Books for Grade 2-5 recommended by 'Reading together'

After the death of his grandmother, ten-year-old Spoon tries to find the perfect artifact to preserve his memories of her.

Pandora the cat becomes a lighthouse keeper and saves the life of Seabold the dog, and together the two of them create a family with three young mice rescued from the sea.

Balto has a quiet life as a sled dog--until tragedy strikes. Dozens of children in Nome become sick with diphtheria. Without antitoxin serum, they will perish--and the closest supply is 650 miles away! The only way to get the serum to Nome is by sled, but can the dogs deliver it in time? Heading bravely into a brutal blizzard, Balto leads the race for life.A Kansas City Children's Book Award for Grades 1--3From the Trade Paperback edition.

***A shout comes echoing up the stairway. "Fetch the whipping boy!"*** **A young orphan named Jemmy rouses from his sleep.** "Ain't I already been whipped twice today? Gaw! What's the prince done now?" It was forbidden to spank, thrash, or whack the heir to the throne. **Jemmy had been plucked from the streets to serve as whipping boy to the arrogant and spiteful Prince Brat.** Dreaming of running away, Jemmy finds himself trapped in Prince Brat's own dream at once brash and perilous. ***In this briskly told tale of high adventure, taut with suspense and rich with colorful characters, the whipping boy and Prince Brat must at last confront each other.*** Award-winning author Sid Fleischman again blends the broadly comic with the deeply compassionate in this memorable novel.

Three mice brothers, ignoring the class system separating the four clans of rodents in their farmhouse, befriend a lower class mouse and form a team to fight cats.

Great read aloud for 2nd or 3rd grade. THe story is about a young boy who tells some imaginative stories, is a little mischievous and very creative. My 3rd graders enjoyed it!

Little Willie hopes to pay the back taxes on his grandfather's farm with the purse from a dog sled race he enters.

All Curtis wants is a dog. At the animal shelter, Curtis falls in love with Sammy, a friendly puppy with curly black fur, floppy ears, a wagging tail, and perfect white teeth. He's the best dog in the whole world. At home, things are different-Sammy steals food and chews sneakers and toys-but Curtis loves him anyway. Then Sammy bites Curtis's mom, and Curtis has to face the fact that Sammy's not perfect after all. Will Curtis have to give Sammy up? Or will he do whatever it takes to keep his dog?

Wonderful childrens book about a little girl named Annabelle who has no parents but is chaperoned and protected by a little white talking dog named Gloria. She is sent to live with an old woman who is not very nice. Annabel finds out she is a fairy from a cat named Belinda and learns she has special abilities which is when the fun begins... This book was my first book i ever read for fun and started my lifelong love of reading. This story has a special place in my heart and I read it every few years. It is my favorite book of all time.

The unexpected delivery of a large crate containing an Antarctic penguin changes the life and fortunes of Mr. Popper, a house painter obsessed by dreams of the Polar regions.

When Sage's spelling and definition of a word reveal her misunderstanding of it to her classmates, she is at first embarrassed but then uses her mistake as inspiration for the vocabulary parade.

With a fresh, simple style, acclaimed author Creech tells a story with enormous heart. Written as a series of free-verse poems, "Love That Dog" shows how one boy finds his own voice with the help of a teacher, a writer, a pencil, some yellow paper, and, of course, a dog. Illustrations.

MEET JAKE DRAKE, KNOW-IT-ALL Jake Drake is excited about Despres Elementary School's first science fair. He wants to win the grand prize: a brand-new Hyper-Cross-Functional Bluntium Twelve computer system. And he really wants to beat the third-grade know-it-alls, Marsha McCall and Kevin Young. The trouble is, to beat the know-it-alls, Jake has to become a know-it-all himself. And he may just lose more than he wins.

Wanda wore the same faded blue dress to school every day. It was always clean but sometimes it looked as though it had been washed and never ironed. Peggy started the game of the dresses when suddenly one day Wanda said, "I have a hundred dresses at home — all lined up in my closet." After that it was fun to stop Wanda on the way to school and ask, "How many dresses did you say you have?" "A hundred," she would answer. Then everyone laughed and Wanda's lips would tight- en as she walked off with one shoulder hunched up in a way none of the girls understood. Wanda did have the hundred dresses, and this is the story of how Peggy and Maddie came to under- stand about them and about what their game had meant to Wanda. This tender and lovely story is illustrated by Louis Slobodkin, winner of the Caldecott Medal for 1944. His illustrations in full color brilliantly convey the feeling and the overtones of the story.

Seven-year-old Louis Armstrong was too poor to buy a real horn. He didn't even go to school. To help his mother pay the rent, Louis had a job. Every day he rode a junk wagon through the streets of New Orleans, playing his tin horn and collecting stuff people didn't want. Then one day the junk wagon passed a pawn shop with a gleaming brass trumpet in the window. . . . A Horn for Louis is perfect for Black History Month. With messages about hard work, persistence, hope, tolerance, cooperation, trust, and friendship, it's perfect for the rest of the year, too!From the Hardcover edition.

Now you, too, can survive anything, anywhere! Lost in the desert? Stuck in quicksand? Confronted by a man-eating tiger? Trapped at a school dance? Fear not, brave reader! With this essential survival guide, you'll find a way to get yourself out of every imaginable predicament, whether it's an avalanche or a zombie invasion! How to survive anything all in one handy book! Inside you'll find out how to treat a snakebite, send an SOS message, track an animal, make a map, and build a ladder. Find out how to survive a school dance, a shopping trip with your mom, a pop quiz, and a shark attack!

Castaway on an uninhabited island, Abel, a very civilized mouse, finds his resourcefulness and endurance tested to the limit as he struggles to survive and return to his home.