2006-2007 Virginia Readers’ Choice Elementary

1. 2006-2007 Virginia Readers’ Choice Elementary

2. Double Digit Clubby: Marion Bauer • When Sarah's best friend joins an exclusive clique without her, Sarah tries to win Paige back by borrowing a valuable old doll belonging to a blind neighbor. The lies and bad decisions accumulate until the doll breaks, and Sarah must accept the consequences of her behavior. Bauer tells an age-appropriate story that nevertheless allows her to explore complex moral and ethical questions. • Classifications: Fiction • Reading Level: 4.7 • Subjects:  Best friends Fiction.Friendship Fiction.Interpersonal relations Fiction.Clubs Fiction.Blind Fiction.People with disabilities Fiction.

3. Each Little Bird That Singsby: Deborah Wiles • Comfort Snowberger, daughter of the undertaker in Snapfinger, Mississippi, knows all about dying. It's life that causes her problems because it's so danged unpredictable. Life gets truly messy when her great-great-aunt dies, and Comfort must look after her annoying, clinging cousin Peach. Wiles's writing vividly portrays the rural southern setting, using a leisurely pace to introduce Comfort and her colorful family. • Classifications: Fiction • Reading Level: 4.5 • Subjects:  Funeral homes Fiction.Death Fiction.Grief Fiction.Family life Fiction.Mississippi Fiction.

4. Fish In Room 11by: Heather Dyer • "The Chicken House"--Spine. Toby, an orphan who has always lived in a hotel by the sea, finally finds the love and support of a real family when he meets Eliza Flot, the daughter of mermaid parents who are stranded under the dock. • Classifications: Fiction • Reading Level: 4.7 • Subjects:  Orphans Fiction.Mermaids Fiction.Hotels, motels, etc. Fiction.

5. Friend On Freedom Riverby: Gloria Whelan • The Winter of 1850 finds young Louis alone with his mother when his father heads north for work, but when runaway slaves ask Louis for help being ferried across the Detroit River he wonders what his father would do. • Classifications: Fiction • Reading Level: 3.6 • Subjects:  Underground railroad Fiction.Courage Fiction.Fugitive slaves Fiction.African Americans Fiction.Slavery Fiction.Detroit River (Mich. and Ont.) History 19th century Fiction.Historical fiction.

6. Ida Bby: Katherine Hannigan • In Wisconsin, fourth-grader Ida B spends happy hours being home-schooled and playing in her family's apple orchard, until her mother begins treatment for breast cancer and her parents must sell part of the orchard and send her to public school. • Classifications: Fiction • Reading Level: 5.3 • Subjects:  Family life Fiction.Schools Fiction.Nature Fiction.Sick Fiction.Cancer Fiction.Orchards Fiction.Wisconsin Fiction.

7. Last Holiday Concertby: Andrew Clements • Sixth-grader Hart is a good kid, but kind of cocky, and the temptation to enliven the boring holiday chorus rehearsals with a few rubber-band assaults is too strong to resist. But what Hart doesn't know is that the music teacher, Mr. Meinert, is getting laid off right after the concert, and that a misfired rubber band is just the catalyst to make him very, very angry. The popular Clements achieves a judicious balance of teacher-student conflict, school comedy, and seasonal pathos in this lively crowd-pleaser. • Classifications: Fiction • Reading Level: 5.4 • Subjects:  Concerts Fiction.Music Fiction.Schools Fiction.Leadership Fiction.Cooperativeness Fiction.

8. Lowji Discovers Americaby: Fleming • Nine-year-old Lowji is sad to leave Bombay for small-town Illinois--until he realizes that he'll finally be able to get a pet. Unfortunately, his new place has the same no-pets rule as his old apartment. Likable Lowji finds a way around that rule in this humorous story told in short chapters that make this book accessible to readers new to novels. • Classifications: Fiction • Reading Level: 3.1 • Subjects:  Moving, Household Fiction.Landladies Fiction.East Indian Americans Fiction.

9. Lucy Rose: Here’s The Thing About Meby: Katy Kelly • After her parents separate, eight-year-old Lucy Rose and her mom move to Washington, D.C. Through her diary, Lucy Rose keeps track of daily challenges--class pets, troublesome boys, friendships--in these readable books that exude third-grade appeal. Though simple resolutions at times make the books tedious, Lucy Rose's snappy spirit is appealing. Rex's black-and-white drawings enhance the text. • Classifications: Fiction • Reading Level: 5.1 • Subjects:  Moving, Household Fiction.Schools Fiction.Family life Washington (D.C.) Fiction.Guinea pigs Fiction.Washington (D.C.) Fiction.Diaries Fiction.

10. Mighty Jackie: The Strike-Out Queenby: Marissa Moss • In 1931, a seventeen-year-old girl named Jackie Mitchell struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in an exhibition baseball game. Mitchell's extraordinary achievement and the years of effort it took to achieve her level of skill are chronicled capably, if a bit breathlessly, in this lavishly illustrated book, replete with expressive, sculptural renderings of Mitchell and some of baseball's greats. • Classifications: Nonfiction • Reading Level: 4 • Subjects:  Mitchell, Jackie, 1914-1987.Ruth, Babe, 1895-1948.Gehrig, Lou, 1903-1941.Baseball players.Baseball History.Women Biography.

11. Virginia Boundby: Amy Butler • Kidnapped from London streets in 1627, thirteen-year-old Rob becomes an indentured servant in Virginia. He labors beside another captive, a Pamunkey Indian girl; their escape plans become more complicated when a kind carpenter offers to buy Rob's indenture. Though the plot resolution is a bit too smooth and some characters slightly stereotyped, this story is deftly told with accurate details. • Classifications: Fiction • Reading Level: 4.4 • Subjects:  Orphans Fiction.Indentured servants Fiction.Pamunkey Indians Fiction.Indians of North America Virginia Fiction.Virginia History Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775 Fiction.Historical fiction.