Top 10 Book Recommendations from QCUSD Elementary Librarians

Do you have an avid reading student? Are you looking for something new and exciting for your student to read? We asked our QCUSD librarians for their top 10 books for elementary-aged students:

• The Book With No Pictures by B.J. Novak - (Kindergarten and up)
  You might think a book with no pictures seems boring and serious. Except ... here’s how books work. Everything written on the page has to be said by the person reading it aloud. Even if the words say...
  Blork. Or Bluurf.
  Even if the words are a preposterous song about eating ants for breakfast, or just a list of astonishingly goofy sounds like blaggity blaggity and glibbity globbity. Plus, this was written by B.J. Novak. Any “The Office” fans here? Watch him reading his book here.

• My Weird School Daze Series by Dan Gutman - (2nd grade and up)
  Get ready for more fun with A. J. and the rest of the gang from Ella Mentry School with the My Weird School Daze series! This is a silly series for beginning readers that follows the gang to third grade, where more outrageous adventures await. From a zany graduation ceremony to the off-the-wall antics of their new third-grade teacher, A.J. and the gang from Ella Mentry School have had some weird and wacky adventures.
  
• The Magic Tree House Series by Mary Pope Osborne - (2nd grade and up)
  The first Magic Tree House book was published in 1992 — introducing the world to Jack and Annie, a brother and sister who discover a magical tree house filled with books. In Dinosaurs Before Dark, the tree house takes them on their first journey, an adventure in prehistoric times. Since then, the magic tree house has whisked Jack and Annie — and lucky readers! — on many more adventures through time to different places around the world.

• Fablehaven by Brandon Mull - (3rd grade and up)
  Kendra and her brother Seth have no idea that their grandfather is the current caretaker of Fablehaven. Inside the gated woods, ancient laws give relative order among greedy trolls, mischievous satyrs, plotting witches, spiteful imps, and jealous fairies. However, when the rules get broken, an arcane evil is unleashed, forcing Kendra and Seth to face the greatest challenge of their lives. To save her family, Fablehaven, and perhaps the world, Kendra must find the courage to do what she fears most.

• Absolutely Almost by Lisa Graff - (3rd grade and up)
  Albie has always been an almost. He's almost good at tetherball. He's almost smart enough to pass his spelling test. He almost makes his parents proud. And now that Albie is starting a brand new school for fifth grade, he's never felt more certain that almost simply isn't good enough. With everyone around him expecting him to be one thing or another, how is an almost like Albie ever supposed to figure out who he really wants to be?

• The Unwanteds Series by Lisa McMann - (4th grade and up)
  Every year in Quill, thirteen-year-olds are sorted into categories: the strong, intelligent Wanteds go to university, and the artistic Unwanteds are sent to their graves. On the day of the Purge, identical twins Alex and Aaron Stowe await their fate. While Aaron is hopeful of becoming a Wanted, Alex knows his chances are slim. He's been caught drawing with a stick in the dirt, and in the stark gray land of Quill, being creative is a death sentence.
  But when Alex and the other Unwanteds face the Eliminators, they discover an eccentric magician named Mr. Today and his hidden world that exists to save the condemned children. Artimé is a colorful place of talking statues, uncommon creatures, and artistic magic, where creativity is considered a gift... and a weapon.

• The BFG by Roald Dahl - (4th grade and up)
  Kidsnatched from her orphanage by a BFG (Big Friendly Giant), who spends his life blowing happy dreams to children, Sophie concocts a plan with him to save the world from nine other man-gobbling "cannybull" giants.
  The BFG (Big Friendly Giant) is no ordinary bone-crushing giant; he is far too nice. How he and his tiny friend, Sophie, conspire to put an end to the loathsome activities of the other Giants is marvelously told by a writer and an artist who "are uncanny in their understanding of what children like to read and see" (The New York Times Book Review).

• “I Survived” Series by Lauren Tarshis - (4th grade and up)
  This book series tells a terrifying and thrilling story from history through the eyes of a kid who lived to tell the tale. A great series that shows resilience and strength of young people in the midst of unimaginable disasters.
  Author Lauren Tarshis has brought her signature warmth and exhaustive research to topics such as the September 11 attacks, the destruction of Pompeii, Hurricane Katrina, and the bombing of Pearl Harbor, among others.

• The Truth About Sparrows by Marian Hale - (4th grade and up)
  Sadie doesn’t want a new life; her old one suits her just fine. But times are hard in drought-plagued Missouri, and Daddy thinks they’ll be better off in Texas. It’s tough for Sadie to give up her beloved home for this strange place, where even children clean shrimp at the cannery to help make ends meet and where people are rude to her disabled father.
  Yet when trouble comes, it is the kindness of these new neighbors that helps the family through. And no one helps more than Dollie, a red-headed chatterbox of a girl who just might become a good friend–if Sadie gives her half a chance.
  Lyrical and vibrant, this is an unforgettable first novel about the true meaning of home.

• Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen - (5th grade and up)
  The first time she saw him, she flipped. The first time he saw her, he ran. That was the second grade, but not much has changed by the seventh. Juli says: “My Bryce. Still walking around with my first kiss.” He says: “It’s been six years of strategic avoidance and social discomfort.” But in the eighth grade, everything gets turned upside down: just as Bryce is thinking that there’s maybe more to Juli than meets the eye, she’s thinking that he’s not quite all he seemed. This is a classic romantic comedy of errors told in alternating chapters by two fresh, funny voices.