CLASSICS
Mr. Popper’s Penguins by Richard Atwater. Mr. Popper starts out with one penguin in his house, but before he knows it there are twelve (RL 5.6).
Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt. 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 (RL 5.4).
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Originally published in 1911. Ten-year-old Mary comes to live in a lonely house on the Yorkshire moors and discovers an invalid cousin and the mysteries of a locked garden (RL 6.0).
Ginger Pye by Eleanor Estes. The disappearance of a new puppy named Ginger and the appearance of a mysterious man in a mustard yellow hat bring excitement into the lives of the Pye children (RL 5.8).
Babe: The Gallant Pig by Dick King-Smith. Originally published in Great Britain in 1983 under the title The Sheep Pig. A piglet destined for eventual butchering arrives at the farmyard, is adopted by an old sheep dog, and discovers a special secret to success (RL 5.8).
Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren. Escapades of a lucky little girl who lives with a horse and a monkey--but without any parents--at the edge of a Swedish village (RL 5.2).
Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle by Betty Bard MacDonald. Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle loves children, both good and bad. She never scolds, but has positive cures for children with special problems such as answering back or never wanting to go to bed (RL 4.5).
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O’Brien. With nowhere else to turn, a field mouse asks the clever escaped lab rats living under the rosebush to help save her son, who lies in the path of the farmer's tractor, too ill to be moved (RL 5.4).
The Cricket in Times Square by George Selden. The adventures of a country cricket who unintentionally arrives in New York and is befriended by Tucker Mouse and Harry Cat (RL 5.5).
Stuart Little by E.B. White. The adventures of the debonair mouse Stuart Little as he sets out in the world to seek out his dearest friend, a little bird who stayed a few days in his family's garden (RL 5.4).
HISTORICAL FICTION
Anderson, Laurie Halse. Chains. After being sold to a cruel couple in New York City, a slave named Isabel spies for the rebels during the Revolutionary War (RL 5.2).
Gutman, Dan. Race for the Sky: The Kitty Hawk Diaries of Johnny Moore. Ordered to practice his writing skills, fourteen-year-old Johnny would rather go fishing near his home on North Carolina's Outer Banks and cannot think of anything important to write-- until two "dingbatters" from Ohio arrive in 1900 and try to build a flying machine. Based on the true story of Johnny Moore (RL 5.4).
Paterson, Katherine. Jip: His Story. While living on a Vermont poor farm during 1855 and 1856, Jip learns his identity and that of his mother and comes to understand how he arrived at this place (RL 5.5).
Peck, Richard. A Long Way from Chicago: A Novel in Stories. A boy recounts his annual summer trips to rural Illinois with his sister during the Great Depression to visit their larger-than-life grandmother (RL 5.0).
McSwigan, Marie. Snow Treasure. In 1940, when the Nazi invasion of Norway reaches their village in the far north, twelve-year-old Peter and his friends use their sleds to transport nine million dollars worth of gold bullion past the German soldiers to the secret harbor where Peter's uncle keeps his ship ready to take the gold for safekeeping in the United States (RL 6.3).
Paulsen, Gary. Woods Runner. From his 1776 Pennsylvania homestead, thirteen-year-old Samuel, who is a highly-skilled woodsman, sets out toward New York City to rescue his parents from the band of British soldiers and Native Americans who kidnapped them after slaughtering most of their community. Includes historical notes (RL 5.5).
Ryan, Pam Munoz. Riding Freedom. A fictionalized account of Charley (Charlotte) Parkhurst who ran away from an orphanage, posed as a boy, moved to California, and fooled everyone by her appearance (RL 4.8).
Williams, Barbara. Titanic Crossing. In 1912, thirteen-year-old Albert considers his younger sister a pest, but things change when they travel with their mother and uncle aboard the Titanic and are caught up in its tragic sinking (RL 7.5).
Woodruff, Elvira. Dear Levi: Letters from the Overland Trail. Twelve-year-old Austin Ives writes letters to his younger brother describing his three-thousand-mile journey from their home in Pennsylvania to Oregon in 1851 (RL 4.9)
Yep, Laurence. Dragonwings. In the early twentieth century a young Chinese boy joins his father in San Francisco and helps him realize his dream of making a flying machine. (RL 5.3).
