Read This Book! Recommended Reading for 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders 

Yeay! Yeay! Yah-ye-yah-yah Yeay!!! Jack Gantos won the Newbery Medal for his brilliant story, Dead End in Norvelt.

So well deserved

If I told you that you would love a story about a boy who who gets grounded for his entire summer and has to make amends by helping a local senior citizen write obituaries while the story goes on to explore the many facets of death, you’d say, “No way! That story doesn’t sound interesting at all.”

You said the same thing when I tried to explain the story line of Holes by Louis Sachar to you, too, and that story was phenomenal when you finally read it.

So, listen to me this time. Watch the book trailer. Watch the author interview. But read this book!

After learning that her favorite teacher will be leaving for a trip to Egypt and will be absent for the remainder of the year, Clementine writes a horrible letter to get rid of the substitute and get Mr. D’Matz to stay.–from library catalog.

I’ve got to admit that I’ve never really been a fan of Junie B. Jones nor Judy Moody (poor grammar and bad attitudes and all) but there are plenty of children who adore both of them and that is fantastic! Not everyone loves everything. So I was hesitant to try Clementine’s Letter by Sara Pennypacker but I’m glad I did. Clementine is funny and imperfect and real. And the way she navigates her world is brilliant. Anyone who loves Judy Moody, Junie B. Jones, Amber Brown, or Ivy + Bean will love Clementine.

And don’t you just love that hair? Marla Frazee is amazing!

.

Don’t miss all of the other Clementine books by Sara Pennypacker, including the newest one Clementine and the Family Meeting which is now available.

Below is a author interview with Sara Pennypacker where she talks about Clementine’s Letter.

How Oliver Olson Changed the World by Claudia Mills

Any kid who has ever been frustrated by parents who don’t let him/her do his own homework is going to LOVE this book. I thought it was a really cute and enjoyable story. I can see why it was nominated for the 2012 Massachusetts Children’s Book Awards.

Summary:

Afraid he will always be an outsider like ex-planet Pluto, nine-year-old Oliver finally shows his extremely overprotective parents that he is capable of doing great things without their help while his class is studying the solar system.–library catalog

If you enjoyed How Oliver Olson Changed the World, then you would also enjoy Stink: Solar System Superhero and Alvin Ho: Allergic to Girls, School, and Other Scary Things.

This book trailer is so well done that I had to share it! And it does NOT make me want to read it

Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool
Newbery Medal, 2011

I finished reading this book two nights ago and it is still haunting me (in a good way.) Abilene Tucker is quite an extraordinary girl who is looking for stories about her Daddy and trying to find “home” in Manifest, Kansas. What she finds will change her deeply . . . as it did me.

Incredibly beautiful writing combined with complex characters and soulful storytelling. I just might have to read it again