Good Reads

Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko

A twelve-year-old boy named Moose moves to Alcatraz Island in 1935 when guards' families were housed there, and has to contend with his extraordinary new environment in addition to life with his autistic sister.

Suggested for Grades 4 & up

Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
Ten-year-old India Opal Buloni describes her first summer in the town of Naomi, Florida, and all the good things that happen to her because of her big ugly dog Winn-Dixie.

Suggested for Grades 3 & up

Bud Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis
Ten-year-old Bud, a motherless boy living in Flint, Michigan, during the Great Depression, escapes a bad foster home and sets out in search of the man he believes to be his father--the renowned bandleader, H.E. Calloway of Grand Rapids.

Suggested for Grades 4 & up

Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett
Three adults receive an anonymous letter one night asking for their help in solving a century old crime. The crime becomes the obsession of people around the world including two middle school students at the University of Chicago’s Laboratory School.

Suggested for Grades 5 & up

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
The adventure begins when Mr. Wonka decides to open up his world-class, top-secret chocolate factory to five lucky children. Four of of the children don’t make it out quite the way they came in.

Suggested for Grades 5 & up

Charlotte's Web by E.B. White

Wilbur, the pig, is desolate when he discovers that he is destined to be the farmer's Christmas dinner until his spider friend, Charlotte, decides to help him.

Suggested for Grades 3 & up

Clementine by Sara Pennypacker

While sorting through difficulties in her friendship with her neighbor Margaret, eight-year-old Clementine gains several unique hairstyles while also helping her father in his efforts to banish pigeons from the front of their apartment building.

Suggested for Grades 2 & up

Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa, School Days by Erica Silverman

Cocoa the horse does not want Cowgirl Kate to go to school without him.

Suggested for Grades K & up

The City of Ember by Jeanne DePrau

In the year 241, twelve-year-old Lina trades jobs on Assignment Day to be a Messenger to run to new places in her decaying but beloved city, perhaps even to glimpse Unkown Regions.

Suggested for Grades 4 & up

Coraline by Neil Gaiman

Looking for excitement, Coraline ventures through a mysterious door into a world that is similar, yet disturbingly different from her own, where she must challenge a gruesome entity in order to save herself, her parents, and the souls of three others.

Suggested for Grades 4 & up

David Macauay Collection by David Macaulay
This includes a set of 10 copies of four different David Macaulay titles. Each kit includes ten copies of: Black and White, Shortcut, Rome Antics, and Angelo. Create a discussion about different illustration styles, architecture, perspective, jokes and puns, and much more.

Suggested for Grades 3 & up

Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan

Esperanza and her mother are forced to leave their life of wealth and privilege in Mexico to go work in the labor camps of Southern California, where they must adapt to the harsh circumstances facing Mexican farm workers on the eve of the Great Depression.

Suggested for Grades 5 & up

Frindle by Andrew Clements

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.

Suggested for Grades 3 & up

Frog and Toad Collection by Arnold Lobel
This includes a set of 10 copies of four different Frog and Toad titles: Frog and Toad are Friends, Frog and Toad All Year, Frog and Toad Together, and Days with Frog and Toad. Also included is 2 sound discs.

Suggested for Grades 3 & up

Hoot by Carl Hiaasen
Roy, who is new to his small Florida community, becomes involved in another boy's attempt to save a colony of burrowing owls from a proposed construction site.

Suggested for Grades 5 & up

The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes

In winning a medal she is no longer there to receive, a tight-lipped little Polish girl teaches her classmates a lesson.

Suggested for Grades 3 & up

Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai

Through a series of poems, a young girl chronicles the life-changing year of 1975, when she, her mother, and her brothers leave Vietnam and resettle in Alabama.

Suggested for Grades 3 & up

Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key by Jack Gantos
To the constant disappointment of his mother and his teachers, Joey has trouble paying attention or controlling his mood swings when his prescription meds wear off and he starts getting worked up and acting wired.

Suggested for Grades 4 & up

Knights of the Kitchen Table by Jon Scieszka

When Joe, Fred, and Sam are sent back in time by a magic book, they find themselves face-to-face with giants, dragons, wizards, and the Knights of the Round Table.

Suggested for Grades 3 & up

Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson
Lonnie’s had a rough life for an 11 year old. Four years ago, his parents died in a fire. Then his sister was adopted by a family while Lonnie remained in foster care. Lonnie has a hard time expressing his feelings. His teacher, Ms. Marcus, comes up with a plan. She suggests that Lonnie write his thoughts in poetry. All forms of poetry—haiku, sonnets, free verse.

Suggested for Grades 4 & up

Love That Dog by Sharon Creech
In this novel in verse we meet Jack, a reluctant student of poetry. Throughout his school year in Miss Stretchberry’s class he learns the power of words and how to express himself through poetry.

Suggested for Grades 3 & up

The Magic School Bus: Inside the Human Body by Joanna Cole

A special field trip on the magic school bus allows Ms. Frizzle's class to get a first-hand look at major parts of the body and how they work.

Suggested for Grades 1 & up

The Magic School Bus: In the Time of Dinosaurs by Joanna Cole

Go back millions of years with Ms. Frizzle's class to search for the nests of the Maiasaura dinosaurs, in this prehistoric field trip adventure.

Suggested for Grades 1 & up

The Magic School Bus: On the Ocean Floor by Joanna Cole

On another special field trip on the magic school bus, Ms. Frizzle's class learns about the ocean and the different creatures that live there.

Suggested for Grades K & up

My Brother Sam is Dead by James Collier

Tragedy strikes the Meeker family during the Revolution when one son joins the rebel forces while the rest of the family tries to stay neutral in a Tory town. The story, based partially on fact, portrays a Connecticut family divided in loyalties during the Revolutionary War.

Suggested for Grades 4 & up

Niagara Falls, or Does It? by Henry Winkler

Fourth-graders Hank, Ashley, and Frankie are excitedly preparing for a magic show at the Rock 'N Bowl when Hank's creative alternative to an English essay lands him in detention and grounded the week of the show.

Suggested for Grades 3 & up

No More Dead Dogs by Gordon Korman

Eighth-grade football hero Wallace Wallace is sentenced to detention attending rehearsals of the school play where, in spite of himself, he becomes wrapped up in the production.

Suggested for Grades 5 & up

Out of my Mind by Sharon Draper

Considered by many to be mentally retarded, a brilliant, impatient fifth-grader with cerebral palsy discovers a technological device that will allow her to speak for the first time.

Suggested for Grades 5 & up

Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff

A troublesome twelve-year-old orphan, staying with an elderly artist who needs her, remembers the only other time she was happy in a foster home, with a family that truly seemed to care about her.

Suggested for Grades 4 & up

Ramona Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly Cleary

The further adventures of the Quimby family as Ramona enters the third grade.

Suggested for Grades 3 & up

Savvy by Ingrid Law

Recounts the adventures of Mibs Beaumont, whose thirteenth birthday has revealed her "savvy"--a magical power unique to each member of her family--just as her father is injured in a terrible accident.

Suggested for Grades 4 & up

Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman

One by one, a number of people of varying ages and backgrounds transform a trash-filled inner-city lot into a productive and beautiful garden, and in doing so, the gardeners are themselves transformed.

Suggested for Grades 4 & up

The Watsons go to Birmingham by Christopher Paul Curtis

The ordinary interactions and everyday routines of the Watsons, an African American family living in Flint, Michigan, are drastically changed after they go to visit Grandma in Alabama in the summer of 1963.

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

After he is sent to bed without supper for behaving like a wild thing, Max dreams of a voyage to the island where the wild things are.

Suggested for Preschool & up