Heidi
The classic story of a young orphan who lives an idyllic life with her grandfather, the goat-herd, and her young friend Peter in the French Alps, and then becomes desperately homesick when she's sent to the city to become companion to a young invalid. The prose is a little dated to my dears, but my daughters remain quick to recommend this book to friends their age.
More info →Once Upon a Toad
I picked this one up because my daughters loved Frederick's Mother-Daughter Book Club series, even though the plot sounded ridiculous. My girls loved it. Cat's mother is an astronaut, and when she gets sent to the International Space Station Cat is sent to live halfway across the country with her Dad and her real-life evil stepsister. That's bad enough, but then one morning at breakfast Cat opens her mouth and a toad hops out! But when her stepsister speaks, diamonds and flowers come out of her mouth. If you can suspend your disbelief, this story is good clean fun.
More info →Harriet the Spy
The Lemonade War
When two siblings have a conflict they can't talk about, they take it out on each other by going to battle with their respective lemonade stands: who can earn the most money selling cold drinks this summer? This is a fast-moving story about sibling rivalry, different kinds of intelligence, and how math works in the real world. A good independent read for younger tweens, but even my six-year-old is loving this as a read-aloud.
More info →Tuesdays at the Castle
The One and Only Ivan
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making
The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy
Island of the Blue Dolphins
I love that my girls love this book. When a young girl is marooned for eighteen years on an island off the coast of California, she not only survives, but manages to find a kind of happiness with only the animals for company. Kanana is strong and smart and resourceful as she waits for the ship that took her tribe away to return. This popular modern classic is loosely based on a true story.
More info →Out of the Dust
My 11-year-old told me she was glad this was required reading because she wouldn't have read it otherwise and it's one of the best books she's ever read. Told in free verse, this is the story of a young girl's life in the Dust Bowl of Oklahoma during the Great Depression. It's bleak and tragic and ends with only a glimmer of hope, but young (and old) readers will be moved as they root for fourteen-year-old Billie Jo to transcend her dire circumstances and find the beauty in her unlikely surroundings. A short, quick read.
More info →Tuck Everlasting
When an overprotected ten-year-old stumbles upon a boy her age drinking furtively from a spring near her home, she discovers what he's trying to keep secret: since his family began drinking the water, they haven't aged a day. There are so many middle grade stories that wrestle with death these days; in this novel, Babbit wrestles with the decidedly mixed blessing of living forever. The prose in this is really lovely (which is not a code word for boring).
More info →From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
Claudia Kincaid is bored with her suburban life, so she convinces her little brother Jamie to run away with her to nearby New York City. She’s carefully chosen a hideaway that is comfortable, beautiful, and elegant: the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Once they’re set up in the museum, Claudia finds herself transfixed by a statue—and the mystery behind it—and her fascination leads the two children on an incredible adventure.
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