VIRGINIA READERS' CHOICE ANNOTATIONS

Elementary List 2008-2009

Grades 3-5

Clementine.  Sara Pennypacker, Atheneum, 2006.
Everyone is always telling Clementine to pay attention.  She believes she is paying attention, but it is usually to something outside her classroom window.  Clementine frequently gets into trouble, but she means well. Children can relate to her feisty personality.

Counting on Grace.  Elizabeth Winthrop, Random House, 2006.
Grace, a twelve-year-old living in Vermont in 1912, is forced to leave school and work on the looms in a textile mill.  Grace’s life is changed when the famous photographer Lewis Hines comes to photograph the underage children working in the mills.

The Ghost’s Grave.  Peg Kehret, Dutton, 2005.
When Josh is shipped off to his Great-Great-Aunt Ethel’s home, he thinks it will be the most boring summer of his life without television, without e-mail, and without internet!  He meets a ghost who needs his help and when Josh attempts to aid the ghost he puts his own life in danger.

Henry’s Freedom Box.  Ellen Levine, Scholastic, 2007.
This is a fictionalized account of the escape of Henry “Box” Brown from a plantation in Virginia to Philadelphia.  He always celebrated his birthday as the day he shipped himself to freedom in a mail crate.

The Homework Machine.  Dan Gutman, Simon & Schuster, 2006.
An unlikely group of fifth graders join together to do their homework with the help of a computer that does all the work.  The story is told in alternating viewpoints by the students, their mothers, and their teacher.  Will their work end in friendship, or will they all get in trouble?

Owen & Mzee: The True Story of a Remarkable Friendship. Isabella Hartkoff, Scholastic, 2006.
This is a true story about the friendship of Owen, a baby hippo, and Mzee, a 130-year-old giant tortoise.  Owen is separated from his family during a devastating tsunami and he is adopted and accepted by Mzee as his mother.

Phineas L. MacGuire … Erupts!  Frances O’Roark Dowell, Atheneum, 2006.
Phineas takes the science fair very seriously and he and his best friend always wow the crowd.  However, this year Phineas is paired with a new boy who thinks dinosaurs and volcanoes are cool.

Punished.   David Lubar, Darby Creek, 2005.
Logan and his friend are playing tag in the library when he runs into a mysterious man.  Eventually, Logan realizes he has been punished and can only speak in puns.  Logan has three days to break the spell by finding examples of word play.

Rules.  Cynthia Lord, Scholastic, 2006.
Twelve-year-old Catherine just wants a normal life.  However, that seems impossible with an autistic brother and a family that revolves around his disability. She has tried to teach David the rules-from “a peach is not a funny-looking apple” to “keep your pants on in public.” During the summer Catherine meets Jason, a paraplegic boy, and Kristi, the next-door friend she’s always wished for. Her brother and her new friends along with her own shocking behavior forces her to ask herself: What is normal?

The Winners Walk.   Nancy Ruth Patterson, Farrar,Straus,Giroux, 2006.
 Nine-year-old Case struggles to find his special talent in a family with a swimming star sister, a champion horse trainer father, and a talented stage actress mother. Nothing seems to work for Case until a stray dog comes along who seems to be the perfect match to bring him success. When he learns about the dog's background he has a tough decision to make in order to do the right thing and to be a real winner.

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