What My Students Suggest

As we prepare for our annual Book Fair it seemed like a good idea to get the students talking about the books that they enjoy reading.  The list generated by fourth and fifth grade students is well worth sharing with the world because they have thought of many titles that would not have been on my radar.  They had some fascinating discussions as they formed their lists as well as finding new ways to use the on-line catalog to get suggestions for what else they might want to suggest.

The list is long.  Some of the entries have brief summaries because the group had time to write them while other groups did not have time for more than title and author.  All of the summaries and the grade/age level suggestions are from the students.  I might have said slightly different things or given somewhat different age level parameters, but I won't argue with any of them.   Asterisks at the end of an entry denotes that more than one person suggested the same title.  Quotation marks set off the summaries and comments of the students.  Sometimes more than one student made a comment.

Enjoy what my students are reading.  You may get some good ideas for your book shopping and personal reading.

CHAPTER BOOKS

• Prairie Evers by Ellen Airgood  A girl who lives on a farm  ages 9-11
• Whittington by Alan Armstrong  gr. 4-7
• The Night Gardener by Jonathan Auxier  "The Night Gardener is a book that follows two Irish siblings to a haunted mansion in England.
• Ivy & Bean(series) by Annie Barrows  "They go on different adventures."
• Ellie McDoodle (series) by Ruth McNally Barshaw “I read Ellie McDoodle when I was in fourth grade and I really like it so I recommend this book for third grade through fourth and maybe even second grade.”  “Follow Ellie through her wacky adventures”  Gr 3-5  * *
• Almost Home  by Joan Bauer
• Tumtum and Nutmeg by Emily Bearn
• Little Witch by Anna E. Bennet  A girl who wants to go to school.
• Blubber by Judy Blume  grades 5 and up
• It’s Not the End of the World by Judy Blume  grades 4-6
• Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself by Judy Blume  A girl moves to a new school and her brother gets really sick.
• The Name of This Book Is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch * *
• Bad Kitty  by Nick Bruel *
• School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani   Two girls are chosen to learn how to be fairy tale characters  gr. 4-6
• The Secret Zoo by Bryan Chick  grades 3-6
• Ramona Forever by Beverly Cleary
• The School Story  by Andrew Clement
• Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coerr
• The Land of Stories by Chris Colfer  “The Land of Stories is about two kids, Alex and Conner Bailey, who find out that their father was actually part magical.   When twins open a portal to a new world, they have to get home and fast.”  “Alex and Conner are lost in the fairy tale land.”  ages 8-11. * * *
• George’s Marvelous Medicine by Roald Dahl  "George’s Marvelous Medicine is about a boy who is left home with his cranky grandma."  ages 7-10.
• Fort by Cynthia deFelice   "Two kids build a fort in the woods.:  Grades 3-6
• Flora & Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo
• The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo  Grades 2 and up
• Kenny and the Dragon  by Tony DiTerlizzi
• Wondla (series) by Tony DiTerlizzi *
• Hardy Boys (series) by F. W. Dixon  mystery, grades 3-7
• Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper  "When a young girl goes to school with a disability that keeps her from walking and talking, how can she show that she is smart?"
• The Twenty-One Balloons by William Pene duBois  "A man who has crashed in a hot air balloon tells his interesting story to San Francisco."  "About a man from San Francisco who flies in a hot air balloon over the Pacific but it takes a deadly turn."  *
• The Familiars by Adam Jay Epstein and Andrew Jacobson, gr. 3-6, Fantasy *
• Ranger’s Apprentice  (and the rest of the series) by John Flanagan  “A person who got recruited to be a ranger and gets put on missions.”  “Will the ranger goes on an adventure in a thinly disguised England.”  ages 10-15 *
• McBroom’s Wonderful One-Acre Farm by Sid Fleischman
• Remarkable  by Lizzie K. Foley
• The Girl Who Could Fly  by Victoria Forester
• Dragonborn by Toby Forward
• Gold Medal Summer by Donna Freitas
• Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
• Coraline by Neil Gaiman  "How many mothers can a girl have?"
• My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George
• Belly Up  by Stuart Gibbs  *
• Spy School by Stuart Gibbs  grades 2-5
• The Angel Tree by Daphne Benedis-Grab   Grades 4 and up  “Because my grandfather just read it and said it was good and I am starting it and like it a lot so far.”
• Escape From Mr. Lemoncello’s Library by Chris Grabenstein *
• The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
• Honus and Me : A Baseball Card Adventure by Dan Gutman
• My Weird School (series) by Dan Gutman  "It is about a fourth grader who hates school."
• Gabriel Finley and the Raven’s Riddle by George Hagen   "A boy who likes riddles goes on an adventure with ravens."    "A boy finds a raven and tries to find his dad."  Ages 8-12  Grades three to adult. Another group suggest grades 4-6  **
• Hoot; Chomp; Scat;  and Flush by Carl Hiassen *  Mystery
• Alex Rider (and the rest of the series) by Anthony Horowitz
• Fish in a Tree by Lynda Hunt  "A girl who has dyslexia has trouble in school." Grades 5-8  *
• The Warriors Series by Erin Hunter  ”About a house cat who joins the clans and moves up in rank to become leader.  But leadership isn’t all it seems to be.”  “There are four cat clans and they fight each other and ravage enemies.”  Ages 8-15, Grades 3-7 *
• The Popularity Papers by Amy Ignatow
• Constable & Toop by Gareth P. Jones   *
• The Guardian Series by William Joyce and Laura Geriner
• Cracker! by Cynthia Kadohata  "Cracker! is about a dog who goes to Vietnam.  In the process, Cracker is pulled away from her beloved Willie."
• Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata   "Moving to a new town is hard enough but when Katie’s sister gets sick...can Katie still show people what Kira-Kira really means?"
• Nancy Drew (series) by Carolyn Keene
• The Winter Horses by Philip Kerr  gr. 5-12
• Emily Windsnap (series) by Liz Kessler  "A girl realizes that she is a mermaid."  Ages 9-11
• A Year Without Autumn by Liz Kessler "A Girl named Jenni and her BFF Autumn are on vacation.  When Jenni finds a way to see into the future, everything changes."
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid (series) by Jeff Kinney  "A boy who writes about himself.  Very funny."  grades 2-8
• Schooled  by Gordon Korman *
• Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai  Grades 5-12
• Savvy by Ingrid Law  "A large family has a power called savvy.  This is a book of their journey to get their savvy."  Grades 4-6 *
• The Winter Pony by Iain Lawrence  Grades 5-12
• Dog Lost by Ingrid Lee
• Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine  "In this book you get taken on an adventure to be freed from a curse of obedience."  Grades 3-6 *
• Ever by Gail Carson Levine
• Two Princesses of Barmarre by Gail Carson Levine, grades 4-7
• Wild Wings by Gill Lewis
• Bliss by Katheryn Littlewood
• The Giver (quartet) by Lois Lowry
• The Unlikely Adventures of Mabel Jones  by Will Mabbit   "Mable Jones performs THE DEED and doing so opens a portal to a world run by pirates."
• Kung Pow Chicken (series)  by Cyndi Marko  ages 5-8 *
• The Candymakers by Wendy Mass  "A Candy contest where kids make their own candy."  Ages 9-11.
• Gabriella the Snow Fairy  Rainbow Fairies series by Daisy Meadows Grades 2-3
• Unwanteds  by Lisa McMann
• School by Kate McMullen  "It is about a school that has weird people."
• Fablehaven (series) by Brandon Mull   fantasy  grades 4+ ***
• Spirit Animals by Brandon Mull
• Shiloh  Season by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor  grades 3-5
• Charlie Bone (series) by Jenny Nimmo
• The Flame of Olympus  (Pegasus series, book 1) by Kate O’Hearn  Gr. 3-5
• Magic Treehouse : The Blizzard of the Blue Moon  (and the rest of the series) by Mary Pope Osborne Grades 1-4  **
• Wonder by R. J. Palacio  "A heart warming story with a disabled kid and his friends.  Wonder  is about a boy with a deformed face going into his first year of school." *  ages 9-12.
• The Interitance (series that begins with Eragon)  by Christopher Paolini  "A classic tale of dragons and adventure."  Ages 10-30
• Timmy Failure by Stephan Pastis
• I Funny by James Patterson  "A handicapped kid who’s going for gold."
• Middle School : The Worst Year of My Life by James Patterson
• The Mouse With the Question Mark Tail by Richard Peck
• The Mostly Ture Adventures of Homer P. Figg by Rodman Philbrick  "About a boy in the Civil War whose brother is illegally drafted into the war and how Homer follows them."
• The Adventures of Captain Underpants : The First Epic Novel by Dav Pilkey
• Ms. Rapscott’s Girls by Elise Primavera
• American Chillers and Michigan Chillers by Johnathan Rand  Grades 2-4, with some good discussion of how scary they may be to younger readers--not as scary as Goosebumps was the final decision.
• The True Meaning of Smekday, Smek For President by Adam Rex *
• The Kane Chronicles  (series) by Rick Riordan  "This series is about two twins who learn Egyptian magic in hopes of saving their dad."  Ages 7+ (I asked the kids not to mention the Riordan books or the fabulous ones by J. K. Rowling, but some just could not restrain themselves. If I had encouraged them to include these titles they would have had multiple mentions.
• Harry Potter (all of them) by J. K. Rowling  Grades 4-8 with a caveat that these get darker as they go along so it may be better to start later rather than too soon.
• Holes  by Louis Sachar  “ I read Holes in fourth grade and I really like it because there was a lot of reversal in it.  I recommend this book for fourth grade to sixth grade.”  
• Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians (and others in the series)--Brandon Sanderson
• Geronimo Stilton (series)  by Scholastic Books or by Geronimo Stilton
• Endangered by Elliot Schrefer  grades 4-6
• Counting By 7’s  by Holly Goldberg Sloan
• Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket   "The Baudelair’s life was perfect until a mysterious fire burns down their house."  Grades 3-6  *
• When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead  Grades 3-5
• Goosebumps Series, including NIght of the Living Dummy and The Blob that Ate Everything--by R. L. Stine  Grades 3-5  (with much debate over how scared younger readers might be
• Wings of Fire (series) by Tui T. Sutherland  * * *
• Moon Rising by Tui T. Sutherland  “Moon is the first dragon in hundreds of years to read minds.  Can she keep her secret or will her schoolmates find out?” Action, adventure, fantasy, Grades 3-6
• I Survived...Series by Lauren Tarshis  Grades 3-7  Some thought these reality based stories might be frightening to some younger students.
• The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkein
• Doyle and Fossey, Science Detectives series by Michele Torrey  Grades 2-5
• Draongbreath (series) by Usula Vernon grades 2-4, fantasy, mystery
• The Boxcar Children (series) by Gertrude Chandler Warner *
• Breaking Stalin’s Nose by Eugene Yelchin  "It is about a boy from Russia whose life is ruined when his father is arrested by the Communist Party."

NON-FICTION

• Who Was Elvis Presley? (and the many other Who Was books)  by various authors *
• Weird But True by National Geographic  A ton of cool facts.
• The Adventures of Marco Polo by Russell Freedman
• Avengers: The Ultimate Guide to the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes by Betty Scott
• The Dictionary--”for people who love to keep learning”  Grades 2 and up

PICTURE BOOKS

• I Had a Favorite Dress by Boni Ashburn  "A girl has a favorite dress and it is too short so she sews it."  grades K-1
• Splat the Cat  by Rob Scotton
• Joseph Had a LIttle Overcoat by Simms Taback  
• Chester  by Melanie Watt   "It is about a cat who is making a problem." Grades Kindergarten-4
• Elephant and Piggie : Today I Will Fly by Mo Willems  Really, all the Elephant and Piggie books which at least one group says are good for Pre-school to age 100.
• The Pigeon Books (i. e. Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, Pigeon Needs a Bath) by Mo Willems  These, too, were declared to be enjoyed by all ages.

GRAPHIC NOVELS

• Tintin : The Blue Lotus by Herge
• Babymouse by Jennifer L. Holm & Matthew Holm    “I recommend the Babymouse series.  It lets you into a young, sassy, funny mouse’s life.  You follow Babymouse as she goes on funny, exciting journeys.  This books is best for ages 8-11, a very wide age range.  Please try this series out.”  *
• Amulet (Series) by Kazu Kibushi  ages 8-12  Graphic *
• The Croc Ate My Homework by Stephan Pastis  gr. 3-6
• Pearls Before Swine by Stephan T. Pastis
• Big Nate (series) by Lincoln Pierce  grades 3+
• Peanuts:  The Art of Charles Schulz by Charles Schulz
• Jellaby by Kean Soo  Ages 7-14  Graphic
• Smile by Raina Telgemeier

I will add to this list throughout the rest of this week as I meet one more time with these classes.  Come back and check again to see more great suggestions