The Phantom Tollbooth is a fantasy novel by Norton Juster. Everything’s so boring for Milo - that is, until a mysterious package appears in his room. The package contains one tollbooth and the tools to guide them through an imaginary land. This land isn’t somewhere ordinary. It’s a place where you can really jump to conclusions and where you can mine for numbers.

There is also a 1969 musical film about this book. This book is really timeless and is for grades 3+. I rate this book 5 out of 5 stars.

The War That Saved My Life is the first part of a 2-book historical fiction series by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley. The year is 1939, and World War Two has a fierce start in London. Ada lives in an apartment with brother Jamie and her mother Mam. But there’s one thing: Ada has never left the apartment. Her club foot has made it very difficult for her to walk, but even if she could, Mam would never let her out. Her life is full of spending days making beds and nights in cockroach-infested cabinets. There’s no way out. That is, there isn’t until Ada knows that Jamie is going to the country to escape bombs. When Ada sneaks off with him, she finds refuge. Will that be taken away?

This books is for grades 4-6. I rate this book 5 out of 5 horses.

9-year-old Lemonade Liberty Witt’s mama always told her that when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. But when Lem is forced to move from her home in San Francisco to small town Willow Creek, she’s not so sure she can make the best of it - after all, her mother is unable to help her since she died. And the town isn’t so normal; everything is Bigfoot-themed. When she is hired by 11-year-old Tobin Sky, CEO of Bigfoot Detectives Inc., she decides that maybe she can make some lemonade after all.

Lemons my Melissa Savage is for grades 4-6. I rate it 5 out of 5 lemons.

Where The Wild Things Are was written by Maurice Sendak in 1963. Though that was a while ago that book has continued to grace the childhood of kids everywhere. In this story, after dressing in his wolf costume in his house, Max wreaks havoc and is sent to bed without supper. His room turns into a jungle with many monsters, or ‘wild things’ a world of things he loves, and things that understand him. Though Max loves his new world he comes home to his parents, to those who really love him.

There is also an animated short, children’s opera, a Simpsons episode, and live-action film based on the book. This book is for grades Kindergarten-2nd grade, and I rate it 4 out of 5 wild things.

The giving tree is a picture book by Shel Silverstein. It all starts with a tree and a boy, best friends- that is, until the boys grows older. The tree still loves the boy, but the boy needs more. First, the tree gives him apples to sell, then branches to build a house, then her trunk to make a boat. Finally, the man grows old and the tree is only a stump, but they reunite once again and are both happy when the tree offers the old man a stump to sit down on.

I think that this book is for grades Kindergarten through 2nd Grade. I rate this book 5 out of 5 apples.

Gregor the Overlander is a fantasy adventure book written by Suzanne Collins, author of The Hunger Games.

11-year-old Gregor and his younger sister Boots end up in the strange land of Regalia -where bugs are the size of humans- when Boots falls through a vent in the laundry room of their apartment. Soon they learn that Gregor and Boots are a part of a prophecy that will save the Overland Prisoner, Gregor and Boots’ father. The first paragraph of the prophecy goes:

Beware, Underlanders, time hangs by a thread

The hunters are hunted, white water runs red.

The gnawers will strike to extinguish the rest.

The hope of the hopeless resides in a quest.

I think this book is for grades 3-5 and I rate it 3 out of 5 cockroaches.

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan is the first book in the series Percy Jackson and The Olympians.

Percy Jackson is a twelve-year-old troublemaker. On the first day of summer after 6th grade, he realizes that he is a demigod- his mom is mortal and his dad is the god of the sea, Poseidon. He is taken to Camp Half-Blood, a camp to keep kid demigods safe from monsters. When Zeus’s master bolt (the lightning bolt used to create lightning whenever and wherever he wants) is stolen, he blames Poseidon. Zeus says that it must be returned by summer solstice, or he will declare war. Percy and two others must set out on a quest to retrieve the lightning bolt in time-Grover, Percy’s satyr best friend Grover, and Annabeth, a daughter of Athena. But will they make it in time?

There has been a movie on this book and a musical. This book is recommended for grades 3rd through 5th. I rate this book 5 out of 5 lightning bolts.

The Land of Stories is a six-book-long series written by Chris Colfer that’s based on many different fairy tales. It tells the stories of twins Alex and Conner, who are gifted a fairy tale book from their grandmother. When they fall within this book, they enter a land where all of these stories are brought to life; and none of them end where the stories say. Goldilocks is a wanted fugitive, and Red Riding Hood has her own kingdom. But how will they return home with the evil queen after them?

The Land of Stories is an excellent series for fourth or fifth graders to read, but middle school would also enjoy it. I’d rate this series 3 out of 5 fairy tales.

Big Nate by Lincoln Peirce is a series about Nate Wright, a 6th grader at Public School 38. Nate is a spirited student with bad grades and a very messy room. He considers his social studies teacher, Mrs. Godfrey, his enemy. When he’s not chasing a girl or hanging out with his friends Francis and Teddy, he is in detention.

There are two different types of Big Nate books - books that are only comic strips and the graphic novels written as Nate’s journal with lots of drawings. I rate the Big Nate series 4 out of 5 stars.

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The Don't let the pigeon series is by Mo Williams. It includes many books, including Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, The Pigeon finds a Hot Dog, Don' let the Pigeon Stay up Late, The Pigeon wants a Puppy, and The Duckling gets a Cookie. Mo Willems has also written other series, like the Elephant and Piggie books, the Cat The Cat books, and the Knuffle Bunny books.

These are picture books for grades Kindergarten through 2nd grade. I rate these books 5 out of 5 pigeons.

“Charlotte's Web” by E. B. White is a classic tale about a pig named Wilbur who befriends a spider named Charlotte. Wilbur was going to be killed, but was saved by Fern, a girl who then raised them. When he grew up, he was sold to Fern’s uncle, farmer Homer Zuckerman. Wilbur is lonely in his new stall, but is befriended by Charlotte, a spider who lives on a web over Wilbur’s stall.

The book was adapted into an animated movie in 1973. In 2003, a sequel to the movie, Charlotte´s Web 2: Wilbur´s Great Adventure, was released. In 2006, Paramount Pictures produced a live-action movie. There has also been a musical and video game made.

I rate this book 4 out of 5 spiders.

The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins by Dr. Seuss is one of his longer and lesser known books. Published in 1938, it was his 2nd book, after And to Think that I saw it on Mulberry Street. The story takes place in the Kingdom of Didd. When King Derwin rides through town, the townspeople are supposed to take off their hats in honor- but when Bartholomew Cubbins takes off his hat, another one appears.

¨What I like is that it had a story, unlike many Dr. Seuss books,¨ said Elise Zolnoski. ¨It is also unique because it doesn’t always rhyme.¨ I rate this book 4 out of 5 hats.

Part man, part dog, all hero! Comic book makers George and Harold are back with a new comic titled Dog Man. When a police dog and his cop friend are injured on the job, a life-saving surgery takes place and Dog Man is born. Our new hero is excited to help the city, but his nemesis, Petey the Cat, has other plans.

The books are graphic novels designed for grades 2-4. I give this book 4 / 5 stars.

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