If you are looking for novels, here are a list for you from Adrienne Gear  

“Hot Picks”

Using Reading Power

With Novel Studies or Literature Circles

Grade Three-Four:

Taylor Made Tales – The Dog’s Secret – Ellen Miles  M

Just Grace – Charise Mericle Harper (humorous story, trials and tribulations of school, friendships, neighbors with element of mystery)  M-H

The Van Gogh Café – Cynthia Rylant (girl helps father run a magical, mysterious café) Nim’s Island – Wendy Orr (modern survival adventure story – great female lead)

My Father’s Dragon – Ruth Stiles Gannette (published many years ago but still a top pick for grade three novel study)  L

SERIES:

Tashi – Anna Fienburg (fantasy, curiosity, adventure) L

Stuart Goes To School – Sara Pennypacker (worrier, school adventure, magic cape) L

The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark – Jill Tomlinson M-L

Harry the Poisonous Centipede – Lynne Reid Banks M

Akimbo and the Lions – Alexander McCall Smith (Africa, boy and cub) L

Fly Guy – Tedd Arnold (boy and pet fly) M-L

Elephant and Piggie – Mo Willems (Life’s little lessons – great stories) L

Grade Four:

Shredderman (series) – Wendelin Van Draanen (creative way of dealing with bullies) M

Tikta’Liktak – James Houston (Inuit, survival) H

Dumb Creatures – Jeanne Willis (elective mute connects with gorilla – powerful) M-H

Stone Fox – John Reynolds Gardiner (courage, perseverance) L

Fourth Grade Rats – Jerry Spinelli (conformity, peers) M

The Legend of Spud Murphy – Glenn McCoy (librarian, fantasy) M

Horrendo’s Curse – Anne Fienberg (courtesy, pirates, adventure)  M-H

Toughboy and Sister – Kirkpatrick Hill (survival, Aboriginal) M-L

Grade Five:

Whittington – Alan Armstrong (2 orphaned children live on farm, animals converse, multi layered story) M

The Higher Power of Lucky – Susan Patron (orphaned girl, lives with aunt in desert, quirky characters.  Controversy over the “s” word)  M-H

Ghost Voyage (I, II, III) – Cora Taylor (time travel; Canadian explorers) M

Cariboo Runaway – Sandy Frances Duncan (historical, goldrush) H

Wringer – Jerry Spinelli  (facing fears, courage, tradition) M-H

In the Wild –Sofia Nordin (adventure, survival, bullying) M

Saving Finnegan – Sally Grindley (community works to save beached whale; environmental issues) The Report Card – Andrew Clements (gifted girl, trying to fit in) M-L

There’s A Boy in the Girl’s Bathroom – Louis Sachar (humorous, insightful, school setting, great “connections”)

The Wicked Wicked Ladies in the Haunted House –Mary Chase (ghost story; girl with bad reputation discovers haunted house with 7 “wicked ladies”) L

Grade Five-Six:

Runt – Marion Dane Bauer (poverty, abuse, friendship, courage) L-M

The Talent Thief – Alex Williams (exciting plot, page turner, average boy and gifted sister go to a “gifted” camp where someone is “stealing” talents) H

White Wolf – Henrietta Banford (tale of survival told from perspective of wolf) L

Loser – Jerry Spinelli L-M

The Night Journey – Kathryn Lansky (WWII, Jewish persecution) L   

The Hatchet – Gary Paulson (survival, adventure) M

Chasing Vermeer – Blue Balliett (art, math, mystery) M-H

The Cockroach War – Jonathan Harlen (siblings win lottery, remote control cockroaches) H

Ice Drift – Theodore Taylor (Arctic, two brothers, ice fishing, cut off, survival) M

Down the Rabbit Hole – Peter Abrahams (girl protagonist, sports, drama, mystery) L-M

Millions – Frank Cottell Boyce (greed, decisions, character develop-siblings) M

Chandra – Frances Mary Hendry (East Indian, culture, traditions) M

Grade Six:

Stoneheart – Charlie Fletcher (boy breaks head of dragon statue in museum – dragon comes to life to seek revenge)  M-H

Tiger, Tiger – Lynne Banks Reid (twin tigers captured, brought to Ancient Rome – one trained as killer of slaves in gladiator ring; one sold as pet to kings daughter – nature vs. nurture – graphic in places) M-H

The Maestro – Tim Wynn Jones (coming of age, friendship, courage, piano) M

Holes – Lois Sachar (crime and punishment, consequences) M

Small Steps – Lois Sachar (sequel to Holes, Armpit’s release) M

Brind and the Dogs of War – Christopher Russell (boy raised by dogs)

The Breadwinner – Deborah Ellis (Afghanistan, freedom, culture) M

Petey – Ben Mikaelsen (friendship, overcoming physical obstacles, discrimination) M-H

Lion Boy – Zizou Corder (boy who communicates with cats uncovers secrets in parents kidnapping) H

A Single Chard – Linda Sue Park (Korean – 12th century) M-H

Weedflower –Cynthia Kadohata (WWII, Pearl Harbor, Japanese invasion) H

Silverwing – Kenneth Oppel (bat colony, survival) M

Journey to the River Sea – Eva Ibbotson (adventure – Amazon River) H

The Star of Kazan – Eva Ibbotson (1900 Vienna - old fashioned adventure) H

Hoot – Carl Hiaasen (owls, environment, bullying) M

Buried Fire – Jonathan Stroud (fantasy, dragons, secrets, choices) M

Wolf Brother – Michelle Paver (first in series “Chronicles of Ancient Darkness” set in                                                                                            

Bronze Age – friendship btw. Boy and wolf cub, survival, adventure, loyalty) H

Grade Seven:

I, Coriander – Sally Gardner (1690’s London – part historical/part fairy tale) H

Willow and Twig – Jean Little (abandonment, drug addiction, survival) M-H

The Bone Collector’s Son – Paul Yee (1907 Vancouver, spiritual, ghosts) H

The Golden Hour – Maiya Williams (time travel, French revolution, siblings) M-H

The Fire Thief – Terry Deary (adaptation of Greek Myth) H

Tins – Alex Shearer (boy collects tin cans, finds body parts inside tin) M

Touching Spirit Bear – Ben Mikaelsen (Aboriginal, survival, self realization) H

Shabanu, Daughter of the Wind – Suzanne Fischer Staples (East Indian 13 yr. old girl – arranged marriage:  culture, choices, tragedy, family)  H

Star Girl – Jerry Spinelli (acceptance, nonconformity, peers, loyalty) M

The Garbage King – Elizabeth Laird (Third world poverty, deprivation, survival) M-H

Kira, Kira – Cynthia Kadohata (struggles of Japanese-American family; disease, poverty, prejudice) M

The House on the Gulf – Margaret Peterson Haddix (thriller, mystery) M

Alone on a Wide, Wide Sea – Michael Morpurgo (2 teared story; post WWII, 2 orphans shipped to Australia from England later return to search for family) M

Roman Mystery Series – Caroline Laurence (mystery in Ancient Rome) L

Looking for X – Deborah Ellis (loyalty, bullying, autism, family) L

                                                 (easy, short read – watch for occasional course language)

Grade Seven-Eight:

Keeper – Mal Peet (magic, realism, soccer, clear cuts, exploitation of environment) M-H

The Falconer’s Knot – Mary Hoffman (engrossing historical fiction with hint of fairy tale, set in Renaissance, Italy – suspenseful, many twists) H

Flipped – Wendelin Van Draanen (early teen relationship/romance) M

Dr. Franklin’s Island – (plane crash, survival, science fiction) M

At the Sign of the Sugared Plum – Mary Hooper (plague – 17th century London) M-H

Raging River – Pam Withers (adventure, survival, extreme sports) M-H

War Horse and Farm Boy – Michael Morpurgo (two books – same story M

                                                                           different points of view)

Crispin: The Cross of Lead – Avi (medieval England, boy accused of crime M

                                                       he didn’t commit, flees – survival, adventure)

reading level-l-lower, m-medium,h-harder