Looking for a fun adventure that would be also work for a book report? Try the Doctor Dolittle books by Hugh Lofting. In The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle, readers meet Stubbins, a boy who becomes the doctor’s apprentice, and is also the narrator of the story. Dolittle is the world’s first environmentalist, and first animal-advocate.…
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Independent Reading: Three Strike Summer by Skyler Schrempp
Another great middle-grade novel to add to your classroom library or independent reading list is Skyler Schrempp’s Three Strike Summer. Set in Oklahoma and California during the Dust Bowl, this novel would also complement an American history class. Gloria, the protagonist, must leave her farm in Oklahoma and move to California where there is work…
On My Bookshelf: The Christmas Pig by J.K. Rowling
Looking for a fun, seasonal, adventure story to read with your students, children, or grandchildren? Try JK Rowling’s The Christmas Pig for something different. Published in 2021, it’s not a new book, but it is a new take on a Christmas miracle story. It also touches a sensitive subject for many children: what happens when…
A Classic to Consider: The Birds’ Christmas Carol by Kate Douglas Wiggin
While at the library looking for something else, I came across this thin Christmas novella. Kate Douglas Wiggin’s The Birds’ Christmas Carol is a charming and less popular holiday story that may be just what you are looking for. Wiggin, who also wrote the Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm series, tells the story of little Carol…
A Classic to Consider: The House of Dies Drear by Virginia Hamilton
Teachers and students who are looking for a creepy children’s mystery novel this time of year will find exactly that in Virginia Hamilton’s The House of Dies Drear, and its sequel The Mystery of Drear House. As the new resident of a mansion that was once part of the Underground Railroad, young Thomas learns of…