Middle grade chapter books for kids ages 9 through 14 and including 3rd grade books, 4th grade books, 5th grade books, 6th grade books, and 7th grade books.
The Schneider Family Book Awards honor an author or illustrator for a book that embodies an artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences. I really like how these books let kids walk in the shoes of another and I find the themes of “trying to fit in versus accepting themselves and their family members” to be universal for all children.
There is something special about each of these books beyond an award winning author/illustrator or just an enjoyable story. Some of the books bid us to stop and smell the roses; others make us ask ourselves what really IS important in life? As my career coach often tells me when I am complaining, “Is there another way to view this? Can you see this thing that you are complaining about as a gift?!” Please enjoy these ten small gifts of stories. These are gifts that keep on giving.
The Girls’ Book of Excellence Makes for an Excellent 4th Grade Girls’ Book Club! And I found a boys’ version: Science on the Loose: Amazing Activities and Science Facts You’ll Never Believe by Helaine Becker.
ReadInASingleSitting has a great list of Young Adult Novels in Verse and she was kind enough to let me repost it. Here is the link for the full post. Here is the beginning of the post plus her list of books. Please see her full post for the blurbs on the books (had trouble cutting and pasting it all).
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick is the Phantom of the Opera for children’s literature.
I am planning a trip to Barcelona next year for two reasons: my kids have studies Spanish for YEARS so it’s time to take off the training wheels and my husband and kids are obsessed with Barcelona soccer. So forgive me if my post slants a little towards Barcelona. Of course, the irony: they speak Catalan there which is closer to Latin.
The Mixed Up Files of Middle Grade Authors blog has a great post on dragons that preempted this post but I actually had been working on this for several weeks. There is something magical about dragons and I’m glad that some kids can keep the magic alive. I’ve gathered my favorite dragon books that range in age from picture books to young adult. What is your favorite dragon book? Please share!