Grades 3-5

Carl Sams II Photography, 2007
50 pages
Reading Level: 4.5
Winter, Forest Animals Fiction

Stunning photographs and text describe how the forest animals prepare for winter's first snow.

Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2010
Illustrator: August Hall
399 pages
Reading Level: 4.7
Mermaids, Sailing, Oceans, Mothers and Daughters, Gulf States

"Ten-year-old Keeper heads to a sandbar in a small boat along with her dog BD and a seagull named Captain in order to find her mother, a mermaid who left her when Keeper was only three.
" (Titlewave)

Henry Holt, 2007
Illustrator: S. D. Schindler
60 pages
Reading Level: 5.2
Teddy Bears, Toys

Doc the Bear arrives at the dump, unsure of what's to come. His new friends provide comforting assurance as they provide him with a determined welcome.

Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2008
320 pages
Reading Level: 5.2
Hope, love, loyalty, friendship, animal abuse, just rewards

Two stories intertwine as events in The Underneath unfold. While continued hope presents itself in both stories, loyal friendship and tragic deceit are the impending results. Appelt keeps readers on the edges of their seats as the powerful forces of love and hate intermingle and bring the story to a fateful end.

Little Brown and Company Books for Young Readers, 2009
278 pages
Reading Level: 5.5
Perseverance, love, loyalty, just rewards

On a quest to change her impoverished family's fortune, Minli secretly sets off to find Never-Ending Mountain and the Old Man of the Moon. Through her own sacrifice, Minli learns the heartwarming truth about the meaning of good fortune.

Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2010
249 pages
Reading Level: 5.6
Knights and Knighthood

"Eleven-year-old Alanna, who aspires to be a knight even though she is a girl, disguises herself as a boy to become a royal page, learning many hard lessons along her path to high adventure." (Titlewave)

Winner of the 2014 Newbery Medal Holy unanticipated occurrences! A cynic meets an unlikely superhero in a genre-breaking new novel by master storyteller Kate DiCamillo. It begins, as the best superhero stories do, with a tragic accident that has unexpected consequences. The squirrel never saw the vacuum cleaner coming, but self-described cynic Flora Belle Buckman, who has read every issue of the comic book Terrible Things Can Happen to You!, is the just the right person to step in and save him. What neither can predict is that Ulysses (the squirrel) has been born anew, with powers of strength, flight, and misspelled poetry -- and that Flora will be changed too, as she discovers the possibility of hope and the promise of a capacious heart. From #1 New York Times best-selling author Kate DiCamillo comes a laugh-out-loud story filled with eccentric, endearing characters and featuring an exciting new format -- a novel interspersed with comic-style graphic sequences and full-page illustrations, all rendered in black-and-white by up-and-coming artist K. G. Campbell. (Amazon.com)