often think
about life before the war. But it's now
1943, and their life in Copenhagen is
filled with school, food shortages, and
the Nazi soldiers marching in their
town. When the Nazis begin "relocating"
the Jews of Denmark, Ellen moves in with
the Johansens and pretends to be part of
the family. And as Annemarie helps
shelter her Jewish friend from the Nazis
and embarks on a dangerous mission, she
learns how to be brave and courageous --
to save her best friend's life.
Shiloh
by Phyllis Reynolds
Naylor
Eleven-year-old Marty Preston loves to
spend time up in the hills behind his
home near Friendly, West Virginia.
Sometimes he takes his .22 rifle to see
what he can shoot, like some cans lined
up on a rail fence. Other times he goes
up early in the morning just to sit and
watch the fox and deer. But one summer
Sunday, Marty comes across something
different on the road just past the old
Shiloh schoolhouses -- a young beagle --
and the trouble begins. What do you do
when a dog you suspect is being
mistreated runs away and comes to you?
When it is someone else's dog? When the
man who owns him has a gun? This is
Marty's problem, and he finds it is one
he has to face alone. When his solution
gets too big for him to handle, things
become more frightening still. Finally,
Marty puts his courage on the line and
discovers in the process that it is not
always easy to separate right from
wrong. Sometimes, however, you'll do
almost anything to save a dog you love.
The View from Saturday
by E. L. Konigsburg
It was a surprise to a lot of people
when Mrs. Olinski's team won the
sixth-grade Academic Bowl contest at
Epiphany Middle School. It was an even
bigger surprise when they beat the
seventh grade and the eighth grade, too.
And when they went on to even greater
victories, everyone began to ask: How
did it happen? Mrs. Olinski, returning
to teaching after having been injured in
an automobile accident, found that her
Academic Bowl team became her answer to
finding confidence and success. What she
did not know, at least at first, was
that her team knew better than she did
the answer to why they had been chosen.
This is a tale about a team, a class, a
school, a series of contests and, set in
the midst of this, four jewel-like short
stories -- one for each of the team
members -- that ask questions and
demonstrate surprising answers.
Wait Till Helen Comes, A Ghost Story
by Mary Downing Hahn
Molly and Michael dislike their spooky
new stepsister Heather but realize that
they must try to save her when she seems
ready to follow a ghost child to her
doom.
Walk Two Moons
by Sharon Creech
Thirteen-year-old Salamanca Tree Hiddle,
proud of her country roots and the
"Indian-ness in her blood," travels from
Ohio to Idaho with her eccentric
grandparents. Along the way, she tells
of the story of Phoebe Winterbottom, who
received mysterious messages, who met a
"potential lunatic," and whose mother
disappeared. Beneath Phoebe's story is
Salamanca's own story and that of her
mother, who left one April morning for
Idaho, promising to return before the
tulips bloomed. Sal's mother has not,
however, returned, and the trip to Idaho
takes on a growing urgency as Salamanca
hopes to get to Idaho in time for her
mother's birthday and bring her back,
despite her father's warning that she is
fishing in the air. This richly layered
Newbery Medal-winning novel is in turn
funny, mysterious, and touching.
The Warm Place
by Nancy Farmer
When Ruva, a young giraffe, is captured
and sent to a zoo in San Francisco, she
calls upon two rats, a street-smart
chameleon, a runaway boy, and all the
magical powers of the animal world to
return to "the warm place" that is home.
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