4th Grade Summer Reading List

Composed by Librarian Ann Grandin  for  Merida Wilson

Over the summer, we invite children to read (or have read to them) at least three books from the following list.  Early chapter books (generally under 100 pages) feature age-appropriate content, but have simpler sight-word vocabulary and plots.

The next step in reading mastery are the young-intermediate chapter books (both shorter and longer), to which children can progress as they feel comfortable.

Still in the picture should be parent read-alouds, which foster meaningful family time and dialog, as well as letting children know they are never too old to listen to someone else’s story. I have also included for my fantasy picture book fans a list of books we don’t have in the library and which they may not have read yet!

A word of caution: while some children may be ambitious with their reading, wishing to take something in read by an older sibling or seizing on “the longest book in the world,” please continue to carefully guide their choices to ensure they reside in comfortable, age-appropriate realms as they read.

Books are easy to find in local libraries (see the San Francisco Public Library Guide on the last page) and also in independent bookstores. Waldorf family favorites are Books Inc. (Laurel Village, The Marina, & Opera Plaza), Stacey’s and Alexander Books (Downtown), Cody’s and Moe’s (East Bay),  City Lights (North Beach), Book Passage (Farmer’s Market & Corte Madera), Cover to Cover (Noe Valley), Green Apple (Second-Hand Books—The  Richmond), The Booksmith (The Haight), and Black Oak Books (Inner Sunset), the children’s section at the Stanford bookstore, and The Linden Tree (Children’s Books only in Los Altos). The juvenile sections of Museum bookstores also carry some particularly worthy, tough-to-find small-press titles.

Early Chapter Book Series (under 100 pages)

For children still learning to read, series literature lets them settle into familiar characters and plots, freeing them up to focus on sight-word recognition. The books  below, although easier to read, have age-appropriate characters and dynamic story lines. Just right for ages 8 to 10. In public libraries, you will find these books shelved under the sign: Younger Reading; please steer clear of books based on TV or Movie characters.

• Detective/Mystery

1. A to Z Mysteries by Ron Roy; two boys and a girl from Green Lawn Elementary investigate strange events  in their home town.
2. The Bobbsey Twins by Laura Lee Hope; in this well-known series, the famous twins, Flossie and Freddie, solve, along with their older siblings, Nan and Bert, puzzles in their not-too-quiet neighborhood of Lakeport.
3. The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner; orphaned children, whose resourceful natures encamp them in an old boxcar furnished with items from the local dump, find and benefactor and many mysteries to solve along the way (the first 19 books are by the original author).
4. Cam Jansen  Mystery Series by David Adler; a peppy youngster uses her bright mind and problem-solving skills as a detective.
5. Encyclopedia Brown Mystery Series by Donald J. Sobol; a 10-year-old sleuth solves crimes in his neighborhood.
6. Moongobble and Me Series by Katherine and Bruce Colville; enlisting the help of a young boy, Edward, elves draw on magic to successfully deal with various plagues and horrors besetting their kingdom.

• Family Life & School

1. Akimbo and the Lions; an African boy on an animal preserve works to protect the those  threatened by poachers.
2. The Cobble Street Cousins by Cynthia Rylant; three nine-year-old cousins go through various home-spun adventures in their neighborhood: Cobble Street.
3. Flat Stanley books  by Jeff Brown; after being flattened to a mere half-inch by a  bulletin board, a boy discovers the advantages of being two dimensional.
4. How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell, illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully; because of an uncomfortable bet, Billy must eat 15 worms in 15 days—will peanut putter be the better condiment or horse radish? Read and find out!
5. Marvin Redpost Series by Louis Sachar; in the first book in the series, 9-year-old Marvin believes he was kidnapped at birth and is the long-lost song of a king.
6. Prairie Sky Series by Deborah Hopkinson; a boy and his father struggle to make ends meet in a Kansas town.
7. Stories Julian Tells by Ann Cameron; telling tall tales about cats that can arrive in the mail, fig leaves that make you grow tall, Julian gets in a fine bit of trouble. Also look into the Huey and Julia stories by the same author.

• Fantasy

1. Fairy Blossoms Series by Suzanne Williams
2. The Fairy Chronicles by J.H. Sweet
3. Flower Fairy Friends Series by Cicely Mary Barker; imaginary, old-fashioned stories based on illustrations by the original artist.
4. The Gold Dust Letters by Janet Taylor Lisle; a girl and her friends interpret letters from a fairy godmother, freeing her up from her concerns about her family troubles (part of a trilogy); also The Dancing Cats of Applesap.
5. The Littles by John Peterson; recollections of a tiny family that always gets in a tremendous amount of trouble in the land of the Bigs.
6. The Magic Tree House Series  by Mary Pope Osborne; a tree house provides a portal into different worlds, difference times for intrepid 8-year-old Jack and his younger sister, Annie.
7. The Princess Tales  by Gail Carson Levine; spoofs on traditional fairy tales, such as Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel, and The Princess and the Pea.
8. The Secrets of Droon by Tony Abbott; stories about two boys and a girl, who save the day in one adventure after another in a magic land: wizards, princesses, dragons, mythic animals abound.
9. No Flying in the House by Betty Brock; Annabel Tippens, raised by a white dog, finds she is half-fairy and must ultimately choose between two worlds.
10. Unicorn Secret Series by Kathleen Duey; tales of fantasy and daring with gypsies, lords, blacksmiths, and youths in special quests; easier read.
11. The Young Merlin Trilogy by Jane Yolen; a rich retelling of the Merlin tale, taking the magician from his abandonment at age eight to age twelve, when he begins to understand his powers. Try to find this in three separate volumes: Passager, Hobby, and Merlin.

• Annotated & Condensed Classics

1. Stepping Stone Classics: Knights of the Round Table, Robin Hood, Treasure Island, Little Women, Anne of Green Gables; parents can read the authentic texts as read-alouds, then give children these shorter books to read on their own.
2. Tales from the Odyssey by Mary Pope Osborne; beginning with the battle with the Cyclops (Book #1), Osborne  retells Homer’s classic tale.

• Animals

1. Angelina’s Diary by Katherine Holobird
2. Animal Ark Pets by Ben M. Baglio; Mandy, whose parents own a clinic, and her friend James rescue and care for many animals, mostly horses, cats, and dogs.
3. Any younger dog book story by Bill Wallace.
4. One Day in the Desert (and other habitats) by naturalist Jean Craighead George; this beautifully illustrated series, which includes The Amazon, The Prairie, the Alpine Tundra, records the lives of animals in their homes.
5. The Puppy Place by Ellen Miles; two children take care of puppies and help them find new homes.
6. Seasons of the Moon by Jean Craighead George; 13 tales pay tribute to individual North American animals in this four-volume set: spring, summer, fall, winter.

Early Chapter Books (under 100 pages)

In public libraries, you will find these books, usually less than 125 pp., shelved under the sign: Younger Reading; please steer clear of books based on TV or Movie characters.

1. Amber Brown is not a Crayon by Paula Danziger; the year she is in the third grade is a sad time for Amber, because her friend Justin is getting ready to move to a distant state.
2. Anna, Grandpa, and the Big Storm by Carla Stevens; Anna’s grandfather is bored with city life until he and Anna are stranded on the Third Avenue elevated subway train during the blizzard of 1888.
3. The Bravest Dog Ever: The True Story of Balto by Natalie Standiford; the story of a sled dog who led his team over 53 miles of Alaska wilderness to deliver medicine during an outbreak of diphtheria in 1925.
4. A Boy’s Will by Erik Haugaard; Patrick defies an unloving relative, a smuggler of the Irish Island of Valentia, by warning John Paul Jones of the American fleet about an English ambush.
5. Brave Kids: True Stories from America’s Past by Hazelle Boxberg; in one of this series, a young girl travels to Texas on an orphan train to meet her new family.
6. The Cat Who Wouldn’t Come Inside by Cynthia Von Buhler; a book about a young girl, who wishing to bring a stray kitten out of the cold, must fully enter the frightened animal’s world in or to gain its trust.
7. The Canada Geese Quilt by Natalie Kinsey-Warnock; when ten-year-old Ariel feels isolated as her family prepares for a new baby, she and her grandmother commence a quilt, which Ariel must ultimately finish on her own. A beautiful story about the love passing between generations.
8. Chang and the Bamboo Flute by Elizabeth Hill; Chang, a mute Chinese boy whose father uses cormorants to fish, becomes a hero when a heavy rain strands his father’s fishing raft. Also look at Bird Boy and Wildfire.
9. The Chickenhouse House by Ellen Howard; when Alana and her family move onto new farmland out on the prairie, they must live at first in the chickenhouse, even through the winter, until spring lets them build a beautiful new home.
10. Daniel’s Duck by Clyde Bulla (also White Bird,  Shoeshine Girl and The Chalk Box Kid); a young boy, new to woodcarving, feels defeated when his first efforts are ridiculed. An expert craftsman comes to the rescue.
11. The Enchanted Horse by Magdalene Nabb; a young girl, neglected by her hard-working farm parents, finds a decrepit wooden horse and cares for it so well, it becomes real.
12. First Snow by Helen Coutant; with the help of her grandmother and the first snow she has ever seen, a Vietnamese girl begins to understand how loss and death can be a part of life.
13. The Ghost Fox; while his father is away from their Chinese village, Little Lee fights to save his mother’s soul from an evil fox spirit that has assumed human form.
14. A Gift for Mama by Esther Hautzig; a young Polish girl, Sara, wishes to do something particularly special for her mother’s birthday—something store-bought (also read the sequel A Picture of Grandmother).
15. The Gingerbread Rabbit by Randall Jarrell; a mother baking a gingerbread rabbit for her daughter is amazed when the cooked concoction springs to life—a happy resolution for all (also by the author The Animal Family, The Bat-Poet).
16. A Grain of Rice by Elizabeth Pittman; a clever farmer’s son outwits a king to win his princess daughter.
17. The Invisible Dog by Dick King-Smith; a girl and her invisible dog create a stir with neighborhood nonbelievers.
18. A Likely Place by Paula Fox; a boy who can’t spell or even seem to please his parents, spends a week with an odd baby sitter, who likes to stand on her head; together they make friends with a Spanish shoemaker.
19. The Lumber Camp Library by Natalie Kinsey-Warnock; stories about children in late 1800s America working and struggling to stay in school in a lumber camp.
20. The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes; a young Polish girl struggling to find acceptance in a school community, uses her art to meet the strong need she feels to have “100 dresses” to wear to school.
21. Incredible Animal Adventures by Jean Craighead George; stories of famous animals throughout history.
22. The King’s Equal by Katherine Paterson; a spoiled prince spends a winter with a simple and wise girl and discovers what is really needed in life.
23. The Klondike Kid by Deborah Hopkinson, 60 pp.; when gold is discovered on the Klondike, Davey leaves a Seattle boarding house to find the only relative he has left: the adventurous Uncle Walt.
24. The Magic Finger by Roald Dahl; a boy possesses trmendous powers when he finds his fingers is capable of transforming things.
25. The Magic Paintbrush by Laurence Yep; a magic paintbrush transports a young boy and his elderly caretakers from their drab apartment in Chinatown to more colorful and imaginative settings.
26. My Names is María Isabel by Alma Flor Ada, 57 pp.; third grader María Isabel, born in Puerto Rico and now living on the mainland US, wants to fit in; the teacher’s “My Greatest Wish” project gives her the chance.
27. My Secret Unicorn by Linda Chapman; stories about a girl and her unicorn and life on a farm.
28. Once Round the Sun by Elsa Brita Titchnell; a man named Mr. Peppercorn takes a young boy on a magical journey explaining the wonders of the earth, nature, and the stars.
29. Pinky and Rex Stories by James Howe.
30. The Real Thief by William Steig; themes of honor and suspicion underscore this classic book in which a wrongly accused goose finds a way to defend his innocence and protect a friend.
31. The Several Lives of Orphan Jack by Deborah Ellis, 84 pp.; wit, curiosity, and nonconformity distinguish a lad who escapes the Opportunities School for Orphans (not-the-most-accurate-name) and finds his own way to the sea.
32. Shadow of the Wolf by Gloria Whelan; settling on the shores of Lake Michigan next to an Indian camp, two girls from different walks of life struggle to find ways to let both of their communities live side-by-side with respect.
33. Three Stories You Can Read to Your Dog by Sara Miller; stories any dog will appreciate (and they are very good listeners).
34. Tornado by Betsy Byars; as they wait out a tornado in their storm cellar, a family listens to their farmhand tell stories about the dog that was blown into his life by another tornado when he was a boy.

Chapter Books: Under  125 Pages

In public libraries, you will find these books shelved under the sign: Younger Reading.

1. The Field of the Dogs by Katherine Paterson; a boy, newly moved to Vermont, must deal with a bully and enlist the help of neighborhood dogs, who might be capable  of talking to humans.
2. The Balloon Boy of San Francisco by Dorothy Kupcha Leland; San Francisco during the 1850s is the home to newsboy Ready Gates who finds himself suddenly aloft; well-researched record of life in the city at the time.
3. A Bear Named Paddington by Michael Bond; a very small bear found at Paddington Station is befriended by a family (part of a series).
4. Cabin Faced West by Jean Fritz; a 10-year-old girl, Ann, faces the new challenges of life in the western Pennsylvania wilderness.
5. Lassie Come-Home illustrated by Rosemary Wells; beautiful 56-page edition of this classic tale of a dog’s strong allegiance to its owner.
6. Wish on a Unicorn by Karen Hesse; Mags, who lives in a trailer with her compromised sister, wonders if a stuffed unicorn, discovered in a field, might lead to a better life.
7. The Green Book by Jill Payton Walsh; a community from earth struggles to find essential sustenance on a new planet.
8. The Janitor’s Boy by Andrew Clements; a boy is uncomfortable with his father’s work as a janitor at his school until a requirement to work with his father for putting gum under a desk lets him see what his father brings to the community.
9. The 13 Clocks by James Thurber; with the help of his magical protector, a prince performs tasks to win the hand of a princess (also Many Moons).
10. The Magician’s Boy by Susan Cooper; a boy, working for a magician, is banished to the Land of Story to find a missing St. George puppet amongst strangely familiar characters: little Red Riding Hood, Jack, The Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe.
11. Gifts from the Sea by Natalie Kinsey-Warnock; living alone in a lighthouse with her father, a 12-year-old girl finds their lives dramatically changed when a baby floats in on two mattresses. Compare with Patricia MacLachlan’s Baby.
12. Song of the Trees by Mildred D. Taylor; this family tale focuses on a time when an African-American family during the Depression must fight hard to save the land—and beautiful pines, beeches, and walnuts—they  own.
13. Shoebag by Mary James; a young cockroach, turned into a boy, navigates the world of school while plotting ways to reunite with his cockroach family.
14. Catwings by Ursula LeGuin; stories center on flying cats trying to survive in the city.
15. Junebug by Alice Mead; an African-American boy who yearns to escape the rough life of the projects, launches glass bottles filled with his written wishes, hoping his dreams will come true.
16. Tucket’s Travels by Gary Paulsen; adventures happening to a 12-year-old boy trying to reconnect with his family while traveling West during the Gold Rush days.
17. The Trouble with Tuck by Theodore Taylor; a young girl trains her blind dog to trust and follow a seeing-eye dog.
18. The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman; a spoiled prince and his servant, who is   punished for any of his master’s mistakes, have many adventures when they inadvertently switch places.

Chapter Books: Animals

(Library signs for these books are under the sign: Children’s Fiction. In this section of the library, books for ages 7 through 10—early intermediate—are mixed with books for ages 10 through 12 and even 12 through 14—late intermediate/early teen, so please preview choices thoughtfully.)

1. Along Came a Dog by Meindert DeJong; when a big black dog arrives at a farm, he forms an unlikely friendship with an arrogant chicken.
2. The Animals of Farthing Wood by Colin Dann; when bulldozers enter Farthing wood, the forest animals unite in this striking tale of compassion, cooperation, tolerance, and friendship.
3. Any horse books by Marguerite Henry
4. Any animal book by Dick King-Smith.
5. Caesar’s Antlers by Brooks Hansen; Bette, a mother sparrow, separated by accident from her mate in the wilds of old Norway, takes her chicks on a long search for their father in the protection of a reindeer’s antlers.
6. A Dog’s Life by Ann M. Martin; Squirrel, a dog caught out on the streets, finds his life changes for the better after making two new friends.
7. A Dog on Barkham Street by Mary Stolz
8. A Bear Named Trouble by Marion Dane Bauer; told in alternating voices—the boy’s and the bear’s—this true story is about a zookeeper’s son who must sort out the confusion he feels when a befriended bear kills his favorite goose.
9. Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo; 10-year-old Opal, who has just arrived in a small Florida town with her preacher father, finds new friends through a stray dog who helps her understand  forgive her absent mother.
10. The Boy Who Spoke Dog by Clay Morgan
11. Dog Friday by Hilary MacKay; a boy, finding a lost dog, must come to terms with the fact that an owner may some day turn up.
12. Gentle  Ben by Walter Morey; asking thoughtful questions about the domestication of animals meant to live in the wild, this story traces the risky friendship between a boy and a captured bear in the Alaska Territory.
13. Caesar’s Antlers by Brooks Hansen; Bette, a mother sparrow, separated by accident from her mate in the wilds of old Norway, takes her chicks on a long search for their father in the protection of a reindeer’s antlers.
14. Kari The Elephant by Dhan Gopal Mukerji; jungle tales of an elephant from six-month-old to adulthood are narrated by his owner, a 10-year-old boy. Story titles include: “How Kari Saved Our Lives,” “Kari and the Quicksand,” “The Jungle Spirit,” “Kari Goes to Town,”  “The Tiger Hunt.” Also by the author: Gay Neck: The Story of a Pigeon and Chief of the Herd—another elephant story).
15. Kavik: The Wolf Dog by Walt Morey; a wolf dog instinctively travels 2,000 miles from Washington to Alaska to find the boy who once saved his life.
16. The Green Dog: A Mostly True Story by Suzanne Fisher Staples; during the summer before fifth grade, a young girl, who likes to daydream and hike, acquires a canine companion—an autobiography of the author as a child.
17. The Heroic Adventures of Hercules Amsterdam by Melissa Glenn Haber; a human boy, just 3½ inches high, finds a home in a mouse city, then finds himself defending it from an ancient threat: evil rats.
18. I, Houdini: the Amazing Story of an Escape Artist Hamster by Lynne Reid Banks
19. The Incredible Journey by Shiela Every Burnford; in this familiar story three animals make it back to their farm after being transported a long distance.
20. The Legend of Thunderfoot by Bill Wallace; when a young roadrunner is bitten by a rattler, he is distinguished from others of his species by gigantic swollen feet; a friendship with a tortoise gives him the courage to go forward and to find his destiny.
21. Any Book from the Redwall Series by Brian Jacques, where mice and rats fight it out in the medieval Redwall Abbey.
22. The Midnight Fox by Betsy Byars; a boy can’t feel content on his grandfather’s farm until he finds and befriends a black fox and tracks it to its den.
23. Miss Bianca by Margery Sharp; a detective mouse.
24. Monkey Business by Shirley Climo; this collection of monkey myths, proverbs, parables, and folk tales from Africa, Asia, and the Americas also includes notes on monkeys in history and in art, as well as  facts on various monkey species.
25. Pigs Might Fly (also Sophie’s Snail, Babe the Gallant Pig, A Mouse Called Wolf) by Dick King-Smith; having been coached in swimming by his barn-animal friends, a pig  with webbed feet saves the day when the property is flooded.
26. Poppy (as well as sequels) by Avi; a courageous mouse defies her father and befriends animals outside her species to find a safe haven for her extended community (also read Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by O’Brien).
27. Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson.
28. Red-Dirt Jessie by Anna Myers; a girl, dealing with a younger sister’s death, befriends a dog as she watches her parents move from despair to hope; beautiful, spare prose captures the emotions of a family waiting to heal.
29. Shadow of a Bull  by Maia Wojciechowska; Manolo Olivar has to make a decision: to follow in his father’s footsteps as a famous bullfighter or to follow his heart and become a doctor—tending to those toreadors who have been injured in the ring.
30. Sheep by Valerie Hobbs; when forced to leave his farm where he was born, a young border collie acquires a series of owners and learns how to adapt to various new circumstances, yearning always for his lifework: to tend sheep.
31. Shiloh (and its sequels) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor; a boy, concerned about the way a neighbor mistreats a dog, must navigate the tough turf between caring for an animal that doesn’t belong to him and respecting personal property.
32. Snow Dog by Kjelgaard; the steel-grey husky was just a puppy when he saw the wolf kill his other and siblings; he manages to survive and is befriended by a trapper, who, with him, will experience the wolf for a second time.
33. A Tale of the Swamp Rat by Carter Crocker; guided by an ancient alligator, a silent young rat learns to find his way through a drought-ridden swamp.
34. Toes by Tor Seidler; the runt of a litter of kittens born with seven toes finds an unlikely friendship with a struggling violinist living in a basement and helps to create a better life for them both.
35. Ugly by Jo de Napoli; a modern interpretation of The Ugly Duckling.
36. The White Giraffe by Lauren St. John; after her house burns down and she loses her family, a girl goes to live with her grandmother on a South African Game reserve (also read the sequel Dolphin Song).
37. Whittington by Alan Armstrong; a descendent of Dick Whittington’s cat spins a variation on the ancient tale to inspire a young dyslexic boy to read, with other barnyard animals participating and cheering the boy on.
38. Willows in Winter by William Horwood; documents the further escapades of Toad, Mole, Rat, and Badger in a colder, less hospitable season; of course if you haven’t read Wind in the Willows, read that book first!

Chapter Books: Fantasy

1. The Anybodies by N.E. Bode; a girl, switched at birth, finds she is actually the child of a magic family; how will she find her place in life?
2. The Dragon of Lonely Island by Rebecca Rupp; three children an transported to different times and adventures by a dragon’s stories and 20,000-year-old memory.
3. The Dream Stealer by Gregory McGuire; a village of Russian peasants rebuild their homes on a train to flee an evil wolf; assistance comes from famed Baba Yaga and images in a little girl’s dream.
4. The Fairies of Nutfolk Wood by Ullman; after Willa’s parents’ divorce, she and her mother move to a tiny village where Willa suspects fairies might live in a tree stump near the river.
5. Horns & Wrinkles by Joseph Helgerson; how can you tell if a river is under a spell...the Mississippi, for instance? When 12-year-old Claire finds her cousin Duke has sprouted a horn, she feels she needs to investigate, even though Duke is quite horrid!
6. The Green Book by Jill Paton Walsh (also Gaffer Samson’s Luck, Pepi and the Secret Names, Birdy and the Ghosties, Children of the Fox); a family, who leaves earth for life on another planet, must learn to interpret the environment and gifts of their new home in order to survive there.
7. Inkheart (and Inkspell) by Cornelia Funke; a girl discovers her  father, a bookbinder, has the power to bring characters out of books to life.
8. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl; in this classic tale, a boy escapes his idiosyncratic aunts and is befriended by a group of journeying insects.
9. The Lost Flower Children by Janet Taylor Lisle; after their mother’s death, two girls go to live with their great aunt where they learn to look at life with more hopeful eyes, transforming a weedy garden (also The Dancing Cats of Applesap).
10. The Magic Half by Annie Barrows; a girl with two sets of twin siblings goes back in time to see if she might discover a twin of her own.
11. The Princess Academy by Shannon Hale; Miri, who has lived her life in a simple stone-quarrying village, finds that in her group of friends will be chosen the future wife of the prince who lives in the more prosperous city below; all girls must go to an academy to learn to live this “elegant” life.
12. Scarecrow and His Servant by Philip Pullman; struck by lightning, a scarecrow comes to life and hires a local orphan boy to be his servant on numerous adventures; in pursuit are the owners of the field the scarecrow originally inhabited.
13. The Secret of the Ruby Ring by Yvonne McGrory; and others in this series that tells of a ring’s power to take characters back in time.
14. The Secret of Platform 13 by Eva Ibbotson; a 9-year-old prince is missing from a magical kingdom, so a young hag, old wizard, and gentle fey go in search of him. (Also The Star of Kazan, Which Witch?)
15. A Tale of Time City by Diana Wynne Jones; Time City, built on a space outside time, holds the weighty task of overseeing history; when it is threatened two young boys and a girl attempt to save it.
16. Tom’s Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce; when Tom is shipped off to his great aunt’s “boring old apartment,” he discovers an antique grandfather clock that leads him to a friend named Hatty and wonderful adventure.
17. The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet by Eleanor Cameron; a resourceful boy builds his own space ship and successfully travels to another planet (part of a series).

Chapter Books: Fantasy (Series)

1. The Borrowers Series by Mary Norton
2. The Castle in the Attic Series by Winthrop
3. The Catwings Series by Ursula LeGuin
4. Children of the Lamp by P.B. Kerr
5. The Dragons of Blueland by Ruth Styles Gannet
6. The Gold Dust Letters by Janet Taylor Lisle
7. The Half Magic Series by Edward Eager
8. The Hall Family Chronicles by Jane Langton
9. The Wizard of Oz Series by L.F. Baum
10. Land of Elyon Series by Patrick Carman
11. Little Fur Series by Isobelle Carmody
12. Magic Shop Book  Series by Bruce Colville
13. The Narnia Series by C.S. Lewis
14. The Silverwing Trilogy by Kenneth Opal
15. Peter and the Starcatchers Series by Ridley Pearson
16. The Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander
17. The Warriors Series by Erin Hunter

Perfect Nonsense

1. Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator by Roald Dahl (also The Magic Finger, George’s Marvelous Medicine, and The Twits); sharp humor underscores Dahl’s stories of children creatively surviving the treacherous  adults in their domains.
2. Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat by Lynne Jonell; a girl who is simply too good (she even eats her slimy vegetables) is challenged by the class pet rat to be bad: “Being good doesn’t get you anywhere,” he says,  “it only gets you ignored.” And so begins Emmy’s interesting transformation.
3. The Giraffe, The Pelly and Me by Roald Dahl; a small boy with a strong desire to own a candy shop enlists the help of a trio of window washers: a giraffe, a pelican, and a monkey.
4. Kaline Klattermaster’s Tree House by H. Kimmel; when a child is beset by bullies and family issues he doesn’t quite understand, he creates an imaginary tree house where things are quite bizarre, but life gets sorted out.
5. Mouse Noses on Toast by Daren King; Paul Mouse gathers a group of mouse activists to uncover the mystery behind the delicacy known as “Mouse Noses on Toast,” which is served in a fancy human restaurant.
6. Mr. McBroom’s Wonderful One-Acre Farm: Four Tall Tales by Sid Fleischman; when Josh McBroom learns that 80 acres of the Iowa farm he’s purchased are actually stacked one on top of the other at the bottom of a muddy little pond, he finds that when the pond dries up he has the richest soil in the region.
7. My Dad is a Birdman by David Almond; Dad is building a pair of wings, eating flies, and feathering his nest...what is going on?
8. The Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle Series by MacDonald; a creative neighbor who loves children helps them out of their ruts in effective, but idiosyncratic ways.
9. The Pepins and their Problems by Polly Horvath; well, what are their problems? A cow who creates lemonade rather than milk? Toads in their shoes? Getting stuck on the roof? The reader is invited to help out.
10. Wayside School Series  by Louis Sachar; quirky, humorous tales about children and teachers is a school built “sideways,” with one classroom on top of the next. Each chapter introduces the issues of a particular child. For equal humor, also read Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle Series by Betty MacDonald.

Family Life

1. Miracles on Maple Hill by Virginia Sorenson; after a young girl’s father returns tired following the war, the family moves to a grandmother’s farm to find joy and restoration.
2. The Family Under the Bridge by Natalie Carlson; a Parisian hobo befriends a homeless family (also consider the Orpheline series).
3. Soup by Richard Newton Peck; a boy and his best friend get into mischief in an old-fashioned town that is largely autobiographical; much Twain-ish humor.
4. Thimble Summer by Elizabeth Enright; a summer of good times awaits a girl after she finds a silver thimble in a swimming hole.
5. Ivy + Bean by Annie Barrows and Sophie Blackall; two girls, who are certain they will never be friends,  find the need to bond in the midst of a crisis.
6. Homer Price by Robert McCloskey; classic story; six episodes in an adventurous boy’s life—catching four burglars with his pet skunk, etc...
7. Ramona Series and Henry Huggins Series by Beverly Cleary; refreshing family life circa the 1960s.
8. All in the Family Series by Sydney Taylor; the joys and troubles of a family of five girls in turn-of-the-century New York City.
9. The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew by Sidney; in New England in the late 19th century, a fatherless family is befriended by a rich man and his nephew.
10. Sun & Spoon by Kevin Henkes; a boy, mourning the loss of his grandmother, does something he regrets and cannot admit in an effort to remember her fondly.
11. The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs; a boy, yearning to see the seven wonders of the world can’t afford to travel, so he is determined to find seven wonders right at home.  The Prize: a trip from his father by train out West.
12. Project Mulberry by Linda Sue Park; for a science project, two friends go into the silk worm business.
13. Black-Eyed Susan by Armstrong; a 10-year-old  girl and her father love the wide-open expanses of the prairie, but her mother misses her life in Ohio (also by the author, Foolish Gretel, Hugh Can Do, Lili the Brave).
14. See-Saw Girl by Linda Sue Park (Korea); a young girl yearns to leave the inner court of her home to explore the mountains and the marketplace.
15. Song of the Trees by Mildred Taylor; during the Depression an African-American family attached to the “whispering” forest on their land, fights to save it from those who seek to fell the trees for lumber.  Cassie Logan, the determined young heroine, has a plan.
16. Little Pear and His Friends by Eleanor F. Lattimore; a Chinese boy has fun with the friends in his village.
17. Silk Umbrellas by Carolyn Marsden; Noi, an 11-year-old Thai girl learning to paint silk umbrellas like her grandmother worries she will be taken from the traditional life of the jungle to work in a factory in the city. (Also read The Gold-Threaded Dress and The Quail Club.)

Chapter Books: Adventure

1. The Adventures of Vin Fiz by Clive Cussler; twins find themselves capable of transforming any of their toys into the real thing—of note, Wilber  and Orville Wright’s biplane.
2. Barkbelly by Cat Wetherill; a boy made out of wood—the only one of his kind—runs away from a grave accident he caused to many adventures, only to come home to himself.
3. The Ghost in the Noonday Sun by Sid Fleischman; born at the stroke of midnight, a boy is kidnapped at age 12 by a pirate captain determined to use him to locate buried treasure.
4. The Great Brain by John D. Fitzgerald; Ten-year-old Tom, a silver-tongued genius, saves the day when several boys from school get lost in Skeleton Cave (other books in the series: Me and My Little Brain, The Great Brain Reforms; wonderful illustrations by Mercer Mayer)
5. The 21 Balloons by William Pene DuBois; what happens to a bored mathematician when he goes across the Pacific in a giant balloon.
6. Jack Plank by Natalie Babbit; a boy who doesn’t seem to have the knack for being a good pirate is left ashore to seek other lines of work.
7. The Magician’s Boy by Susan Cooper; a boy, working for a magician, is banished to the Land of Story to find a missing St. George puppet amongst strangely familiar characters: Little Red Riding Hood, Jack, The Old Woman who Lived in a Shoe.
8. Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgrin; the classic story of an independent girl waiting for her seafaring father to return.
9. The Power of Un by Nancy Etchemendy; when Gib Finney finds a device called The Unner, which can undo just about anything, he thinks he has found something that can erase all his mistakes, but sometimes you can erase the wrong thing...then what?
10. Ronia: The Robber’s Daughter by Astrid Lindgren; Ronia, who lives in the woods with a band of robbers, stirs up trouble when she befriends a boy member of a rival robber group.
11. Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner; determined to keep the family farm going, a 10-year-old boy enters a dog-sled race against formidable opposition.
12. Night of the Twisters by Ivy Ruckman; two boys and a baby must find safety and survive when a tornado hits their home town.
13. Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan; a boy and his friends help get the gold bullion out of Norway and away from the Nazi soldiers by hiding it in their sleds.
14. The Trolley to Yesterday by John Bellairs; when Johnny Dixon sneak over to Professor Childermass to discover why he is acting in such an odd way, they are led through a cellar door onto a trolley, which takes them to Constantinople in 1453.

 

Read-Aloud Fairy Tale & Folktale Anthologies:

Perfect for a 15-minute Bedtime Read

(In libraries, folk and fairy tales are shelved under the Dewey Decimal number j398, separate from the “Picture Stories” or “Picture Book” section; since folk tales were originally conceived for an adult audience, always review folk- and fairy tales in advance—even those written for children—to make sure your own child is ready for the illustrations and sometimes scary themes.)

1. Aesop’s Fables by Arnold Lobel; a slightly humorous interpretation of the original tales with lovely illustrations by the author.
2. Barefoot Book of Princesses retold by Richard Walker and illustrated by Olwyn Whelan; “The Princess Who Lost Her Hair” (Akamba), “The Birdcage Husband” (Kalmuk), and “The Horned Snake’s Wife” (Iroquois) are some of the less-often heard tales in this beautiful anthology, which forms the companion work to The Barefoot Book of Princes,  Barefoot Book of Fairies. Also consider the Barefoot Book of Mother and Son Tales, Father and Son Tales, Father and Daughter Tales, and Mother and Daughter Tales.
3. Beat the Story Drum, Pum-Pum by Ashley Bryan (Africa); five traditional Nigerian Tales include “Why Bush Cow and Elephant are Bad Friends,” “The Husband Who Counted Spoonfuls,” and “Why Frog and Snake Never Play Together.”
4. Classic Animal Stories by Cooper Edens; one of the most dedicated collectors of 18th- and early-19th-century children’s picture books, editor Cooper Edens complied a volume that includes Beatrix Potter, Arthur Rackham, and Walter Crane, offering tales and poems about Winnie the Pooh, the Billy Goats Gruff, Mary and her Lamb, and Peter Rabbit. Also worth perusing is his highly regarded The Glorious Mother Goose.
5. Cut from the Same Cloth: American Women of Myth, Legend, and Tall Tale by Robert D. San Souci.
6. The Day it Snowed Tortillas by Joe Hayes (bilingual Spanish/English anthology of stories from the villages of New Mexico).
7. The Diamond Tree: Jewish Tales from Around the World by Howard Schwartz.
8. The Wonder Child and Other Jewish Fairy Tales retold by Howard Schwartz; stories collected from Morocco, Egypt, Poland, Libya, and Eastern Europe provide rich fodder for this storyteller, also known for Coat for the Moon and Other Jewish Tales.
9. The Golden Hoard by Geraldine McCaughrean (also The Crystal Pool, The Bronze Cauldron, The Silver Treasure); many lesser known tales from other lands.
10. Grandfather Mountain: Stories of Grandfather Gods and Heroes from Many Cultures retold by Burleigh Muten (also read Grandmother Stories: Wise Woman Tales form Many Cultures).
11. The Juniper Tree Grimm tales retold by Lore Segal and illustrated by Maurice Sendak.
12. Kingfisher Books of Classic Girl Stories by Rosemary Sandberg; excerpts from famous books highlight chapters from Ramona Quimby, Alice in Wonderland, Anne of Green Gables, and Pippi Longstocking. Also consider the Kingfisher Book of Classic Boy Stories edited by Michael Morpurgo.
13. Magical Tales from Many Lands by Margaret Mayo and Jane Ray
14. Rocking Horse Land and Other Classic Tales of Dolls and Toys by Naomi Lewis.
15. South, North, East, West: The Oxfam Book of Children’s Stories edited by Michael Rosen—fairy tale from Nepal, creation story from Brazil, folk tales from Greece, to name a few from this unusual collection.
16. A Pride of African Tales compiled by Donna L. Washington; A Trickster Tale, A Pourquoi Tale, A Cautionary Tale, A Tale of Anger and Forgiveness, A Tabo Story, and a Fable.
17. The Spring of Butterflies and Other Chinese Folk Tales by He Hiyi.
18. Stories to Solve by George Shannon (illustrated by Peter Sis); 15 folktale puzzle stories from around the world; also look for the sequels.
19. Storytelling Star: Tales of the Sun, Moon, and Stars by James Riordan.
20. Twenty-two Russian Tales for Young  Children by Leo Tolstoy; selected by Miriam Morton. Simplified versions of slightly longer tales by a renowned storyteller.
21. When Birds Could Talk and Bats Could Sing: The Adventures of Bruh Sparrow, Sis Wren, and Their Friends  by Virginia Hamilton; based on regional African American tales originally written by Martha Young on her father’s plantation—retold  interpretation in the cante fable tradition with much rhyming and singing. Practice reading them once aloud to yourself to get a sense of the writing. Vibrant watercolor illustrations by Barry Moser (also read her Trickster Tales)

Picture Books You May Not Have Read Yet: Fairy and Folk Tales Not in the Waldorf Library

1. The Bearskinner retold by Amy Schlitz
2. Dream  O’ Jade: The Emperor’s Cat by Lloyd Alexander
3. East O’ the Sun and West of the Moon by P.J. Lynch
4. Good Enough to Eat by Brock Cole
5. Iron Hans retold by Stephen Mitchell
6. Magic Hoofbeats: Horse Tales from Many Lands compiled by Joseph Sherman
7. The Secret Keeper by Kate Coombs
8. The Silk Princess by Charles Santore
9. Twenty Heartbeats by Dennis Haseley
10. The Water Gift and the Pig of Piggy Jacqueline Briggs
11. The Well at the End of the World by Robert D. San Souci
12. The Wild Girl by Chris Wormell

Picture Books: Cinderella in Many Lands

1. Adelita: A Mexican Cinderella by Tomie de Paola
2. Angkat: A Cambodian Cinderella by Jewell Reinhart Coburn; a poor girl marries a prince, is killed by her jealous step-family, then returns to life and prosperity because of her virtue (also by the author: Jouanah: A Hmong Cinderella, Domitilla: A Cinderella Tale from the Mexican Tradition).
3. Cendrillon: A Caribbean Cinderella by Robert D. San Souci.
4. Cinderella Tales by Shirley Climo; in individual volumes, the authors presents Cinderella stories from: Egypt, China, Korea, Persia, etc...
5. The Golden Sandal: A Middle Eastern Cinderella Tale  by Rebecca Hickox; an Iraqi tale of a young girl who receives magical help from a neighborhood fish.
6. The Irish Cinderlad by Shirley Climo; Becan, a poor boy, belittled by his Stepmother and stepsisters, rescues a princess in distress after meeting a magical bull.
7. The Turkey Girl: A Zuni Cinderella Story retold by Peggy Polluck and illustrated by Ed Young.
8. Way Meat Loves Salt: A Cinderella Tale from the Jewish Tradition by Nina Jaffe, illustrated by Louise August.
9. Glass Slipper, Gold Sandal: A World-wide Cinderella by Paul Fleischman; on each spread, the book moves through different “Cinderella’s” of the world: Ashpet, Sootface, Catskin, Vasalisa, Cendrillon, touching on countries or regions as distant as Appalachia, Korea, Russia, and Zimbabwe. Brilliant!

Picture Books: Farming/Gardening

1. All in Just One Cookie by Susan Goodman; a wonderful explanation for all the elements that go into a chocolate chip cookie along with  their agricultural  origins, everything from vanilla beans (Madagascar) to flour to sugar (Hawaii) to butter.
2. Apples to Oregon by Deborah Hopkinson; based loosely on the life of Henderson Luelling, this book documents, in American tall-tale style, the transportation of fruit trees on the Oregon Trail in the mid 19th century.
3. The Circuit by Francisco Jimenez; also read picture books Going Home by Eve Bunting (migrant family to U.S. still considers Mexico home) and Amelia’s Road by Linda Jacobs Altman (a girl from a migrant laboring family, afraid of roads since they mean relocating, envisions stability).
4. Flower Garden by Eve Bunting; helped by her father, a young girl prepares a flower garden as a birthday surprise for her mother.
5. Flower Hunter by Deborah Ray; tells the story of William Bartram, America’s first naturalist, who as a young boy in Colonial America, lived with the Cherokees, taking the inspiration for his life calling from them and from his father.
6. The Gardener by Sarah Stewart; during the Depression, a child, moving into the city to live with her uncle, takes her love of gardening with her and finds her farming skills burgeoning in an urban window box.
7. The Lotus Seed; a young Vietnamese child takes lotus seeds from the Imperial Garden on the day of the emperor’s abdication and transports them to the United States to commemorate her heritage and a lost time in history.
8. Mr. Carey’s Garden by Jane Cutler; can snails, who munch holes in his plants, actually be helpful to Mr. Carey who says to his neighbors, “I see them in a different light.”
9. Mrs. Rose’s Garden by Elaine Greenstein; when Mrs. Rose grows a prize crop of vegetables she believes will win a blue ribbon at the county fair, she is inspired to give a gift to her friend.
10. Peach Heaven by Yangsook Choi; when a community’s peach farm is threatened by a rainstorm, a girl has all the fruit she can eat, but then recognizes the consequences of sudden abundance for others.
11. Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney; advised by her grandfather to make the world a better place, Miss Rumphius postpones travel to faraway places to plant and make her small corner of the world a glorious garden.
12. Tree of Life by Barbara Bash; the world of an African baobab tree, portrayed through the seasons with man, animal, and botanic life benefiting from one another’s contributions.

 

Picture Books: Things That Really Happened!

These books will be shelved in the nonfiction section of the children’s wing of the public library according to Dewey Decimal Number; sometimes books for younger and older readers are segregated.

1. Top of the World: Climbing Mount Everest by Steve Jenkins; describes the weather and terrain of Mount Everest, the various attempts on its summit, and the equipment used to scale and survive its difficult peaks; detailed collage illustrations.
2. Hot Air:  The (Mostly) True Story of the First Hot-Air Balloon Ride by Marjorie Priceman; several animals’ experience of the first hot-air balloon ride at Versailles in 1783.
3. Blackie: The Horse that Stood Still by Christopher Cerf; simply by perfecting the art of standing still, a horse nevertheless gains fame at the rodeo, as an environmental crusader, and as a mascot of Tiburon, California.
4. Wilma Unlimited: How Wilma Rudolf Became the World’s Fastest Woman by Kathleen Krull; overcoming childhood polio, Wilma beat the odds to win the Olympics (also read Pocahontas: Princess of the New World, Lives of the Musicians).
5. Wind Flyers by Angela Johnson; an age-appropriate and lyrical tribute to the Tuskagee Airmen and their lives after the war.
6. Boxes for Katje by Candace Fleming; in the beleaguered town of Olst, Holland, a box from an  American benefactor in Mayfield, Indiana, prompts a thank you letter in a return that serves as a catalyst for expressions of even greater generosity from The Children’s Aid Society in the aftermath of WWII.
7. Beatrice’s Goat by Paige McBrier; story inspired by a girl in Uganda, who through the Heifer Project, inherits a goat whose milk lets her amass the coins, bit by bit, that will permit her to go to school. Even so, she continues to help her mother in the fields and grinds the flour to sell at market.
8. Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Martin; the biography of a man who  dedicated  his life to the photography of snowflakes in order to commemorate their astonishing beauty and individuality.
9. Mother to Tigers by George Ella Lyon; the story of Helen Martini, the founder of the Bronx Zoo Nursery in 1944 and first female zookeeper. (Also read Who Came Down That Road?, a story about a mother and child speculating about who traveled on a road from pioneer settlers back to prehistoric times.)
10. Hachiko: The True Story of a Loyal Dog by Pamela S. Turner; relates the tale of a dog who waited for ten years at the Tokyo Train Station for his master, even though his master had died.
11. Emily by Michael Bedard; a fictionalized exchange between the poet Emily Dickinson and a young visitor whose mother comes to the recluse’s house to play the piano.
12. El Chino by Allen Say; the story of Bill Wong, a Chinese American gentleman who  became a famous bull fighter. His father had told him growing up, “You can become anything you like in America.” But what about choosing to become a matador in Spain?
13. The Pot that Juan Built by N. Andrews-Goebel; the story of Juan Quezada, a man in Mexico, who used every resource—human hair for brushes, dung for the fires—to  make beautiful pots in the tradition of the Casas Grandes people, efforts which transformed  his poor village into a prosperous self-sufficient community.
14. Owen and Mzee by Isabella Hatkoff (there is now a sequel); in the aftermath of the 2004 Tsunami, a tortoise befriended a baby hippo, allowing the two to survive in difficult times. A second telling, much simpler version of the tale in acrylics instead of photographs is Mama by Jeanette Winter.
15. Camille and the Sunflowers by Laurence Anholt; a boy and his postman father befriend a lonely painter, van Gogh, derided by the neighbors and carrying no money; the artist, in turn, paints the members of the child’s family (also see author’s books on Degas, Monet, Leonardo de Vinci, Picasso).
16. Mailing May by Michael O. Tunnell; since a train ride is too expensive, a family decides to mail their daughter, classified as a “baby chick,” across 75 miles of Idaho mountains to meet her grandmother. Cost: 53 cents.

Above, you will find a map of the branches of the San Francisco Public Library.  To find out the hours of operation or to reserve a book for your child, go their website at  sfpl.org (available in English, Spanish, Chinese), click on “kids,” then “I Need to Know About,” enter your library card number, and finally the title of the book.  You can arrange an “Interlibrary Loan” to send a book to your local branch and also search for books under “Children’s Material Only” by category/interest. Free private lessons are available to parents to help learn the tricks of navigating the public library website.