Special Collections
National Education Association's List of Kids' Top 100 Books
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The First Four Years
by Laura Ingalls WilderLaura Ingalls Wilder is beginning her life with her new husband, Almanzo. Laura is a young pioneer wife now, and must work hard farming the land around their home, facing the hardships and triumphs encountered by so many American pioneers.
Wringer
by Jerry SpinelliNewbery Honor Book * ALA Notable Children's Book "Deeply felt. Presents a moral question with great care and sensitivity." —The New York Times"A spellbinding story about rites of passage." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)"A realistic story with the intensity of a fable." —The Horn Book (starred review)"Thought-provoking." —School Library Journal (starred review)In Palmer LaRue's hometown of Waymer, turning ten is the biggest event of a boy's life. But for Palmer, his tenth birthday is not something to look forward to, but something to dread. Then one day, a visitor appears on his windowsill, and Palmer knows that this, more than anything else, is a sign that his time is up. Somehow, he must learn how to stop being afraid and stand up for what he believes in.Wringer is a powerful tour de force from Newbery Medal winner Jerry Spinelli.
Redwall
by Brian JacquesIt's a classic good versus evil tale, as rats and mice prepare to battle over ownership of Redwall Abbey.
Booklist Best Books of 1980's
School Library Journal Best Books of 1987
ALA "75 Best Books of the Last 25 Years"
Beezus and Ramona
by Beverly Cleary and Tracy DockrayRamona Quimby is the youngest of all the famous characters in Mrs. Cleary's wonderful Henry Huggins stories. She is also far and away the most deadly.
Readers of the earlier books will remember that Ramona has always been a menace to Beezus, her older sister, to Henry, and to his dog Ribsy. It is not that Ramona deliberately sets out to make trouble for other people. She simply has more imagination than is healthy for any one person.In this book Ramona and her imagination really come into their own.
Starting with a fairly mild encounter with the librarian, which is harder on Beezus than anyone else, Ramona goes from strength to strength, winding up by inviting her entire kindergarten class to a part at her home without mentioning it to her mother. The riot that ensues is probably the most hilarious episode in this extremely funny book, which proves that Mrs. Cleary's imagination is almost as lively as Ramona's.
Fountas and Pinnell Level: O
Lexile: 691L - 770L
Reading Recovery: 34
DRA: 34
PM Readers: 24 Silver
Grade: 3
Ages: 8 - 9
Learning A to Z Level: S
Accelerated Reader (ATOS): 3.9 - 5.1
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
by Mark TwainMark Twain's classic story of a young boy's life in a small town on the Mississippi River. [This text is listed as an example that meets Common Core Standards in English language arts in grades 6-8 at http://www.corestandards.org.]
To Kill a Mockingbird
by Harper LeeHarper Lee's Pulitzer prize-winning masterwork of honor and injustice in the deep south--and the heroism of one man in the face of blind and violent hatred, available now for the first time as an e-book.
One of the best-loved stories of all time, To Kill a Mockingbird has been translated into more than forty languages, sold more than thirty million copies worldwide, served as the basis for an enormously popular motion picture, and was voted one of the best novels of the twentieth century by librarians across the country.
A gripping, heart-wrenching, and wholly remarkable tale of coming-of-age in a South poisoned by virulent prejudice, it views a world of great beauty and savage inequities through the eyes of a young girl, as her father-a crusading local lawyer-risks everything to defend a black man unjustly accused of a terrible crime.
Little House in the Big Woods
by Laura Ingalls WilderWolves and panthers and bears roam the deep Wisconsin woods in the late 1870's. In those same woods, Laura lives with Pa and Ma, and her sisters, Mary and Baby Carrie, in a snug little house built of logs. Pa hunts and traps. Ma makes her own cheese and butter. All night long, the wind howls lonesomely, but Pa plays the fiddle and sings, keeping the family safe and cozy.This is the first book of the Laura Ingalls Wilder series. It takes place in Wisconsin in the late 1870's. It is followed by Little House on the Prairie. [This text is listed as an example that meets Common Core Standards in English language arts for K-1 at http://www.corestandards.org.]
Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger
by Louis SacharAll the kids from Wayside School had to spend 243 days in horrible schools while Wayside was closed to get rid of the cows {Don't ask!). Now the kids are back and the fun begins again on every floor. Miss Mush has prepared a special lunch of baked liver in purple sauce, and it's Pet Day on the 30th floorwith dogs and cats and frogs and skunks and pigs, and an orange named Fido causing a terrible commotion. In Mrs. Drazil's class, they're throwing a coffeepot, a sack of potatoes, a pencil sharpener, and a light bulb out the window to see which hits the ground first. But the big surprise is Mrs. Jewls is expecting a babybut one named Cootie Face or Bucket Head"and a substitute teacher is comingand everyone knows what that means...
Holes
by Louis SacharStanley Yelnats is under a curse. A curse that began with his no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather and has since followed generations of Yelnats.
Now Stanley has been unjustly sent to a boys' detention center, Camp Green Lake, where the warden makes the boys "build character" by spending all day, every day, digging holes: five feet wide and five feet deep. It doesn't take long for Stanley to realize there's more than character improvement going on at Camp Green Lake. The boys are digging holes because the warden is looking for something. Stanley tries to dig up the truth in this inventive and darkly humorous tale of crime and punishment--and redemption
Newbery Medal Winner
National Book Award
By the Shores of Silver Lake
by Laura Ingalls WilderThe adventures of Laura Ingalls and her family continue as they move from their little house on the banks of Plum Creek to the wilderness of the unsettled Dakota Territory. Here Pa works on the new railroad until he finds a homestead claim that is perfect for their new little house. Laura takes her first train ride as she, her sisters, and their mother come out to live with Pa on the shores of Silver Lake. After a lonely winter in the surveyors' house, Pa puts up the first building in what will soon be a brand-new town on the beautiful shores of Silver Lake. The Ingallses' covered-wagon travels are finally over.
Newbery Medal Honors book
The Fellowship Of The Ring
by J.R.R. TolkienBegin your journey into Middle-earth...The inspiration for the upcoming original series on Prime Video, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.The Fellowship of the Ring is the first part of J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic adventure The Lord of the Rings.One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.Sauron, the Dark Lord, has gathered to him all the Rings of Power—the means by which he intends to rule Middle-earth. All he lacks in his plans for dominion is the One Ring—the ring that rules them all—which has fallen into the hands of the hobbit, Bilbo Baggins.In a sleepy village in the Shire, young Frodo Baggins finds himself faced with an immense task, as his elderly cousin Bilbo entrusts the Ring to his care. Frodo must leave his home and make a perilous journey across Middle-earth to the Cracks of Doom, there to destroy the Ring and foil the Dark Lord in his evil purpose.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
by J. K. RowlingA teenager pitching headfirst into the world of near-adulthood, Harry returns to Hogwarts for his fourth year. The fourth book in the series.
Hatchet
by Gary PaulsenThis award-winning contemporary classic is the survival story with which all others are compared--and a page-turning, heart-stopping adventure, recipient of the Newbery Honor.
Thirteen-year-old Brian Robeson is on his way to visit his father when the single-engine plane in which he is flying crashes. Suddenly, Brian finds himself alone in the Canadian wilderness with nothing but a tattered Windbreaker and the hatchet his mother gave him as a present--and the dreadful secret that has been tearing him apart since his parent's divorce. But now Brian has no time for anger, self pity, or despair--it will take all his know-how and determination, and more courage than he knew he possessed, to survive.
Stay Out of the Basement
by R. L. StineGet Goosebumps with the startling repackage of a best selling classic. Now with bonus materials! Dr. Brewer is doing a little plant-testing in his basement. Nothing to worry about. Harmless, really. But Margaret and Casey Brewer are worried about their father. Especially when they...meet...some of the plants he is growing down there. Then they notice that their father is developing plantlike tendencies. In fact, he is becoming distinctly weedy-and seedy. Is it just part of their father's "harmless" experiment? Or has the basement turned into another little shop of horrors?
A Swiftly Tilting Planet
by Madeleine L'EngleMeg Murry O'Keefe and her family are just sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner when her father gets a phone call from the White House about a madman's threat of nuclear war. Only an old Irish rune seems to hold a clue to averting worldwide disaster, and when Meg's brother Charles Wallace, now fifteen, recites it, a radiant white beast--the unicorn Gaudior--appears to join him on his quest. But there are only twenty-four hours in which to stop tragedy from occurring. Can Charles Wallace, with the help of Gaudior and Meg, possibly succeed?
Tuck Everlasting
by Natalie BabbittThe 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.
[This text is listed as an example that meets Common Core Standards in English language arts in grades 4-5 at http://www.corestandards.org.]
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
by J. K. RowlingThe last installment of the Harry Potter epic series, where Harry faces Voldemort in the final showdown.
Number the Stars
by Lois LowryAs the German troops begin their campaign to "relocate" all the Jews of Denmark, Annemarie Johansen's family takes in Annemarie's best friend, Ellen Rosen, and conceals her as part of the family.
Through the eyes of ten-year-old Annemarie, we watch as the Danish Resistance smuggles almost the entire Jewish population of Denmark, nearly seven thousand people, across the sea to Sweden. The heroism of an entire nation reminds us that there was pride and human decency in the world even during a time of terror and war.
Winner of the 1990 Newbery Medal.
Jane Addams Children’s Book Award Honor Book
The Long Winter
by Laura Ingalls WilderThe adventures of Laura Ingalls and her family continue as Pa, Ma, Laura, Mary, Carrie, and little Grace bravely face the hard winter of 1880-81 in their little house in the Dakota Territory. Blizzards cover the little town with snow, cutting off all supplies from the outside. Soon there is almost no food left, so young Almanzo Wilder and a friend make a dangerous trip across the prairie to find some wheat. Finally a joyous Christmas is celebrated in a very unusual way
Winner of the Newbery Honor
The Celebrity Cat Caper
by Gertrude C. WarnerBooks One through Twelve of the celebrated Boxcar Children Mysteries--twelve ebooks for the price of ten! Since its debut more than half a century ago, the Boxcar Children Mysteries has been one of the most beloved and popular children's collections of all time. Collected here are the first twelve classic stories, following the Alden children from their first adventure living in an old boxcar all the way through to their exciting journey on a houseboat. This box set is the perfect introduction to a timeless and cherished series. This enriched ebook box set includes an illustrated biography of author Gertrude Chandler Warner, with photos from the archives at the Warner Museum in Putnam, Connecticut.
Sarah, Plain and Tall
by Patricia Maclachlan"Did Mama sing every day?" Caleb asks his sister Anna.
"Every-single-day," she answers. "Papa sang, too."
This Newbery Medal–winning book is the first of five books in Patricia MacLachlan's chapter book series about the Witting family. Set in the late nineteenth century and told from young Anna's point of view, Sarah, Plain and Tall tells the story of how Sarah Elisabeth Wheaton comes from Maine to the prairie to answer Papa's advertisement for a wife and mother. Before Sarah arrives, Anna and her younger brother Caleb wait and wonder. Will Sarah be nice? Will she sing? Will she stay?
This children's literature classic is perfect for fans of Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House on the Prairie books, historical fiction, and timeless stories using rich and beautiful language. Sarah, Plain and Tall gently explores themes of abandonment, loss and love.
Newbery Medal Winner
Winner of the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction
The Hobbit
by J.R.R. TolkienJ.R.R. Tolkien's classic prelude to his Lord of the Rings trilogy...Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit who enjoys a comfortable, unambitious life, rarely traveling any farther than his pantry or cellar. But his contentment is disturbed when the wizard Gandalf and a company of dwarves arrive on his doorstep one day to whisk him away on an adventure. They have launched a plot to raid the treasure hoard guarded by Smaug the Magnificent, a large and very dangerous dragon. Bilbo reluctantly joins their quest, unaware that on his journey to the Lonely Mountain he will encounter both a magic ring and a frightening creature known as Gollum.Written for J.R.R. Tolkien's own children, The Hobbit has sold many millions of copies worldwide and established itself as a modern classic.
Superfudge
by Judy BlumeSometimes life in the Hatcher household is enough to make twelve-year-old Peter think about running away. His worst problem is still his younger brother, Fudge, who hasn't changed a bit since his crazy capers in Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. If you ask Peter, Fudge is just an older — and bigger — pain.Then Peter learns that his mom is going to have a baby and the whole family is moving to Princeton for a year. It will be bad enough starting sixth grade in a strange place and going to the same school as Fudge. But Peter can imagine something even worse. How will he ever survive if the new baby is a carbon copy of Fudge?