Summer Reading. Part 2. Entering 4-5

[Joan Kimball <jkim@BORG.COM>]

SUMMER FUN       BOOKS FOR KIDS ENTERING GR. 4-5
HART'S HILL SCHOOL LIBRARY                  1997

Note from the Library....
        Summer reading is for fun!  Some kids will want to read these books
to themselves, but some of the books may be more fun if the whole family
reads them aloud.
        You can get any of these books free.  Just ask a public library and
they will either find the books or order them from another library.
        Divisions: Poetry, Picture Bks, Folktales, Fiction, Factual, Biography.
            This list is only a taste of all the choices there are.
Happy reading!

4-5 Poetry
Butterfly Jar   ...........Moss
        Humorous poems; not as nasty as Prelutsky or Silverstein.
The Light in the Attic    ...........Silverstein
        Funny poems.  Very popular.
Sad Underwear and Other Complications        ...........Viorst
        Like her earlier collection, If I Were In Charge of the World.

4-5 Picture Books for older kids
Baba Yaga and Vasilissa the Brave   ........... Mayer
        Vasilissa is sent on an errand to a fearsome witch.
Baseball Saved Us       ...........Mochizuki
        A boy's baseball team in a Japanese-American internment camp.
Gawain and the Green Knight     ...........San Souci
        Knight of the Round Table, Gawain, fights to save a lady in distress.
Pink and Say    ...........Polacco
        Friendship between a black Union soldier and a wounded white boy.
Smoky Night     ...........Bunting
        Evicted by riots, Daniel & his mother help their neighbor, Mrs. Kim.

4-5 Folktales
American Tall Tales     ...........Osborne
        Bigger than life tales of Paul Bunyan, Ann Whirlwind, Pecos Bill, etc.
Favorite Greek Myths    ...........Osborne
        Gods and heroes of ancient Greece.
Native American Animal Stories  ...........Bruchac
        Twenty four short stories of creation, celebration and survival.
Rainbow Fairy Book      ...........Lang
        Favorite fairy tales from all the Lang fairy tale books.

4-5 Fiction
Aliens Ate My Homework  ...........Coville
        Kidnapped by aliens!  The sequel: I Left my Sneakers in DimensionX.
Anastasia Krupnik       ...........Lowry
        After10 years, Anastasia has to make room for a baby brother.
Black Stallion  ...........Farley
        Boy rescues a wild horse and tames it.  Good adventure.
Castle in the Attic     ...........Winthrop
        A toy castle comes to life when our hero steps into it.
Dead Man in Indian Creek        ...........Hahn
        Murder mystery and a question of drug dealing.
Indian in the Cupboard  ...........Banks
        A magic cupboard turns toys into live people and animals.
Jelly Belly         ...........Smith
        Overweight boy has funny adventures at a summer diet camp.
Matilda   ...........Dahl
        Matilda applies her mental powers to foil the evil headmistress.
Number the Stars        ...........Lowry
        Annemarie saves a Jewish family from the Nazis in World War II.
Otis Spofford   ...........Cleary
        Funny story of a mischievous boy.
Sideways Stories fromWayside School    ...........Sachar
        Hilarious happenings in a wacky school.  Good for belly laughs.
Sign of the Beaver      ...........Speare
        Pioneer boy is rescued by Indians.
Soup       ...........Peck
        Two country boys, Rob Peck and Soup, get in and out of mischief.
Strider ...........Cleary
        A boy and his wishes for a dog and for his father to return.
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing ...........Blume
        Peter has a challenge: his two year-old brother.
Time for Andrew         ...........Hahn
        Drew follows a ghost back in time to save him from diphtheria.
Toughboy and Sister     ...........Hill
        A boy and his sister survive alone for months after their father dies.
Undercover Tailback     ...........Christopher
        No one believes Parker who sees a thief at the coach's playbook.
Wait til Helen Comes    vHahn
        Why does Molly's step-sister act so strange?  A ghost story.
Yang the Youngest and His Terrible Ear    ...........Namioka
        Why can't Yang's musical family see that his talent is in baseball?

4-5 Advanced Fiction
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland           ........... Carroll
        Alice finds strange characters when she falls down a rabbit hole.
The Boggart     ...........Cooper
        A house spirit is mistakenly transported from Scotland to Toronto.
The Book of Three       ...........Alexander
        Taran, asst. pig-keeper, & some magical companions go on a quest.
Freak the Mighty              ...........Philbrick
        Friendship of two needy boys, one with brains and one with muscle.
The Giver    ...........Lowry
        The Elders choose Jonas to receive the memories of the community.
Hatchet ...........Paulsen
        After the plane crashes Brian lives 54 days alone in the wilderness.
The Hobbit     ...........Tolkien
        Various companions join forces to steal a ring from a dragon.
Lion ,the Witch and the Wardrobe            ...........Lewis
        Four children go through a wardrobe to an enchanted land.
Lyddie    ...........Paterson
        Lyddie works in a factory to help feed her family on the farm.
Weasel  ...........DeFelice
        Nathan, caring for his sister alone, is stalked by a killer.
Where the Red Fern Grows        ...........Rawls
        A boy and his two hound dogs.
Wrinkle in Time     ...........L'Engle
        Science fiction, ESP, quest story that travels through time.

4-5 Factual Books
This list is just a taste.  What do YOU want to read about, billiards?
guitars? boating?  Go to your local library and find your favorite
non-fiction topics.

Exploring the Titanic   ...........Ballard
        Exciting tale by Robert Ballard who discovered the wrecked ship.
Great Northern Diver: The Loon  ...........Esbensen
        Great color photos and interesting facts about this shy water bird.
To the Top of the World: Adventures with Arctic Wolves...........Brandenburg
        One arctic summer with a photographer following a wolf pack.
Sports (Eyewitness series)   ...........Hammond
        The equipment, rules, background of many different sports.

4-5 Biography
Champions:  Stories of Ten Remarkable Athletes     ...........Littlefield
        Profiles of ten famous male and female athletes.
Crazy Horse    ...........St. George
        Biography of the great Oglala Sioux chief.
Dear Dr. Bell....Your Friend, Helen Keller    ...........St. George
        The friendship of Helen Keller, blind & deaf,  and Alexander Bell.
Eleanor Roosevelt    ...........Freedman
        Wife of a great U.S. president, she fought hard for minority rights.
Escape from Slavery: the Boyhood of Frederick Doglass in His Own Words.
        ...........Douglass        Excerpts from his longer autobiography.
Good Queen Bess    ...........Stanley
        Pictorial account of the amazing life of Queen Elizabeth I of England.
Last Princess: The Story of Princess Kaiu'lani of Hawaii     .......Stanley
        The princess whose 19 c. throne was lost to U.S. government fiat.
Little by Little    ...........Little
        Powerful memoir of writer, Jean Little, who struggled with blindness.
Lives of the Artists: Masterpieces, Messes(&What the Neighbors Thought)
..........Krull
        Little known facts about twenty great artists.
Living Dangerously      ...........Rappaport
        American women who risked their lives for adventure.
Shaka, King of the Zulus       ..........Stanley
        Pictorial life of the famous 19th c.  military genius of s. Africa.
The Wright Brothers: How They Invented the Airplane   ...........Freedman
        Photographic account of how 2 brothers went from cycling to flying.
Young Painter: the Life and Paintings of Wang Yani           ...........
Zhensun
        China's extraordinary child artist.  Her painting, done when she
was eight years old, is on a Chinese postage stamp.


Joan Kimball (jkim@borg.com)
Clinton, NY
Hart's Hill Elementary School Library
Clark Mills Road, Whitesboro, NY 13492