Books for Independent Reading
VERY EASY
Achoo! All About Colds- by Patricia Brennan Demuth
(Science)
Grosset 1997 (32p)
A simple explanation of how, when Sam catches a cold at school, his body fights the germs to make him better.
- Just Look
- by Tana Hoban
Greenwillow 1996 (32p)
Readers view photographs of different objects, first through a hole, and then in their entirety.
- Amelia's Fantastic Flight
- by Rose Bursik
(Social Studies)
Holt 1992 (32p) also paper
A young girl builds her own plane and takes it for an around-the-world spin.
EASY
- Nobody Owns the Sky
- by Reeve Lindbergh
(Multicultural)
Candlewick 1996 (32p)
Rhyming verse tells the story of aviatrix Bessie Coleman, who in 1921 became the first African American to earn a pilot's license.
- Comet's Nine Lives
- by Jan Brett
Putnam 1996 (32p)
As he wanders all over Nantucket trying to find a place to live, Comet the cat uses up eight of his nine lives before finding a place to call home.
- Gertie and Gumbo
- by Matt Novak
Orchard 1996 (32p)
When Gertie teaches an alligator to dance, their act becomes famous worldwide.
- Buffalo Bill and the Pony Express
- by Eleanor Coerr
(Social Studies)
Harper 1995 (64p) also paper
Sixteen-year-old Buffalo Bill finds adventure when he becomes a rider for the Pony Express.
- Elvira
- by Margaret Shannon
Houghton 1991 (32p) also paper
Elvira the dragon gets picked on because she prefers making daisy chains
to fighting and eating princesses.
AVERAGE
- Arthur Writes a Story
- by Marc Brown
Little 1996 (32p)
When Arthur attempts to liven up a story about his puppy Pal for a school assignment, he ends up with a story set to a country and western song about an elephant from outer space.
- First Flight
- by George Shea
(Social Studies)
Harper 1997 (48p)
A boy named Tom Tate meets Wilbur and Orville Wright at Kitty Hawk, witnesses the invention of the first airplane, and becomes the second person ever to fly.
- Pascual's Magic Pictures
- by Amy Glaser Gage
(Multicultural)
Carolrhoda 1996 (32p)
Pascual saves enough money to buy a disposable camera and gets some unusual pictures with the help of mischievous howler monkeys in the Guatemalan jungle.
- Outrageous, Bodacious Boliver Boggs!
- by Jo Harper
Simon 1996 (32p)
Every day, Boliver Boggs regales his teacher and classmates with increasingly outrageous reasons for why he is late for school.
- JoJo's Flying Side Kick
- by Brian Pinkney
(Multicultural)
Simon 1995 (32p)
JoJo earns her yellow belt in Tae Kwon Do by doing a perfect flying side kick.
- Anthony Reynoso: Born to Rope
- by Ginger Gordon
(Social Studies)
Clarion 1996 (32p)
Nine-year-old Anthony Reynoso learns to rope and ride Mexican Rodeo style from his father.
CHALLENGING
- Animals You Never Even Heard Of
- by Patricia Curtis
(Science)
Sierra Club 1997 (32p)
Readers meet twelve species of rare wild animals, from the pudu, the world's smallest deer, to the fearsome lizard known as the komodo dragon.
- My Horse of the North
- by Bruce McMillan
(Social Studies)
Scholastic 1997 (32p)
This photoessay tells how, in Iceland, a girl named Margrét and her horse Perla practice for their first réttir, the annual roundup of sheep.
- Cam Jamsen and the Triceratops Pops Mystery
- by David A. Adler
Viking 1995 (64p) also paper
When Cam goes to the store to buy a recording by her favorite group, the Triceratops Pops, she discovers that they're all missing, even though the clerk just restocked the shelf.
- Wild and Woolly Mammoths
- by Aliki
(Science)
Harper 1996 (32p)
A fascinating look at what scientists know about the life of the woolly mammoth, a relative of the modern elephant, who lived during the Ice Age.
- Jenius the Amazing Guinea Pig
- by Dick King-Smith
Hyperion 1996 (64p)
Judy tries to convince her parents and classmates that her pet guinea pig can sit, stay, play dead, and even catch crackers in his mouth.
- Fly Traps! Plants That Bite Back
- by Martin Jenkins
(Science)
Candlewick 1996 (32p)
An introduction to the astonishing world of carniverous plants like the bladderwort, Venus flytrap, cobra lily, and pitcher plant.
- Sally Ann Thunder Ann Whirlwind Crockett
- by Steven Kellogg
Morrow 1995 (32p)
Sally Ann marries Davy Crockett and has a series of fantastic adventures in this rousing tall tale.
Shared Reading
- My Little Sister Ate One Hare
- by Bill Grossman
(Math)
Crown 1996 (26p)
A girl amazes an audience by gobbling up to nine different bugs and animals in this cumulative , rhyming story, but eating ten green peas makes her sick.
- I Was Born About 10,000 Years Ago
- by Steven Kellogg
Morrow 1996 (32p)
The multiple narrators of this rhyming story, based on an old folk song, try to best each other by telling more and more outrageous whoppers.
- Dinosaur Questions
- by Bernard Most
(Science)
Harcourt 1995 (40p)
Did dinosaurs have whiskers? How old did dinosaurs grow to be? These questions and others are answered in this look at the behomoth creatures.
- The Marvelous Market on Mermaid
- by Laura Kraus Melmed
Lothrop 1996 (32p)
Hilarious pandemonium breaks out in Grandma's busy store when a cat chases a
mouse
Books for Teachers to Read Aloud
- Hog Eye
- by Susan Meddaugh
Houghton 1995 (32p)
A pig relates how she uses her ability to read to outwit a wolf who plans on making her his dinner.
- Chibi: A True Story from Japan
- by Barbara Brenner and Julie Takaya
(Multicultural)
Clarion 1996 (64p)
When a wild duck decides to nest in Tokyo's Mitsui Office Park, people, including a news photographer, flock from all over the city to watch her and her ducklings.
- The Bunyans
- by Audrey Wood
Scholastic 1996 (32p)
This tall tale relates how Paul Bunyan, his wife Carrie, and their two children created some
of North America's natural wonders, including Niagara Falls and Bryce Canyon.
- Luck With Potatoes
- by Helen Ketteman
Orchard 1995 (32p)
When a hard-luck farmer spends his last few dollars to plant potatoes,
the enormous proportion of the spuds makes his fortune.
Now Available in Paperback
- First Flight
- by George Shea
Harper
- Buffalo Bill and the Pony Express
- by Eleanor Coerr
Harper
- The Cow Who Wouldn't Come Down
- by Paul Brett Johnson
Orchard
- Martha Calling
- by Susan Meddaugh
Houghton
- The Magic School Bus in the Time of the Dinosaurs
- by Joanna Cole
Scholastic
- Roxaboxen
- by Alice McLerran
Puffin
- Imogene's Antlers
- by David Small
Crown
- Just Plain Fancy
- by Patricia Polacco
Dell
- Pudmuddles
- by Carol Beach York
Harper
- Meteor!
- by Patricia Polacco
Putnam
Now Available as a Big Book
- The Cow That Went OINK
- by Bernard Most
Harcourt
- The Napping House
- by Audrey Wood
Harcourt
- The Mysterious Tadpole
- by Steven Kellogg
Puffin
- Paul Bunyan
- by Steven Kellogg
Mulberry
- How Much Is a Million?
- by David Schwartz
Mulberry
Now Available in Spanish
- The Napping House
(La casa adormecida)
- by Audrey Wood
- The Magic School Bus in the Time of the Dinosaurs (El autobús mágico en
tiempos de los dinosaurios
- by Joanna Cole