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.
This novel is a thing of beauty; three parts: poetry, prose and letters to mami who remains in Puerto Rico. Short chapters, each a vignette or snippet of poetic prose or, actual poetry. Told from Maria’s perspective, we, the reader, watch Maria blossom in her barrio neighborhood of New York City to become a poet. I suspect this is Judith Ortiz Cofer’s own story as she, too, immigrated from San Juan and is now a creative writing professor.
I found this great site called Africa Access, founded in 1989, to help schools, public libraries, and parents improve the quality of their children’s collection on Africa. Africa Access Review, our online database, contains over 1000 annotations and reviews of children’s books written by university professors, librarians, and teachers most of whom have lived in Africa and have graduate degrees in African Studies. Their award, Children’s Africana Book Awards has presented more than forty awards since 1992. These are the winners for 2010 with reviews by Africa Access.
Top 100: Children’s Novels from School Library Journal, grades 3-8th, for 2010. Great classics that have stood the test of time plus newly released Newbery award winners.
Rocky Road is the perfect summer read, as appealing as hot weather and ice cream! [chapter book, ages 9-12]
I’d describe The Dark is Rising series as a mix of Tolkein (Lord of the Rings series) and Lloyd Alexander (The Black Caldron series) with difficulty level between the two series. Also, I’d describe it as mix of Harry Potter and Percy Jackson, again with difficulty level between the two series. It’s an epic series pitting good versus evil and light against dark with the epicenter around an 11-year-old boy named Will Stanton who is the last of the six “The Old Ones” who are time-travelers and protectors of the world. The time traveling aspect is great because it introduces English history amidst a backdrop Celtic lore.
If you don’t live in Newton, MA, use my list. It’s a great list. It also comes with great resources of websites to keep you learning, reading and having fun. Please see Capability Mom’s post on that! I have to hightail it to the library the next town over to get books for my kids!
These Native American children’s books help to depict a portion of their story and I would urge you to share these stories with your children so that their stories are not lost and their rich history becomes mainstreamed. It was both an education and a great pleasure for me to find and read these stories include Abernaki, Iroquis, Mohawk, Lakota, Navajo, Cheyenne, Creek, Cherokee, Potowatami, and Sioux Native Americans.