Grade: 5

Esperanza’s life takes a turn when her father is killed on their ranch in Mexico. She has been used to fancy clothes and a lovely home with servants. Suddenly she finds herself living in Central California in a one-room shack with another family, working along with migrant farm workers. Esperanza learns about surviving and that family and community hold riches of their own.

8 popular tales: The Story of Deirdre, The Fate of the Children of Lir, Morraha, five others. For young and old alike-eight captivating tales filled with whimsy, charm and magic: The Fate of the Children of Lir, The Shepherd of Middvai, Beth Gellert, The Tale of Ivan, Morraha, The Story of Deirdre, The Llanfabon Changeling, and The Sea-Maiden. Reset in large, easy-to-read type.

“Hope is the thing with feathers” starts the poem Frannie is reading inschool. Frannie hasn’t thought much about hope. There are so many other things to think about. Each day, her friend Samantha seems a bit more “holy.” There is a new boy in class everyone is calling the Jesus Boy. And although the new boy looks like a white kid, he says he’s not white. Who is he?

During a winter full of surprises, good and bad, Frannie starts seeing a lot of things in a new light—her brother Sean’s deafness, her mother’s fear, the class bully’s anger, her best friend’s faith and her own desire for “the thing with feathers.”

Jacqueline Woodson once again takes readers on a journey into a young girl’s heart and reveals the pain and the joy of learning to look beneath the surface.

There is peace at last between the warrior Clans, and Firestar is proud of the strength and unity of the cats he leads in ThunderClan. All four forest Clans are thriving, training new warriors and keeping their boundaries without conflict. But Firestar’s dreams are haunted by wailing cats fleeing a terrible disaster. With unexpected help from an old kittypet friend, he discovers a shocking secret: StarClan, the warrior ancestors who guide his paw steps, have lied to him. Firestar is faced with the hardest decision of his life. Can he really turn his back on the forest that has become his home and embark on a perilous quest to discover a dark truth—one that has been buried beyond the memory of living cats? Whatever he finds at the end of his journey, he knows that nothing can ever be the same again.

Stanley might be flat, but his story sure isn’t. This is the first in a series of books about a boy who is flattened to a mere half inch of thickness by his bulletin board. Quicker than you can say, “poor Stanley,” he discovers life as a pancake does have its advantages. Stanley can slip under locked doors, fly like a kite, and get to California cheaply via U.S. mail. Despite his exciting adventures, like helping capture art thieves, Stanley eventually wants to be normal thickness again. Stanley’s brother finds a way to help him out. The back of the book has a cardboard Stanley for kids to cut out and mail to their friends. Send Stanley on some new adventures!

A nine-year-old slave, Corey Birdsong, writes about his daily life in his journal. Journal entries become more suspenseful as he and his mother escape and make the dangerous journey north along the Underground Railroad. Photos and historical references give this fictional journal a sense of real history. (Don’t be put off by Corey’s spelling mistakes — he does improve!)

In this salute to California, you’ll find an alphabet of things — from Alcatraz to Zorro — that represent the Golden State. Each illustrated spread includes a short rhyme and an in-depth explanation of the item associated with that letter and its place in California history. With both types of text, students of all reading levels will get something out of this book. Look for other state books by the same publisher, including ones about Texas, Vermont, Alaska, and Michigan.

A is for Abacus. L is for Light-year. And W is for “When are we ever gonna use this stuff, anyway?” This oversized reference book offers a different mathematical word or idea for each letter of the alphabet. Every letter is accompanied by several paragraphs of fascinating discussion and fun, watercolor drawings. This book entertains as it teaches, and it will appeal to math mavens and math phobics alike!