Summer Reading List for after 4th grade (incoming 5th graders)
Kike
Perera
ISBN-10: 8434812886
Grade 4-8 A fascinating novel of the Hispanic immigrant experience in the United States. While this is a historical story of Cuban immigrants, it could be the story of any Latin American immigrant child. The difficulties and misunderstandings and the challenges of adjustment and sheer survival in the United States are told with humor and empathy in this first-person narrative. The style is idiomatic, often very funny, and down-to-earth, and will capture the attention of young readers.
Available through: Amazon
Yo, Naomi Leon
Munoz Ryan
ISBN-10: 0439755727
Naomi Soledad León Outlaw has had a lot to contend with in her young life, her name for a start. Then, there are her clothes (sewn in polyester by Gram), her difficulty speaking up, and her status at school as "nobody special." But according to Gram, most problems can be overcome with positive thinking. And with Gram and her little brother, Owen, life at Avocado Acres Trailer Rancho in California is happy and peaceful...until their mother reappears after seven years, stirring up all sorts of questions and challenging Naomi to discover who she really is.
Available through: Amazon
La Señora Frisby y las ratas de NIMH
O’Brien
ISBN-10: 8434816016
There's something very strange about the rats living under the rosebush at the Fitzgibbon farm. But Mrs. Frisby, a widowed mouse with a sick child, is in dire straits and must turn to these exceptional creatures for assistance. Soon she finds herself flying on the back of a crow, slipping sleeping powder into a ferocious cat's dinner dish, and helping 108 brilliant, laboratory-enhanced rats escape to a utopian civilization of their own design, no longer to live "on the edge of somebody else's, like fleas on a dog's back."
This unusual novel, winner of the Newbery Medal (among a host of other accolades) snags the reader on page one and reels in steadily all the way through to the exhilarating conclusion. Robert O'Brien has created a small but complete world in which a mother's concern for her son overpowers her fear of all her natural enemies and allows her to make some extraordinary discoveries along the way. O'Brien's incredible tale, along with Zena Bernstein's appealing ink drawings, ensures that readers will never again look at alley rats and field mice in the same way. (Ages 9 to 12)
Available through: Amazon
Una serie de catastróficas desdichas / A Series of Unfortunate Events
Lemony Snicket
Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire are intelligent children. They are charming, and resourceful, and have pleasant facial features. Unfortunately, they are exceptionally unlucky.
In the first two books alone, the three youngsters encounter a greedy and repulsive villain, itchy clothing, a disastrous fire, a plot to steal their fortune, a lumpy bed, a deadly serpent, a large brass reading lamp, a long knife, and a terrible odour.
In the tradition of great storytellers, from Dickens to Dahl, comes an exquisitely dark comedy that is both literary and irreverent, hilarious and deftly crafted. Never before has a tale of three likeable and unfortunate children been quite so enchanting, or quite so uproariously unhappy.
Ages 10+
Available through: Amazon
Stuart Little
White, Silva
ISBN-10: 1594375542
Gr. 4-6. Readers will welcome this Spanish edition of a beloved tale, first published in 1945, about a two-inch-tall mouse with a big heart and a love for adventure. The fluid text resonates with the original wit and whimsy that marked White's clever intermingling of fantasy and real life. Miguez's joyous translation maintains the author's rhyming play on words by using appropriate substitutions--for example, gorrion, dragon, and raton for the English louse, grouse, and souse. A few Peninsular Spanish pronouns and conjugations (vuestras, podeis, sabreis) won't deter Spanish speakers from the Americas from enjoying Stuart Little's wonderful escapades. Isabel Schon
Available through: Amazon
Un caimán en Nueva York
Muntefering
Can’t find
Babe El Chancito Valient/Babe the Gallant Pig
Dick King-Smith
ISBN: 0613068874
A piglet destined for eventual butchering arrives at the farmyard, is adopted by an old sheep dog, and discovers a special secret to success.
Available through: DirectTextbook.com
Operación rescate /The Great Rescue Operation
ISBN-10: 843481756X
Rambunctious
denizens of Macy's toy department, rodent Marvin the Magnificent and
his mouse cohorts become embroiled in two exciting escapades. Ages 8-12.
Available through: Amazon
El príncipe y el mendigo /The Prince and the Pauper
Twain
ISBN-10: 9872174091
Young London beggar Tom Canty encounters Prince Edward VI, and curious about each other's lives, they switch clothes. They have barely noted their uncanny resemblance to each other when a palace guard seizes the prince in beggar's clothing and throws him into the street. Each follows the other's destiny for a time, unable to right matters until the prince appears at the coronation, and things are straightened out.
Available through: Amazon
Molly Moon
Georgia Byng
Series
Molly Moon is the world’s most miserable orphan, living in a most miserable orphanage. She’s unattractive, undernourished and unloved. Then she discovers a mysterious book on hypnotism, and finds that with a flash of her dazzling eyes, she can make people do anything she wants …
Available through: Amazon
La isla del Tesoro /Treasure Island
Stevenson
ISBN: 987112967X
Set in the days of sail ships and pirates Treasure Island tells of the adventures of Jim Hawkins and his search for the buried treasure of the notorious pirate Captain Flint.
Available through: Amazon
Azabache /Black Beauty
Sewell
ISBN-10: 9500285673
A horse is a horse of course unless of course the horse is Black Beauty. Animal-loving children have been devoted to Black Beauty throughout this century, and no doubt will continue through the next. Although Anna Sewell's classic paints a clear picture of turn-of-the-century London, its message is universal and timeless: animals will serve humans well if they are treated with consideration and kindness.
Available through: Amazon
Escalofríos /Goosebumps
R.L. Stine
Series
Popular Goosebump Series of horror stories. Scary!
Available through: Amazon
Drácula
Stoker
ISBN-10: 9706437649
Reading level: Ages 4-8
Available through: Amazon
Crónicas de Narnia / The Chronicles of Narnia
Lewis
ISBN-10: 0061199001
Viajes al fin del mundo, criaturas fantásticas y batallas épicas entre el bien y el mal—El León, la Bruja y el Ropero es un libro que lo contiene todo—y fue escrito en 1949 por C. S. Lewis. Sin embargo, Lewis no acabó ahí. Seis libros más siguieron, y juntos se dieron a conocer como Las Crónicas de Narnia.
Durante más de cincuenta años, Las Crónicas de Narnia han transcendido el género de la fantasía, formando parte del canon de la literatura clásica. Cada uno de los siete libros es una obra maestra, que sumerge a los lectores en un terreno donde la magia es realidad, y el resultado es un mundo ficticio cuyo ámbito ha fascinado a generaciones.
Esta edición presenta los siete libros en un volumen impresionante.
Available through: Amazon
Un grillo en Times Square / The Cricket in Times Square
ISBN-10: 0374480605
"The story of a musical cricket and his friends, a mouse and a cat of real character, who took up their abode in a Times Square newsstand...Most appealing whimsy with beautiful illustrations by Garth Williams."
Available through: Amazon
El león, la bruja y el armario / The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Lewis
ISBN-10: 8420445649
El presente libro es el primero de la serie, en el que Peter, Susan,
Edmund y Lucy encuentran en el fondo de un armario el camino hacia el
fascinante país de Narnia.
The tale of four London children who step through their wardrobe.
Available through: Amazon
El pirata Garrapata
Munoz Martin
Series
Garrapata is a big bellied ferocious man with a wooden leg and he is the terror of London. But at heart he is a good person. One day he is offered to be the captain of a pirate ship. Garrapata becomes the pirate Garrapata and has thousands of adventures.
Garrapata es un hombre feroz y barrigudo con una pata de palo. Es el terror de Londres. Pero en el fondo es una buena persona. Un día le proponen que capitanee un barco pirata. Garrapata se convierte en el pirata Garrapata y vive mil aventuras.
Available through: Amazon
La casa de la pradera / Little House on the Prairie
Ingalls Wilder
ISBN-10: 8427931956
Alert: This has been cited as a poor translation and there are no other alternatives.
Available through: Amazon
Las brujas
Dahl
ISBN-10: 9870401333
A young boy and
his Norwegian grandmother, who is an expert on wtches, together foil a
witches' plot to destroy the world's children by turning them into mice.
En las Brujas, un niño y su abuela se enfrentan a la terrible Asociación de Brujas de Inglaterra mientras estas, bajo la apariencia de mujeres corientes, celebran su convención anual en un hotel.
Available through: Amazon
El color de mis palabras
Joseph
ISBN-10: 1930332750
When
life gets difficult for Ana Rosa, a twelve-year-old would-be writer
living in a small village in the Dominican Republic, she can depend on
her older brother to make her feel better--until the life-changing
events on her thirteenth birthday.
Available through: Amazon
Castillo del terror / Castle of Terror
Urrea
Series
Lourdes Urrea is a prolific Mexican writer who has written a series of children's horror stories where scary things happen in the castle of terror.
Available through: Amazon
James y el melocotón gigante /James and the Giant Peach
Dahl
ISBN-10: 8420435244
Wonderful adventures abound after James escapes from his fearful aunts by rolling away inside a giant peach.
Available through: Amazon
Charlie y la fábrica de chocolate / Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Dahl
ISBN: 1598200593
Gr. 5-8. Dahl's popular story about five lucky children who win a ticket to Senor Wonka's mysterious chocolate factory is reproduced in a delightful Spanish rendition that maintains the story's excitement, whimsy, and message. Despite the peninsular Spanish pronouns and conjugations (e.g., os imaginais, escuchad), young Spanish speakers from the Americas will celebrate Charlie Bucket's Billete Dorado (Golden Ticket) and his trip into an unforgettable world.
Available through: Amazon
Doble Fudge
Blume
ISBN: 1594378142
His younger brother's obsession with money and the discovery of long-lost cousins Flora and Fauna provide many embarrassing moments for twelve-year-old Peter.
Available through: Amazon
Y entonces llegó un perro
De Jong
ISBN: 8427933975
A stray dog earns a home for himself by protecting a little redhen and her chicks from a preying hawk.
Available through: Amazon
Colibrí
Cameron
ISBN: 0439783496
Kidnapped when she was very young by an unscrupulous man who has forced her to lie and beg to get money, a twelve-year-old Mayan girl endures an abusive life, always wishing she could return to the parents she can hardly remember.
Available through: Amazon
El disco mágico
Jordi Sierra i Fabra
ISBN: 958046264X
Available through: Amazon
El regalo mágico
Nicholasa Mohr
ISBN: 0590502107
When his family moves from the Dominican Republic to New York City, Jaime uses his uncle's magical shell to call up happy memories.
Available through: Amazon
Un fantasma en la casa
Betty Ren Wright
ISBN: 059046860X
Strange things happen when twelve-year-old Sarah is alone in the house with Great Aunt Margaret, who appears to be the victim of a ghost seeking revenge for a death in the past.
Available through: Amazon Palo Alto Library Mountain View Library
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