Charlotte's Web

White, E. B. (1952). Charlotte's Web. HarperCollins Publishers.

Plot: Wilbur is the runt of his litter of piglets, and when Mr. Arable the farmer decides to kill Wilbur, his daughter Fern begs him not to. It works, and it was love at first for Wilbur and Fern. When Wilbur gets older he is sold to Mr. Zuckerman and goes to live on his farm. Fern visits him as often as she can, but Wilbur is miserable and lonely, and then he hears a warm voice that belongs to Charlotte, a spider. They become good friends, but when Wilbur learns that the farmer plans to kill him to have him for dinner, he retirns to being miserable. Charlotte comes up witha plan to show Wilbur off as special, hoping this would save his life. She wrote "Some Pig" in her web, and an astonished Zuckerman did not kill Wilbur. She continued to write messages about Wilbur, and he soon became famous.

Genre: Fantasy, friendship

Suggested Reading Level: Grades 4-6

Subjects/themes: Friendship, farm life, death, animals, pigs, growing up, spiders.

Awards:

• Newbery Honor Book
• American Library Association Notable Book
• Horn Book Fanfare
• Massachusetts Children's Book Award
• Lewis Carroll Shelf Award

Also by E. B. White:

• Stuart Little
• The Trumpet of the Swan

Mr. Popper's Penguins

Atwater, F. & Atwater, R. (1938). New York, NY: Little Brown and Company.

Plot: Mr. Popper is a house painter who regrets not ever traveling, especially to the North and South Poles. He idolizes an explorer named Admiral Drake, whom he had written to. While listening to a broadcast from the Antarctic, Admiral Drake mentions Mr. Popper from Stillwater and says to expect a surprise. Soon a box arrives and inside is a penguin! Mr. Popper names him Captain Cook after another explorer. To keep Captain Cook cool, Mr. Popper keeps him in the fridge and has holes drilled for ventilation and a handle installed on the inside so Captain Cook can come in and out whenever he wants. Mrs. Popper makes sure to buy shrimp for him to eat, though sea food gets expensive and they don't have much money. As it is, the family will have to live off of beans till Spring. Captain Cook gets ill, and Mr. popper writes to a curator of an aquarium wwho writes back that it might be loneliness, so he sends a female penguin named Greta to Mr. Popper. Captain Cook and Greta get along fine and have 10 baby penguins. Now Mr. Popper has 12 penguins, and to deal with the cost he and Mrs. Popper decide to create an act with the penguins because they are so funny and cute and they'll call them Popper's Performing Penguins.

Genre: Humor

Suggested reading level: Grades 4-6

Subjects/themes: penguins, explorations, follow your dreams, daydreaming, humor.

Awards:

• Newbery Honor 1939
• Young Reader's Choice Award 1941

A Long Way From Chicago

Peck, R. (1998). A Long Way From Chicago. New York, NY: Puffin Books.

Plot: Joey and his sister Mary Alice visit their Grandma in a small town in Illinois for a week every summer from 1929 to 1935, and hilarity ensues every time. Grandma Dowdel is like no other grandmother you know. She is feisty, and takes no nonsense from anyone, plus she is kind of mischievous. Every summer something amazing happens, like Joey and Alice see their first dead body, which is odd because they live in Chicago in the time of Al Capone! Grandma Dowdel also wittingly got Joey a ride on an airplane when only Blue Ribbon winners at the fair were supposed to get them and she came in second place. What other shennanigans will she and kids get into?

Genre: Historical fiction, humor

Suggested reading level: Grades 5-8

Subjects/themes: The Great Depression, small towns, family, history, growing up.

Awards:

• Newbery Honor Book
• National Book Award Finalist
• ALA Notable Book

Sequel to this book:

• A Year Down Yonder

Other Books by Richard Peck:

• Ghosts I Have Been
• The Teacher's Funeral
• On the Wings of Heroes
• The River Between Us

Annotation:  Have you ever had a family member who is big, tough as nails and can wield a rifle like nothing? Was it your grandma? Well Joey and Mary Alice's Grandma Dowdel is like that and sneaky too. They visit her in her small Illinois town for a week every summer from 1929 to 1935, and every time funny events take place that you will not want to miss, so read this book!

Al Capone Does My Shirts

Choldenko, G. (2004). Al Capone Does My Shirts. New York, NY: G.P. Putnam's Sons.

Plot: It is 1935, Moose Flanagan and his family have moved to Alcatraz because his father is working as a guard and it is cheaper to live on the island. This is a lot for a 12 year old boy to take, living on an island that houses some of the most notorious criminals like Al Capone and Machine Gun Kelly. Moose befriends some of the other kids living on the island, one of them being the warden's mischievous daughter Piper. She has a money-making scheme Moose wants no part of. With both parents working all the time, Moose must take care of his older sister Natalie because she has what we know today to be autism. His parents want more than anything to get Natalie into a school, Esther P. Marinoff, for people with her needs. She's been turned down before, so it is up to Moose to do what is best for Natalie while trying to stay out of trouble, and hopefully not run into any convicts!

Genre: Historical fiction

Recommended reading level: Grades 5-8

Subjects/themes: Autism, prison life, San Francisco, family, friendship.

Awards:

• Newbery Honor
• School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
• ALA Notable Book 2005
• Publisher's Weekly Best Book 2004

Other Book in this series:

• Al Capone Shines My Shoes

Ella Enchanted

Ella Enchanted. Gail Carson Levine. Harper Collins Publishers. 1997.


232 pages


Plot: Ella lives in the town of Frell, cursed by the gift of obedience by the fairy Lucinda. She has to do what anyone tells her to do. She has a gift for languages, charms ogres and wins the heart of prince Char but can't let him know she loves him too because her curse would only bring him trouble. She must find a way to be rid of her curse!


Genre: Fantasy


Reading Level: Grades 5-8


Note: There is a movie of the same name based on the book featuring Anne Hathaway. I plan on checking it out because I really enjoyed the book. This book was fun, clever and had a strong, intelligent female character who wasn't afraid of an adventure!


Awards:

• Newbery Honor Book
• ALA Notable Books for Children
• School Library Journal Best Books of the Year
• California Young Reader Medal

Other books by Gail Carson Levine:

• The Two Princesses of Bamarre
• Fairest