Virginia Readers Choice Books

Elementary

2005- 2006

This wonderfully illustrated story is based upon the experiences of the author's mother who sent a box with toothpaste, soap and socks, along with a note, to Europe after World War II. The European people were in desperate need of food, warm clothing and personal items. Many Americans sent boxes packed with goods to those in need.

Katje was a little girl who lived in the Dutch town of Olst where the people were suffering during the aftermath of the war. When Katje received a box from a child in the United States, she and her family generously shared the contents with their neighbors.

She wrote a letter of thanks to Rosie, the young girl who sent the package, and Rosie and her family and friends responded with more boxes. Katje, her mother, and her neighbors were finally able to send a box to Rosie in return.

AR RL 3.5 / .5 pt.

Bird's classmates make fun of her clothes, as well as of the new boy, Harlem, giving the sixth grader reason to try to make friends with him.

She and her neighbor Miss Delphine take a pie over to the apartment above the tattoo parlor where he lives with Mr. Moody, who collects cans for a living. Harlem's mother has sent her son to live with his father, whom he cannot recall ever meeting, because her latest husband does not like him. Bird is unable to reach Harlem until she convinces him to be her partner in the school spelling bee.

She dreams of winning a trip to Disney World and of gaining "fame and glory." Through numerous practice sessions, the two build a friendship but, unbeknownst to Bird, Harlem has poor eyesight, and during the contest he cannot see words printed on an easel.

AR RL 4.3 / 3 pts.

Eleven-year-old Gregor anticipates a long, boring summer babysitting his two-year-old sister, Boots, and keeping an eye on Grandma, until he heads down to the cellar of his apartment building to do the laundry. He is distracted, thinking about his father, who disappeared almost three years ago, and just as he puts a load of clothes in the dryer, his sister crawls into an air vent. A strange wisp of steam curls around Boots and suddenly she is gone. Terrified, Gregor dives through the air shaft after her only to find himself falling endlessly down into a frightening and dangerous world inhabited by giant bats, cockroaches, and rats. Befriended by a group of humans, he finds that his arrival has been expected- Gregor alone possesses the power to defeat the rats and save the kingdom of Regalia. Will he also find his father?

AR RL 4.8 / 8 pts.

Ben Watson has been shuffled from foster home to foster home since he was 5 years old. Seven homes in six years. Now, at the age of 11, Ben’s just arrived at home number eight.

But he’s finding it hard to blank out the Torgles, his new foster parents, and their house full of strays: the 7-year-old twins, Kate and Jango, and the baby, Grover G. Graham. Grover’s just over a year old and always getting into trouble, but Ben can’t help liking the little guy — especially since Grover was abandoned by his teenage mother, just like Ben was. The only difference is that Grover’s mother, Tracey, is still trying to get custody of her child.

But Ben is convinced Tracey will abandon Grover again. So when he gets the chance to escape from the system, Ben takes it. And he takes Grover with him.

AR RL 3.7 / 5 pts.

In the introduction, Levine promises that the suitcase contains "terrible sadness and great joy."

At a Holocaust education center in Tokyo, Japan, the club members' are committed to "building peace”. Fumiko Ishioka obtains for the club some children's artifacts from Auschwitz, including a suitcase marked with Hana Brady's name. The children wonder what happened to the owner of the small suitcase on display, so the director sets out to find the answer. She tries to find out everything she can about Hana.

The action moves between Tokyo and Czechoslovakia as they work to solve the mystery.

AR RL 5.0 / 2 pts.

After losing his job, Michael's father surprises the family by purchasing a yacht in which they will sail around the world. In the first weeks at sea, Michael, his parents, and his dog, Stella, zigzag from England to Australia and across the Coral Sea.

In the middle of the night, Michael and Stella are swept overboard in a fierce storm, and he later awakens on an island beach. The island is a hostile jungle full of howling gibbons, voracious mosquitoes, and brutal heat.

When he finds fresh water and food mysteriously laid out for him each morning, he realizes that he is not alone. He soon comes face-to-face with Kensuke, an old Japanese soldier who has lived on the island since the bombing of his native Nagasaki.

AR RL 4.7 / 5 pts.

Eleven-year-old Lonnie ("Locomotion") starts his poem book for school by getting it all down fast: "This whole book’s a poem ’cause every time I try to / tell the whole story my mind goes Be quiet! / Only it’s not my mind’s voice, / it’s Miss Edna’s over and over and over / Be quiet! . . . So this whole book’s a poem because poetry’s short and / this whole book’s a poem ’cause Ms. Marcus says / write it down before it leaves your brain."

Lonnie tells readers more, little by little, about his foster mother Miss Edna, his teacher Ms. Marcus, his classmates, and the fire that killed his parents and separated him from his sister.

AR RL 4.7 / 2 pts.

Franny and her family have just relocated to Baltimore, Almost immediately, the fifth grader notices that practically everyone in her new school is crazy about Jelly Worms candy, made popular by the latest title in the "Chillers" series of horror novels that is making the rounds.

She becomes convinced that the books are responsible for the headache and seizure epidemics in Park Place Intermediate School. First, a virus seemingly strikes only those who have read the next book in the series. Then, Sinister Serpent Surprise is published and an epidemic of snakelike behavior sweeps through schools across America.

She convinces her new friend, Beamer, to help her figure out how to find the author, I. M. Fine.

AR RL 4.5 / 6 pts.

Sukie is worried -- her parents are acting strange. When she runs in the house, her dad asks, "If all your friends jumped off a bridge, would you jump off a bridge too?" When she eats peas with her fingers, Mom yells, "You'll put an eye out with that thing! "What is going on? Have her parents been replaced by aliens? Are they robots with broken circuits? She and her older brothers decide to investigate. And what they discover leads to a kids-against-parents WAR!

AR RL 4.1 / 1 pt.

When his parents go on a cruise in late October, eight-year-old Ruddy has to stay in Grandmother Silk's big old house in Silver Lake. Ruddy is not pleased, especially about missing Halloween.

This grandmother has "designer hair," wears high heels around the house, calls him Rudford, doesn't like loud noises, and, in general, isn't much fun. Her cook prepares meals and her gardener drives her to town.

When a sudden, furious snowstorm hits the woman's remote country home, the power goes out, a tree tumbles down, and the roads are closed, leaving Ruddy and his grandmother to fend for themselves.

AR RL 4.2 / 1 pt.