This list of available titles is arranged in alphabetical order and provides the title, listening level and brief description of the story. Check for these titles at your local library.
| AMAZING GRACE |
By Mary Hoffman
Listening level: Gr. K-3
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Although a classmate says that she cannot play Peter Pan in the school play because she is black, Grace discovers that she can do anything she sets her mind to do. (EB)
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| AMONG THE DOLLS |
By William Sleator
Listening level: Gr. 4-6
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Vicky is reduced to doll size and forced to endure the torment of malicious dolls whose nasty personalities she had created through mistreatment. Behavior control in a psychological spellbinder. Not for the timid. (J)
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| ART IS... |
By Bob Raczka
Listening level: Gr. PS-5
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Identifying artwork ranging from a hand-made quilt to the Leaning Tower of Pisa, this beautiful book will open young reader's eyes to a whole new world. Rhyming text and photographs show that art is much more than just what can be hung on a wall or set on a pedestal, and leaves children with the impression that art is everywhere, not just in museums. (J701)
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| BABE, THE GALLANT PIG |
By Dick King-Smith
Listening level: Gr. 3+
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Farmer Hogget's pig, Babe, has a wonderful talent that brings the farmer a prize at the fair. All cheer Babe in this appealing story. (J)
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| BABY RATTLESNAKE |
By Te Ata
Listening level: Gr. K-4
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Willful Baby Rattlesnake throws tantrums to get his rattle before he's ready, but he misuses it and learns a lesson. (J398.2452796)
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| BAD BEGINNING; A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS |
By Lemony Snicket
Listening level: Gr. 3+
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After the sudden death of their parents, the three Baudelaire children, Violet, Klaus, and Sunny--intelligent, charming, and resourceful, but exceptionally unlucky children--must depend on each other and their wits when it turns out that their distant relative, Count Olaf, is determined to use any means necessary to get their fortune. The first installment of this dark-humored, fast-paced series, "Series of Unfortunate Events." (J)
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| BANDITS'S MOON |
By Sid Fleischman
Listening level: Gr. 2-6
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Twelve-year-old Annyrose relates her adventures riding with the proud and fearless Mexican bandit, Joaquin Murieta, regarded as the Robin Hood of the California Gold Rush. (J)
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| BASEBALL IN APRIL AND OTHER STORIES |
By Gary Soto
Listening level: Gr. 4+
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A collection of eleven short stories focusing on the everyday adventures of Hispanic young people growing up in Fresno, California. (J)
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| BECAUSE OF WINN-DIXIE |
By Kate DiCamillo
Listening level: Gr. 4+
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Ten-year-old India Opal Buloni has just moved to Naomi, Florida, and finds a big, ugly, funny dog in the produce department of a Winn-Dixie grocery store. She names him accordingly and he immediately begins easing her loneliness by helping her make friends who help her come to terms with the fact that her mother has abandoned her and probably won't be back. (J)
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| BECOMING NAOMI LEON |
By Pam Muņoz Ryan
Listening level: Gr. 4+
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Naomi lives with her younger brother Owen and her fiercely practical Gram in a trailer park in California. An unpopular fifth grader, she spends lots of time in the library with the other outcasts and the kind librarian. When Naomi's absent mother resurfaces to claim her, Naomi runs away to Mexico with Gram and Owen in search of her father. (J)
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| THE BEST CHRISTMAS PAGEANT EVER |
By Barbara Robinson
Listening level: Gr. 2-5
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The neighborhood family of rowdies decided to go to Sunday school. What happens provides a hilarious, unusual Christmas story. (J)
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| THE BOXES |
By William Sleator
Listening level: Gr. 5+
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When she opens two boxes left in her care by her mysterious uncle, fifteen-year-old Annie discovers a swarm of telepathic creatures and unleashes a power capable of slowing down time. (J)
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| BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA |
By Katherine Paterson
Listening level: Gr. 4-7
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Two loners share a satisfying friendship in which each introduces the other to new experiences. This poignant Newbery winner is a deeply satisfying story of friendship and the grief of sudden loss. (J)
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| BUBBA THE COWBOY PRINCE, A FRACTURED TEXAS TALE |
By Helen Ketteman
Listening level: Gr. 1-4
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Loosely based on "Cinderella," this story is set in Texas, the fairy godmother is a cow, and the hero, named Bubba, is the stepson of a wicked rancher. (EB)
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| BUNNICULA: A RABBIT TALE OF MYSTERY |
By Deborah Howe
Listening level: Gr. 3-5
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The Monroes add a bunny to their household. All of the other family pets think he is a vampire. The mystery and its consequences make uproarious reading and listening. (J)
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| BY THE GREAT HORN SPOON |
By Sid Fleischman
Listening level: Gr. 3-5
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Arabella's nephew and her butler, Praiseworthy, stow away on a ship to win a fortune for her during the California Gold Rush of 1849. A rollicking adventure with eighteen short chapters. (J)
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| THE CAY |
By Theodore Taylor
Listening level: Gr. 4+
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A blinded American boy and a West Indies Black man, survivors of a torpedoed ship, struggle to survive on a barren Caribbean island. A many-faceted adventure that portrays the class-consciousness and racist attitudes that Philip overcomes through old Timothy. Should be discussed. (J)
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| CHARLOTTE'S WEB |
By E.B. White
Listening level: Gr. 1-4
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A spider named Charlotte and a pig named Wilbur are featured in this beloved story of friendship and the cycle of life. (J)
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| CHASING VERMEER |
By Blue Balliett
Listening level: Gr. 4+
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When strange and seemingly unrelated events start to happen and a precious Vermeer painting disappears, eleven year-olds Petra and Calder combine their talents to solve an international art scandal. An enticing puzzle within a puzzle is included in the illustrations with a secret message hidden there. (J)
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| EL CHINO |
By Allen Say
Listening level: Gr. 3-7
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A biography of Bill Wong, a Chinese American who became a famous bullfighter in Spain. (J92 E3715)
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| CORALINE |
By Neil Gaiman
Listening level: Gr. 4-8
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Not for the feint-of-heart. Looking for excitement, Coraline ventures through a mysterious door into a world that is similar, yet disturbingly different from her own. There she must challenge a gruesome entity in order to save herself, her parents, and the souls of three others. (J)
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| THE CRICKET IN TIMES SQUARE |
By George Selden
Listening level: Gr. 2-5
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When Chester Cricket is unexpectedly transported from Connecticut in a picnic basket, his musical talent brings fame and fortune to the subway-station newspaper stand where he and his manager Tucker Mouse live. (J)
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| THE DARK IS RISING |
By Susan Cooper
Listening level: Gr. 5-8
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On his eleventh birthday, Will Stanton learns he is one of the old ones who must fight the evil forces of the Dark rising to overcome the world. Next in the series is Greenwitch. (J)
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| DEVIL'S ARITHMETIC |
By Jane Yolen
Listening level: Gr. 5+
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Hannah resents stories of her Jewish heritage and of the past. When opening the door during a Passover Seder, she finds herself in Poland during World War II where she experiences the horrors of a concentration camp, and learns why she needs to remember the past. (J)
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| DON'T FIDGET A FEATHER |
By Erica Silverman
Listening level: Gr. 1-4
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Their contest to decide who is the champion of champions almost has disastrous consequences for Gander and Duck. (EB)
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| DRAGON KEEPER |
By Carole Wilkinson
Listening Level: Gr. 3+
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In China in the year 141 B.C., Ping, a slave girl, saves the life of Danzi, an old dragon. Ping then travels with Danzi to safety, knowing that Danzi and his mysterious purple stone are very special. Only when they reach safety does Ping see herself as Danzi sees her, and learns to use the unique talents she alone possesses and fulfills her destiny as Dragon Keeper. (J)
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| ESPERANZA RISING |
By Pam Muñoz Ryan
Listening Level: Gr. 3+
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After her wealthy father dies, 13 year-old Esperanza and her mother are forced to leave their privileged life in Mexico to work in the labor camps of Southern California, where they must learn to adapt to the harsh circumstances facing Mexican farm workers on the eve of the Great Depression. It's a story of a girl's transformation from a sheltered, pampered child to a woman who can take care of herself and others. (J)
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| FALL OF FERGAL, OR NOT SO DINGLY IN THE DELL |
By Philip Ardagh
Listening level: Gr. 4-7
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This agreeably silly book begins with young Fergal McNally plunging to his death from a hotel window (the impoverished McNally siblings have come to the big city to see their sister compete in a typing contest). It's a bit different but definitely funny and even Fergal's death may not be permanent-but I can't say more.
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| FEVER 1793 |
By Laurie Halse Anderson
Listening level: Gr. 6+
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In 1793 the Cook Coffeehouse outside of Philadelphia is a haven for those fleeing from the fever sweeping across the mosquito-infested city. Fourteen-year-old Mattie Cook has just lost her childhood playmate, who also worked in the coffeehouse, to the fever and struggles to keep her family's business and her family alive. (J)
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| THE FIREWORK-MAKERS DAUGHTER |
By Philip Pullman
Listening level: Gr. 3+
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In a country far to the east lives Lila, the strong-willed daughter of a master firework-maker. Her one ambition is to follow in her father's footsteps. She has mastered everything but the one final secret that her father will not share. So, accompanied by her loyal friend and the king's talking white elephant, she sets off on an adventurous and dangerous quest to get the answer. (J)
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| FISH |
By L. S. Matthews
Listening level: Grade 3+
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As fighting closes in on the village where Tiger's parents are foreign aide workers, the three of them and a mysterious guide set out on a difficult journey to safety. Just before they leave, Tiger saves a fish from a fast-drying mud hole and carries it with him as they escape. In the face of hunger, thirst, exhaustion, and dangerous men along the trail, their courage and endurance make a memorable tale.
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| FRINDLE |
By Andrew Clements
Listening level: Gr. 3-6
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Clever Nick Allen likes to keep school interesting. After learning about the origin of words in language arts class, he invents the word "frindle." Soon events spiral out of his control. (J)
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