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Thank you to the four or five people who emailed me in the past two days. I have compiled my list for the parent who's running it, but I thought I'd share some of 'em here just in case there are others who are doing the same thing. Enjoy, Josh Mika LRC Director Beebe Elementary Naperville, IL jmika@naperville203.org ________________________________________ THEY'VE USED: A to Z Mysteries Stink Mouse & the Motorcycle Cam Jansen Magic Treehouse series Flat Stanley Tornado! Chocolate Touch Frindle MY SUGGESTIONS: Ivy & Bean Clementine Encyclopedia Brown Sideways Stories from Wayside School Shredderman series Jigsaw Jones series Charlie Bone (might be too long?) OTHERS SUGGESTIONS: Meet Addy Mummies in the Morning (Magic Tree House) Box Car Children (Book 1) The Whipping Boy The Flim Flam Man The Stories Julian Tells The Mercy Watson Series Abby Takes a Stand Dear Whiskers / Nagda All About Sam / Lowry SOS Files / Byars Kid in the Red Jacket / Parks Klondike Kid / Hopkins Love that Dog / Creech Gooney Bird Greene by Lois Lowry (This is a fav with my 2nd and 3rd grade teachers) From Publishers Weekly Two-time Newbery Medalist Lowry (The Giver; Number the Stars) introduces a feisty, friendly heroine in this light novel. Readers know immediately that red-haired, freckle-face Gooney Bird Greene is as unorthodox as her name: wearing pajamas and cowboy boots, she arrives at the door of her new second-grade classroom all alone, "without even a mother to introduce her." She announces she has just moved from China (which turns out to be the name of a town, not the country) and demands "a desk right smack in the middle of the room, because I like to be right smack in the middle of everything." Dressed each day in another eccentric outfit, she relays to the class a series of stories that are "absolutely true" even though they initially seem anything but. Stretching the facts creatively through some wily wordplay, Gooney Bird explains how she spent time in jail (while playing Monopoly), acquired diamond earrings at a palace (they came from a gumball machine in an ice cream shop called The Palace) and directed a symphony orchestra (she directed the lost driver of the bus transporting musicians to the auditorium). Interruptions from curious classmates heighten the fun. Never mind the dubious likelihood that a second-grader would possess such command of language and pithy delivery; youngsters will likely hope that Gooney Bird has enough tales stored in her fertile imagination to fill another volume. Final artwork not seen by PW. Ages 6-10. Spiderwick Chronicles (they could read 1 or all 5) Snarf Attack by Amato (lots of Captain Underpants appeal, with a real story) Seal Island School 80 pages From School Library Journal Grade 2-4-Nine-year-old Pru is one of only 6 students in a school on Seal Island, population 49, off the coast of Maine. She loves her home and, fearing that her teacher Miss Sparling may move at the end of the year, hopes to convince her what a wonderful place it is. To complicate the situation further, two students will soon be leaving the island and the school will close if the enrollment falls below five. Pru and a classmate then hatch a plan to buy their teacher a dog, reasoning that it will prevent her from becoming lonely and keep her there. Subplots include Pru's befriending Clara, a girl on the mainland, and a surprise birthday gift of a pony. By school year's end, all of Pru's problems and worries are resolved. The watercolor-and-line cover illustration depicts three children laden with books and offers a glimpse of the blue sky and water that feature so prominently in the story. The simple vocabulary, large print, varied sentence length, and upbeat ending make this a good choice for beginning chapter-book readers. Christina Dorr, Whitehall City Schools, OH My Father's Dragon My Father's Dragon--a favorite of young readers since the 1940s and a Newbery honor book--captures the nonsensical logic of childhood in an amusingly deadpan fashion. The story begins when Elmer Elevator (the narrator's father as a boy) runs away with an old alley cat to rescue a flying baby dragon being exploited on a faraway island. With the help of two dozen pink lollipops, rubber bands, chewing gum, and a fine-toothed comb, Elmer disarms the fiercest of beasts on Wild Island. The quirky, comical adventure ends with a heroic denouement: the freeing of the dragon. Abundant black-and-white lithographs by Ruth Chrisman Gannett (the author's stepmother) add an evocative, lighthearted mood to an already enchanting story. Author Ruth Stiles Gannett 's stand-alone sequel, Elmer and the Dragon, and her third volume, The Dragons of Blueland both received starred reviews in School Library Journal and are as fresh and original as her first. (Ages 4 to 8) --This text refers to the Paperback edition. Book Description When Elmer Elevator hears about the plight of an overworked and underappreciated baby flying dragon, he stows away on a ship and travels to Wild Island to rescue the dragon. Card catalog description A young boy determines to rescue a poor baby dragon who is being used by a group of lazy wild animals to ferry them across the river on Wild Island. The Year of Miss Agnes From School Library Journal Grade 2-5-Teaching the children in an Athabascan village in a one-room schoolhouse on the Alaskan frontier in 1948 is not every educator's dream. Then one day, tall, skinny Agnes Sutterfield arrives and life is never the same for the community. Frederika (Fred), the 10-year-old narrator, discovers that unlike previous teachers, Miss Agnes doesn't mind the smell of fish that the children bring for lunch each day. She also stokes the fire to warm the schoolhouse before the students' arrival each morning, wears pants, and speaks with a strange accent. Miss Agnes immediately packs away the old textbooks, hangs up the children's brightly colored artwork, plays opera music, and reads them Robin Hood and Greek myths. She teaches them about their land and their culture, tutors both students and parents in her cabin in the evening, and even learns sign language along with her students so that Fred's deaf sister can attend school. Hill has created more than just an appealing cast of characters; she introduces readers to a whole community and makes a long-ago and faraway place seem real and very much alive. This is an inspirational story about Alaska, the old and new ways, a very special teacher, and the influence that she has over everyone she meets. A wonderful read-aloud to start off the school year. Kit Vaughan, Midlothian Middle School, VA Dragon of Lonely Island by Rupp Grade 3-6-Because their mother needs a quiet place to finish her novel, the three Davis children find themselves spending the summer in a Victorian house on a small island off the coast of Maine. A mysterious letter from their elderly Great Aunt Mehitabel, absentee owner of Lonely Island, helps the siblings discover Fafnyr Goldenwings, a three-headed dragon that sleeps deep inside a cave on Drake's Hill. It can be prickly and fussy, but takes pains not to frighten the children, assuring them at once that it is a vegetarian. Over the course of the summer, each head awakes in turn and tells a story about children that the dragon had helped. It drove away invading Mongols from a Chinese girl's village, saved an orphaned boy from the clutches of evil pirates, and rescued a brother and sister marooned on a desert island-but only after the siblings learned to think for themselves. The children learn that the sister in the last story was actually a young Aunt Mehitabel, who offered the dragon a sanctuary on Lonely Island. The Chinese story has the tone of European tales of exotic Cathay and the other two are reminiscent of earlier children's books, when adventures were more jolly than harrowing. This smoothly written confection may be a tad bland and predictable, but it goes down as easily as an entertaining, light read. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Please note: All LM_NET postings are protected by copyright law. You can prevent most e-mail filters from deleting LM_NET postings by adding LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU to your e-mail address book. 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