Armstrong, William. Sounder.
HarperCollins Publishers, 1969. Reading Level: 5.3
Angry and humiliated when his sharecropper father is jailed for stealing
food for his family, a young black boy grows in courage and understanding
by learning to read and with the help of the devoted dog Sounder.
Babbitt, Natalie. Tuck
Everlasting. Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1975. Reading
Level: 5
The Tuck family is confronted with an agonizing situation when they
discover that a ten-year-old girl and a malicious stranger now share their
secret about a spring whose water prevents one from ever growing any older.
Bauer, Marion. On
My Honor. Clarion Books, 1986. Reading Level: 4.7
When his best friend drowns while they are both swimming in a treacherous
river that they had promised never to go near, Joel is devastated and terrified
at having to tell both sets of parents the terrible consequences of their
disobedience.
Brink, Carol. Caddie
Woodlawn. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 1973.
Reading Level: 6
The adventures of an eleven-year-old tomboy growing up on the Wisconsin
frontier in the mid-nineteenth century.
Byars, Betsy. The
Pinballs. Harper & Row, 1977. Reading Level: 3.8
Three lonely foster children learn to care about themselves and each
other.
Cleary, Beverly. Dear
Mr. Henshaw. Morrow Junior Books, 1983. Reading Level:
4.9
In his letters to his favorite author, ten-year-old Leigh reveals his
problems in coping with his parents’ divorce, being the new boy in school,
and generally finding his own place in the world.
Cleaver, Vera and Bill. Where
the Lilies Bloom. HarperCollins Publishers, 1969. Reading
Level: 5.2
In the Great Smoky Mountains region, a fourteen-year-old girl struggles
to keep her family together after their father dies.
Collier, James L. War
Comes to Willy Freeman. Delacorte, 1983. Reading Level:
4.9
A free thirteen-year-old black girl in Connecticut is caught up in
the horror of the Revolutionary War and the danger of being returned to
slavery when her patriot father is killed by the British and her mother
disappears.
Coman, Carolyn. What
Jamie Saw. Front Street, 1995. Reading Level: 5.4
Having fled to a family friend’s hillside trailer after his mother’s
boyfriend tried to throw his baby sister against a wall, nine-year-old
Jamie finds himself living an existence full of uncertainty and fear.
Couloumbis, Audrey. Getting
Near to Baby. Putnam, 1999. Reading Level: 5.1
Although thirteen-year-old Willa Jo and her Aunt Patty seem to be constantly
at odds, staying with her and Uncle Hob helps Willa Jo and her younger
sister come to terms with the death of their family’s baby.
Creech, Sharon. Chasing
Redbird. HarperCollins, 1997. Reading Level: 5
Thirteen-year-old Zinnia Taylor uncovers family secrets and self truths
while clearing a mysterious settler trail that begins on her family’s farm
in Kentucky.
Curtis, Christopher. The
Watsons Go to Birmingham. Delacorte, 1995. Reading
Level: 5
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.
Dahl, Ronald. The
BFG. Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1982. Reading Level: 4.8
Kidsnatched from her orphange by a BFG (Big Friendly Giant), who spends
his life blowing happy dreams to children, Sophie concocts with him a plan
to save the world from nine other man-gobbling cannybull giants.
Dahl, Ronald. Charlie
and the Chocolate Factory. Random House, 1973. Reading
Level: 4.8
Each of five children lucky enough to discover an entry ticket into
Mr. Willy Wonka’s mysterious chocolate factory takes advantage of the situation
in his own way.
DiCamillo, Kate. Because
of Winn-Dixie. Candlewick Press, 2000. Reading
Level: 4
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.
Dorris, Michael. Morning
Girl. Hyperion Books for Children, 1992. Reading Level:
4.9
Morning Girl, who loves the day, and her younger brother Star Boy,
who loves the night, take turns describing their life on an island in pre-Columbian
America; in Morning Girl’s last narrative, she witnesses the arrival of
the first Europeans to her world.
Eckhart, Allen. Incident
at Hawk’s Hill. Little, Brown, 1971. Reading Level:
7.2
A shy, lonely six-year-old wanders into the Canadian prairie and spends
a summer under the protection of a badger.
English, Karen. Francie.
Farrar Straus Giroux, 1999. Reading Level: 4.2
When the sixteen-year-old boy whom she tutors in reading is accused
of attempting to murder a white man, Francie gets herself in serious trouble
for her efforts at friendship.
Erdrich, Louise. The
Birchbark House. Hyperion Books for Children, 1999.
Reading Level: 6
Omakayas, a seven-year-old Native American girl of the Ojibwa tribe,
lives through the joys of summer and the perils of winter on an island
in Lake Superior in 1847.
Fenner, Carol. Yolonda’s
Genius. Margaret K. McElderry Books, 1995. Reading
Level: 4.8
After moving from Chicago to Grand River, Michigan, fifth grader
Yolonda, big and strong for her age, determines to prove that her younger
brother is not a slow learner but a true musical genius.
Fleishman, Paul. The
Borning Room. HarperCollins Publishers, 1991. Reading
Level: 5
Lying at the end of her life in the room where she was born in 1851,
Georgina remembers what it was like to grow up on the Ohio frontier.
Gantos, Jack. Joey
Pigza Looses Control. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2000.
Reading Level: 6
Joey, who is still taking medication to keep him from getting too wired,
goes to spend the summer with the hard-drinking father he has never known
and tries to help the baseball team he coaches win the championship.
George, Jean Craighead. Frightful’s
Mountain. Dutton Children’s Books, 1999. Reading Level:
4.7
As she grows through the first years of her life in the Catskill Mountains
of New York, a peregrine falcon called Frightful interacts with various
humans, including the boy who raised her, a falconer who rescues her, and
several unscrupulous poachers, as well as with many animals that are part
of the area's ecological balance.
Gipson, Fred. Old
Yeller. Harper & Row, 1956. Reading Level: 5
A Texas pioneer family in the 1860's and the big yellow stray dog that
profoundly affects their lives.
Giff, Patricia. Lily’s
Crossing. Delacorte Press, 1997. Reading Level: 4.6
During a summer spent at Rockaway Beach in 1944, Lily's friendship
with a young Hungarian refugee causes her to see the war and her own world
differently.
Greene, Bette. Philip
Hall Likes Me. I Reckon Maybe. Dial Press, 1974. Reading
Level: 5
Eleven-year-old Beth thinks that Philip Hall likes her, but their on-again,
off-again relationship sometimes makes her wonder.
Hamilton, Virginia. The
House of Dies Drear. Simon & Schuster Books for Young
Readers, 1968. Reading Level: 4.8
A black family of five moves into an enormous house once used as a
hiding place for runaway slaves. Mysterious sounds and events as well as
the discovery of secret passageways make the family believe they are in
grave danger.
Hamilton, Virginia. The
People Could Fly: American Black Folktales. Knopf, 1985.
Reading Level: 4
Retold Afro-American folktales of animals, fantasy, the supernatural,
and desire for freedom, born of the sorrow of the slaves, but passed on
in hope.
Hansen, Joyce. Which
Way Freedom? Walker, 1986. Reading Level: 4.5
Obi escapes from slavery during the Civil War, joins a black Union
regiment, and soon becomes involved in the bloody fighting at Fort Pillow,
Tennessee.
Hesse, Karen. Out
of the Dust. Scholastic Press, 1997. Reading Level:
5.3
In a series of poems, fifteen-year-old Billie Jo relates the hardships
of living on her family’s wheat farm in Oklahoma during the dust bowl years
of the Depression.
Hobbs, Will. Jason’s
Gold. Morrow Junior Books, 1999. Reading Level: 5.5
When news of the discovery of gold in Canada's Yukon Territory in 1897
reaches fifteen-year-old Jason, he embarks on a 10,000-mile journey to
strike it rich.
Konigsburg, E. L. From
the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. Aladdin
Books, 1987. Reading Level: 4.7
Having runaway with her younger brother to live in the Metropolitan
Museum of Art, twelve-year-old Claudia strives to keep things in order
in their new home and to become a changed person and a heroine to herself.
Levy, Elizabeth. My
Life as a Fifth-grade Comedian. HarperCollins, 1997.
Reading Level: 4
Although Bobby's father thinks that he might be expelled just like
his older brother, with the encouragement of a new fifth-grade teacher,
Bobby tries to channel his penchant for humor into a learning experience.
Lewis, C. S. The
Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Macmillan, 1983.
Reading Level: 5.7
Four English school children find their way through the back of a wardrobe
into the magic land of Narnia and assist Aslan, the golden lion, to triumph
over the White Witch, who has cursed the land with eternal winter.
McKissack, Patricia. The
Dark-Thirty: Southern Tales of the Supernatural. Knopf, 1992.
Reading Level: 4.6
A collection of ghost stories with African American themes, designed
to be told during the Dark Thirty—the half hour before sunset—when ghosts
seem all too believable.
McKissack, Patricia. A
Picture of Freedom: The Diary of Clotee, a Slave Girl. Scholastic,
1997. Reading Level: 4.6
In 1859 twelve-year-old Clotee, a house slave who must conceal the
fact that she can read and write, records in her diary her experiences
and her struggle to decide whether to escape to freedom.
McKissack, Patricia and Frederick. Sojourner
Truth: Ain’t I a Woman? Scholastic, 1992. Reading Level:
7
A biography of the former slave who became well-known as an abolitionist
and advocate of women's rights.
Myers, Laurie. Surviving
Brick Johnson. Clarion Books, 2000. Reading Level:
3
Afraid of getting maimed for making fun of Brick, the husky new kid
in his fifth-grade class, Nick decides that even his baseball collection
will not protect him so he signs up for karate class, despite his little
brother's reassurances that Brick is not a bully.
Naidoo, Beverly. Journey
to Jo’burg: A South African Story. Lippincott, 1995.
Reading Level: 4.6
Separated from their mother by the harsh social and economic conditions
prevalent among blacks in South Africa, thirteen-year-old Naledi and her
younger brother make a journey of over 300 kilometers to find her in Johannesburg.
Naylor, Phyllis. The
Agony of Alice. Atheneum, 1985. Reading Level: 5.3
Eleven-year-old, motherless Alice decides she needs a gorgeous role
model who does everything right; and when placed in homely Mrs. Plotkins's
class she is greatly disappointed until she discovers it's what people
are inside that counts.
O’Brien, Robert. Mrs.
Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. Atheneum Books for Young Readers,
1971. Reading Level: 5.1
Having no one to help her with her problems, a widowed mouse visits
the rats whose former imprisonment in a laboratory made them wise and long
lived.
O’Dell, Scott. Island
of the Blue Dolphins. Houghton Mifflin, 1960. Reading
Level: 5.4
An Indian girl lived alone for eighteen years on an isolated island
off the California coast when her tribe emigrated and she was left behind.
This is the true story of Karana and her fight for survival.
Paterson, Katherine. Bridge
to Terabithia. HarperCollins, 1977. Reading Level:
4.6
The life of a ten-year-old boy in rural Virginia expands when he becomes
friends with a newcomer who subsequently meets an untimely death trying
to reach their hideaway, Terabithia, during a storm.
Paulsen, Gary. Winter
Room. Orchard Books, 1989. Reading Level: 5
A young boy growing up on a northern Minnesota farm describes the scenes
around him and recounts his old Norwegian uncle's tales of an almost mythological
logging past.
Peck, Richard. A
Long Way from Chicago. Dial Books for Young Readers, 1998.
Reading Level: 5
A boy recounts his annual summer trips to rural Illinois with his sister
during the Great Depression to visit their larger-than-life grandmother.
Peck, Richard. A
Year Down Yonder. Dial Books for Young Readers, 2000.
Reading Level: 6
During the recession of 1937, fifteen-year-old Mary Alice is sent to
live with her feisty, larger-than-life grandmother in rural Illinois and
comes to a better understanding of this fearsome woman.
Pinkney, Andrea. Let
It Shine: Stories of Black Women Freedom Fighters. Harcourt,
2000. Reading Level: 4
This covers the contributions of these freedom fighters: Sojourner
Truth, Biddy Mason, Harriet Tubman, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Mary McLeod Bethune,
Ella Josephine Baker, Dorothy Irene Height, Rosa Parks, Fannie Lou Hamer,
and Shirley Chisholm.
Rylant, Cynthia. Missing
May. Orchard Books, 1992. Reading Level: 5.3
After the death of the beloved aunt who has raised her, twelve-year-old
Summer and her uncle Ob leave their West Virginia trailer in search of
the strength to go on living.
Speare, Elizabeth George. The
Sign of the Beaver. Houghton Mifflin, 1983. Reading
Level: 4.9
Left alone to guard the family's wilderness home in eighteenth-century
Maine, a boy is hard-pressed to survive until local Indians teach him their
skills.
Spinelli, Jerry. Maniac
Magee. Little, Brown, 1990. Reading Level: 4.7
After his parents die, Jeffrey Lionel Magee's life becomes legendary,
as he accomplishes athletic and other feats which awe his contemporaries.
Spinelli, Jerry. Wringer.
HarperCollins, 1997. Reading Level: 4.5
As Palmer comes of age, he must either accept the violence of being
a wringer at his town's annual Pigeon Day or find the courage to oppose
it.
Taylor, Theodore. The
Cay. Doubleday, 1969. Reading Level: 6
When the freighter on which they are traveling is torpedoed by a German
submarine during World War II, a twelve-year-old white boy, blinded by
a blow on the head, and an old Negro are stranded on a small desert
island in the Caribbean where the boy acquires a new kind of vision, courage,
and love from his old companion.
White, Ruth. Belle
Prater’s Boy. Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1996. Reading
Level: 4.4
When Woodrow's mother suddenly disappears, he moves to his grandparents'
home in a small Virginia town where he befriends his cousin and together
they find the strength to face the terrible losses and fears in their lives.
This page was created by the Dayton & Montgomery County Children's Book List Committee in June 2001.