This is a spot where I will post videos, pictures and other updates of work that kids are doing at home that you would like to share. What are you up to? Send me pictures or a video (.mp4 works well) and I will post it for the class to see.
This is a list that Kara and I started when school shut down in 2020. I recommend reading the synopsis on Goodreads, Amazon or Barnes and Noble to see if you would like it. As students read these, you could write a book review, pitching the book to your friends!
You can send in your own recommendations - these are in no particular order:
Fiction:
Ghost series by Reynolds
Crossover series by Kwame Alexander
Love Ruby Lavender, Aurora County All-Stars, Each Little Bird that Sings by Deborah Wiles
Lots of books by Wendy Mass (I will read Every Soul a Star out loud before the year ends)
Stormbreaker (Alex Rider series) by Horowitz
Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
Surviving the Applewhites by Stephanie Tolan
Small as an Elephant by Jennifer Jacobson
Breakout by Kate Messner
Amal Unbound by Aisha Saeed
Another Word for Home by Jasmine Warga
Lost in the Sun by LIsa Graff
Ruby Holler or Moo by Sharon Creech
Hoot/Flush/Squirm by Carl Hiasson
Spy School series, Fun Jungle series, Moon Base Alpha series by Stuart Gibb
Wonder by R.J. Palacio
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Patterson
Out of my Mind by Sharon Draper
Al Capone Does my Shirts series by Gennifer Choldenko
A Week in the Woods by Andrew Clements
iQ series by Roland Smith
Schooled, Gifted, Chasing the Falconers series, Kidnapped series by Gordon Korman
You go First by Erin Engrada Kelly
Perfect Score series by Rob Buyea
From the Mixed up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by e.l. Konigsburg
Fiction with mild magic:
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon (3 books) by Grace Lin
Whales on stilts by M.T. Anderson
Savvy/Scumble/Switch by Ingrid Law
The Word Eater by Mary Amato
Orphan Island by Laurel Snyder
The Castle in the Attic by Elizabeth Winthrop
The Mysterious Benedict Society series by Trenton Lee Stewart
Fantasy:
Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
Howl’s Moving Castle By Diane Wynne Jones
Wings of Fire series by Tui Southerland
Ranger’s Apprentice series by John Flanagan
Fablehaven series by Brandon Mull
Magyk (Septimus Heap series) by Angie Sage
Powerless by Mathew Cody
Eragon series by Christopher Paolini
Iron Trial series by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert O’Brien
Dystopian novels or series:
Among the Hidden series and Running out of Time by Margeret Hadix
City of Ember by DuPrau (sequels are not as good)
Dark is Rising series by Susan Cooper (one of my favorites when I was your age)
Tomorrow Girls series by Eva Gray
Inkheart series by Cornelia Funke (gets a little dark)
Leviathan or Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld
Historical fiction:
Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata
The Watsons Go to Birmingham 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis (love this one)
Code Talker by Joseph Bruchac (This is EXCELLENT, a WWII novel)
Sophie’s War by Avi
Number the Stars by Lowry
Lily’s Crossing by Patricia Reilly Giff
Sink or Swim by Steve Watkins
A Night Divided by Jennifer Nielsen
Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan
Night Journeys by Avi
Waiting for Anya by Michael Morpurgo
Elephant Run by Roland Smith
Red Scarf Girl by Ji-Li Jiang
The Birchbark House by Louise Erdich
A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park
Fever 1793 or Chains/Forge/Ashes by Laurie Halse Anderson
River Runs Deep or Jefferson’s Sons by Kimberly Brubaker Bradly
Chasing Secrets by Gennifer Choldenko
The War that Saved my Life/The War I Finally Won by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
Inside out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai
The Witch of Blackbird Pond and Sign of the Beaver by Speare
The Inquisitor’s Tale by Adam Gidwitz
In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson by Bette Bao Lord