Kids Fiction
THE INCREDIBLE JOURNEY by Sheila Burnford
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When a Canadian family travels to Europe for six months, they must leave their three pets–an old bull terrier, a young Labrador retriever, and a Siamese cat–in the care of a friend who lives several hundred miles East of the family’s home. While the bull terrier and the Siamese cat settle into life with their new caretaker, the Labrador is restless. He knows that he is far from home and longs to be with his family again. So, when the opportunity presents itself, he leads his two companions to escape from their caretaker and journey across the Canadian wilderness toward home. But with bears, porcupines, and other hazards to face along the way, all three animals may not make it home alive.
The Incredible Journey is the book on which the film Homeward Bound was based. The book is less humorous than the movie, but it is filled with the same adventure and heartwarming moments. The imagery is dense and the reading level may be above the interest level. But the book would make a great family read aloud for families who have pets or love animals and have children in grades 2-5.
If you liked The Incredible Journey, you might like Babe, the Gallant Pig by Dick King Smith.
BABYMOUSE: QUEEN OF THE WORLD by Jennifer L. Holm & Matthew Holm
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Babymouse wishes she were extraordinary. She wishes she had gorgeous, straight whiskers–like Felicia. She wishes she had a cooler style of clothes–like Felicia. And although it is nice to have her one really good friend Wilson, she wishes that she had tons of adoring friends and admirers–like Felicia. Unfortunately, all of her daydreaming doesn’t make her wishes come true. It just makes her late for class. But when Babymouse has the chance to attend Felicia’s birthday party, everything in her life could be about to change.
The Babymouse graphic novels are popular among tween girls for good reason; they accurately depict what it’s like to be outside of the cool clique. Babymouse has believable insecurities and hopes that preteen girls are sure to relate to.
If you like the Babymouse series, you might like Dork Diaries, Dumped by Popular Demand, Smile, and Middle School is Worse Than Meatloaf.
ROOM ONE: A MYSTERY OR TWO by Andrew Clements
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Ted Hammond loves mysteries. He loves reading them, but most of all he loves solving them. Unfortunately, in a tiny town with only one sixth-grader (Ted), there aren’t too many new or mysterious things going on. Until Ted sees a face in the window of the abandoned Anderson farm, that is. Ted’s investigation leads him to April and her family who are hiding out in the old farm and trying to avoid a man who is bothering April’s mom. This mystery is not as simple as the ones in the story books, and Ted finds that he must make a lot of difficult decisions in order to balance his friendship with April, his responsibility to be honest with the adults in his life, and his desire to make sure that April and her family are well taken care of.
Room One is more about friendship and responsibility than it is a mystery. Although there are certainly clues to unravel throughout the story, it will appeal most to readers who enjoy realistic fiction, stories about families, or stories about friendships. I would recommend this book to readers in grades 3-5.
THE MIRACULOUS JOURNEY OF EDWARD TULANE by Kate DiCamillo
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Edward Tulane is a finely crafted china rabbit who belongs to a girl called Abilene. He is very proud of his craftsmanship and his fancy clothes and spends most of his time thinking about how wonderful he is. Although Abilene loves him, Edward doesn’t love anyone but himself. When Abilene’s grandmother tells a story about a witch who cast a horrible spell on a selfish man because he didn’t know how to love, Edward doesn’t think the story has anything to do with him. But when Abilene takes him along on an ocean voyage and he falls overboard, Edward realizes that the witch’s curse may have affected him as well. So begins Edward’s incredible journey through the ocean and on land as his adventures teach him how to love.
Winner of a Christopher Award for “affirming high values of the human spirit,” this simple novel reads like a fairy tale. Although on the reading level for 3rd-4th graders, it would make a great read-aloud for younger children in grades K-2 as well.
If you liked The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, you might also like The Velveteen Rabbit, which has a similar tone and message. If you are up for a longer read, you may enjoy The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien.
CREEPY CARROTS by Aaron Reynolds
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Jasper loves to stop by the carrot patch on his way to school to munch on some of the delicious, delicious carrots–until the day that the carrots start to follow him. They follow him everywhere, especially when it’s dark. And no one will believe him! Finally, Jasper decides to put an end to the creepy carrots once and for all.
A great new book in time for Halloween, Creepy Carrots is just a little bit creepy with a humorous twist. Mostly brown illustrations allow the orange of the creepy carrots to pop out on each page. It’s a very fun picture book; check it out!
THE MAN WHO WAS POE by Avi
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Edmund is close to despair. He, his sister, and his aunt had not been in American very long at all before his aunt disappeared. What’s worse, they still have seen no sign of Edmund’s mother, whom they came to America to seek. After going out in search of his aunt and failing to find her, Edmund returns to their small apartment to discover that his sister has also vanished from inside their locked apartment. He has no hope of finding any of his family again until a mysterious stranger turns up. The man is drunk and possibly a bit mad, but he seems sure that he can unravel the mystery and find Edmund’s aunt, mother, and sister. Edmund sees no other option than to trust the sullen, disturbed gentleman and hope for the best. Unfortunately, it seems as though the stranger’s troubled past may interfere with his abilities as a detective.
The Man Who Was Poe is a dark, somewhat gothic mystery story. Readers who are familiar with Poe’s stories and biography will probably find this fictional imagining of Poe both believable and fascinating. Readers without an interest in Poe may be frustrated by the detective’s mood swings and the passive, whiny helplessness of the leading child character, Edmund. Edmund’s character does improve by the end of the novel, however, and the mystery itself is very intriguing. I would recommend this book to all Poe fans and to readers in grades 5-8 who enjoy dark, gothic novels.
BUD, NOT BUDDY by Christopher Paul Curtis
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Since Bud’s mother died, he has been bounced around among orphanages and foster homes–none of which have been particularly good places to live. It seems like the only people willing to take in an orphan child during the Depression are either mean or crazy. But as long as Bud follows his “Rules and Things for Having a Funner Life and Making a Better Liar out of Yourself,” he never loses spirits. He also has his trusty suitcase with the flyer his mother gave him before she died advertising Herman E. Calloway’s Dusky Devastators of the Depression, a Grand Rapids jazz band.
Although his mother never said so, Bud is convinced that Herman E. Calloway is his father. After Bud escapes from a particularly nasty foster home, he decides the time has come to travel the 120 miles from Flint to Grand Rapids to find his father. When he actually meets Mr. Calloway, however, it isn’t quite the reunion Bud was expecting.
Bud, Not Buddy won both the 2000 Newbery Award and the 2000 Coretta Scott King Award for good reason. It is a phenomenal historical fiction novel that immerses readers in the worlds of jazz and the Great Depression. Bud is a wonderfully realistic character–determined, resilient, creative, and just a bit naive–with a great sense of humor that makes his story very funny, as well as touching. I highly recommend this book to middle grade readers who enjoy humor and/or historical fiction.
GOLDILOCKS AND JUST THE ONE BEAR by Leigh Hodgkinson
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A bear is wandering through the city when he gets horribly lost. He happens upon a posh little apartment and decides to make himself at home for the night. After finding some porridge that is not too soggy or too crunchy and a chair that is not too ouchy or too noisy, he settles down into a bed that is not too frothy or too pink–it is just right. But suddenly he is awakened by the noise of three Persons coming home and finding their apartment a mess! The bear is very, very scared, until he realizes that the Mommy Person looks somewhat familiar. . .
This funny fractured fairytale would be great for a preschool storytime. You should definitely check this book out if you like other fractured fairytales, like Jon Sciezka’s Stinky Cheese Man, True Story of the Three Little Pigs, or Frog Prince Continued, Mary Pope Osborne’s Kate and the Beanstalk, or Bob Hartman’s Wolf Who Cried Boy.
ONE CRAZY SUMMER by Rita Williams-Garcia
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Delphine and her two sisters are not thrilled about flying from New York to Oakland to “meet” their mother, Cecile. They haven’t seen or spoken to Cecile since she left their family when Delphine was only four years old and Fern was still an infant. Now it is 1968, Delphine is eleven years old, and she can’t understand why her father thinks that meeting Cecile is so important–especially since Cecile doesn’t want to meet them either. From the minute they arrive, it is obvious that Cecile has no idea how to take care of children and views them as an inconvenience. Delphine finds herself responsible for making sure her sisters are fed and getting along with one another. All Cecile seems to want to do is write poetry all day long. To get them out of the house, she insists that Delphine and the girls attend a Black Panthers summer camp. Delphine is bothered by the political message of the camp and knows that her father and grandmother would not approve. But as the girls get more and more wrapped up in the Black Panther community and Cecile’s life, their own lives begin to seem more complicated. More than just meeting their mother, they begin to discover new things about themselves.
One Crazy Summer fully deserved its Coretta Scott King Award and Newbery Honor. The characters in this book are complicated and fascinating and there is just enough intrigue and adventure in the plot to keep the story engaging. I highly recommend this book to middle grade readers who enjoy historical fiction, coming-of-age stories, or stories about complicated families.
THE ROAD TO PARIS by Nikki Grimes
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Paris and her brother, Malcolm, have lived in more foster homes than they can count since Child Protective Services took them away from their mother. In Paris’ opinion, most of the foster homes were even worse than their real home despite their mother’s drinking and their abusive stepfather. But when they finally run away to their grandmother’s house, their case worker decides to separate the children, putting Malcolm in a group home for boys his age and sending Paris to live with a new foster family, the Lincolns. Heartbroken at being separated from her brother, Paris doesn’t think she will ever be happy with the Lincolns, but she is surprised to discover that family life isn’t always as dysfunctional as her past experiences have been. As Paris begins to find her place in her new home, she still must overcome her nightmares of the past and the prejudice of some other community members who do not understand her.
This Coretta Scott King Award Honor book provides a glimpse of a loving, functional foster family without glossing over the difficulties and complications of this type of family situation. The Lincolns must work hard to earn Paris’ trust, as do the children at her new school. And when that trust is broken, it is difficult for Paris to open up again. There are some intense themes in this book, including physical and emotional abuse and racism. I would recommend this book to middle grade readers who enjoy realistic fiction.
Susan the Librarian 