Grade: 2

“Dear Diary … I’ve never been higher than Aunt Clara’s porch, or farther than Yoder’s General Store, but this week my dream is coming true. I’m finally in a big city!” So begins the story of Hannah, an Amish girl, who visits Chicago for the first time. Each day she tells her “silent friend,” her diary, about the wondrous things she sees, including skyscrapers, an aquarium, and crowds of people wearing strange clothes. Each new city experience is contrasted with an illustration of Amish life.

In this retold Ojibwe tale, a little girl’s courage and determination save her village from a terrible disease and bring the delicate lady slipper flower to the forests of the Great Lakes. By listening closely to nature, the hissing snow, rumbling ice, and dancing northern lights, the little girl is able to bring healing herbs back from a neighboring village. The next spring she goes back to look for a pair of beaded ma-ki-sins she lost during her harrowing journey to retrieve the medicine. Instead, all along her route, wherever she had stepped, she finds beautiful lady slipper flowers shaped like tiny mocassins.

The little house stood in the country, with trees and fields around her, and with the birds and flowers and children for company. In the distance twinkled the lights of the big city, and the little house wondered what it would be like to live there. One day steam shovels dug a road in front of the little house, and soon she was surrounded by houses and stores. Then tall skyscrapers rose on either side of her, elevated trains roared past her, and a subway shook the ground under her foundations. She longed for a glimpse of the stars and the scent of apple blossoms, but she was caught by the big city. Then, when she was so old and shabby that nobody wanted to live in her, she had an unexpected chance to escape.

Sachar, who won the Newbery Medal for his 1999 book Holes, can find a kid’s funny bone as readily as he can identify what concerns kids most. This popular series of early-reader chapter books follows the trials and triumphs of Marvin as he confronts the ever-tumultuous third grade.

Zach visits his grandparents every summer at their cottage by the lake. He is looking forward to fishing with Gramps and eating Gram’s cooking. Gramps calls their first idyllic day a “Memory Box Day.” Zach learns that this is a day for young and old to start gathering photos, stories, and souvenirs to store in a special box to remember their times together. As Zach’s time with his grandparents unfolds, he learns the true reason for the memory box; it is especially for Gramps who has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. During the rest of his stay, Zach and his grandparents fill the box with wonderful memories of summers past and new memories, building something that will always keep them together.

Foy Rin Jin is a dragon. He is huge, red, and breathes water instead of fire. It’s not easy being a dragon who doesn’t fit in. Humiliated, he leaves the dragon lair to venture into the human world. This makes a great read-aloud.

The Spiderwick Chronicles leave the old-fashioned charm of New England far behind and head south for some fiendish faerie fun in the hot Florida sun. Eleven-year-old Nicholas Vargas only thinks his life has been turned upside down after his developer father remarries and moves his new wife and daughter into the soon-to-be completed Mangrove Hollow. But an “expedition” to a nearby lake turns up a little nixie with a giant problem - the huge, lumbering, fire-breathing variety - and it’s up to Nick; his stepsister, Laurie; and his big brother, Julian (plus a familiar face from the original Spiderwick Chronicles) to figure out the best way to stop a host of rampaging giants before all of Florida goes up in smoke.

L is for Lucky… And that’s just how Lucky O’Leary feels when the lottery ticket his grandfather sends him for Christmas turns out to be a million-dollar winner! But before Lucky can cash it in, someone sneaks into his house and steals it. Now it’s up to Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose to track down the thief and return the ticket… before Lucky loses out!