Because he's just flunked sixth-grade English, Stanford Wong, who thinks of himself as "the only stupid Chinese kid in America," won't be able to go to basketball camp this summer. Instead, he'll be taking a summer school English class with Mr. Glick, AKA Teacher Torturer. If he fails it, he'll... Read More
13-year-old Gilda Joyce has been interested in surveillance ever since reading Harriet the Spy back in elementary school. One of her plans for her boring summer vacation is to continue spying on Plaid Pants, AKA Hector Flack, who works at the convenience store and whom Gilda thinks could be a... Read More
Evan Treski has been feeling angry and humiliated ever since he found out that his little sister Jessie will be skipping third grade. “You ruin everything . . . I hate you,” he tells her, even though he really doesn’t. Evan has always been her friend and protector, and Jessie... Read More
Harper Lee's only novel, for which she won the Pulitzer Prize in 1961, is one of the most taught pieces of literature in the U.S., and as such, students will read it in school and see the Academy Award winning film with the memorable Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch. It’s... Read More
On a summer day in old Siam (now called Thailand), "hot as an oven with its doors flung open," Run-Run, a young orphan boy, is returning from clearing tree stumps on the hillside with his 50-year-old elephant Walking Mountain. When the elephant sprays a trunkful of river water and splashes... Read More
"Looking back, I would say everything in my life changed the summer I turned thirteen and my dad turned into Elvis." Isn't that a killer first sentence? Josh Greenwood is already what he calls a “shared kid,” having spent the last eight years shuttling between his mother's place in Boston... Read More
Born in a kindergarten classroom on the first day of school, knowledge-hungry mouse Flora's favorite word is "why." Peering down from her hiding place above the teacher's desk, the bright and curious mouse learns how to decipher the little black marks found in books and becomes a reader. When an... Read More
When reading nonfiction, it's grand to discover something new. Tell me something I don't know! Or tell me something I do know, but present it in such a way as to make it feel brand new. In 2009, we celebrated the fortieth anniversary of a most memorable summer. Here on... Read More
Tired of living in suburbia or wherever you are? Why not try an alternate reality with the bizarre stories, poems, and musings, accompanied by even more surreal drawings, doodlings, and full-color paintings from the strange brain of Shaun Tan. (Tan is the innovative Australian artist who brought us to another... Read More
James and his friend Eamon spend a week at the beach with Eamon's grandparents, Bill and Pam, so the boys can attend nature camp together. Each day Bill drives them to camp where they seem underwhelmed by the activities. Since this story focuses on the stuff they do at Bill... Read More
Gregor's mother needs him to stay home this summer to take care of his two-year old sister, Boots, instead of going to camp. Since his father disappeared, two years, seven months, and thirteen days ago, twelve-year-old Gregor hasn't had a day when he's felt real happiness. Gregor knows his dad... Read More
With balloon dialogue and classic retro comic book style illustrations, heavy on the yellow, this picture book biography looks like an old time true confessions story. During the Great Depression, in 1930, two nebbishy guys, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, met in high school. Jerry's heroes were fictional characters from... Read More
"The summer of 1972, the year I turned nine, danger began knocking on doors all over China." Ling is the narrator, but the events that follow mirror the life of the author, whose parents were also doctors in the city of Wuhan at the time of the Cultural Revolution. Ling's... Read More
The story behind the story is one that really grabs kids: a fifteen year old boy from Montana, born in 1983 and home-schooled all his life, loves to read books about magic and dragons, spurred by reading Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher by Bruce Coville. He starts to write... Read More
Cynthia Rylant's easy readers have changed children's reading, with her whimsical and wise series about young Henry and his great Dane, Mudge; Poppleton the pig and his animal pals; and, most endearingly, the grandfatherly, avuncular Mr. Putter and his sweet, elderly, but dignified orange kitty, Tabby. In their many little... Read More
In 2001, Alan Katz started a new trend with I'm Still Here in the Bathtub, a collection of 14 seriously silly song parodies, all set to the tunes of well known songs. I’m partial to the selections in his second volume, though you’ll find gems in all of... Read More
Look no further if you've been wanting to buy a gift-worthy anthology of poetry, not just for your classroom or library, but for all the kids in your life. Julie Andrews, author of many children's books, including two splendid fiction books children continue to read and love-Mandy and Read More
If you haven't already met the four garrulous Penderwick girls in the first book, The Penderwicks, you'll want to stop right here and get a copy. If you have read it, then you already consider yourself a literary friend of motherly and sensible Rosalind (12), science and sports-minded... Read More
The story begins at the end, with a letter addressed to the headmaster and Board of Directors at Alabaster Preparatory Academy, one of the country's most elite private boarding schools. It begins:"I, Frankie Landau-Banks, hereby confess that I was the sole mastermind behind the mal-doings of the Loyal Order of... Read More
"Phooey!" says little brown mouse, Wagner, "This is not my day." Usually he has a good sense of humor, but it's April 1 and everyone keeps fooling him. When he gets to school, his best friend Pearl, a gray rabbit, tells him their teacher, Ms. Star, is roller-skating around the... Read More
Just when you think you’ve read about every possible subject, someone comes up with a biography about someone you never heard of who did something groundbreaking. Think Wilson “Willie” Bentley (who was the first person to photograph snowflakes, as described in Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin, which... Read More
When Breaking Dawn, the fourth and final book in Stephenie Meyer's vampire saga, came out in the summer of 2008, teens went wild, going to midnight costume parties at bookstores in a frenzy second only to the Harry Potter scenes of the past decade. Only one week after... Read More
“Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood. If you're reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is: close this book right now. Believe whatever lie your mom or dad told you about your birth, and try to lead a normal life. Being a half-blood... Read More
This past decade, we have been blessed with the Harry Potter effect, and that fantastical boy wizard is still casting his dazzling spell across the Earth. What is it about Harry Potter that has worked its way into the lives and psyches of readers worldwide? There have been many good... Read More
Look at the cover with that woebegone, discontented toddler. If ever there was a book to show to kids with the simple question, "What do you think this story is about?" this is it. It begins, "Finn likes peaches. Usually." Look at the sweet little toddler on the first page,... Read More
On February 3, after the crowds of humans have dispersed, Groundhog bemoans the fickleness of being a once-a-year wonder. "I don't get it. Where is everybody? Yesterday I was BIG news, a star, king of the mound! Everyone wanted my weather report. Today . . . nothing!" Listening to and... Read More
Meet fifth grader Dave Parker, a known loudmouth who is in the middle of his fourth hour of not talking. In spite of being called on to give his oral social studies report on India, he is determined to stick with his experiment of staying silent for an entire day.... Read More
Meet six-year-old Sukie as she runs through the living room with a big plastic tub of glitter in each hand. "No running in the house. This isn't a playground." That's what her parents would say if they saw her. And, "You have to ask before you use glitter. And only... Read More
Sahara Jones has a True Ambition: she is going to be a writer. In the meantime, she's repeating fifth grade, having kept her abilities a secret from all her teachers since her father moved out two years ago. Her new teacher calls herself Madame Poitier. The kids call her Miss... Read More
When you're looking for larger, more substantial books to give as presents to the children in your life, books that will be savored and read over and over, don't neglect collections of poetry. Maybe you had to read too many serious anthologies of poetry in high school or college and... Read More
Get to know the man behind the legend and the famous ride in a clearly written and handsomely laid out biography amply illustrated with stately brown-toned portraits, paintings, reproductions, maps, and photographs. As an apprentice to his French-born father, a master silversmith, Paul learned the family trade but also served... Read More
Fans of the Judy Moody series about an outspoken and assertive third grade girl have been glad to see a whole new spin-off series about her younger brother, Stink, just as Beezus fans love books about her little sister, Ramona, in Beverly Cleary's classic series. Shortest in his family and... Read More
“Marveling at Marsupials,” is the first of many lively chapter headings, and that's just what you will do when you pore over the amiable narrative, fascinating descriptions, astonishing facts, and the plethora of color photos of that third group of mammals, the metatherians. What’s the largest living marsupial? It’s the... Read More
Dog, a little brown dachshund, and his best friend Bear, a multicolored stuffed teddy, have three little adventures together. Bear is scared to jump down from a tall chair until Dog coaches him to slide down his long back; Dog wants bear to play with him, but Bear is busy... Read More
Congratulations to Cynthia Rylant and Suçie Stevenson, the winners, in 2006, of the first annual Theodor Seuss Geisel Award for " . . . the most distinguished contribution to the body of American children’s literature known as beginning reader books . . ." Children have long loved this groundbreaking easy... Read More
The dinosaur citizens of Jurassica are in a panic when a mob of misshapen mutants and reptilian cyborgs from the pirate ship Blackrot rampages through the Imperial Palace, making off with the famous Jewels of Jurassica. The President calls in Captain Raptor to pursue the evildoers. Raptor and his fearless... Read More
The sky is sky blue; the day is sunny. Cow kicks the red ball, but it goes over the outstretched arms of Mouse, Duck, and Pig. "Oh no! The ball went into THE DOGHOUSE!” On the next double page, the now indigo sky surrounds a sinister-looking orange doghouse, with a... Read More
After flipping a pancake atop Henry's head, Grandpa spurred to tell his grandkids a story about the town of Chewandswallow. "The only thing that was really different about Chewandswallow was its weather. It came three times a day, at breakfast, lunch, and dinner." In the ensuing illustrations, the citizens of... Read More
As Shawn McDaniel explains it, "My life's one of those good news-bad news jokes. Like, 'I've got some good news and some bad news-which do you wanna hear first?'" The good news is that he lives with his family in Seattle, a very cool place to be. He even likes... Read More
A young girl demonstrates the properties of wind through her own observations and a series of easy-to-read-and-do activities and experiments, using common household materials, that teach science through experience. The collage illustrations are amiable and appealing and the question-filled text will get readers thinking, testing, and drawing scientific conclusions. There... Read More
Sixth grader Lerner Chase, new girl at Cleveland Middle School, is considered a slug (Sorry Loser Under Ground) by the popular kids in the MPOOE (Most Powerful Ones on Earth) Club. As Lerner soon discovers, her new pet worm, Fip is a most unusual fellow. Fip is an outcast in... Read More
Connwaer, an orphan boy who makes his living picking pockets and locks, nicks a locus magicalicus, a wizard's stone, from the pocket of an old man, and somehow survives the ensuing explosion of magic. The old man is a wizard named Nevery, who was banished from the city of Wellmet... Read More
"What a waste of a chunk of cheddar," the rat grumbles, gazing at the huge wedge of cheese down in the dell. It looks so yellow, so mellow, and so tasty. Defying the posted rules and regulations, which state, "The cheese stands alone," the rat grabs a napkin and heads... Read More
On the first page, there is an announcement, in a dialogue balloon, from Fran, the youngest member of the Farley family: "May I have your attention, please?" Yes, Fran? Oh, she wants us to read the sign she is holding. It says, "WARNING: Many of the facts in this book... Read More
Take a glorious month-by-month tour through the kindergarten year with master teacher Miss Cribbage, a guinea pig, as seen through the eyes of Emily the rabbit, one of eight animal students in the class. You'll get to know all of them: Diane, Emily, Louise, Martha, Odysseus, Otis, Roger, and Terrance,... Read More
Librarians all cheer for this charming, witty, stereotype-bashing tall tale-like heroine, Library Lil, a passionate advocate of books and reading, but don't worry-kids love her, too. We meet her as a strong, book-toting tyke who, by age eight, had read all the books in the children's room and started in... Read More
"The first week of August hangs at the very top of summer, the top of the live-long year, like the highest seat of a Ferris wheel when it pauses its turning." This magical tale about drinking from a spring of immortality centers on a ten-year-old girl, Winnie Foster, who longs... Read More
"ROAR! I'M A DINOSAUR. ROAR! NOTHING CAN STOP ME!" says a pointy white-toothed red dinosaur as he leaps into a pile of leaves. "DINOSAUR WINS!" he exclaims, triumphantly. He takes a bow and keeps on roaring. With Dinosaur versus a big slide, a bowl of spaghetti, talking grown-ups, bathtime, and... Read More
In a wordless graphic novel, a gray dog assembles, from a mail-order Tin Robot Kit, a new robot companion. Together, the dog and robot check books out at the library, cook popcorn, watch TV, and take a Greyhound bus to the beach where they cavort in the water and fall... Read More
Meet Yorkshire terrier detective Samuel Blackthorne as seen through the eyes of his chronicler, friend, and fellow canine, Edward R. Smithfield, a retired veterinarian. In their first thrilling case together, they come to the assistance of elegant greyhound, Molly Kirkpatrick, who seeks their help to find out why her brother,... Read More
Wow! WHAT a heart-thumping adventure I had the day I read this spectacular collection of twelve adventures of Gilgamesh. Based on seventh century B.C. Assyrian clay tablets that recorded the legend of Gilgamesh, king of Uruk in Mesopotamia (now Iraq) sometime between 3200 B.C. and 2700 B.C, this epic is... Read More
The 35 tangue-tungling poems in this seriously silly book are rhyming tributes to tongue twisters like "Unique New York" (which no one can say fast), about which Agee writes: "Unique New York, unique New York, / You know New York's unique. / You know you need unique New York, /... Read More
Maybe you got to know Mercy, that free-spirited porcine wonder, in her first easy chapter book, Mercy Watson to the Rescue, which describes what happened the night Mr. and Mrs. Watson's bed broke and Mercy ran off to find some sugar cookies and inadvertently saved the day. Kate... Read More
Dog lovers will have a blast with this large, personable book of 22 meaty dog-narrated poems, all accompanied by soulful paintings of the notable pooches. Every aspect of dogdom is covered here; titles include: "In My Doghouse," "Pet Me," "Lapdog," "Chowhound," "Chasing My Tail," and my personal favorite, the final... Read More
"Of all the kids in the seventh grade at Camillo Junior High School, there was one kid that Mrs. Baker hated with heat whiter than the sun. Me." So starts the sometimes slapstick, sometimes serious account by Holling Hoodhood about the Wednesday afternoons he is forced to spend with his... Read More
“I wish that I didn't sometimes, but I remember everything about that cursed, unspeakably unhappy night twelve years ago, when I was just three years old and both my parents were murdered.” That's just the start of Daniel's extraordinary narrative that grabs you by the scruff of the neck and... Read More
The same bats that cavorted in Bats at the Beach are back for another nocturnal adventure on an otherwise dull night. "We've feasted, fluttered, swooped, and soared, / And yet, we're still a little bored." So when "word spreads quickly from afar" that a window has been left... Read More
For kids who find the study of science intimidating, wait till they meet the male counterpart to Ms. Frizzle (who kids already know and love from Joanna Cole’s “The Magic School Bus” books)—Mr. Whiskers, a teacher with a beard, a blond crew cut, and a passion for “the big idea.”... Read More
Isn't that the most delightful subtitle for a book? It foreshadows the fun you're going to have reading this picture book biography, winner of a Sibert Honor, about the headstrong and irrepressible oldest child and only daughter of President Theodore Roosevelt. It starts, "Theodore Roosevelt had a small problem." In... Read More
My own synopsis of the whole story, in haiku?Stray dog on the porch.Mom and three kids fall for him,Though he makes a mess.Look at the inviting cover of a black-nosed, floppy-eared dog staring at you through the window of the storm door. Who wouldn't want to open the door and... Read More
“It is such the disappointment," says the mouse mother, Antoinette, upon learning that all of her newborn litter of babies has died, save one. Despereaux, his mother names him, for all the sadness and despairs in the castle where the mice live. Despereaux Tilling is a ridiculously small mouse with... Read More
Trying to get a young sports-fan into reading? This has to be the coolest-looking sports biography ever. Catch the plastic-lined lenticular cover with three shifting views of Sandy Koufax pitching. Feast your eyes on the silver-gray graphite illustrations, bursting with movement, with red lines highlighting the blue and white Dodgers... Read More
Brian Selznick, who won a Caldecott Honor for his spectacular illustrations in Barbara Kerley's extraordinary biography, The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins, has written and illustrated a wholly original, innovative and breathtaking masterpiece that bends all the rules of novel writing and illustrated stories. And it was just awarded... Read More
Enchanted with the sound of other young rats playing tiny violins at the Community Hall, Little Rat can't wait to take lessons. Her new teacher, a short-tempered rabbit named Miss Wingbutton, has "little tolerance for silliness." She yells at Little Rat for sawing her bow back and forth on the... Read More
Can children, and in particular, boys, ever read too many dinosaur books? Certainly not. Dinosaurs are forever fascinating in both fiction and nonfiction. They may be monstrous and terrifying, but conveniently, because they're extinct, we don't need to worry about them showing up in the back yard or under the... Read More
You remember Frindle, of course, and fifth grader Nick Allen who invents a new word for the word "pen"? Natalie Nelson, a sixth grader who wants to get published in School Story? Greg Kenton writing and selling his own comics at school in Lunch... Read More
Glaring straight at you from the cover and from the first double-page spread is a big, bad, gleaming blue and green Tyrannosaurus Rex, with fearsome claws and huge white choppers, exuding a light blue stream of bad breath. "Are you BAD?" he growls ferociously. The first time I shared this... Read More
This frantic, insanely funny send-up of fairy tales presents nine little comic masterpieces, with a cast that includes "The Princess and the Bowling Ball," "The Other Frog Prince," "Little Red Running Shorts," and the malodorous title character, with a head made from a thick wheel of cheese, with bacon for... Read More
And now for the latest Judy Moody book, number eight in the popular series about that pun-loving third grader with PMS. Your readers who don't know Judy yet will dive for the rest of the series, with its good-natured wordplay, riddles, and an ear for how real third graders talk.... Read More
Reading this biographical novel, narrated by Anne Sullivan and based on her many letters, I was reminded once again why I, like so many others, have always been captivated by the story of Anne and Helen Keller, the little girl whose life she transformed. It starts in 1887 with 20-year-old... Read More
How delicious, how delightful, how utterly sensational it is to have a chunky-sized new book of Prelutsky poems. Our first Children’s Poet Laureate does not disappoint, with a rousing compendium of 105 rhyming verses about a dog who can s-p-e-l-l; an underwater marching band, impossible to hear and perennially wet;... Read More
Lindy, Thomas, and Benjamin, three ordinary siblings, ages 7 to 13, are at the zoo when they first encounter Professor Savant. You'll excuse me for butting in," he says to them. "But if you're looking for something really unusual, have you ever considered a Whangdoodle?" According to the professor, the... Read More
There's a ripple in the walls of the world. When nine-year-old Tiffany Aching is warned away from a sharp-toothed green-headed monster by two tiny red-headed blue-skinned men in a boat, it seems that she may be the new witch of the lowlands, for the Nac Mac Feegle, the most feared... Read More
Want your kids to ace the SATs? Or at least learn some ace new words they'll never forget? You've come to the right book. Share one of these quirky short stories each day, and by the end of the month, your test-takers will become winsome or maybe Read More
In Christopher Bing's brilliant, Caldecott Honor-winning interpretation of Thayer's classic 1888 narrative poem, we are astonished, amazed, and awestruck at his multilayered, wondrous scrapbook, set up like an old 1888 newspaper. Baseball lovers of all ages will spend hours poring over the tickets, newspaper clippings, old baseball cards, a stereoscope... Read More
Starting with the reality of the Dust Bowl in Kansas in 1937, The Storm in the Barn is a graphic novel (meaning big comic book) about a boy named Jack and his family’s struggles to survive the drought and keep their farm. Bullied by the bigger boys, Jack... Read More
Did you ever notice how serious, somber, and edgy so many YA books are, with all those screwed up teens, life and death dystopian situations, not to mention never-ending angst and alienation? When's the last time you laughed out loud while reading a YA novel? Oh, right, Sherman Alexie's Read More
A graphic novel adaptation of the 9/11 Commission's 800-page The 9/11 Report: The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States? You saw it here first! This amazing comic book actuallybreaks down the events of and events leading up to the unforgettable attacks of September 11th in... Read More
Ninth grader, Anthony "Antsy" Bonano, whom you may already know from his first venture, The Schwa Was Here, provides a teaser on the front flap about his latest escapade: "It was a dumb idea, but one of those dumb ideas that accidentally turns out to be brilliant-which, I've... Read More
I Am Invited to a Party!When Piggie gets a cool invitation to go to her first party, she invites her best friend Elephant to go with her. “Party! Party! Party! Party!” the two chant joyously. Elephant declares, "I know parties," and that, as it turns out, is very... Read More
Story-lovers have always been fond of noodlehead, nitwit, and fool stories, These characters are hapless and drive everyone crazy, being unable to do much of anything right, on account of how lazy or befuddled they are. Noodleheads are not necessarily tricksters, as are the beloved folktale scamps, Anansi the Spider... Read More
For stealing a famous basketball player's sneakers, overweight, unlucky, but innocent Stanley Yelnats, is sentenced to hot, desolate Camp Green Lake in Texas, a detention center for bad boys. Every day each of the teen inmates must dig a hole five feet around and five feet deep in the bone... Read More
What's the real scoop on Cinderella? In her very first children's book, author Gail Carson Levine blows us away with an innovative, insightful, and riveting novel told by Ella, no shrinking violet or uncomplaining doormat to her new step-family. Cursed at birth by the interfering fairy Lucinda's gift of obedience,... Read More
Shari, Michael, Bird and Greg have nothing to do in the boring, remote town of Pitts Landing, and decide to explore the creepy ramshackle Coffman house down their street. After pillaging the basement, they find old treasures: boas, old coats, and even a working automatic camera. Greg takes a photo... Read More
"George's mother said: 'Bark, George.'George went: 'Meow.''No, George,' said George's mother.'Cats go meow. Dogs go arf. Now, bark, George.'George went: 'Quack-quack.'"Every time the floppy-eared brown dog tries to bark, he meows, quacks, oinks, or moos instead. George's mother, a matronly olive drab-colored dog sporting a red bandana around her neck,... Read More
"In fairy tales witches always wear silly black hats and black cloaks and they ride on broomsticks. But this is not a fairy tale. This is about REAL WITCHES. REAL WITCHES dress in ordinary clothes and look very much like ordinary women. They live in ordinary houses and they work... Read More
Doreen Cronin, who gave us the incomparable Click Clack Moo, Cows That Type, here introduces an otherwise disparaged creature for whom you'll gain great respect and affection, a brown earthworm. Start with the endpapers, a scrapbook of captioned photos like "My first tunnel" and "The family vacation-on Compost... Read More
Nate the Great is a detective. He works alone. One morning, while eating pancakes, Nate receives a phone call from a girl he knows, Annie. He hoped it would be someone calling about missing diamonds or a million dollars, but it's just Annie. She has lost a picture of her... Read More
Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy evacuate London during the Blitz of World War II to live in a Professor Kirke's house on the English countryside. One rainy, dull day, while playing hide and seek in the house, Lucy falls through the back of the wardrobe in which she chose to... Read More