Fourth and Fifth Graders
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The World Made New: Why the Age of Exploration Happened & How It Changed the World
Describes how the discoveries made by the Europeans around the time of Columbus changed the world. |
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Macaroni Boy
In Pittsburgh in 1933, sixth-grader Mike Costa notices a connection between several strange occurrences, but the only way he can find out the truth about what's happening is to be nice to the class bully. Includes historical facts. |
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Lenny's Space
Nine-year-old Lenny gets in trouble and has no friends because he cannot control himself in school and his interests are not like those of his classmates, until he starts visiting Muriel, a counselor, and meets Van, a boy his age who has leukemia. |
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Egypt: In Spectacular Cross-Section
Follow the 30-day voyage of 11-year-old Dedia and his father as they sail down the Nile River in 1230 B.C. Visit the bustling harbor at Elephantine, the massive stone quarry at Gebel el-Silsila, the Valley of the Kings, and Ramses' lavish palace at Piramesse. |
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The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy
While vacationing with their widowed father in the Berkshire Mountains, four lovable sisters, ages four through twelve, share adventures with a local boy, much to the dismay of his snobbish mother. |
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A Week in the Woods
The fifth grade's annual camping trip in the woods tests Mark's survival skills and his ability to relate to a teacher who seems out to get him. |
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Sahara Special
Struggling with school and her feelings since her father left, Sahara gets a fresh start with a new and unique teacher who supports her writing talents and the individuality of each of her classmates. |
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Bud, Not Buddy
Ten-year-old Bud, a motherless boy living in Flint, Michigan, during the Great Depression, escapes a bad foster home and sets out in search of the man he believes to be his father--the renowned bandleader, H.E. Calloway of Grand Rapids. |
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Because of Winn-Dixie
Ten-year-old India Opal Buloni describes her first summer in the town of Naomi, Florida, and all the good things that happen to her because of her big ugly dog Winn-Dixie. |
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The Field Guide
When the Grace children go to stay at their Great Aunt Lucinda's worn Victorian house, they discover a field guide to fairies and other creatures and begin to have some unusual experiences. |
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Dougal Dixon's Amazing Dinosaurs: The Fiercest, the Tallest, the Toughest, the Smallest
No summary available. |
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Half Magic
Faced with a dull summer in the city, Jane, Mark, Katharine, and Martha suddenly find themselves involved in a series of extraordinary adventures after Jane discovers an ordinary-looking coin that seems to grant wishes. |
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The Broken Bike Boy and the Queen of 33rd Street
Ten-year-old Queen, a spoiled and conceited African American girl who is disliked by most of her classmates, learns a lesson about friendship from an unlikely "knight in shining armor." |
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Dragon Rider
After learning that humans are headed toward his hidden home, Firedrake, a silver dragon, is joined by a brownie and an orphan boy in a quest to find the legendary valley known as the Rim of Heaven, encountering friendly and unfriendly creatures along the way, and struggling to evade the relentless pursuit of an old enemy. |
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Julie of the Wolves
While running away from home and an unwanted marriage, a thirteen-year-old Eskimo girl becomes lost on the North Slope of Alaska and is befriended by a wolf pack. |
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Eleven
When Sam, who can barely read, discovers an old newspaper clipping just before his eleventh birthday, it brings forth memories from his past, and, with the help of a new friend at school and the castle they are building for a school project, his questions are eventually answered. |
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Merlin and the Making of the King
A retelling of four Arthurian legends, "The Sword in the Stone," "Excalibur," "The Lady of the Lake," and "The Last Great Battle," which feature Merlin, King Arthur, and other familiar figures. |
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Babymouse: Queen of the World!
An imaginative mouse dreams of being queen of the world, but will settle for an invitation to the most popular girl's slumber party. |
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Journey to the River Sea
Sent with her governess to live with the dreadful Carter family in exotic Brazil in 1910, Maia endures many hardships before fulfilling her dream of exploring the Amazon River. |
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A Kick in the Head
Presents a selection of children's poetry which illustrates the different forms of poetry, including sonnet, couplet, ballad, elegy, and ode. |
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Travel Team
After he is cut from his travel basketball team--the very same team that his father once led to national prominence--twelve-year-old Danny Walker forms his own team of cast-offs that might have a shot at victory. |
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Fish
As fighting closes in on the village where Tiger's parents have been working, the three of them and a mysterious guide set out on a difficult journey to safety. |
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The Man-Eating Tigers of Sundarbans
A tale about the author's trip to the flooded forest of the Sundarbans Tiger Reserve expels the myths and attempts to explain the science behind the behavior of the man-eating tigers which inhabit this mangrove swamp. |
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How To Steal a Dog
Living in the family car in their small North Carolina town after their father leaves them virtually penniless, Georgina, desperate to improve their situation and unwilling to accept her overworked mother's calls for patience, persuades her younger brother to help her in an elaborate scheme to get money by stealing a dog and then claiming the reward that the owners are bound to offer. |
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Sharks! Strange and Wonderful
Dramatic, factual illustrations accompany facts about sharks. |
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Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!: Voices from a Medieval Village
A collection of short one-person plays featuring characters, between ten and fifteen years old, who live in or near a thirteenth-century English manor. |
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More true lies : 18 tales for you to judge
Presents a collection of eighteen brief folktales, told as "story-riddles," in which the reader is asked to explain how the folk character lied and told the truth at the same time. |
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The Invention of Hugo Cabret
When twelve-year-old Hugo, an orphan living and repairing clocks within the walls of a Paris train station in 1931, meets a mysterious toyseller and his goddaughter, his undercover life and his biggest secret are jeopardized. |
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Venom
Learn about venom and the animals that produce it and use it to survive, including spiders, insects, snakes and other reptiles, frogs and toads, fish, and ocean invertebrates. |
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Fossil Fish Found Alive
Describes the 1938 discovery of the coelacanth, a fish previously believed to be extinct, and subsequent research about it. |

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