Home of the Brave• By Katherine Applegate• RL 4.3

• Kek, an African refugee, is confronted by many strange things at his aunt’s Minneapolis home, as well as in his fifth grade classroom, and longs for his missing mother, but finds comfort in the company of a cow and her owner.

Nic Bishop Spiders

• By Nic Bishop• RL 3.3

• See spiders close up and learn about the differences between them. Yikes!

The Klipfish Code

• By Mary Casanova• RL 6.8• Ten-year-old Merit longs to

join her parents in the Resistance and resents the Nazis' presence even more when her aunt, a teacher, is taken away.

Surfer of the Century

• By Ellie Crowe• RL 6.0 A biography of

Hawaiian Duke Kahanamoku, five-time Olympic swimming champion who is considered the 'father of modern surfing'"

The Lemonade War

• By Jacqueline Davies• RL 3.4 Evan and his younger sister,

Jesse, find out they will be in the same class in school. They battle it out through lemonade stands, each trying to be the first to earn 100 dollars.

Finding Stinko

By Michael De Guzman RL 5.1 Having spent his life

trying to escape the foster care system, Newboy finally hits the streets, where a discarded ventriloquist's dummy becomes his closest friend.

The White Elephant

By Sid Fleischman RL 4.3 In old Siam, young

elephant trainer Run-Run and his old charge, Walking Mountain, must deal with the curse of a sacred white elephant.

Comets, Stars, the Moon and Mars: Space Poems and Paintings

By Douglas Florian RL 3.1 Twenty whimsical

poems about space

Igraine the Brave By Cornelia Funke RL 5.6 The daughter of two

magicians, Igraine wants nothing more than to be a knight, and when their castle is attacked by a neighbor bent on stealing their magic books, Igraine has an opportunity to demonstrate her bravery.

Deep and Dark and Dangerous

By Mary Hahn RL 5.6 When Ali spends the

summer with her aunt and cousin at the family's vacation home, she stumbles upon a secret that her mother and aunt have been hiding for over thirty years.

Just Grace By Charise Harper RL 4.4 When Grace’s neighbor’s cat

goes missing, she does her best to make Mrs. Luther feel less lonely. But as the mystery of the missing cat continues, Grace's well-intentioned plan backfires, and she finds herself in a bit of trouble.

Being Teddy Roosevelt

• By Claudia Mills • RL 3.8 When he is assigned Teddy

Roosevelt as his project in school, Riley finds himself inspired by Roosevelt's tenacity and perseverance and resolves to find a way to get what he most wants--a saxophone and music lessons.

How to Steal a Dog

By Barbara O’Connor RL 4.0 Living in the family car after

their father leaves them penniless, Georgina persuades her younger brother to help her in an elaborate scheme to get money by stealing a dog and then claiming the reward that the owners are bound to offer.

Beowulf: A Hero’s Tale Retold

By James Rumford RL 4.2 An illustrated retelling of

the exploits of the warrior, Beowulf, and how he came to defeat the monster Grendel, Grendel's mother, and a dragon that threatened the kingdom.

First Light

• By Rebecca Stead • RL 5.9 When Peter and his family

arrive in Greenland for his father's research, he stumbles upon a secret his mother has been hiding from him all his life, and begins an adventure he never imagines possible.

Emma Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree

By Lauren Tarshis RL 5.9 A quirky and utterly

logical seventh-grade girl named Emma-Jean Lazarus discovers some interesting results when she gets involved in the messy everyday problems of her peers.

Dragon’s Egg

• By Sarah Thomson• RL 3.3 Mella, a young girl trained as

a dragon keeper, learns that the legends of old are true when she is entrusted with carrying a dragon's egg to the fabled Hatching Grounds, a dangerous journey on which she is assisted by a knight's squire.

Birmingham, 1963

By Carole Weatherford

RL 4.6 Describes the feelings

of a fictional character who witnessed the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombings in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963.

Leepike Ridge By N.D. Wilson RL 5.8 While his widowed mother

continues to search for him, Tom, presumed dead after drifting away down a river, finds himself trapped in a series of underground caves with another survivor and a dog, and pursued by murderous treasure-hunters.

My Name is Sally Little Song

• By Brenda Woods• RL 4.4 When their owner plans to

sell one of them in 1802, Sally and her family run away from their Georgia plantation to look for both freedom from slavery and a home in Florida with the Seminole Indians.