The Naked Mole-rat Letters by Mary Amato

Grades 5-6

Committee Annotation:
While on a trip to Washington, D.C., Frankie's dad meets a female zoo keeper whom he seems to like. Frankie, however, is pretty sure that a few fake emails from her will end the relationship.

Subjects: Humor, honesty, fathers and daughters, grief, parental dating, privacy, email, diaries.

Author web site: http://www.maryamato.com/

Blood on the River: Jamestown 1607 by Elisa Lynn Carbone

Grades 5-6

Committee Annotation:
Samuel Collier is bound for the New World of James Town in 1606 as Captain James Smith's servant. Follow his true, grueling adventures as he attempts to survive seasickness, treachery, raids, death and disease.

Subjects: Historical fiction, orphan, Colonial Life, Jamestown, Virginia, survival, Powhatan Indians, destruction of culture, primary sources.

Author web site: none

Free Baseball by Sue Corbett

Grades 4-6

Committee Annotation:
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a bat boy or girl for a minor baseball league team? The Miracles offer Felix his dream job, but what will happen when his mother discovers that the team is not near their home?

Subjects: Minor league baseball, bat boys and girls, Cuban-Americans, single-parent family, family secrets.

Author web site: http://www.suecorbett.com/

The Sloppy Copy Slipup by DyAnne DiSalvo

Grades 3-5

Committee Annotation:
Brian worries about how his 4th grade teacher, known as "The General", will react to his not completing his homework.

Subjects: Schools, humor, storytelling, creative writing

Author web site: http://www.dyannedisalvo.com/

Phineas L. MacGuire...Erupts! The First Experiment by Francis O'Roark Dowell

Grades 3-5

Committee Annotation:
Phineas is paired up with an "un-best" friend, who apparently is everybody's "un-best" friend for the upcoming science fair! Will Phineas erupt, or will he and Mac be able to pull off an extraordinary project?

Subjects: Schools, humor, science fair experiments, friendship

Author web site: http://www.francesdowell.com/

Freedon Walkers: The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott by Russell Freedman

Grades 5-6

Committee Annotation:
Rosa Parks wasn't the first person in Montgomery to refuse to give up her seat on the bus. Could your family walk to school, work, and shopping for 381 days in the peaceful fight for their rights?

Subjects: African-Americans, Civil Rights Movement, segregation, race relations, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr., perseverance, cooperation.

About the author web site:
http://www.eduplace.com/kids/hmr/mtai/freedman.html

Panda: a Guide Horse for Ann by Rosanna Hansen

Grades 3-6

Committee Annotation:
Meet Panda, who only weighs 120 pounds and stands 29 inches tall at the shoulder. She's a miniature horse and one of the first of her kind to be trained as a guide animal for the blind.

Subjects: Miniature horses, guide animals, people with disabilities, blindness.

Author web site: none

Owen and Mzee: The True Story of a Remarkable Friendship by Isabella Hatkoff

Grades 3-6

Committee Annotation:
A true story about the friendship of Owen, a baby hippo, and Mzee, a 130- year-old giant tortoise. When the baby hippo is separated from his family during a devastating tsunami, he adopts and is accepted by Mzee as his mother.

Subjects: Hippopotamus, Giant Tortoise, social behaviors of animals, loss, tsunami, Kenya, animal rescue, animal sanctuary.

Subject web site: http://www.owenandmzee.com/omweb/

Penny from Heaven by Jennifer L. Holm

Grades 4-6

Committee Annotation:
The summer of 1953 is full adventure and surprises for twelve-year-old Penny. Her crazy Italian family members always have something to say unless the subject turns to her father's death. In that case, no one will tell Penny the truth.

Subjects: Italian-Americans, single-parent family, parental dating, family secrets, accidents, New Jersey, post-WWII, Brooklyn Dodgers.

Author web site: http://www.jenniferholm.com/

Toys Go Out: Being the Adventures of a Knowledgable Stingray, a Toughy Little Buffalo, and Someone Called Plastic by Emily Jenkins

Grades 3-5

Committee Annotation:
Did you know that your toys and stuffed animals might be up while you sleep, go to school, or go to the beach? Read these stories and be a part of their secret adventures.

Subjects: Fantasy, humor, toys, friendship, adventure, identity, fears, birthdays.

Author web site: none

Onward: a Photobiography of African-American Polar Explorer Matthew Henson by Dolores Johnson

Grades 5-6

Committee Annotation:
Over ice and snow, battling brutal arctic winds, Matthew Henson pushed onward to be the first to the North Pole. He and Robert Peary made 5 expeditions before they reached the pole and gained worldwide recognition.

Subjects: Biography, African-American, racism, explorers, Robert Peary, North Pole, survival, teamwork, Inuits

About the author web site: http://sleuths2die4.thewriters.com/johnson/

The Ghost's Grave by Peg Kehret

Grades 4-6

Committee Annotation:
Josh, shipped off to Great-Great-Aunt Ethel's house, thinks it will be the most boring summer of his life, but, boy is he wrong! He befriends a ghost who needs his help, and, in doing so, puts his own life in danger!

Subjects: Ghost story, friends, Aunts, coal miners, Washington State, cats

Author web site: http://www.pegkehret.com/

Rules by Cynthia Lord

Grades 5-6

Committee Annotation:
In the kid's book, Frog and Toad knew how to be friends, but in real life the rules are more complicated, especially when you have a younger brother with autism.

Subjects: Friendship, brothers and sisters, autism, paraplegic, attitudes towards people with disabilities, communication

Author web site: http://www.cynthialord.com/rules.htm

Oh, rats! The Story of Rats and People by Albert Marrin

Grades 4-6

Committee Annotation:
Forget everything you thought you knew about rats. These campion survivors can claw up brick walls, squeeze through small pipes the width of a quarter, even get flushed down a toilet bowl and survive. Amazing facts and feats.

Subjects: Rats, human-animal relationships, science, behavior, history, folklore, pests, pets, laboratory animals, diseases

Author web site: none

The King of Mulberry Street by Donna Jo Napoli

Grades 5-6

Committee Annotations:
Nine-year-old Dom, a stowaway from Italy, arrives alone in New York in 1892 with only an over-sized pair of shoes. He quickly learns to survive on the streets of New York's Five Points neighborhood.

Subjects: Historical fiction, 1890's, Italian-Americans, Jewish-Americans, New York City, Immigrants, Ellis Island, prejudice, poverty, survival, mothers and sons, street children, friendship

Author web site: http://www.donnajonapoli.com/

Cuckoo Feathers by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

Grades 3-4

Committee Annotation:
Can Sarah, the idea girl, come up with a plan to keep her pigeons living on her balcony and save the eggs in their nest?

Subjects: Pigeons, apartment houses, multicultural neighbors, Chicago

About the author web site:

http://www.simonsays.com/content/feature.cfm?sid=510&feature_id=450

Clementine by Sara Pennypacker

Grades 3-5

Committee Annotation:
8-year-old Clementine is having a "not so good of a week." She has given her best friend a drastic makeover involving scissors and a permanent marker, she and her Dad are losing the Great Pigeon War, and her family just might be plotting to get rid of her.

Subjects: Friendship, family life, apartment houses, schools, humor, individuality

Author web site: none

Bella at Midnight by Diane Stanley

Grades 4-6

Committee Annotation:
Raised by peasants, Bella suddenly finds that she is of noble birth and must live in the castle with her arrogant father and his new wife. She uncovers a plot to break the peace which would mean the death of her childhood friend Prince Julian.

Subjects: Fantasy, folklore, Cinderella, quests, Royalty, peasants, Foster families, loyalty, courage, varying points of view and voices

Author web site: http://www.dianestanley.com/

The Coastwatcher by Elise Weston

Grades 4-6

Committee Annotation:
11-year- old Hugh and his family in South Carolina to escape the polio epidemic in 1943. He spots a German submarine and soon uncovers a German plot to sabotage a nearby naval base.

Subjects: Historical fiction, WWII, South Carolina, mystery, family life, polio

Author web site: none

Bear Dancer: Story of a Ute Girl by Thelma Hatch Weiss

Grades 4-6

Committee Annotation:
Elk Girl is strong and clever. When she is captured and held prisoner by Cheyenne warriors, then traded to the Arapaho, she does not know if she will ever see the Ute people and her brother, Chief Ouray, again.

Subjects: Historical fiction, 1860's, Tabeguache Ute, Cheyenne, Colorado, captivity, survival, tribal life, destruction of culture

Author web site: none