Book Recommendations for 2nd Grade to Middle Schoolers

We're having a book buying night and our lovely librarian (http://twitter.com/l_mabey) has posted a list of book recommendations thought some of you might like. Next up, I need the Spanish language ones. My kids come from a line of avid readers, but have not really picked up that bug themselves, so I am always looking for recommendations.

2^nd – 4^th grade kids who like to laugh:

My Weird School series by Dan Gutman – kids and teachers misbehave just enough to make the books feel slightly naughty, but with lessons learned.  Can’t keep these on the shelf at school.

Time Warp Trio series by Jon Sciescza – similar concept to Magic Treehouse, only with dry humor  and mild sarcasm that budding ironists will enjoy.

Justin Case series (2 books so far) by Rachel Vail – Justin is a school-nervous worrywart who manages to be engaging and hilarious as he survives recognizable situations at school and with his quirky, loving family.  A great read-aloud for families.

The Riot Brothers series by Mary Amato—two brothers live out their motto of “make something exciting happen every day,” with mischief, a modicum of booger humor, and truly good intentions. 

Moving on to middle school soon?  As the mom of boys ages 10 and 12, she has serious concerns about books that emphasize the crass and cruel side of the tween years, and don’t honor the tender hearts we’ve cultivated in our own kids.  Here are some titles that introduce the middle-school years with respect, humor, and a reasonable dose of reality, best for grades 4 & up:

Origami series by Todd Angleberger – kids trying to navigate confusing friendships and crushes in age-appropriate ways.  I love how these books model self-reflection and show respect for kids’ feelings without appearing to teach a lesson.  

Aldo Zelnick series by Karla Oceanak—Aldo is a talented artist, but can’t decide whether he’s willing to let his non-standard talent shine.   His diverse group of family and friends are featured in his journal-style books that feature text and graphic sections.

The Wednesday Wars and Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt.  Set during and just after the Vietnam wars at two different middle & high schools, this pair of titles would be appropriate for 5^th grade and up readers ready for the next level of poignancy and cultural literacy in humorous episodic novels.

Every Soul a Star by Wendy Mass.  (California Young Reader Medal, 2011).  Narrated in turns by an appearance-obsessed aspiring model and an isolated, home-schooled astronomy enthusiast, this story of weathering life’s changes is thoughtful and captivating.

Different century, same kids:  historical fiction for accomplished readers.

The Great Brain series by John Fitzgerald.  First published beginning in 1967, these books have stood the test of time.  Harkening back to days when expectations for boys were both rougher (pocketknives, fistfights, never tattling) and stricter (rigorous chores, respect for adults, scrupulous honesty) these tales of two brothers growing up in a small town Utah feature Tom Fitzgerald, a trickster for the ages.  Grades 3 – 5.

The Grandma Dowdell series by Richard Peck—A Long Way from Chicago (1999 Newberry Honor), A Year Down Yonder (2001 Newberry Medal), and A Season of Gifts compose a trilogy set in a veeeery small town in downstate Illinois, where the indefatigable and always unexpected Grandma Dowdel marches to her own drummer, with adventures narrated by the series of young relatives and neighbors who come under her influence.  Best for grades 5 – 8.  

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly.  Eleven-year-old Calpurnia balances the competing influences of a tradition-bound, ladylike mother who worries about her future, and a gender-blind, intellectual grandfather who recognizes her intelligence.   It’ll be hard for our girls to believe there was a time when aspiring to a college education was considered a crazy idea for a girl…this book will highlight how far things have come.

Chains and Forge by Laurie Halse Anderson—these two titles, with the upcoming Ashes, make up the Seeds of America trilogy.  These are usually recommended for grades 6 or 7 and up, but mature 5^th-graders who can handle the dark side of American history will also benefit.  Unsparing detail and meticulous research support Anderson’s tales of African teens, both enslaved and free, finding their way through the tumultuous times of the American Revolution.   May be too intense for sensitive readers, but are well worth the time for kids who want to know more about less-famous aspects of our history.

Heroes in our Midst

A few weekends ago, we visited some the local kid-friendly places in sunny Sunnyvale (okay, it was actually one of few rainy days we've had this winter) and we were fortunate enough to meet some everyday heroes.

We discovered Hero #1 at the library during the Spanish story hour. Jamie (pronounced Hyymiieee by the author) pranced and “harmonicad” his way through an entertaining hour. The kids clapped, laughed (mine laughed the loudest at the caterpillar who didn't want to go without gas), swam and cooked and had a rousing good time. This guy clearly loves his job and was a hero to all the kids.

We ran into our next hero at nearby Washington Park, flying a remote controlled plane. All you need to draw a crowd (of kids, that is) at a neighborhood park is some sort of flying object. Our kids lined up behind him (he did have one of his own), taking turns at the controller, and madly chasing his plane around when it wasn't their turn. I was impressed he was willing to give even my 3YO a turn, and even more astounded the little guy got the plane in the air. Amazingly, the plane "got stuck [in a tree] only once” and the kids had a blast while the other parents got to chat under the trees.

And finally we happened upon some rocket building boy scouts. I had noticed the various homemade rockets earlier and when I saw the poor plane's day was coming to an end, I distracted the kids with the promise of rockets over yonder in the mist. The older kids were only too happy to give our little kinders a turn. I should not be surprised at their kindness; they are boy scouts after all. But in contrast to the remote-controlled plane guy, the adults in the crowd would barely make eye contact. The scouts were only too open to letting the little guys have a turn launching the rockets, warning us when they ran out of "fuel" (actually water) that the rockets wouldn't go too far. More water was found and all the kids had a blast (hah!) even after the rain started.

I never knew I was going to like living here so much.

Cross-posted at Not Just A Working Mom.

Library Adventures - the good, the bad, and the really excellent

We took our first visit to the local library today. I just love libraries, although I'm still in mourning for my last library, which had couches and puppets and let you bring coffee to drink while your kids read and played computer games. Ahh, bliss.

We may get there again, if measure B passes, which we learned en route to the doors at a little political booth which gave stickers to the kids. I have no lawn to post a sign, but got on the email list if that counts.

I finally felt comfortable enough with my little guy not to worry, too much at least, about him destroying books right before running away, turning a fun outing into a panicked and yelling mommy strong-arming the kids out of there. My older son is obsessed with comic books, and I told him I'd like him to pick out a couple story books before getting his comic books. I told D he could pick out two book, and he sauntered back with two immediately, followed by all of K's rejects.

Good so far, here's where the bad starts. I sat D down in the little reading area, plenty of people around and told him to choose three of the books to take home. It was mostly a distraction while I looked for the comic books with K. We had a random conversation about "libary workers" versus "librarians" ("there's no such thing as a "brarian") in preparation for asking the nice librarian where the comic books were. For the life of me I can't remember what she said, but she chatted on until he finally asked his question

"Where are the comic books?" I was so proud of my little guy.
Her answer: "If you want Garfield, they are in the D rack. Right behind you, the D rack. That's where you can find Garfield."
He told her "I don't want Garfield." Unfortunately she said that's all they had, they had no "real" comic books. He loves those little batman and spiderman books, I'm not sure if those count as "real," but her answer was a tad disappointing.
We actually looked around for Garfied and got a little laugh over that.

This was only a few minutes time, and I was heading back to my other guy when he met me halfway, with the "come with me, you have to see this" that's he's copied from his brother. He dragged me back to his pile, which was spread all out now, but that didn't surprise me. Then he hits me with "that boy scratched me, and messed up all the books." I could not really believe it, but noticed this major scratch on his face. I was totally shocked. He's a pretty big kid, and I'm glad he doesn't fight back, but sheesh, scratched in the library. I opted for a "that boy, there, scratched you!" in a loud voice, rather than trying to hunt down the mom, since I hadn't seen what happened. Then we had a cuddle.

I then made a deal that we'd get a snack at the coffee stand outside, and head back in for the storytelling I'd noticed was going on in 30 minutes. We had to wait in line to check out, and I narrowly prevented a melt-down when D didn't get a library card like his brother, but went fairly smoothly considering we were so close to nap time.

The coffee stand was another little adventure. Big guy who nearly fell getting up to take our order. He made the hot chocolate way too hot, the latte way to milky, but was the sweetest man you could meet. After we'd been there for a while, trying to cool down the chocolate, and taking the kids to the potty, the man walked out with cake for the kids. He said he was Italian and loved kids and wanted to give them cake which would go well with the chocolate. It was the absolute sweetest thing. I swear kids are magnets for this kind of thing, scoring giant chocolate chip cookies at a cafe the other evening.

We topped off this lovely gesture with story time with Willy Claflin who was most excellent. Thankfully K saw a classmate, which nipped his whining in the bud. First he complained he wanted to go home, then he was upset as he wanted to stay longer. I can't do this guy justice, but he was really funny and kept the kids totally entertained for almost an hour.