Grade: 6

Orphan Urchin never intended to be a swashbuckling squirrel. Abandoned at birth on a Mistmantle beach, this mild-mannered acorn hunter was raised by the island’s squirrels, otters, and moles. He gains entrance into the royal court, thanks to the support of his hero, the dashing Captain Crispin. But something is wrong in the peaceful kingdom of Mismantle. Under the influence of the squirrel captain Husk, the King is enforcing severe measures against his people. Crispin himself is falsely accused of a horrific murder and banished. Can little Urchin, a mere smidgen squirrel, defend his master and his people?

Vendela is fascinated by Venice, a “fairy tale city” where streets are canals, and cars are boats. On her trip there with her father, she wants to see everything, especially the gilded horses at St. Mark’s Church. Readers will learn about the arts, crafts, food, history, and culture of this fascinating city. Illustrated with paintings and photographs, Vendela in Venice is a young girl’s story, a history book, and a travel guide!

Through intimate photographs, poetry, and interviews, children of migrant farmworkers tell their stories. A nine-year-old boy talks about the long hours in the fields. A ten-year-old describes living in crowded migrant housing. Nine different voices tell about gangs, discrimination, language barriers, and strong family ties.

In the tradition of his best-selling alphabet book, Animalia, author and illustrator GraemeBase takes young readers on an exhilarating journey of discovery with an ingenious fusion of counting book, puzzle book, storybook, and art book. From the plains of Africa and the jungles of the Amazon to the woodlands of North America and the deserts of outback Australia, the animals come together to drink from the water hole. But their water supply is diminishing. What’s going on? Each sumptuous landscape illustration conceals hidden animal pictures for readers to find as they count the animals that visit the water hole and try to solve the mystery: will the animals come back or is their water source gone forever?

Wesley, who has no friends or interest in sports, plants a special seed in his backyard to create a unique summer project–his own civilization. He uses the plants that grow to make new foods and clothes, and, before long, he’s even making insect repellent and musical instruments. Wesley also devises his own number system and language, and his once scornful schoolmates now clamor to join him in Weslandia.

Meet What-the-Dickens, a rogue tooth fairy and one of Gregory Maguire’s most captivating characters ever! When ten-year-old Dinah and her two siblings are trapped by a terrible storm, cousin Gage keeps their spirits up with an unlikely story — that skibbereen, aka tooth fairies, live in warring colonies right in your neighborhood. Dinah is skeptical at first, but when the real world seems unbearable, stories told by candlelight have a way of becoming real. Dinah starts to — and wants to — believe. Don’t we all?

Come in . . . for where the sidewalk ends, Shel Silverstein’s world begins. You’ll meet a boy who turns into a TV set, and a girl who eats a whale. The Unicorn and the Bloath live there, and so does Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout who will not take the garbage out. It is a place where you wash your shadow and plant diamond gardens, a place where shoes fly, sisters are auctioned off, and crocodiles go to the dentist. Shel Silverstein’s masterful collection of poems and drawings is at once outrageously funny and profound.