Summer Reading

What did you read this summer? Tell our readers about one of the books that you read!

What is the title?
What is it about?
What genre is it in?
What did you like about it? Why?
What did you dislike about it? Why?
Would you recommend it to others? Why or why not?

Battle of the Books 2012-2013

We are really excited about the books that have been chosen for this year's Battle of the Books competition! Book lists can be found on the left-side column of this page. Once again, we have chosen books from a variety of genres and readability levels.

Explore something new!
Stretch yourself as a reader!
Surprise yourself!

Fourth Graders -- each of your books is listed below. After reading one of the books, please click on the post about your book. Submit your deep thinking questions from the link posted there, then use the comment button to share your thoughts, questions, ideas about the book with other students.

Fourth Grade Rats

Suds learns that his best friend is wrong. You don't have to be a tough guy, a "rat," to be a grown up fourth grader.

Submit your deep thinking questions related to this book by clicking here.

Click on the comment button below to tell us your thoughts or ask questions about this book

My Life as a Book

Dubbed a "reluctant reader" by his teacher, twelve-year-old Derek spends summer vacation learning important lessons even though he does not complete his summer reading list.

Submit your deep thinking questions related to this book by clicking here.

Click on the comment button below to tell us your thoughts or ask questions about this book

Big Nate: In a Class by Himself

Supremely confident middle school student Nate Wright manages to make getting detention from every one of his teachers in the same day seem like an achievement.

Submit your deep thinking questions related to this book by clicking here.

Click on the comment button below to tell us your thoughts or ask questions about this book

Number the Stars

In 1943, during the German occupation of Denmark, ten-year-old Annemarie learns how to be brave and courageous when she helps shelter her Jewish friend from the Nazis.

Submit your deep thinking questions related to this book by clicking here.

Click on the comment button below to tell us your thoughts or ask questions about this book

Swindle

After unscrupulous collector S. Wendell Palamino cons him out of a valuable baseball card, sixth-grader Griffin Bing puts together a band of misfits to break into Palomino's heavily guarded store and steal the card back, planning to use the money to finance his father's failing invention, the Smart Pick fruit picker.

Submit your deep thinking questions related to this book by clicking here.

Click on the comment button below to tell us your thoughts or ask questions about this book

Stranger Next Door

A clever cat's heroism helps two twelve-year-old boys become friends after their families, one of which is in a witness protection program, move to neighboring houses in Hilltop, Washington.

Submit your deep thinking questions related to this book by clicking here.

Click on the comment button below to tell us your thoughts or ask questions about this book

Lost in the Tunnel of Time

Ziggy, Rico, Rashawn, and Jerome, four curious African-American kids, find themselves trapped in an Underground Railroad passageway under their school, with no way out but to travel its tunnels as escaped slaves did over one hundred years before.

Submit your deep thinking questions related to this book by clicking here.

Click on the comment button below to tell us your thoughts or ask questions about this book!

Dark Hills Divide

Twelve-year-old Alexa realizes her lifelong wish when she finds the key to a secret passageway leading out of the walled city of Bridewell, and is free to explore the mysterious forests and mountains that lie beyond its confines.

Submit your deep thinking questions related to this book by clicking here.

Click on the comment button below to tell us your thoughts or ask questions about this book!

Trouble River

When he builds his raft, a twelve-year-old boy never dreams that it will serve as the sole means of escape for him and his grandmother when hostile Indians threaten their prairie cabin.

Submit your deep thinking questions related to this book by clicking here.

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World According to Humphrey

Humphrey, pet hamster at Longfellow School, learns that he has an important role to play in helping his classmates and teacher.


Submit your deep thinking questions related to this book by clicking here.


Click on the comment button below to tell us your thoughts or ask questions about this book!