SCIENCE FICTION

THE LION, THE WITCH, AND THE WARDROBE

Brothers and sisters discover a wardrobe filled with interesting surprises in a land called Narnia. An evil witch plots against the children. Filled with woodland creatures and mythical characters. A good book to use as a read aloud in 5th grade. Some children may find the amount of characters difficult to follow at times/.











LUNCH BOX AND THE ALIENS

Lunchbox, a basset hound is abducted by aliens.  He then has the task of converting trash into a food adored by aliens and dogs. Pencil drawn cartoons. For grades 3-6.


THE PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH
NORTON JUSTER

Milo, a young boy,who is down in the dumps finds  a mysterious tollbooth appears in his room.  The tollbooth brings him to a place of possibilities. Milo visits the island of conclusions. This journey forces him to use his imagination. Milo and his new friends defeat the enemies in this kingdom.




THE BOXES
WILLIAM SLEATOR

Annie's Uncle goes on a trip and leaves two boxes that she must not open while he is away. She is tempted an then unleashes gross  crab like creatures that are able to transmute time. 4-6 grade.






























AMONG THE HIDDEN
MARGARET PETERSON

Luke has never been to school and has no friends. He is one of the shadow children, a third child hidden by the population police. He has lived his whole life in hiding. He meets another shadow child who wants to risk her life and come out of hiding.



POISON APPLE

Ashlee has been having a tough time ever since she became a vampire. She moves from NYC to Los Angeles to make a new start. When someone starts attacking people at her school, she realizes she is not the only vampire in town. A cute science fiction book for girls in grades 3-5.





ANIMORPHS THE INVASION
K.A APPLEGATE

Five kids take a shortcut home from the mall and see flying saucers and aliens. They see a dying Andalite prince who spills secrets to them. Earth is under attack and they need to fight a war. So the Andalite gives them special technology to fight off the Yeerks. A upper elementary school to middle school book.



STANLEY IN SPACE
JEFF BROWN

Stanley and his family are the first humans chosen to fly in the Star Scout, a top secret spaceship. He meets the Queen of England and has a birthday party in space. He saves a whole planet of aliens from danger.

FRACTURED FAIRY TALES

THE TRUE STORY OF THE THREE LITTLE PIGS
JON SCIESZKA

This version is sold by the point of view of Alexander T Wolf. A favorite among young readers. Alexander is very convincing. He says that he was framed and the police come and he actually gets put in jail. A great story to compare and contrast the original verse the retold version.






CINDER-ELLY
FRANCES MINTRES

This is a fantastic retold fairytale. Instead of getting invited to a ballit is a basketball game and she does not wear a gown, but a hip oufit fit for a sporting event. A really modernized tale with lots of humor. A little lengthy for younger students, but still a great read.


SLEEPING BOBBY
WILL AND MARY POPE OSBOURNE

A retold version of Sleeping Beauty.
A handsome prince named Bob and a princess who wakes him up from his slumber. An adventerous princess rescues the prince. Humorous details and vivid illustrations. Text is written in shapes.Large pages with one image on each page or one image across two pages.



PIGGIE PIE
MARGIE PALATINI

This story is about a witch who is hungry and wants to make Piggie Pie. THe only problem is she does not have any pork to do this. So she decides to go to the Old Mac Donald farm to get some pigs.
A very contemporary vesion of the story. When she is on the farm looking for the pigs,  she finds different animals that are actually the pigs in diguise.



PAPER BAG PRINCESS
ROBERT MUNSCH

Princess Elizbeth is to marry Prince Ronald. A fierce dragon comes and attacks the castle and kidnaps the prince. Elizabeth has to wear a paper bag in order to save the prince. He is not impressed with how she lookshow she looks even though she came to save him.




CINDER-EDNA

A retold fairytale of Cinderella and Cinder-Edna who share similar lives. They are next door neighbors who have evil stepmothers and eveil stepsisters. Cinderella, although she has everything she is sad. Cinder-Edna always sees the positive side of everything. It has a good moral about it is not the material things in life that you have but the family and people you have around you that makes you happy. A great story for older reader as well.



THE GINGERBREAD COWBOY
JANET SQUIRES

A wild west retelling of the classic Gingerbread Man. Some of the characters include the rancher's wife, cacti, javelinas and canyons. Of course, there is also the resting coyote. Many cowboy style phrases throughout. Beautiful illustrations, a great retold version that kids enjoy.



THE THREE SNOW BEARS
JAN BRETT

A retold version of The Three Little Bears.
A beautiful story with detailed illustrations. Instead of Goldilocks, it is Aloo-ki. Instead of a house, it is an igloo. Aloo-ki eats soup, tries on boots, and takes a nap.

Graphic Novels

LUNCH LADY

JARRET J. KROSOCZKA

Lunch Lady is a favorite for many older elementary students. The story is about a substitute teacher who is undercover to conduct mischievous acts. The lunch lady, Betty is on the case to uncover this spy and take him down. She uses her gadgets to save the day. This book was also a Charlotte Award Nominee for 3-5th graders.

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BONE

JEFF SMITH

This is the first book in a series of adventures. The main character Bone is an imaginative creature. This book has to do with the three Bone cousins. Smiley Bone sits down with a group of young campers to retell the stories of Boneville's origin. The tall tales have wild antics, rat creatures, dragons, and a monkey.

BABYMOUSE

JENNIFER L. HOLM AND MATTHEW HOLM

Lovable Babymouse is a great comic book for girls. Sometimes she gets down on herself that she can't do everything perfectly. She often imagines herself as the lead in may children's books. She learns that working hard and staying positive is the way to be successful.

323 DETECTIVE AGENCY

FOENA RODENSON



Five friends meet to set up a detective agency. Jenny is the wise donkey, Roger the gourmet dung beetle, Priscilla, the theatrical penguin, slingshot, the hyperactive sloth, and Bluebell, the shy rat. In Whiska City, they tackle their first mystery.

THE AMAZING VOYAGE

Geronimo Stilton returns to the kingdom of fantasy. The kingdom has fallen under a freezing winter. The queen of the fairies is in danger. Geronimo travels through new lands. He braves the kingdom of nightmares to save Queen Blossom and stop the freezing winter. He boards a ship and brings spring to the fairies. He runs the newspaper in New Mouse City.

BABE RUTH BEFORE THEY WERE FAMOUS

VITO DELSANTE

Roger is always getting into trouble and never goes to school. So his parents send him to a special school where he will be taught a trade and how to respect people. When he arrives at St. Mary's he realizes he has a lot to learn. He also learns how to be a team player and he becomes part of a new family, his baseball family.

ANNE FRANK

SID JACOBSON AND ERNIE COLON

This book is about dreams, hardships, and passions. A new edition to Anne's classic diary. It is written in an Amsterdam warehouse where she hid from the Nazis for two years with her family. She is much more sarcastic and rebellious and has resentment toward her sister.

BAD KITTY GETS A BATH

NICK BRUEL

This book is like a "How To" get the cat to take a bath book. Cartoon illustrations. Following the story are fun facts of why cats hate water and why they make hairballs. A glossary of cat sounds.

THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS

DAV PILKEY



Fourth grade boys pull pranks and get into a lot of trouble. The principal video tapes the boys pulling these stunts. Harold and George hypnotize the principal and turn him into the comic book creation. Black and white illustrations.