Pierce County Library System
Information & Imagination

Adventures of Beanboy, The
(Harkrader, Lisa)
Juvenile fiction (234 pages) Recommended for Grades 4-7. Wheaton, Kansas seventh-grader Tucker MacBean loves comic books, so when his favorite comic has a contest to create a sidekick, he is hopeful that he can win, thereby fixing his struggling family [Kit added 12/2015]

Alabama Moon
(Key, Watt)
Junior Fiction (294 pages) Recommended for Grades 5-9. After the death of his father, ten-year-old Moon leaves their forest shelter home and is sent to an Alabama institution, becoming entangled in the outside world he has never known and making good friends, a relentless enemy, and finally a new life. [Kit added 10/2011]

Alvin Ho: Allergic to Girls, School, and Other Scary Things
(Lenore Look)
Junior Fiction (172 pages) Recommended for Grades 1-4. A young boy in Concord, Massachusetts, who loves superheroes and comes from a long line of brave Chinese farmer-warriors, wants to make friends, but first he must overcome his fear of everything. [Kit added 10/2011]

BFG, The
(Roald Dahl)
Junior Fiction (219 pages) Recommended for Grades 3-4. Kidsnatched from her orphanage by a BFG (Big Friendly Giant), who spends his life blowing happy dreams to children, Sophie concocts with him a plan to save the world from nine other man-gobbling cannybull giants. [Kit added 09/2009]

Bad guys, The
(Blabey, Aaron, )
Juvenile Fiction (139 pages) Recommended for Grades 1-4. Mr Wolf. Mr Shark. Mr Snake. Mr Piranha. They're Bad Guys, everybody knows that. They're scary and dangerous an dwell ... just Bad. But these guys wan to be Heroes. And they're going to prove it by doing good deeds ... whether you want them to or not. Buckle up for the funniest, naughtiest and coolest book you'll ever read - it's time to meet the Bad Guys [Kit added 12/2017]

Blended
(Draper, Sharon M. )
Recommended for grades 4-8. Piano-prodigy Isabella, eleven, whose black father and white mother struggle to share custody, never feels whole, especially as racial tensions affect her school, her parents both become engaged, and she and her stepbrother are stopped by police.

Clara Lee and the Apple Pie Dream
(Jenny Han)
Young Adult Fiction (149 pages) Recommended for Grades 3-7. Korean American fourth-grader Clara Lee longs to be Little Miss Apple Pie, and when her luck seems suddenly to change for the better, she overcomes her fear of public speaking and enters the competition. [Kit added: 11/2014]

Clayton Byrd goes underground
(Williams-Garcia, Rita )
Recommended for Grades 3-7. Feeling most alive when he's playing the blues with his grandfather, Clayton is devastated when his grandfather dies and his mother forbids him from playing music, losses that compel him to run away and join bluesmen on the road.

Drama
(Telgemeier, Raina)
Recommended for Grades 5-8. Callie loves theater. And while she would totally try out for her middle school's production of Moon Over Mississippi, she's a terrible singer. Instead she's the set designer for the stage crew, and this year she's determined to create a set worthy of Broadway on a middle-school budget. But how can she, when she doesn't know much about carpentry, ticket sales are down, and the crew members are having trouble working together? Not to mention the onstage AND offstage drama that occurs once the actors are chosen, and when two cute brothers enter the picture, things get even crazier! Following the success of SMILE, Raina Telgemeier brings us another graphic novel featuring a diverse set of characters that humorously explores friendship, crushes, and all-around drama!

El Deafo
(Cece Bell)
Easy Biography Comic (233 pages) Recommended for Grades 3-7. The author recounts in graphic novel format her experiences with hearing loss at a young age, including using a bulky hearing aid, learning how to lip read, and determining her "superpower." [Kit added 11/2014]

Everything on a Waffle
(Polly Horvath)
Junior Fiction (150 pages) Recommended for Grades 4-6. Primrose's only refuge is at a local restaurant, where the owner, Miss Bowzer, serves everything on a waffle, except advice and good sense. [Kit added 09/2009]

Fine, Fine School, A
(Sharon Creech)
Easy fiction (32 pages) Recommended for Grades PreK-3. When a principal loves his school so much that he wants the children to attend classes every day of the year, it's up to his students to show him free time is a good thing, too. [Kit added 11/2012]

First rule of punk, The
(Perez, Celia C. )
Recommended for Grades 4-7. Twelve-year-old Maria Luisa O'Neill-Morales (who really prefers to be called Malu) reluctantly moves with her Mexican-American mother to Chicago and starts seventh grade with a bang--violating the dress code with her punk rock aesthetic and spurning the middle school's most popular girl in favor of starting a band with a group of like-minded weirdos.

Fish in a tree
(Hunt, Lynda Mullaly)
Recommended for Grades 6-8. "Ally's greatest fear is that everyone will find out she is as dumb as they think she is because she still doesn't know how to read"-- Provided by publisher.

Flat Stanley: His Original Adventure
(Jeff Brown)
Junior Fiction (72 pages) Recommended for Grades 1-5. After a bulletin board falls on Stanley while he is sleeping, he finds that being flat has its advantages. [Kit added 11/2012]

George
(Gino, Alex)
Recommended for Grades 3-7. "When people look at George, they think they see a boy. But she knows she's not a boy. She knows she's a girl. George thinks she'll have to keep this a secret forever. Then her teacher announces that their class play is going to be Charlotte's Web. George really, really, REALLY wants to play Charlotte. But the teacher says she can't even try out for the part . . . because she's a boy. With the help of her best friend, Kelly, George comes up with a plan. Not just so she can be Charlotte -- but so everyone can know who she is, once and for all" -- provided by publisher

Hatchet
(Gary Paulsen)
Junior Fiction (195 pages) Recommended for Grades 5-12. After a plane crash, thirteen-year-old Brian spends fifty-four days in the wilderness, learning to survive with only the aid of a hatchet given him by his mother, and learning also to survive his parents' divorce. [Kit added 11/2012]

Hippos are huge
(London, Jonathan)
Juvenile Nonfiction (29 pages) Recommended for Grades K-3. Overview: Hippos may make you laugh, but watch out! An acclaimed naturalist takes an exuberant look at these massive, swift, and super dangerous animals. What's the deadliest animal in Africa? It's not the lion or the crocodile-it's the hippopotamus! Hippos have razor-sharp tusks, weigh as much as fifty men, and can run twenty-five miles per hour! Follow these hefty hulks as they glide underwater, play tug-of-war, swat balls of dung at one another, and nuzzle their young in the mud. Just don't get too close-they could chomp you in two! [Kit added 1/2018]

Homework Machine, The
(Dan Gutman)
Junior Fiction (146 pages) Recommended for Grades 4-6. Four fifth-grade students, a geek, a class clown, a teacher's pet, and a slacker, as well as their teacher and mothers, each relate events surrounding a computer programmed to complete homework assignments. [Kit added 09/2009]

I Survived the Attacks of September 11, 2001
(Lauren Tarshis)
Junior Fiction (82 pages) Recommended for Grades 2-5. When Lucas decides to skip school because he wants to discuss football with a firefighter friend of his father, he finds himself caught up in the terrorist attacks on New York City. [Kit added 11/2012]

Infamous Ratsos, The
(LaReau, Kara, )
Junior Fiction (55 pages) Recommended for Grades K-4. Rat brothers Louie and Ralphie Ratso try to prove they can be as rough and tough as their father in the Big City, but every time they try to show how tough they are, they end up accidentally doing good deeds instead. [Kit added 11/2017]

Intersection allies: we make room for all
(Johnson, Chelsea)
Recommended for Grades 1-7. Despite all of the ways we are different from one another, we still have values and common interests that intersect. We can listen to and support each other in ways that unite us across differences!

Janitor's Boy, The
(Andrew Clements)
Junior Fiction (140 pages) Recommended for Grades 3-7. When Jack is publicly embarrassed by his father, the school janitor, his revenge results in an unusual punishment--helping his father after school. The job leads to some surprising revelations about his father, the school, and himself. [Kit added 09/2009]

Kid President's guide to being awesome
(Novak, Robby)
"This is LIFE, people! You've got air coming through your nose! You've got a heartbeat! 'That means it's time to do something!' announces Kid President in his book, Kid President's Guide to Being Awesome. From YouTube sensation (75 million views and counting!) to Hub Network summer series star, Kid President--ten-year-old Robby Novak--and his videos have inspired millions to dance more, to celebrate life, and to throw spontaneous parades.In his Guide to Being Awesome, Kid President pulls together lists of awesome ideas to help the world, awesome interviews with his awesome celebrity friends (he has interviewed Beyonce?!), and a step-by-step guide to make pretty much everything a little bit awesomer. Grab a corn dog and settle in to your favorite comfy chair. Pretend it's your birthday! (In fact, treat everyone like it's THEIR birthday!) Kid President is here with a 240-page, full-color Guide to Being Awesome that'll spread love and inspire the world"-- Provided by publisher [Kit added 01/2017]

Knucklehead
(Jon Scieszka)
Junior Fiction (106 pages) Recommended for Grades 4-7. How did Jon Scieszka get so funny? He grew up as one of six brothers with Catholic school, lots of comic books, lazy summers at the lake with time to kill, babysitting misadventures, TV shows, and jokes told at family dinner. [Kit added03/2011]

Love That Dog
(Sharon Creech)
Junior Fiction (86 pages) Recommended for Grades 3-6. A young student, who comes to love poetry through a personal understanding of what different famous poems mean to him, surprises himself by writing his own inspired poem. [Kit added 03/2011]

Mercy Watson to the Rescue
(Kate DiCamillo)
Junior Fiction (80 pages) Recommended for Grades K-2. After Mercy the pig snuggles to sleep with the Watsons, all three awaken with the bed teetering on the edge of a big hole in the floor. [Kit added 03/2011]

Mockingbird
(Kathryn Erskine)
Junior Fiction (235 pages) Recommended for Grades 4-7. Ten-year-old Caitlin, who has Asperger's Syndrome, struggles to understand emotions, show empathy, and make friends at school, while at home she seeks closure by working on a project with her father. [Kit added 11/2011]

Mouse and the Motorcycle, The
(Beverly Cleary)
Junior Fiction (186 pages) Recommended for Grades K-4. A reckless young mouse named Ralph makes friends with a boy in room 215 of the Mountain View Inn and discovers the joys of motorcycling. [Kit added 10/2011]

Night diary, The
(Hiranandani, Veera)
Recommended for Grades 4-8. Shy twelve-year-old Nisha, forced to flee her home with her Hindu family during the 1947 partition of India, tries to find her voice and make sense of the world falling apart around her by writing to her deceased Muslim mother in the pages of her diary.

Not My Dog
(Colby Rodowsky)
Junior Fiction (69 pages) Recommended for Grades 2-4. Ellie, who is eight years old, has to give up her dream of getting a puppy after her parents agree to take in the dog that great-aunt Margaret can no longer keep. [Kit added 09/2009]

One and only Ivan, The
(Applegate, Katherine)
Recommended for grades 3-6. When Ivan, a gorilla who has lived for years in a down-and-out circus-themed mall, meets Ruby, a baby elephant that has been added to the mall, he decides that he must find her a better life.

Pax
(Pennypacker, Sara)
Recommended for grades 3-5. "After being forced to give up his pet fox Pax, a young boy named Peter decides to leave home and get his best friend back"-- Provided by publisher

Poppy
(Avi)
Junior Fiction (176 pages) Recommended for Grades 4-6. Poppy the deer mouse urges her family to move next to a field of corn big enough to feed them all forever, but Mr. Ocax, a terrifying owl, has other ideas. [Kit added 10/2011]

Samantha Spinner and the super-secret plans
(Ginns, Russell )
Recommended for Grades 4-6. Samantha's uncle mysteriously disappears, leaving behind extravagant gifts for her siblings and an old, rusty, red umbrella for Samantha that may contain clues to his whereabouts.

Stella by starlight
(Draper, Sharon M. )
Recommended for Grades 4-6. When a burning cross set by the Klan causes panic and fear in 1932 Bumblebee, North Carolina, fifth-grader Stella must face prejudice and find the strength to demand change in her segregated town.

Stone Fox
(John Reynolds Gardiner)
Junior Fiction (85 pages) Recommended for Grades 3-5. Little Willie hopes to pay the back taxes on his grandfather's farm with the prize money from a dog sled race he enters. [Kit added 02/2011]

Turtle in Paradise
(Jennifer L. Holm)
Junior Fiction. (188 pages) Recommended for Grades 3-7. In 1935, when her mother gets a job housekeeping for a woman who does not like children, eleven-year-old Turtle is sent to stay with relatives she has never met in far away Key West, Florida. [Kit added 10/2013]

Watsons go to Birmingham--1963, The
(Christopher Paul Curtis)
Junior Fiction (210 pages) Recommended for Grades 4-12. The ordinary interactions and everyday routines of the Watsons, an African-American family living in Flint, Michigan, are drastically changed after they go to visit Grandma in Alabama in the summer of 1963. (Newbery Honor, 1996 & Coretta Scott King Award Honor, 1996) [Kit added 09/2009]

Weslandia
(Paul Fleischman)
Easy Fiction (40 pages) Recommended for Grades PreK-4. Wesley's garden produces a crop of huge, strange plants which provide him with clothing, shelter, food, and drink, thus helping him create his own civilization and changing his life. [Kit added 11/2012]

Westing Game, The
(Ellen Raskin)
Junior Fiction (216 pages) Recommended for Grades 5-8. The mysterious death of an eccentric millionaire brings together an unlikely assortment of heirs who must uncover the circumstances of his death before they can claim their inheritance. (Newbery Award, 1979) [Kit added 09/2009]

Where the Red Fern Grows
(Wilson Rawls)
Junior Fiction (212 pages) Recommended for Grades 4-8. A young boy living in the Ozarks achieves his heart's desire when he becomes the owner of two redbone hounds and teaches them to be champion hunters. [Kit added 09/2009]

Woke: A young poet's call to justice
(Browne, Mahogany L.)
Recommended for grades 4-8. Woke: A Young Poet's Guide to Justice is a collection of poems to inspire kids to stay woke and become a new generation of activists. Historically poets have been on the forefront of social movements. Woke is a collection of poems by women that reflects the joy and passion in the fight for social justice, tackling topics from discrimination to empathy, and acceptance to speaking out. With Theodore Taylor's bright, emotional art, and writing from Mahogany L. Browne, Elizabeth Acevedo and Olivia Gatwood, kids will be inspired to create their own art and poems to express how they see justice and injustice. With a foreword by best-selling author Jason Reynolds

Wonder
(R. J. Palacio)
Junior Fiction. (315 pages) Recommended for Grades 3-7. Ten-year-old Auggie Pullman, who was born with extreme facial abnormalities and was not expected to survive, goes from being home-schooled to entering fifth grade at a private middle school in Manhattan, which entails enduring the taunting and fear of his classmates as he struggles to be seen as just another student. [Kit added 10/2013]

Wrinkle in Time, A
(Madeleine L'Engle)
Junior Fiction (202) Recommended for Grades 5-9. Meg and her friends become involved with unearthly strangers and a search for Meg's father, who has disappeared while engaged in secret work for the government. [Kit added 04/2011]

Yellow Star
(Jennifer Roy)
Junior Fiction (227 pages) Recommended for Grades 5-8. From 1939, when Syvia is four and a half years old, to 1945 when she has just turned ten, a Jewish girl and her family struggle to survive in Poland's Lodz ghetto during the Nazi occupation. [Kit added 03/2011]