(Required Author List)

Myers, W. D. (2015). A star is born. New York: Scholastic.

This book is about 4 very unusual kids, who attend  Da Vinci Academy for the gifted and talented. Their names are Lashonda Powell, who has an autistic brother and they live in a group home.  Bobbi McCall who is talented in math and  chess, Kambui Owens, who is the group photographer , and lastly Alexander Scott, and together they make up the group , The Cruisers. The publish an alternative paper to the official paper of the school , which is called the Palette .  Lashonda has written a play called “Act Six” and and designed all the costumes. Her play has received raving reviews and she has received a full scholarship to the Virginia Wolfe Society Academy, which after completing the program it will also include a full ride to  college. She has a major dilemma because if she goes to the academy she will be separated from her brother. As the story goes on, they face opposition on another front from Charles Lord, a community activist who resents the Da Vinci Academy’s focus on the most academically promising students. Mr. Lord wants to cut funding for the school so every young person in Harlem has equal opportunity. The story ends with the cruisers out smarting him and Lashonda brother gets to go with her. This story is about sacrifice because Lashonda was willing to give up a dream to stay with her brother because of his disability.

(Required Author List)

Curtis, C. P. (2018). The journey of little Charlie. New York: Scholastic Press.

This story is about a little twelve year old boy named Charlie from Possum Moan, South Carolina. He dad is a sharecropper and his dad has recently died.  This is a sad time because he is by himself and all the crops have dried up. Cap’n Buck,  the most fearsome man in  their town says Charlie’s dad owed him a lot of money. Fearing for his life, Charlie strikes a deal to repay his father’s debt by accompanying Cap’n Buck to Detroit in pursuit of some folks who have stolen from him. It’s not too bad of a bargain for Charlie . Charlie  comes face-to-face with the fugitives and discovers that they escaped slavery years ago and have been living free.  Charlie is  torn between his guilty conscience and his survival instinct, Charlie needs to figure out his next move before  Cap’n figures out what he is doing and suffers some severe consequences. This book is filled with lots of rich history and adventure.  The would be a good book to read  for a eleven or twelve year old.

Carle, E. ( 2011). Tom Thumb. New York: Orchard Books an Imprint of Scholastic.

( Required Author List)

This is a re-issued book with four tales originally written by the brothers Grimm. This is a great picture book for a kindergarten through second grader reader. The art work in this book is amazing. The first story is about the namesake of the book , Tom Thumb who is a little guy who is the size of a thumb that was wished about by his parents. He outsmarts those who try to capture him , and he eventually  makes his way home back to his loving parents, all while being able to keep the gold piece that was given to him by the men. This story shows how important  loyalty to your family is. The next story is about a fisherman and his wife. One day he caught a magic fish and he told his wife about it. The wife started wishing for things, like the first wish was a bigger house, and the fish would send him home because the wish had already been granted. The wishes continued to get bigger and bigger until, they ended right back to the position they were originally in. This was a story to teach children about greed. Hans in Luck is about a man that would continue to trade in what he has for something better, but he would never get the value of what he was trading for.  He traded until the very end and he ended up with some rocks and then nothing. He ends being happy with his mother at home.  The last story  the “Seven Swabians” is about  village of people who were scared of a rabbit. All but one of the villagers, a young child, leap into a river. The young child lives on to tell the story.

Hamilton, V., Dillon, L., & Dillon, D. (2001). The girl who spun gold. New York, NY: Blue Sky Press.

(Required Author List)

This book is a picture book with a West Indian spin on the old classic tale Rumpelstiltskin.  The little man’s name is Litmahn Bittyun or in the English dialect Mr. Titman, which means “little man”. The story is told of a beautiful girl named Quashiba who was a peasant girl who  knew how to spin plain thread. The catch the attention of the great Big King, her mother fabricated a story that her daughter was spinning a whole field of fine gold thread to make cloths for his highness.  The king then decides to marry Quashiba and after a year and a day of marriage , he holds true to his promise and locks her in a room and she has to spin three rooms of golden threads.  She is doomed from the start because it was all a lie from the beginning.  The little funny mans shows up and promises to help her under one condition, she has to guess his name. The story ends with Quashiba having dinner with her husband , and he shares a story about a little man he saw while hunting , who was singing a song about his name.  She ends the night with saying his name and the little man disappears. Great book for someone ages four an older to introduce fairy tales.

Draper, S. M., & Watson, J. J. (2011). Lost in the tunnel of time. New York: Aladdin.

(Required Author List)

This book is about  four boys Ziggy, Rico, Rashawn, and Jerome , who together form the Black dinosaurs club. The boys are always going on adventures and having some type of mishap. The  boys went on a class field trip  to ride on a boat and see the Ohio river. They had a special visitor accompanying them who was no strange to them, Mr. Greene. Once they reached their destination, Mr. Greene gathered the students to tell them stories about the Underground Railroad, and how there were stops along the Ohio River. He explained to the students that the underground rail road had secret rooms and one of the secret rooms was right underneath there school. As the story goes on Mr. Greene gives the four boys a secret map to the tunnel underneath their school. The boys always up for a challenge find the trap door one day after drama practice. The go into the tunnel and the trap door slams shut behind them , and they are stuck. The have to go farther and farther into the tunnel in order to find a way out. They story ends with the dog Afrika digging a hole in the tunnel and finding them and they were safe, and reunited with there families. This is a good book for a third through fifth grader to pair with a history lesson about the underground railroad and how black people escaped to freedom.

Engle, M., & Curato, M. (2017). All the way to Havana. New York: Godwin Books/ Henry Holt and Company.

(Required Authors List)

This book is a great children’s picture book showing the rich culture of Cuba. This is a story about a  young boy who is going on a trip  to see a new baby cousin that has been born to celebrate his zero year birthday. He has a birthday cake and a present and he is ready to go.The importance of family and the fact that technology and money are in limited supply come together in the affection the boy holds for Cara Cara, the family heirloom that’s been inventively repaired over many years and will belong to the boy himself someday. Cara Cara is the big blue antique car that is going to take them on their journey. The car is making some weird noises , and the boy and his dad get under the hood and tinker with all the parts until it makes the normal  clack-clack noise. Then the family is off on their journey. As they are traveling the pick up neighbors on the way, because helping people is important.  The story ends with the little boy seeing all the colorful old cars on the road and him still love Cara Cara the best. This a great story time book for a three to seven year old with all of the colorful pictures, action words, and infused Spanish vocabulary.

(Required Authors List)

Ringgold, F. (2016). We came to America. Alfred A. Knopf: New York.

This story is a poem about how different groups of people came to America. The book is unique in the sense that the author does not outright name any ethnicity or religion but the pictures used tell the story in itself. The author takes care to assert that “Some of us were already here/ Before the others came,” and “some of us were brought in chains” to American shores. The point that the author wants us to hone in on is that no matter how we got here, or where we are from, we are all Americans and that is what makes America a great melting pot.

Alexander, K., & Miyares, D. (2018). Surfs up. New York: NorthSouth.

(Required Authors List)

This book is about two frogs named Bro and Dude. Dude came by to see if Bro was ready to head to the beach, but Bro was immersed in a book.  Bro was reading a book  about a man looking for a whale. As they rode on the moped to the beach the two get so engrossed in the book that it starts to become real around them. As the story reaches its climax they have finally made it to the beach and Bro gives a sly answer because Dude wants to know did he catch the whale and get the gold, but Bro doesn’t tell and now he is ready to surf. As the story ends Dude and is  hanging ten and surfing, and Bro is now into the book. This is a great picture book for a four to seven year old. It was very creative how the author makes mention of a known classic  tale Moby Dick.

(Required Author List)

Bishop, N. (2017). Penguin Day. Scholastic Press.

This story is about the life of a rock hopper penguin and how she feeds her young.  The mama penguin  leaves the colony to go get food for her baby. The father penguin stays behind so that he can look after the young.  The baby penguin is so hungry. The mama penguin has to make a long journey in order to get to the sea to get krill and fish. As the story goes on the mama penguins final make it to the sea and since their is safety in numbers they all jump into the ocean at the same time. They ride the waves and dive underwater to get their bellies filled with food to take back to the baby penguins. While the mother is away the baby penguin decides to wonder away to find his friends. All his friends are to tired to play so he wonders alone. As he is walking he sees something in the sky and its a skua, and he swoops down and try to get the baby penguin. The story ends with the farther penguin scaring the skua away and the mother returning home to feed the baby penguin. The author has some incredible real time footage of the penguins in the book that are amazing. This book could be used in conjunction with a science lesson or a life lesson about families.

( Required Authors List)

Lin, G. (2018). A big mooncake for Little Star. New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company.

This story is about a little girl named little star and her mother who finally baked a big moon cake. Little star was waiting in anticipating for the big moon cake to cool off. She promised her mother she would not touch it and she prepared for bed.  Little star awoke during the night and all she could think about was the big moon cake. She started by nibbling a little bit, just enough to where  she thought her mother would not notice.Every night Little star would creep out of bed and get another bite until the moon cake was only a  trail of dust. The story ends with her mother looking for the moon cake and it was gone again. The mother and daughter went off into the night to make another cake. This is a great story for any age elementary child. This book would go great with a science lesson about the phases of the moon.