Book Finder

Through a fictionalized diary of young girl, the difficult journey to a new world, the difficulties as well as the successes unfold. This highly readable account presents the Mayflower and its landing with humor and hope.

Moss is unhappy that his father has invited peculiarly dressed strangers to a feast and so runs away for a time. He encounters a girl named Trouble as well as a porcupine which propels his growth. This Thanksgiving story told from the Native perspective may require a slightly more sophisticated reader.

What might the first Thanksgiving been like? Visit a recreation in photographs taken at the living museum, Plymouth Plantation (Massachusetts), accompanied by an informative narration in this attractive dramatization.

When a snowstorm prevents most of Gaby and Beto’s relatives from getting to the Thanksgiving feast, their grandmother comes with a group of people who make the celebration truly something special.

According to his new motto, “A Writer’s Job Is to Turn His Worst Experiences Into Money,” Jack Henry is going to be filthy rich even before he gets out of junior high, for his life is filled with the worst experiences imaginable. In the course of the few months Jack is humiliated by a gorgeous synchronized swimmer, gets a tattoo the size of an ant on his big toe, flubs an IQ test and nearly fails wood shop, and has to dig up his dead dog not once but twice. And that’s not the half of it.

It is the summer after sixth grade and Jack and his offbeat family have relocated to Barbados. But even in a tropical paradise, Jack is plagued by misadventure.

Jack’s life is a crazy roller-coaster ride. At his fifth school in six years, he has a crackpot teacher who wont give him a break about his lousy handwriting and a secret crush who wants to be a policewoman. At home, he has a pesky little brother with a knack for breaking an arm whenever Jack’s supposed to be looking after him, a terror for an older sister, all sorts of weird neighbors, and, last but not least, ferocious alligators in the canal behind his house.

Inspired by the author’s childhood diaries, this collection of Jack Henry stories depicts a fifth-grade year to end all fifth-grade years. Living in a Miami rental home with a busy railroad track running a stone’s throw from the backyard, Jack is plagued by a know-it-all older sister, a bizarre Francophile teacher, a series of crazed cats, a slightly off-kilter father, a tapeworm, and a pair of escaped convicts — to name just a few of his antagonists.

Lonely and isolated, Lucy and Ezra build a robot that comes alive to become the Robot King. The Robot King leads the children on a fantastic, almost surreal adventure until the children return home when they see their father. Handsome illustrations make a complicated tale become tangible and real.

Because of a mix-up, best doll friends Annabelle and Tiffany are sent to the wrong house where they must deal with Mimi, a doll who thinks she’s the queen of all and whose behavior is perfectly ghastly. Readers who were first introduced to these characters in Doll People will enjoy seeing them again.

When he was 10 years old, Victor wanted to be just like master magician Harry Houdini. For years Victor did not realize what magic he held in his hands with a box initialed “E.W.” What happened years later when Victor discovered that Houdini’s given name was Ehrick Weiss creates a plausible and captivating glimpse at a major historical figure.

Though only 10 years old, Alonzo King wants to be the “boy of a thousand faces” just like his favorite actor Lon Chaney is the “man of a thousand faces” in the horror movies that Alonzo watches on late-night television. As Halloween approaches, Alonzo becomes an expert in using make-up and knowledge of The Beast.

When Beaver arrives at Turtle’s pond home, Turtle graciously offers to share the space. Instead, Beaver challenges her to a race and Turtle decides to take charge of the matter. Beaver — and listeners — will gain insight and want to participate in the lively telling as they gain clues from the animated, colorful illustrations.

Watching a raccoon’s unwieldy movements, you’d think that it always walked that way. Not so, according to an Abenaki tale, vividly retold and illustrated by this father & son duo. Learn how Azban, a self-absorbed, conceited raccoon is responsible for the way all raccoons move as they do in this humorous and engaging tale.

An old Inuit woman takes in a polar bear cub and raises him until others in the village become jealous of the bear’s hunting prowess, threatening to kill him. The old woman sends her beloved bear away, but continues to meet him far out on the ice where her polar bear “son” gives her food to eat. The gentle telling and illustrations evoke the Arctic.

This retelling of a Navajo folktale explains how First Woman tried to write the laws of the land using stars in the sky, only to be thwarted by the trickster Coyote.

A child narrates how a much loved cat, Woogie, brings good luck to her family. When Woogie is lost, its luck may have run out — but the resolution is luckily both satisfying and happy. Richly hued illustrations add authentic details to a universally appealing story set within a Native American family and told by a Muskogee-Creek writer.

To Dance is a graphical memoir of Siena Cherson Siegel, a young girl growing up in Puerto Rico who eventually came to New York to study with the School of American Ballet. It captures the passion of the artist, as well as the discipline needed to succeed. To Dance won a 2007 Robert F. Sibert Book Award honor as one of the best informational books for young people.

Image and text combine in a unique presentation to tell the story of an orphan boy who lives between the walls of a Paris train station and repairs its clocks. Monochromatic illustrations change perspective and move in and out, and alternate with text to tell this mysterious, breathtaking, and riveting tale. Winner of the 2008 Caldecott Medal. (2008 Caldecott Medal Winner)

For years, sixteen-year-old Hattie’s been shuttled between relatives. Tired of being Hattie Here-and-There, she courageously leaves Iowa to prove up on her late uncle’s homestead claim in Montana. Despite many hardships, Hattie forges ahead, sharing her adventures with her friends through letters and articles for her hometown paper.

Aided by an army of beachcombers, oceanographer Dr. Curtis Ebbesmeyer tracks trash in the name of science. From sneakers to hockey gloves, Curt monitors the watery fate of human-made cargo that has spilled into the ocean. The information he collects is much more than casual news; it is important scientific data that is used to understand and protect our ocean.

This spy history features cool gadgets and the stories of famous spies, as well as the fictional spies we know through movies and books.