Grade: 3

Here are more trickster tales. Uncle Remus narrates these entertaining stories about a wily rabbit, who tries to outsmart every big and little critter around. Lester adds just enough dialect to keep in touch with the spirit of these adventures which feature Brer Rabbit, his friends–and enemies.

Another fairy tale to share is this story of kind, gentle Blanche. She must do all the work for her bossy mother and sister, until one day an old woman comes along and changes everything. Pinkney’s stunning watercolors add a touch of magic to this Creole version of Cinderella.

A wolf named Tempesto huffs and puffs in this wildly comic retelling of an old favorite. (”Open up, Pork Chop, or I’ll flatten this dump!”) In this rendition, the three pigs, Percy, Pete, and Prudence, and their mama, Serafina Sow, enjoy a thriving waffle business until one morning when Tempesto shows up with a taste for more than waffles. Children will cheer the pigs’ efforts to outwit the surly creature and comb the pictures for Kellogg’s hilarious visual nuances. The story might also motivate a comparison of Kellogg’s retelling with the traditional story and other variations, such as Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith’s The True Story of the Three Little Pigs (Viking).

Aloo-ki’s quiet morning of fishing comes to an abrupt when she realizes that her loyal sled dogs have become stranded on an ice floe. Running for help, the young girl soon finds an igloo, but it is empty, its polar bear inhabitants off on a pre-breakfast stroll. Hungry herself, Aloo-ki decides to sample the goodies and then, sated, settles down for a comfy nap. When she awakes, she and the reader will make several happy discoveries. Perfect bedtime reading.

Bill Martin, Jr., a master of rhyme leads children through the seasons in this picture book in verse, celebrating the wonders of each month. Greg Shed’s vibrant paintings cast a golden glow on an exuberant brother and sister as they go through the turning seasons–building a January snowman, floating paper boats in the thawing streams of March, splashing through April puddles, and delighting in the wild plums and sun-kissed fields of summer. A December snowfall completes the cycle, warning, “Get ready for a winter morning!”

Two half brothers led parallel lives in a village. The mean brother lived in a large home full of fine things. The cheerful brother — a humble farmer — was a man of meager means. When the farmer finds a giant turnip growing among his crops, he gives it to the royal family. As a reward, the king makes him a royal gardener. Upon learning this, his greedy brother brings the king an enormous ruby. Instead of earning a royal position, he earns his just reward — a giant-sized slice of the turnip! In this tale, an ordinary turnip is an extraordinary gift because it is given without expecting one in return.

“I was born at the beginning of it all, on the Red side—the Communist side—of the Iron Curtain.” Through annotated illustrations, journals, maps, and dreamscapes, Peter Sís shows what life was like for a child who loved to draw, proudly wore the red scarf of a Young Pioneer, stood guard at the giant statue of Stalin, and believed whatever he was told to believe. But adolescence brought questions. Cracks began to appear in the Iron Curtain, and news from the West slowly filtered into the country. Sís learned about beat poetry, rock ’n’ roll, blue jeans, and Coca-Cola. He let his hair grow long, secretly read banned books, and joined a rock band. Then came the Prague Spring of 1968, and for a teenager who wanted to see the world and meet the Beatles, this was a magical time. It was short-lived, however, brought to a sudden and brutal end by the Soviet-led invasion. But this brief flowering had provided a glimpse of new possibilities—creativity could be discouraged but not easily killed. By joining memory and history, Sís takes us on his extraordinary journey: from infant with paintbrush in hand to young man borne aloft by the wings of his art.

Gary D. Schmidt offers an unforgettable antihero in THE WEDNESDAY WARS—a wonderfully witty and compelling novel about a teenage boy’s mishaps and adventures over the course of the 1967–68 school year.

Meet Holling Hoodhood, a seventh-grader at Camillo Junior High, who must spend Wednesday afternoons with his teacher, Mrs. Baker, while the rest of the class has religious instruction. Mrs. Baker doesn’t like Holling—he’s sure of it. Why else would she make him read the plays of William Shakespeare outside class? But everyone has bigger things to worry about, like Vietnam. His father wants Holling and his sister to be on their best behavior: the success of his business depends on it. But how can Holling stay out of trouble when he has so much to contend with? A bully demanding cream puffs; angry rats; and a baseball hero signing autographs the very same night Holling has to appear in a play in yellow tights! As fate sneaks up on him again and again, Holling finds Motivation—the Big M—in the most unexpected places and musters up the courage to embrace his destiny, in spite of himself.