Book List - 18 Chapter Books and 11 Picture Books

Pura Belpre Award Books

1.  Chapter Book - The Dreamer

2.  Chapter Book - Return to Sender

Coretta Scott King Award

3.  Chapter Book - One Crazy Summer

4.  Chapter Book - Watsons Go to Birmingham

Bluebonnet Nominees

5.  Picture Book – One Potato ,Two Potato

6.  Chapter Book – Down Girl and Sit: On the Road

7.  Picture Book – Seadogs: an Ocean Operetta

8.  Picture Book – Help Me Mr. Mutt  

Caldecott Award

9.  Picture Book – Interrupting Chicken

10.  Picture Book – Polar Express

11.  Picture Book - House in the Night

12.  Picture Book - All the World 

Newbery Award or Honor Books

13.  Picture Book – Dark Emperor and other poems

14.  Chapter Book – Criss Cross

15.  Chapter Book – After Tupac and D Foster

16.  Chapter Book – Pictures of Hollis Woods  

Notable Books for Children listed on ALA website

17.  Chapter Book – Evolution of Calpurnia Tate        

18.  Chapter Book – The Higher Power of Lucky 

19.  Chapter Book – Holes

NY Times bestseller books

20.  Chapter Book - Dork Diaries 

21.  Picture Book – The Very Hungry Caterpillar  

22.  Picture Book – The Lion and the Mouse

Challenged Books

23. Chapter Book - The Giver

24.  Chapter Book - To Kill a Mockingbird

25.  Chapter Book – Goosebumps

26.  Chapter Book - The Outsiders

27.  Picture Book - Where’s Waldo? 

Other

28.  Chapter Book - Twilight

29.  Chapter Book – The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games

By Suzanne Collins

I really can’t think of anything I didn’t like about this book. I was hooked from beginning to end and I loved it. The characters were well developed, the plot is action-packed and fast-paced, there are conflicts and sub-conflicts, and, in the end, I wanted to keep reading.

The world of Hunger Games is dreary, difficult, and should be unbelievable, but I believed it. The whole idea of the Games reminded me of “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, in which the main event of the story is equally shocking, brutal, and partaken by the whole community.

The idea that the community watches the brutality of the Hunger Games for the purposes of entertainment reminds me of the current fame-induced destruction of celebrities the public craves via all forms of media or any other type of public shows of destruction and brutality. That comparison may be a little extreme, but I think there are similarities.

Collins, S. (2008). The hunger games. New York, NY: Scholastic, Inc. 

One Crazy Summer

By Rita Williams-Garcia
Coretta Scott King Award

One Crazy Summer is the story of the summer of 1968 when Delphine and her two younger sisters are sent from Brooklyn, NY to Oakland, CA for four weeks so that they can “get to know” their mother who had abandoned them seven years before. Their mother, Cecile, is a poet and a Black Panther. She resents their visit and does not mother the girls at all.

Williams-Garcia does so many things well in this book. Her characters have depth, the plot moves along nicely, the setting creates interest, and the conflict causes the reader to empathize with Delphine, the caretaker of her younger sisters, and at the same time causes the reader to wonder why Cecile walked away from her daughters.

It didn’t seem to me like the girls needed their mother at all. They were well cared for in Brooklyn by their father and grandmother. They were safe. They were smart and talented. As the story unfolds, the truth and meat of the whole story stands clearly: children need their mother, no matter who they are. At first they appear to have nothing in common, but as the story unfolds their connections become clear and undeniable, even to them.

Williams-Garcia, R. (2010). One crazy summer. New York, NY: Amistad.    

The Lion and the Mouse

By Jerry Pinkney
NY Times Bestseller

This picture book tells Aesop’s story beautifully and wordlessly. The colorful and textured illustrations are a mixture of extreme close-ups, panoramic views, and full scenes that bring the lion and the mouse to life. The book also gives the main characters context by showing the lion and mouse’s families and how everyone benefits from their merciful encounter. It’s a beautiful book with a powerful lesson.

Pinkney, J. (2009). The lion and the mouse. New York : Little, Brown and Co. Books for Young Readers.

The Higher Power of Lucky

By Susan Patron
2007 ALA Notable Children’s Books

One of the things I found intriguing about this book is the title – The Higher Power of Lucky. The title is explained in the first chapter when the main character, a ten and a half year old girl named Lucky, eavesdrops on an AA meeting and listens to Short Sammy’s story about the day he hit rock bottom and decided he had to quit drinking and find his higher power. Chapter one ends, “..she still had doubts and anxious questions in all the crevices of her brain, especially about how to find her Higher Power.”

The reader learns about Lucky’s story and why she is doubtful and anxious. The setting is described beautifully. The characters are interesting and help the reader understand Lucky’s place in the world.

This book got me wondering about stories that are written about 9 – 11 year old girls who are smart and have been abandoned by people who should love them, such as Pictures of Hollis Woods and One Crazy Summer. These protagonists are forced to grow up too fast and to find their place in the world and who in the world really loves and cares about them. Perhaps it is the nurturing nature of young girls that makes these characters so appealing. Perhaps they can relate to the characters’ conflict.

Patron, S. (2007). The higher power of lucky. New York, NY: Thomson Gale.

Dork Diaries – Tales of a Not-So-Popular Party Girl

By Rachel Renee Russell
NY Times Bestseller

Dork Diaries – Tales of a Not-So-Popular Party Girl was written for tween girls, ages 9 – 13. I think they would find the characters funny and familiar. The plot is wild, wacky, and fun when Nikki commits to being with three different people on the Halloween night, the night of the big middle school dance: at the dance being the clean-up crew with her two best friends (also self-proclaimed dorks), doing face-painting on kids at another event (for which she gets paid $150 in advance!), and being on a date at the dance with her big crush, the gorgeous Brandon.

The book is written as a diary with some illustrations and is an easy, fun read for the target audience.

This is one of those books that I would not call quality literature but would still approve of my children and students reading it for the sake of reading for entertainment.

Russell, R. R. (2010). Dork diaries – Tales of a not-so-popular party girl. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.

To Kill a Mockingbird

By Harper Lee

Challenged Books

While I generally would not consider To Kill a Mockingbird for students younger than high school age, many middle school students read this classic novel. First published in 1960, the book has remained on reading lists across the country despite objections from groups and individuals over the past 50 years. Included in the plot are issues of racism, racial inequality, Jim Crow, rape, and alcohol abuse – not nice issues, but issues  that are part of the American experience. But the voice of Scout is so true that these issues are just there as if to say, “This is what happened and this is how it affected my life and my family.” And her voice is so real that we want to keep reading. I think older children will understand this. Most of them have seen injustice and intolerance in some form, but I agree that the content is not appropriate for most younger-than-high-school-age children.

Lee, H. (1988). To kill a mockingbird. New York, NY: Grand Central Publishing.

The House in the Night

By Susan Marie Swanson

Illustrated by Beth Krommes

Caldecott Award

I love the simplicity of the text in this book and that the illustrations help create the perfect mood for this bedtime story. The illustrations are full of detail and the pages glow with the select use of color that illuminates the night. When I was reading it, I felt quiet and almost like whispering, a perfect right-before-bed read.

Swanson, S. M. (2008).  The house in the night. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children.

Holes

By Louis Sachar

Notable Books for Children listed on ALA website

From the very beginning of Holes you know that this story is going to be quirky – there is no lake at Camp Green Lake; there is not much shade at Camp Green Lake; the warden owns the shade. And then there’s the palindrome that is Stanley Yelnats’s name. That’s pretty quirky and clever. And the idea that Stanley thinks he will be going to a real camp but, of course, he’s not and it’s all because of his “no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather.”

Holes is a fun book and it makes perfect sense that young students still enjoy reading this book. The good guys are likable, the bad guys are detestable, and the curse carried on for generations must be broken!

I have not come across very many books in which the protagonist is male. There seem to be so many more books with female protagonists and even though boys can read those books too, it’s nice to have a fun book about a boy.

Sachar, L. (2000). Holes. New York, NY: Dell Yearling.

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate

By Jacqueline Kelly

Notable Books for Children

Written from 11-year old Calpurnia Tate’s point of view, this book tells her story of growing up “the only girl out of seven children.” She says, “Can you imagine a worse situation? I was spliced midway between three older brothers – Harry, Sam Houston, and Lamar – and three younger brothers – Travis, Sul Ross, and the baby, Jim Bowie...”  (p. 2).

And so begins Calpurnia’s story of that very hot, eventful summer in Lockhart, Texas when her eyes were opened to a world of possibilities.  It is the summer that she came to know her grandfather and became his partner in studying nature with a scientist’s eye. The problem is that it’s 1899 and girls don’t often have the privilege of deciding their own fate. Calpurnia’s mother insists that she learn to sew, cook, play the piano, and learn how to manage a household, but Calpurnia’s heart is in hypothesizing about grasshoppers, plants, caterpillars, and the world around her.

Calpurnia is such a likeable character and I sympathized with her and all girls of her generation for being trapped by the inequalities of the time. As she awaits the turn of the century, she ponders her future. She says, “Grandaddy had told me I could make whatever I wished of my life. Some days I believed him, and other days I did not.” (p. 328).

I enjoyed this book for so many reasons, primarily Kelly’s beautiful storytelling style and the depth of her characters. Her use of figurative language paints a complete picture of the setting and helps give context to Calpurnia’s conflict.  I wanted the story to continue, to learn whether Calpurnia realized her dreams, but in the end, her story remains one of hope and rooting for the underdog girl in a man’s world. Go Calpurnia!

Kelly, J. (2009). The evolution of Calpurnia Tate. New York, NY: Henry Holt and Co.

All the World

By Liz Garton Scanlon

Illustrated by Marla Frazee

Caldecott Award Winner

This book is so clean, complete, and subtle – I loved it. The illustrations and the text bring to mind family and beckon the reader to look at the beauty that surrounds us. When I read a book like this, I wonder about kids who are surrounded by things not so beautiful in their lives. I wonder what they think and do the images stay with them as something that is possible for them. I hope so. Like any good book, it makes a person think and wonder about possibilities.

Scanlon, L. G. (2009). All the world. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing.

The Polar Express

By Chris Van Allsburg

Caldecott Award Winner

The Polar Express is one of those books that I can always come back to and feel warm all over. Even though the story takes place during the Christmas Season, the message is appropriate at any time - that people who believe in miracles with childlike innocence may be able to hear magic. The illustrations help tell the story of a young boy's train ride to the North Pole on Christmas Eve where he experiences enough magic to keep him believing for the rest of his life. This book is a modern classic.

Van Allsburg, C. (1985). The polar express. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company.

The Giver

by Lois Lowry

In The Giver, Lois Lowry creates a world in which people are all the same, there is no unpleasantness, no joy, no hate, no choice, no disappointment and the people don’t have any idea what they are missing. Some people do not fall into this way of life very well and society has no tolerance for them. They are “released” from society and sent to “Elsewhere”. 

The world created in The Giver is one of sameness, controlled temperature, and complete acceptance of one's assigned place in society. It reminds me that it is sometimes easier to be complacent about injustice and imposed restrictions than to speak up, get involved, and risk comfort to fight for what is right. After reading The Giver, I wonder what I would do if I lived in a society like that. Would I have the courage to question? I like to think I would, but I can't say for sure. 

Return to Sender

Julia Alvarez

Pura Belpre Award Book

This book tackles the issue of immigration in the United States by creating a story of an American family of farmers who hire an immigrant family from Mexico to help them work their farm. The families become interdependent on each other but unfortunately some members of the Mexican family are not in the U.S. legally and that situation causes the primary conflict in the plot.

The book is written in the present tense and much of it is written in letter format. I thought the characters could have had more depth and the plot felt a little  contrived and predictable.

Overall, I enjoyed the book, but it takes an obvious political tone that I had a hard time with. The book’s message was very in-your-face and the author squanders an opportunity to allow the reader to draw conclusions on the issues addressed in the story. The resolutions were too simple, too neat and that is not at all the way the immigration issue plays out in real life, at least, not from what I have seen.

Alvarez, J. (2009). Return to sender. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf.

Goosebumps - Monster Blood

By R. L. Stine 

Challenged Book

The Goosebumps series is reading entertainment for kids. Reading the books is like watching a scary movie where things go bump in the night, creepy characters do strange things, the main kid character goes through some crazy stuff while the adults in his life are completely oblivious, and sometimes the plots are gory. That’s why kids love these books. When reading Monster Blood, I thought “Oh my goodness!” when the creepy great-aunt is left in charge of Evan and the parents just leave him and then the Monster Blood tries to gobble up Evan and his friends! But I had to laugh. It's wacky, crazy, fun. 

This book is not for everyone, though. Some kids might get scared and the images stay too fresh in their minds, but for kids who like the thrill of a scary story, the books in the Goosebumps series are perfect.

Stine, R. L. (1992). Goosebumps - Monster blood. New York, NY: Scholastic.

The Outsiders

By S. E. Hinton

Challenged Book

The Outsiders is a story about kids making choices that affect the rest of their lives. It’s serious stuff and I think that is why the book has been so widely read for so many years. While the story is still good and still holds up, some of the language and the interactions of the characters seem dated. However, the theme of the story rings as true now as it ever did – you can’t tell by looking at some one what they are really about and judging people by how they dress or how much money they seem to have may prevent you from seeing valuable qualities that lie deeper than those appearances. I think this theme is universal and is what makes this book a classic.

Hinton, S. E. (2006). The outsiders. New York, NY: Penguin Group.