Picture Books
Fiery Night
by Sally M. Walker
Awakened by neighbors in the middle of the night, Justin's family tries to save their home from a fire spreading through their neighborhood. Forced to flee, the young boy refuses to leave his pet goat, Willie, behind. Though the frightened animal slows the family's escape through the burning city, he helps comfort Justin and gives him much-needed courage in the midst of a terrifying ordeal.
This historical fiction is based on the true story of one boy's heroic survival during the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.
Don't Trust Fish
by Neil Sharpson
Mammals have fur, are warm-blooded, and produce milk. Reptiles are cold-blooded, have scaly skin, and lay eggs. Birds have feathers, making them "dead easy" to identify. Fish, on the other hand, are rebels and outlaws. Fish can not be trusted.
This clever picture book appears, at first, to be a science-backed non-fiction about the animal kingdom. But it quickly morphs into a field guide gone wrong. Narrated by a crab who clearly has a vendetta against anything with fins, this book is full of hilarious conspiracy theories about fish.
Calico Dorsey
by Susan Lendroth
In 1885, during the silver-mining boom in California's Mojave Desert, a lonely, stray Border collie named Dorsey is taken in by Al Stacy, a general store owner and postmaster. The miners working at the remote Bismarck silver mine desperately need a reliable mail carrier. However, the trek from the mine over the mountains to the main town of Calico is often too hot and exhausting for Al to make regularly. Al discovers that Dorsey, who once followed a burro across the terrain, can now navigate the trails between the towns independently. He decides to test the dog’s abilities, prompting the creation of a specialized, wearable leather mail pouch buckled onto the collie's back. Eventually, Dorsey officially takes over the route, traversing the desert to deliver letters and small packages to isolated miners.
Calico Dorsey is loosely based on the true story of the most celebrated canine mail carrier in U.S. frontier history.
by Molly Beth Griffin
Rhoda is invited on a camping trip with Aunt June and Uncle Jonah. While her aunt enjoys photographing birds and her uncle loves setting up camp, Rhoda's true obsession is hunting for rocks. She's given permission to collect as many rocks as she wants as long as she carries them all herself. As they hike, Rhoda stuffs her backpack full. However, by the time they are ready to make the final hike back to their cozy cabin, her pack has become so heavy that she cannot even lift it off the ground. She is sweaty and tired, and she deeply misses the comforts of home, but she refuses to leave her rocks behind. She must find a clever compromise to ensure she can bring her favorite treasures home.
Leveled Readers
Chicken Said, "Cluck!"
by Judyann Ackerman Grant
Earl and Pearl are two siblings determined to grow pumpkins in their family's garden patch. Trouble is, Chicken keeps getting in the way. She tries to help but becomes a persistent nuisance. However, when a swarm of grasshoppers invades, threatening to eat all the pumpkins, Chicken steps in and gobbles up the pesky bugs, saving the garden and proving her worth.
This Level 2 reader contains two to three sentences per page.
by Martha Brenner
As a young lawyer in Springfield, Illinois, Abraham Lincoln buys a long black coat and a tall "stovepipe" hat to look professional. Because he is somewhat disorganized and constantly misplaces legal documents, he devises a trick: he stuffs court notes, letters, and even his checkbook deep inside the lining of his tall hat so they stay handy. The hat filing system works well until it doesn't.
Young readers will enjoy this Level 3 narrative nonfiction about a young circuit lawyer who doesn't allow a few mishaps to deter him from his ultimate goal of pursuing justice for all.
Illustrated Chapter Books
by Patricia MacLachlan
Zoe and her sister Alice live in a loving, chaotic, and loud house that serves as a foster home for rescued Great Pyrenees dogs, whose white fur constantly flies through the air, covering everything. The family also keeps an African grey parrot named Lena, whose favorite phrase is "You can't know."
When a new family moves into the house across the street. Zoe and Alice meet Phillip, a boy who is temporarily staying with his strict, childless aunt and uncle. Due to his awkward living arrangements, Phillip has completely stopped speaking. Though his aunt worries that the large neighborhood dogs will bite him, Phillip is naturally drawn to them. He remains completely silent around humans but begins whispering to the dogs when he thinks no one is looking.
Can the girls and the dog help heal whatever feels broken in Phillip's life and encourage him to talk again?
This is a story of family bonds and the therapeutic love of a pet.
by Lourdes Heuer
In the coastal resort town of Seashell Key, six entrepreneurial kids stay busy all summer, making their own fun by entertaining tourists.
First in a three-part Seashell Key series, this book is told in four acts, with each act containing a handful of short chapters about the adventures of one or more of the kids.
Please note: In Act III, during an intentionally inaccurate tour of a lighthouse, one girl displays a handful of modern toys and tells a few onlookers that the "artifacts" are billions of years old.
While I recommend this first title, I can not wholeheartedly endorse the sequels. The second book features a harvest/Halloween festival and a few "spooky" stories. The second includes a child's search for a leprechaun. That said, each book is a stand-alone and does not require the storylines of the others in the series.
Middle-Grade Novels
Will's Race for Home
by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Will and his family are struggling sharecroppers in Texas. Though emancipated 25 years prior, his father and grandfather remain trapped in a system that yields almost no profit. When Father brings home a flyer advertising the Oklahoma Land Rush, the entire family sees it as their ultimate chance to own land and change their lives. He and Will set off on a grueling trek with their loyal mule, Belle.
The 400-mile journey is highly dangerous. The pair must survive harsh wilderness terrain, poisonous rattlesnakes, and a treacherous crossing of the Red River. Along the way, they also face intense racism and thieves targeting travelers.
Please note: When Will is nearly bitten by a rattlesnake, his father says, "Oh Lord, oh Lord, oh Lord!"
A former Union soldier offers Will's dad a sip of brandy and later must drink more of it for medicinal purposes.
One scene features a gun fight with some racist men who don't want a black family to claim land in Oklahoma.
Odder
by Katherine Applegate
Odder is an adventurous pup who lives with her mother in the waters of Monterey Bay. One day, she is severely injured while protecting her friend from a Great White Shark. Injured and weak, she's rescued by humans and brought to a nearby rehabilitation center. Will she be able to recover and join her friends in the sea, or will she be destined for a life in a cage?
I'm often asked for book suggestions for tweens struggling to read. They don't want to settle for "baby" books. They want age-appropriate content but breezy writing with short chapters. Odder definitely fits the bill. This free-verse story would also make a great book for very young, but advanced readers.
Scout: National Hero
by Jennifer Li Shotz
With his dad deployed and his mom working long hours managing an Army base's K-9 unit, Matt feels lonely and out of place. He adopts Scout, an incredibly smart former stray from Mississippi. Though Matt's mom worries Scout is too inattentive to be a true rescue dog, Matt believes he's got what it takes.
When a devastating flash flood strikes their Nevada town, Matt's world is upended. Suddenly, he is plunged into a dangerous, life-or-death survival scenario. With Scout's help, he swims to safety and guides other trapped victims to higher ground. But will this be enough to convince Matt's mom to keep Scout in the K9 program?
This is the first of a series of three adventure books featuring Scout. I have not read the sequels.
Please note: The following words are mentioned once or twice in the text: sucks, heck, freakin'.
Matt intentionally omits details about what he'll be doing with friends after school when they invite him to go cliff climbing. He also takes Scout out of his military cage without permission.
Lines of Courage
by Jennifer A. Nielsen
In 1914, Felix Baum, a 12-year-old Jewish boy from Austria-Hungary, accidentally witnessed the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the event that triggered World War I. Later, his family faces intense danger, and Felix struggles to find the bravery his father encourages him to have.
In 1915, Kara Webb, a 14-year-old girl from Britain, works with her mother on a Red Cross ambulance train. Driven by empathy, Kara risks her future by disobeying direct orders to treat and hide an injured enemy soldier, Sergeant Josef Baum.
In 1916, Juliette, from France, is caught in the devastating Battle of Verdun. Juliette is separated from her family after her father is imprisoned by German forces. She spends the war surviving alone on a relentless, crooked path to find them.
In 1917, Dimitri Petrenko, a 14-year-old peasant boy, is thrust into brutal trench warfare without a rifle or a helmet. He must scrounge for gear off dead soldiers to survive while trying to send money back to his starving family.
In 1918, Elsa Dressler, the daughter of a high-ranking German officer, watches her country become wrecked by starvation and civil unrest. She relies on her homing pigeon for hope and deals with the fallout of her father’s military status.
This book follows five teenagers from different European nations whose lives intersect during The War to End All Wars and shows the conflict through alternating perspectives.
Though the publisher has deemed this story appropriate for 8 to 12-year-olds, the heavy content feels more appropriate for 10+.
Parents, Be Aware
The Shoeshine Girl
by Clyde Robert Bulla
Unhappy and hostile at home, Sarah Ida is sent away to Palmville to spend the summer with her Aunt Claudia. Because she has proven to be irresponsible with money, her mother instructs Aunt Claudia not to give Sarah an allowance. Frustrated, she sets out to find a job. She secures an unlikely position working at a local shoeshine stand for an older man named Al. Although she initially dislikes the dirty work, Sarah grows to love the job and develops a deep bond with the owner. Tragedy strikes when Al is hit by a car and hospitalized, putting the future of the shoeshine stand at risk. Determined not to let the business suffer, she takes over the stand herself. Once selfish and uncooperative, Sarah learns to think of others.
Things to know: In the first half of the book, Sarah is very combative toward authority. She speaks negatively about her mom and dad and has a sour attitude about her life.
In one scene, while discussing a friend who was caught stealing a dress from a store, Sarah makes excuses for the thief.
Sarah makes critical judgments of those around her, declaring one person to be fat and another person to be ugly.
by Avi
Lambert Simnel is a poor, illiterate orphan working under abusive conditions at Tackley’s Tavern in Oxford. He considers himself a "nobody" and dreams of a better life after watching street performers act out a play about royalty. A mysterious Dominican friar named Brother Simonds buys Lambert from the tavern keeper, takes him to a hidden, guarded house, and reveals a shocking secret: the once-orphaned boy is actually Prince Edward, the true heir to the throne. But it's all a lie.
In reality, King Henry VII has recently seized power, and the real Prince Edward has disappeared. Brother Simonds, alongside the treacherous Earl of Lincoln and Viscount Francis Lovell, plans to use Lambert's physical resemblance to the prince to start a rebellion. They meticulously train Lambert in royal manners, history, and noble posture. Though Lambert initially tries to run away, his growing taste for wealth and power changes his mind. He embraces the grand deception, actively adopting the mindset of a king. Will the country learn the truth? Will Lambert be found to be the imposter that he is?
This novel, set in 1486 England, tells the true story of a penniless kitchen boy who is plucked from obscurity and trained to impersonate a missing prince to seize the English throne.
Things to know: In a play that Lambart attends, a man portrays a drunken Noah. The "God" character in the production tells "Noah" that if he doesn't stop drinking, He will send a flood. The man cast as "God" dumps a "piss pot" over his head.
The phrase "In God's name" appears a few times.
Attempting to put fear into Lambart so that he will stick to the plan of deception, the friar explains what would happen if the boy were found to be a traitor. He says, "You would be hanged, but before you'd fully died, your guts would be stripped out through your stomach wall and burned before you, while your beating heart would be removed and stuffed into your bloody mouth. Finally, your body would be cut into four quarters and nailed about the town."
Just for you, Mom
The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion
by Beth Brower
Orphaned Emma Lion returns to London expecting her rightful inheritance of her family's home, Lapis Lazuli, and salary upon her 21st birthday, only to find her eccentric cousin Archibald has depleted her finances and banished her to the attic.
To make matters worse, her overbearing Aunt Eugenia insists Emma serve as a marriage foil for her cousin, Arabella, during the social season, instructing her to be like a "bug on the window" and not speak of politics or religion.
This book, told entirely through Emma’s diary entries, is the first in an ongoing series that blends historical fiction with lighthearted comedy, sarcasm, and profound reflections on grief and loss.
While Volume 1 feels rather slow at first, the entire series is delightful (especially in audio format) and is worth the time investment.
Best in Show
by Joan Sandin
A letter has arrived from America! For Carl Erick and his family, who are among the thousands of Swedes starving during the 1868 and '69 drought, this letter from Uncle Axel is a welcome invitation to start a new life in a new land. Papa and Mama agree that life in America must surely be better than the current conditions of Sweden. So, they sell the farm, pack their few belongings, and book passage on a ship that will take the whole family, including Carl Erik, to a more promising future.
This Level 3 reader has five short chapters with pictures on every page.
by Robert McCloskey
Armed with plenty of curiosity, a touch of moxy, and a pet skunk, Home Price foils the plot of four sneaky bandits. This charming Leave It To Beaver type misadventure features small-town Americana at its best and will leave readers in stitches...and craving a donut! Each chapter is a stand-alone story, making this book a great first read-aloud for families.