Checkout begins Monday, November 10th for all students in Grades 3-5. There are titles for everyone…20 picture books, 9 graphic novels and 20 chapter books.
Your Own Reading Goal
Read one or more Sakura book this year, read a book from each category and/or try a new genre.
Vote for Your Favorite Sakura Book
Read five picture book or three graphic novels or five chapter books minimum and attend the voting party in April. For every five books in a category that you read, you get a vote. You will need to tell Ms. Ladd or Ms. Fields that you have read a book and they will
Participate In a Photography Contest After reading the book, Half a Chance, see Ms. Pretz for more information if you would like to sign-up and participate. Photos due in a Keynote presentation, no later than April 21, 2015.
Become a Reader Leader This Year!
Sign up with Ms. Pretz, Ms. Ladd or Ms. Fields beginning Monday, November 10th. Reader Leaders will read Sakura Picture Books to and then read to a KG, Grade 1 or Grade 2 class second semester. A “library use only” book basket of Sakura Picture Books will be available in the ES Library near Ms.Pretz’s desk for students in Grades 3-5.
Don’t forget to check the library blog and daily bulletin for more information.
Click here for book covers for all categories: Sakura 2015
In celebration of the 50th anniversary of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl, the library was transformed into Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory for Halloween this year. After guessing how many lollipops were on the lollipop tree, students either stayed to fill out a lottery ticket or were sent down the garbage shoot. Escorted down the shoot by an Oompa Loompa, students then had a chance to draw a golden ticket and win a 50th anniversary edition of the classic children’s book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Enter the Chocolate Factory
Wily Wonka Welcomes You
Pure Imagination
Into the Incinerator
Who will win the golden ticket and a 50th anniversary edition of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?
LMN Puss in Boots translated by Malcolm Arthur and illustrated by Fred Marcellino
A retelling of the French fairy tale in which a clever cat wins his master a fortune and the hand of a princess.
OPQ Grandfather’s Journey written and illustrated by Allen Say
A Japanese American man recounts his grandfather’s journey to America which he later also undertakes, and the feelings of being torn by a love for two different countries.
RST Lon Po Po : a Red-Riding Hood Story from China translated and illustrated by Ed Young
Three sisters staying home alone are endangered by a hungry wolf who is disguised as their grandmother.
NEWBERY AWARD WINNERS
LMN
My Father’s Dragon by Ruth Gannett
A young boy determines to rescue a poor baby dragon who is being used by a group of lazy wild animals to ferry them accross the river on Wild Island. (Note: This is the first book in a series of three.
OPQ
The Year of Billy Miller by Kevin Henkes
BillyMiller starts second grade with a bump on his head and a lot of worries, but by the end of the year he has developed good relationships with his teacher, his little sister, and his parents and learned many important lessons.
RST
The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman
A bratty prince and his whipping boy have many adventures when they inadvertently trade places after becoming involved with dangerous outlaws.
While Mom and Dad are away, a pirate takes Billy and his sister Heidi on a wild adventure, sailing their “fish-stick finger” house to Itchy Ear Island and telling them quirky facts about pirates, parrots, and cabbages.
Picture Book
Thirty thousand years ago, an imaginative child sees the shapes of animals in clouds and on the walls of the cave he shares with his family, but no one else can see them until he makes the world’s firstdrawing. Includes author’s note on cave drawings.
Nonfiction
Describes the predator-prey relationship between owls and mice, examining the characteristics of each animal, and discussing which animal would win in a fight. If you like this book, we have more books in the Predator vs. Prey series in the library!
RECOMMENDATIONS – OPQ
Fiction
Move over Charlotte…Flora the pig ditches the sedentary life on the farm for an adventure in Antarctica, where she escapes the knife and lives her dream of pulling a sled with a team of dog.
Picture Book
A fictionalized account of Bill “Doc” Key, a former slave who became a veterinarian, trained his horse, Jim Key, to recognize letters and numbers and to perform in skits around the country, and moved the nation toward a belief in treating animals humanely.
Nonfiction
A celebration of the seasons and the migration of millions of animals to the Arctic tundra. This books makes the reader recognize the hardships and harmony of life in the wild.
RECOMMENDATIONS – RST
Fiction – Mystery/Detective
Ben and his friend Jill find themselves in danger when they discover the secret history of their school and set out to derail a developer’s plan to level the building to make way for an amusement park. Don’t think Ben, his friend Jill and the tag-along Robert can ruin a multimillion dollar real estate deal? Then you don’t know the history and the power of the Keepers of the School.
Picture Book
After growing up near San Francisco, a young Japanese woman returns with her parents to their native Japan, but she feels foreign and out of place.
Nonfiction
Nature + Math = Fibonacci. An illustrated story of Leonardo Fibonacci that depicts the famed mathematician during his childhood in medieval Italy and on his world travels where he learned about mathematics, which led Fibonacci to discover a renown sequence of numbers.
David Gray is notorious in his baseball league, notorious for strike outs, both as a pitcher and a batter. After learning about the great Babe Ruth, David becomes determined to become a good all-around player, which means he’ll have to learn how to bat.
You might also like: Girl Wonder: A Baseball Story in Nine Innings by Deborah Hopkinson and Shortstop from Tokyo by Matt Christopher and Babe and Me: A Baseball Card Adventure by Dan Gutman
Gingernsap by Patricia Riley Giff
Historical Fiction – WWII – Ghosts
When her brother Rob, a Navy cook, goes missing in action during World War II, Jayna, desperate for family, leaves upstate New York and their cranky landlady, accompanied by a turtle and a ghost, to seek their grandmother, who Rob believes may live in Brooklyn.
You might also like:Don’t Read This and Other Tales of the Unnatural by Margaret Mahy, The Ghost on the Stairs by Chris Eboch and The Amber Cat by Hilary McKay
The Quail Club by Carolyn Marsden
Realistic Fiction – Friendship
Oy lives in America now, but she loves to go to the back room of Pak’s auto shop on Saturdays to learn traditional Thai dances. She loves it almost as much as being a member of the Quail Club – five friends who gather after school to hatch and care for baby quail. When the teacher announces a talent show, Oy knows how proud her family and Pak would be to see her step onstage in her beautiful gold-threaded dress from Thailand. But bossy Liliandra vows to kick her out of the Quail Club if she won’t team up for a very different kind of dance. Someone will be disappointed. But who?
You might also like: The Talent Show by Dan Gutman, The Talented Clementine by Sara Pennypacker and Justin Fisher Declares War! by James Preller
Hello, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle by Betty MacDonald
Humor
While picking up milk for his children’s cereal, a father is abducted by aliens and finds himself on a wild adventure through time and space.
You might also like: Mr. Popper’s Penguins by Richard Atwater, The Trouble With Chickens by Doreen Cronin and Hello, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle by Betty MacDonald
Only two people know about the masterpiece hidden in the Tenpenny home—and one of them is dead.
Her grandfather’s dying words lead thirteen-year-old Theodora Tenpenny to a valuable, hidden painting she fears may be stolen.
Then, Theodora Tenpenny spills a bottle of rubbing alcohol on her late grandfather’s painting, she discovers what seems to be an old Renaissance masterpiece underneath. That’s great news for Theo, who’s struggling to hang onto her family’s two-hundred-year-old townhouse and support her unstable mother on her grandfather’s legacy of $463. There’s just one problem: Theo’s grandfather was a security guard at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and she worries the painting may be stolen.
You may like: Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett and From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankenweiler by E. L. Konigsburg
The Fabled Fourth Graders of Aesop Elementary by Candace Fleming
School Story-Humorous
An unlikely teacher takes over the disorderly fourth-grade class of AesopElementary School with surprising results.
This funny, fast-paced book is guaranteed to make you laugh out loud. A “difficult”, rambunctious class of fourth graders finally meets its match when Mr. Jupiter is hired. Life at Aesop Elementary is never going to be the same. At the end of each chapter is a moral, as in Aesop’s fables.
You may like: Wayside School Series by Louis Sachar and Skinnybones Series by Barbara Park
Fly Away by Patricia Maclachlan
Family-Secrets-Courage
Everyone in Lucy’s family sings. Opera. Rap. Lullabies. Everyone, except Lucy. Lucy can’t sing; her voice just won’t come out…but she can write.
In an old Volkswagen van, Lucy and her family, along with a few cherished chickens, are on a road trip. They are headed to North Dakota to defend her Aunt Frankie’s farm from a swelling river. Just like singing, helping Aunt Frankie prepare for flooding season is a family tradition—even if Frankie doesn’t want the help. And this year, when the flood arrives, danger finds its way into the heart of Lucy’s family, and Lucy will need to find her voice to save her brother.
You may like:Edward’s Eyes by Patricia MacLachlan and White Fur Flying by Patricia Maclachlan
Half a Chance by Cynthia Lord
Friendship – Honesty – Photography
Lucy wants to find out wants to find out if her eye for photography is really special or only good enough.
Lucy and her family move to a small rural community in New Hampshire. With her new friend Nate, she plans to spend the summer taking photos for a contest, but pictures sometimes reveal more than people are willing to see.
As Lucy seeks out subjects for her photos, Lucy gets to know Nate. But slowly the camera reveals what Nate doesn’t want to see: his grandmother’s memory is slipping away, and with it much of what he cherishes about his summers on the lake. This summer, Nate will learn about the power of art to show truth. And Lucy will learn how beauty can change lives . . . including her own.
You may like: Rules by Cynthia Lord and Touch Blue by Cynthia Lord
Before reading Miracle Mud: Lena Blackburne and the Secret Mud that Changed Baseball, by David A. Kelly, I have been talking about the importance of title. Students in third grade have been brainstorming ways in which a reader uses a title before reading a book and why writers often make several revisions before deciding on the perfect title.
Third Graders Say Readers Use Titles To:
Determine the Topic
Decide if they want to read on!
Make Predictions
Wonder
Ask Questions
Decide if they want to read on!
With the World Series just around the corner, Lena Blackburne’s “Miracle Mud” made the NBC news last week – “Baseball Has A Dirty Little Secret” (click to read article).
Are you looking for a humorous, entertaining read that isn’t Diary of A Wimpy Kid or Big Nate? If so, you might like the Tom Gates series by Liz Pinchon.
This British series isextremely humorous and revolve around the average (well, not-so-average) day-to-day doings of a middle school boy, his friend, annoying older sister and the class bully. Sound familiar? No big plot twists, just a fun entertaining read.
When Tom’s big brother decides to become an evil scientist, his first experiment was on Tom’s goldfish Frankie. To save save Frankie, Tom zaps him with a battery to bring him back to life, but something is weird about the new Frankie.
He’s now a BIG FAT ZOMBIE GOLDFISH with hypnotic powers . . . and he’s out for revenge!
Watch the video below to see what inspired the author to write this story! P.S.
THE SHOW MUST GO ON! by Kate Klise
Genre: Fantasy
The first book in the new series, Three Ring Rascals.
When Sir Sidney, a kindly old circus owner, becomes too tired to travel with his show, he places a Help Wanted ad in the newspaper. Brambles has big plans: More cities! More shows! No more free popcorn. Soon he’s made a big mess of Sir Sidney’s Circus, but Leo, Elsa, Bert, Gert, and the rest of the performers agree: The Show Must Go On!
Are you small and wise? Do you like popcorn? Do you sometimes get into trouble even though you try to be good? If so, you might be a rascal. To find out for sure, take the official Rascal Test.
MY HAPPY LIFE by Rose Lagercrantz
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Best friends Ella and Dani do everything together, but when things change Dani is not prepared. Although, the book is called “My Happy Life,” not everything in Dani’s life is happy.
A sweet, funny illustrated chapter book about a young girl with a lot of optimism—even if sometimes life makes it hard to be happy.
THE MINIATURE WORLD OF MARVIN & JAMES by Elise Broach
Genre: Fantasy
The first book in the new Masterpiece Adventure series. When his best friend, a human boy named James, goes away on vacation, Marvin the beetle worries that their friendship may end. Without James to keep him company, Marvin has to play with his annoying cousin, Elaine. Marvin and Elaine quickly find themselves getting into all sorts of trouble—even getting trapped inside a pencil sharpener! Marvin misses James and starts to worry about their friendship. Will James still be Marvin’s friend when he gets home or will James have found a new best friend?
HELLO NEBULON! by Ray O’Ryan
Genre: Science Fiction
Moving from Earth to the futuristic planet Nebulon in 2120, eight-year-old Zack is nervous about starting school and meeting people.
In Hello, Nebulon!, Zack makes the big move from Earth. He is already nervous about starting school and making new friends, but it only gets worse when he dreams that his classmates are slimy aliens with tentacles, pizza comes covered in gross bugs, and he can never communicate with his Earth friends again! Fortunately, when Zack arrives at Sprockets Academy for his first day of school, he meets and befriends Drake Tucker, a Nebulite boy who also loves to explore and learn about the planets. Nebulon isn’t as awful as Zack’s dream, but there are a lot of differences between Nebulon and Earth, and they make Zack miss his home in Dubbsville, Texas, even more. But things start to look up when he receives a mysterious surprise. What could it possibly be?
FORTUNATELY, THE MILK by Neil Gaiman
Genre: Humor
While picking up milk for his children’s cereal, a father is taken by aliens and finds himself on a wild adventure through time and space.
Find out just how odd things get in this hilarious story of time travel and breakfast cereal.
Neil Gaiman reading from his book, Fortunately, the Milk.
AGATHA GIRL OF MYSTERY-THE CURSE OF THE PHAROAH by Sir Steve Stevenson
Genre: Mystery
Agatha: Girl of Mystery is a fanciful and fabulous new mystery series about a headstrong girl detective who jets off on exotic and international adventures with the help of her hulking bodyguard and loyal cat named Watson. The first mystery in this series sees young detective Agatha traveling to Egypt. Rumors of a mysterious tablet unearthed in the Valley of the Kings may be just the clue that Agatha needs to unlock the secret curse of an ancient Pharaoh.
RUMP: THE TRUE STORY OF RUMPELSTILTSKIN by Liesl Shurtliff
Genre: Fantasy (fractured folktale)
Tells the tale of Rumpelstiltskin’s childhood and youth. You learn why his name is so important, how he is able to spin straw into gold, and why a first-born child is his reward for helping the miller’s daughter-turned-queen.
Rump discovers he has a gift for spinning straw into gold, but his best friend, Red Riding Hood, warns him that magic is dangerous, and she’s right. With each thread he spins, he weaves himself deeper into a curse.
Perfect for fans of Gail Carson Levine’s Ella Enchanted or Adam Gidwitz’s A Tale Dark and Grimm.
THE RED THREAD SISTERS by Carol Peacock
Genre: Realistic Fiction
A story about friendship, family, and love. After an American family adopts eleven-year-old Wen from a Chinese orphanage, she vows to find a family for her best friend, too. Wen has spent the first eleven years of her life at an orphanage in rural China, and the only person she would call family is her best friend, Shu Ling. When Wen is adopted by an American couple, she struggles to adjust to every part of her new life, but the hardest part of all is knowing that Shu Ling remains back at the orphanage, alone. Wen knows that her best friend deserves a family and a future, too. But finding a home for Shu Ling isn’t easy, and time is running out
HALF A CHANCE by Cynthia Lord
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Lucy, with her mother and her photographer father, has just moved to a small rural community in New Hampshire, and with her new friend Nate she plans to spend the summer taking photos for a contest, but pictures sometimes reveal more than people are willing to see. Nate will learn about the power of art to show truth. And Lucy will learn how beauty can change lives . . . including her own.
Three kids get caught up in an adventure of historic proportions!
Anna, José, and Henry are complete strangers with more in common than they realize. Snowed in together at a chaotic Washington D.C. airport, they encounter a mysterious tattooed man, a flamboyant politician, and a rambunctious poodle named for an ancient king. Even stranger, news stations everywhere have announced that the famous flag that inspired “The Star-Spangled Banner” has been stolen! Anna, certain that the culprits must be snowed in too, recruits Henry and José to help catch the thieves and bring them to justice.
THE BRAIN SUCKER by Glenn Wood
Genre: Fantasy
Lester Smythe has a black heart and reminded me of Gru (from Despicable Me). He’s invented a dangerous brain-sucking machine that removes the goodness from its victims, and he’s using it to rid the world of all human kindness. But Lester didn’t count on thirteen-year-old Callum McCullock and his two best friends, Sophie and Jinx. The trio vow to destroy the brainsucker. And nothing will stand in their way. It’s up to these three unlikely heroes of the story to save the day (and the world from becoming a miserable place).
If you’re after a fun story, full of adventure, mystery, magic, exciting gadgets, and great characters, then this book is exactly what you’ve been looking to read.
Jeremy Corbett reads the prologue to my book – The Brain Sucker
VIEW FROM THE 32nd FLOOR by Emma Cameron
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Please don’t judge a book by it’s cover, so please don’t let the cover turn you off!
Living on the thirty-second floor of an apartment block, William, a quirky character who likes to change his name every day, has a clear view of his neighbors in the building opposite building. With his new friend Rebecca, he decides that they will get to know all of their neighbors and hatch a plan that will bring them all together. Can they succeed?
This is a touching story of friendship, community and the importance of making people feel connected to one another.
Great titles are waiting to be read!
Participate In a Photography Contest After reading the book, Half a Chance, see Ms. Pretz for more information if you would like to sign-up and participate. Photos due in a Keynote presentation, no later than April 21, 2015.
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