Classroom Sets
...available for checkout
More than thirty titles, many of which are past years’ Voice of Youth Award (VOYA) winners, are available in classroom sets for teacher checkout. The loan period is flexible to meet your needs. For more information or to reserve titles, contact Susan Heist Carlton at 847.324.3144 or by .
3rd and 4th grade
- Natalie Babbitt. Jack Plank Tells Tales.
21 copies available - Jack is let go from pirating and needs to look for another line of work. When various occupations are suggested to him, Jack tells colorful tales of why he cannot possibly be a farmer, baker, fortune-teller, fisherman, barber, goldsmith, actor, or musician. Hmmm. What is he good at?
- Tracey Barrett. The 100-Year-Old Secret.
15 copies available - Xena and Xander have moved to London and discover Sherlock Holmes, the famous detective, is their great, great, great grandfather. As if that isn’t exciting enough, they are given his old book of unsolved cases. Well, of course, they have to see if they can solve one! The mystery about the missing painting intrigues them and, it just so happens, that a London museum is exhibiting the artist’s works. Will they solve the mystery and find the painting?
- Andrew Clements. Frindle.
11 copies available - It all starts innocently enough. Nick's special assignment is to find out how words are added to the dictionary. He had never before thought that this might actually be decided by a real person. Nick decides to make up his very own word, "frindle," with hilarious results.
- Andrew Clements. The Landry News.
23 copies available - Fifth grader Cara Landry is new at Denton Elementary. Hard enough, but things get worse when she is assigned to Mr. Larson's room. His teaching consists of distributing worksheets to the students before retreating to drink coffee and read the newspaper all day. Disappointed and angry, Cara, a budding journalist, takes matters into her own hands and publishes a biting editorial in her very own newspaper: The Landry News.
- Jacqueline Davies. The Lemonade War.
15 copies available - Evan, who is good socially, but not a great student, discovers that his younger sister, Jessie, a math wiz whose social skills haven’t caught up, is going to be in his fourth grade class. Normally, they get along, but now the competition begins!
- Kate DiCamillo.Because of Winn-Dixie.
26 copies available - One day India Opal Buloni is sent to the store by her daddy, the preacher, for a box of macaroni-and-cheese, some white rice, and two tomatoes. She comes home with a dog. The dog, Winn-Dixie (named for the grocery store where she found him), introduces India to the quirky people in her community.
- Eleanor Estes. The Hundred Dresses.
21 copies available - Why would Wanda Petronski, a poor, motherless, immigrant girl, wear the same faded blue dress to school every day? After all, Wanda brags she has 100 beautiful dresses hanging in her closet. Her classmates do not believe her and tease her relentlessly. Does anyone come to her rescue?
- Sid Fleischman. The Whipping Boy.
21 copies available - It is forbidden to spank, thrash, or whack the heir to the throne, Prince Brat. Jemmy has been plucked from the streets to serve as the whipping boy for the young Prince Brat. When the Prince decides to run away the two boys get involved with dangerousoutlaws and have to trade identities.
- Ruth Stiles Gannett. My Father's Dragon.
21 copies available - A little boy is determined to rescue an unfortunate baby dragon that is being used by a group of lazy animals to transport them across a river.
- John Reynolds Gardiner. Stone Fox.
14 copies available - Little Willie hopes to pay the back taxes on his grandfather's farm with the purse from a dog sled race he enters.
- Grace Lin. The Year of the Dog.
16 copies available - Pacy rings in the Chinese New Year by celebrating and learning about the Year of the Dog, the year people traditionally “find themselves.” During the year, she makes a new friend and figures out what she wants to do with her life in this charming story.
- Ann M. Martin. The Doll People.
9 copies available - Annabelle Doll is 8 and has been that age for more than a hundred years. She and her family are leading an ordinary doll life during the day, but at night they come to life! When Annabelle discovers a diary left by her auntie Sarah, she goes on a mission to solve the mystery behind her disappearance 45 years ago. Maybe Tiffany Funmart, her new neighbor will be able to help when they venture out into the “big” house after dark.
- Leslea Newman. Hachiko Waits.
9 copies available - Based on a true story, the dog Hachi walks to the train station with his master every morning and waits for him every afternoon. When, one afternoon, Hachi’s master doesn’t return, Hachi waits for him…for 10 years!
- James Sturm. Adventures in Cartooning.
18 copies available - A young princess thinks she can’t draw, but, in this story within a story, we meet a knight who is looking for a dragon, an elf who explains how to draw cartoons, a whale, and a horse who loves candy. Not your usual kind of how-to book!
5th and 6th grade
- Elise Broach. Masterpiece.
15 copies available - Marvin, a beetle who lives behind the kitchen in James’ apartment, uses his legs to create beautiful, miniature paintings, which everyone thinks have been made by James. As their friendship grows, they must find ways to communicate about Marvin’s drawings and about recovering a stolen painting from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Will they be able to foil the thieves?
- Esmé Raji Codell. Sahara Special.
15 copies available - Sarah is not in Special Ed any more, but she is special nevertheless. Repeating 5th grade in Madame Pointy's class is nothing like she has ever experienced before. Imagine having "puzzling" or "time travel" as a school subject! Sarah keeps a journal, the pages of which she leaves behind the 940s shelf of the public library, in the spot where books about "somewhere else" are kept. Read it!
- Deborah Ellis. The Breadwinner.
18 copies available - Parvana lives in Afghanistan during the time the Taliban has taken over. Women are confined to the home and girls can’t go to school. When Parvana’s father is imprisoned, she becomes the breadwinner for the family, doing whatever is necessary to survive.
- Kathryn Erskine. Mockingbird.
14 copies available - While ten-year-old Caitlyn has to deal with the grief of her brother’s death, she also has to learn empathy, something that is difficult for her due to her Asperger’s syndrome.
- Ralph J. Fletcher. Flying Solo.
17 copies available - Mr. Fabiano’s substitute teacher never shows up and the kids in his 6th grade class decide to run the class themselves. As the day progresses and the tension builds, powerful emotions threaten to expose their plan.
- Jack Gantos. Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key.
17 copies available - Joey Pigza is "wired." He tries hard, he really does, but he just can't follow class rules. One day Joey is assigned to sharpen all the pencils, but his mind starts to wander and he has the ingenious idea to "grind his fingernails down to sharp points and look like a vampire."
- Ingrid Law. Savvy.
6 copies available - Mississippi “Mibs” Beaumont is anxiously awaiting her 13th birthday when she, like all her other siblings, will acquire her savvy, a supernatural power. When Mibs’ father is hurt in a terrible car accident two days before her birthday, she thinks she may be able to use her savvy to save him. Joined by her brothers and the preacher’s kids, Mibs starts out on an odyssey across a corner of the heartland to reach her father.
- Ingrid Lee. Dog Lost.
11 copies available - When Mackenzie’s father gives him a pit bull he won in a card game, the boy and dog immediately fall in love with each other. And, almost as quickly, the dog is taken away and abandoned. Will the dog be able to survive? Will the town outlaw all pit bulls?
- Celia Barker Lottridge. Home is Beyond the Mountains.
19 copies available - When the invading Turks destroy her Persian village in 1918, Samira and her family must flee. Thus begins a five year odyssey during which time Samira loses both her parents. The director of the orphanage in which she eventually finds herself is determined to take Samira and others like her back to their villages where she knows they will be cared for by extended family and friends even if it means a 300-mile trek on foot.
- Donna Jo Napoli. The King of Mulberry Street.
15 copies available - When Beniamino, a 9-year-old Italian Jewish boy realizes that his mother is not with him on the boat to America, he decides to return home to Sicily as soon as possible. It’s 1892 and life as a young boy on the streets of New York City is tough. Evading people who mean well and want him at an orphanage, Dom Napoli, as he calls himself now, makes friends with two other Italian boys. Together they open a sandwich shop in hopes of earning enough money for the trip back home.
- Gary Paulsen. Lawn Boy.
9 copies available - Who doesn’t dream of suddenly having a half million dollars in the bank? In this tall tale of entrepreneurship, a 12-year-old boy turns a used riding mower into a booming lawn mowing business. When a neighbor helps him invest his profits, he soon becomes wealthier than any of the kids, and even the adults, on his block!
- Shelley Pearsall. Trouble Don’t Last.
20 copies available - Samuel, an 11-year-old Kentucky slave, is pulled out of bed one morning by Harrison, a fellow slave who has helped raise him after his parents were sold. He finds himself on the run, trying to escape north to Canada. Life along the Underground Railroad turns out to be much harder than Samuel ever could have expected.
- Mitali Perkins. Rickshaw Girl.
14 copies available - Naima is a talented painter of traditional alpana patterns, which Bangladeshi women and girls paint on their houses for special celebrations. When Naima's rash effort to help to raise money puts her family deeper in debt, she draws on her resourceful nature and her talents to save the day.
- Rodman W. Philbrick. The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg.
13 copies available - Homer and his older brother, Harold, live with their Uncle Squinton, “the meanest man in the entire state of Maine,” until their uncle sells Harold as a substitute soldier in the Civil War. Twelve-year-old Homer, who tells fibs as easily as the truth, runs away to rescue his brother and meets some very colorful characters. When Homer finally meets up with Harold, he finds himself in the middle of the Battle of Gettysburg!
- Pam Muñoz Ryan. Riding Freedom.
19 copies available - This is the true story of Charlotte Parkhurst, the only girl living in a harsh New Hampshire orphanage in the mid 1800s. The overseer, Mr. Millshark, despises her more than ever when she beats out all the boys in a horse race and he condemns her to grueling kitchen work. Is her love of horses and her fierce determination and courage going to be enough to fulfill her dream of freedom?
- Jom Scieszka. Knucklehead.
10 copies available - In this laugh-out-loud funny memoir, children’s book author, Jon Scieszka, shares the trials, tribulations, and just good fun of growing up with five brothers in Flint, Michigan during the early 1960s.
- Sara Weeks. As Simple as It Seems.
16 copies available - It’s been a difficult fifth grade year for eleven-year-old Verbena. She’s felt self-conscious, moody, and sometimes even downright mean. Then she stumbles onto a family secret – she’s adopted and her father is incarcerated for murder. Only in the aftermath of a boat ride that almost turns out to be her last does Verbena begin to come to terms with who she is and with her relationship with her family.
7th and 8th grade
- Tony Abbott. Firegirl.
13 copies available - Overweight and unpopular, Tom feels invisible since most of his classmates ignore him. Then, a new girl named Jessica appears in class and she is impossible to ignore. Horrible burns cover most of her body. Tom watches her sitting by herself and knows what it’s like to be without friends. Will he be able to befriend Jessica? And will she let him?
- Kelly L. Bingham. Shark Girl.
9 copies available - Jane is a typical California Girl, bright, beautiful, and considered the best artist in her school! Ordinary summer fun is the plan the day Jane goes to the beach. But, when she is attacked by a shark and loses her arm, she becomes known as “Shark Girl.” Can she get past the pain, both physical and emotional, as well as the attention she doesn’t want?
- Siobhan Dowd. The London Eye Mystery.
13 copies available - Kat and Ted, who has a form of autism, take their cousin, Salim, to the London Eye ferris wheel. They watch him get on, but he never gets off. When the police can’t find Salim, it’s up to Kat and Ted, whose brain “runs on a different operating system,” to solve the mystery.
- Deborah Ellis. Children of War.
9 copies available - This heartrending volume contains interviews with twenty-three young Iraqi children between ages 8 and 19 whose lives have been shattered by war. They have moved away from their homeland. Many are living in Jordan or Canada and they share their fears, challenges, and struggles to rebuild their lives in foreign lands as refugees of war
- Nancy Farmer. The House of the Scorpion.
14 copies available - Opium is the name of a new country right on the border between the United States and Mexico run by El Patrón, a sinister, mean dictator and his drug lords. Manual labor in the poppy fields is accomplished by humanoid "eejits" with computer chips in their brains. Matteo Alacrán is 14 and hated by everyone except for El Patrón, whose clone he is. Can Matt escape the evil?
- Neil Gaiman. The Graveyard Book.
10 copies available - An orphaned toddler, called Bod, is adopted by the ghosts who inhabit an old graveyard. Mr. & Mrs. Owens, who had no children of their own in life, welcome the chance to be parents in their graves. Bod, who is brave, smart, and very likeable, has a happy childhood and is cared for and loved by all of the cemetery's residents. His world suddenly changes when his family’s murderer resurfaces!
- Margaret Peterson Haddix. Running Out of Time.
16 copies available - In 1840 Jessie lives in a small village. When a diphtheria epidemic hits and there is no medicine to save the children, Jessie’s mother tells her that it is really 1996 and they actually live at a tourist site. It is up to Jessie to escape the heartless scientists who have set up the site and get to the outside world for help.
- Carl Hiaasen. Hoot.
8 copies available - Roy Eberhardt has just moved to Coconut Cove, Florida. It's not his first time being the new kid at school, and he is used to the bullying. Ironically, it's when Dana Matherson mashes Roy's head against the school bus window that he spots a running, barefoot boy nicknamed Mullet Fingers. Roy senses a mystery when Mullet does not show up for school several days in a row and weird things start happening: alligators in a potty, snakes with their mouths tied.
- Walt Key. Alabama Moon.
11 copies available - Moon and his survivalist father live together in the middle of the Alabama wilderness. Dependent on no one, hiding from everyone, they trap their own food, make their own clothes from animal skins, and practice shooting for the war with the government that they believe is coming. Moon has never known any other life. Then his dad dies! How will Moon survive on his own?
- Wendy Mass. Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life.
16 copies available - Shortly before his 13th birthday, Jeremy receives a beautiful box engraved with the words: “the meaning of life: for Jeremy Fink on his thirteenth birthday." It had been left by his dad who was killed in a car accident 5 years earlier. Unfortunately, the keys to the four locks in the box have been lost and breaking the box might very well destroy its contents. Jeremy and his best friend Lizzie are determined to locate the keys, but in the process they get into some trouble. How will they ever uncover the meaning of life now that they have to spend all their free time doing community service?
- Linda Sue Park. When My Name Was Keoko.
17 copies available - Sun-hee is 10 years old and her brother Tae-yul is 13 when the Japanese who occupy their Korean homeland in the 1940s force them to not just change their names, but their whole way of life. Sun-hee, now Keoko, and her family each find their own means to show resistance. What is life like when you don't know who is telling the truth and who is a traitor?
- Kashmira Sheth. Boys Without Names.
12 copies available - After Gopal’s family has moved to Mumbai to find work, his father goes missing and Gopal, 11- years-old, looks for work. He ends up a slave with five other boys, forced to work for no pay, in horrible conditions, and little food. How can he – and the other boys with him – escape?
- Roland Smith. Peak.
16 copies available - Fourteen-year-old Peak ends up in the Himalayas with his father, who plans on Peak being the youngest person to climb Mount Everest. Find out what it’s like to climb the world’s highest mountain in this amazing and informative adventure.
- Jordan Sonnenblick. Drums, Girls, & Dangerous Pie.
13 copies available - Eighth-grader Steven is consumed with playing drums, finding a girlfriend, and avoiding his annoying little brother, Jeffrey. Then, Jeffrey is diagnosed with leukemia, and everything changes.
- Gloria Whelan. Homeless Bird.
10 copies available - Koly is only 13 when her parents insist she marry Hari. Koly realizes that she has been “sold” for the dowry when she meets Hari and his parents for the first time. Just a child himself and very ill he dies soon after, leaving her a widow and at the mercy of her in-laws. How can this “homeless bird” survive?
