Hague, Kathleen. Alphabears:
An ABC Book. Illustrated by Michael Hague. Henry
Holt, 1984. $5.95. (Paperback) ISBN: 0805016376
If you love bears, this book is a treasure.
Meet Amanda, Byron, Charles, and their friends, each a
special bear with a special rhyme. Along the way learn
your ABC’s.
Keats, Ezra Jack. Snowy
Day. Viking Pr, 1962. $5.99 (Paperback) ISBN: 0140501827
Peter finds a wonderland when he leaves his
house one day. From snow tracks to angels he has fun on
a snowy day.
Johnson, Crockett. Harold
and the Purple Crayon. Harpercollins, 1955. $5.95
(Paperback) ISBN: 0064430227
A small boy with a great imagination draws
his way into an evening full of adventures. Follow Harold
and his purple crayon as he takes a walk in the moonlight.
Freeman, Don. Corduroy.
Viking Pr, 1968. $5.99 (Paperback) ISBN: 0140501738
This classic book introduces Corduroy, the
small bear who wanted a home. He finds one with a little
girl who loves him just as he is.
Marshall, James. George
and Martha. Houghton Mifflin Co, 1972. $6.95 (Paperback)
ISBN: 0395199727
George and Martha are two wonderful friends
who know just what friends are for. In five short stories,
we learn that friends are there for each other and always
tell the truth.
Hutchins, Pat. Rosie's
Walk. Aladdin. $5.99 ISBN: 0020437501
Rosie the hen is out for a walk in the barnyard.
A fox follows her trail and runs into one obstacle after
another. Very young children will delight in following
the fox's misadventures as he tries to catch up to Rosie.
Early Elementary
Noble, Trinka Hakes. The
Day Jimmy’s Boa Ate the Wash. Illustrated
by Steven Kellogg. E P Dutton, 1980. $5.99 (Paperback)
ISBN: 0140546235
Steven Kellog delightfully illustrates one
disaster after another on this class trip to the farm.
From crying cows to pigs on the bus, the students have
one adventurous field trip, including the boa constrictor
on the clothesline.
Sharmat, Marjorie Weinman. Nate
The Great. Illustrated by Marc Simont. Young Yearling,
1972. $4.50 (Paperback) ISBN: 044046126X
Dressed like Sherlock Holmes and talking
like the famous detective Sam Spade, Nate the Great will
solve whatever mystery comes his way. One of his first
mysteries was the case of the missing picture.
Zemach, Margot. It
Could Always Be Worse. Farrar Straus & Giroux
(Juv), reissue 1990. $4.95 (Paperback) ISBN: 0374436363'
A delightful tale with a lesson to ponder.
What does a poor man do who lives in a small hut with
his mother, his wife, and six children? Why add a cow,
chickens, a goat, a goose and a rooster - it could always
be worse.
Bond, Michael. A
Bear Called Paddington. Illustrated by Peggy Fortnum.
Yearling Books, 1958. $4.99 (Paperback) ISBN: 0440404835
Adopted by a family after they find him sitting
at Paddington train station, the little bear finds a home.
He can’t seem to stay out of trouble, but the family
finds it “nice to have a bear about the house.”
Steig, William. Doctor
De Soto. Sunburst, 1982. $4.95 (Paperback) ISBN:
0374418101
The dentist is a mouse. The patient is a
fox who’s hungry. Who will be more clever in this
well illustrated classic tale?
Burton, Virginia Lee.
The Little House. Houghton Mifflin Co, 1942. $5.95
(Paperback) ISBN: 039525938X
Change comes to the little house. Built in
the country, this story shows how the countryside changes
with towns, neighborhoods and cities growing up over time.
Some little houses still need that breath of country air,
however.
Middle Grades
Babbit, Natalie. Tuck
Everlasting. Farrar Straus & Giroux, 1975.
4.95 (Paperback) ISBN: 0374480095
The Tuck family has found life everlasting
from a spring that makes one live forever. Is this a blessing
or a curse? In a well told story, the reader must decide
as they follow the Tucks and their actions in dealing
with a young girl and a more sinister man who have found
out their secret to long life.
Burnett, Frances Hodgson. The
Secret Garden. Bantam Classics, 1987. $3.95 (Paperback)
ISBN: 055321201X
The garden they stumble upon is as worn down
and in disrepair as their young lives are. Mary, a disagreeable
young girl who has lost both parents, her cousin and a
friend find a garden, long neglected that works its magic
on them. They work to bring life back to the garden and
find that their own lives bloom.
L’Engle, Madeleine. Wrinkle
In Time. Bantam Books, 1962. $2.99 (Paperback)
ISBN: 0440228395
A combination of science fiction, mystery,
and fantasy, Wrinkle
In Time is one of Madeleine L’Engle’s
best classic works. Meg, her brother Charles Wallace,
and Calvin, a friend, team up together to solve the mystery
of the disappearance of their father into the far reaches
of space and time.
Grahame, Kenneth. Wind
in the Willows. Tom Doherty Associates, 1989. $2.99
(Paperback) ISBN: 0812505107
Life by the river bank is anything but calm
for Mole, Ratty, and Badger with their friend Toad carousing
about the countryside. Friendship runs deep for these
four as they rush to each other’s assistance when
needed.
Winthrop, Elizabeth. The
Castle in the Attic. Yearling Books, 1985. $5.50.
(Paperback) ISBN: 0440409411
A wizard, a dragon, spells, curses, and magic
are just part of the tale. William receives a castle and
one lone toy knight in shining armor from his housekeeper
and never dreams that he is about to take part in the
adventure of his life.
High School
Steinbeck, John. Of
Mice and Men. Penguin USA (Paper), 1937. $6.95
(Paperback) ISBN: 0140177396
Steinbeck writes a powerful story of friendship
and tragedy, violence and love. George and Lennie have
an age old dream: a piece of land, a place to call home.
Reality intervenes with tragic consequences for both of
them.
Lowry, Lois. The
Giver. Laurel Leaf, 1993. $5.99 (Paperback) ISBN:
0440219078
What is gained in a society with no pain,
no evil, no war, no death? What is lost? Jonas is faced
with this question and other deeper ones when he is appointed
to be the new “Receiver” of memories.
Lee, Harper. To Kill
A Mockingbird. Warner Books, 1960. $5.99 (Paperback)
ISBN: 0446310786
Written to depict life in a small southern
town, To Kill A Mockingbird
is a timeless classic that reflects on themes of innocence,
coming of age, racism, friendship, love, human dignity
and hatred. These are themes that wrap around the story
of a lawyer, a father, who defends a black man accused
of rape and his children growing up in a time of great
social change.
Frank, Anne. Anne
Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl. Bantam Books,
1952. $4.99 (Paperback) ISBN: 0553296981
Anne Frank was thirteen when she and her
family fled into hiding to escape arrest by the Nazis.
For two years her family lived in an attic, cut off from
all contact with the outside world. Anne kept a diary
through these years and what comes to us are her thoughts
as a teenager of her life, her loss, her hopes and dreams.
Anne and her family were betrayed to the Gestapo, but
her spirit lives on through her words.
Rawlings, Marjorie K. The
Yearling. Aladdin, $5.95 ISBN: 0020449313'
A young boy faces the pains of growing up
in the isolated backwoods of Florida. This classic work
is filled with the texture, conflicts, and details of
pioneer life which lead a young boy to claim a young fawn
as his friend.
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