September 21, 2010

Picture Books for Older Students

All Star! Honus Wagner and the Most Famous Baseball Card Ever by Jane Yolen
The Honus Wagner baseball card is the most valuable baseball card of all time! But he was born poor, ugly, bow-legged, and more suited to shoveling coal in his Pennsylvania mining town than becoming the greatest shortstop of all time. How could it happen? Did those strong arms and fast legs turn him into a Pittsburgh Pirate and one of the game’s most unforgettable players?


 Amelia and Eleanor Go For a Ride by Pam Munoz Ryan
While still dressed in evening gowns, Amelia Earhart and Eleanor Roosevelt go on a night flight above Washington, D.C. on April 1933. Extensively researched, the story contains actual dialogue and facts of the account. Breathtaking illustrations tell the trip of these two American heroines as it might have been.


Baloney (Henry P) by Jon Scieszka
Henry P. Baloney needs to come up with a very good, very believable excuse for being late to szkola yet again--or he's in big trouble with his teacher Miss Bugscuffle. But never fear! Henry has a doozy of a story. You see, it all started when he misplaced his trusty yellow no. zz zimulis. One thing led to another, and before he knew it, he was on a razzo blasting off into space, where he eventually landed on the planet Astrosus.



Baseball Saved Us by Ken Mochizuki
During World War II, a young Japanese-American boy and his family are sent to an internment camp after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Despondent in their desolate surroundings, father and son pull the camp together to build a baseball diamond and form a league.



Black and White by David Macaulay
At first glance, this is a collection of four unrelated stories, each occupying a quarter of every two-page spread, and each a slight enough tale to seem barely worth a book--a boy on a train, parents in a funny mood, a convict's escape and a late commuter train. The magic of Black and White comes not from each story, however, but from the mysterious interactions between them that creates a fifth story.




Cloud Tea Monkeys by Juan Wijnaard
Tashi lives in a tiny village below the tea plantations where her mother earns a living. One day her mother falls ill, and Tashi must pick tea to earn the money for a doctor. But she is too small to reach the tender shoots and the cruel Overseer sends her away empty-handed. Tashi needs a miracle. Then, on the mountains high above the plantation where only monkeys live, something extraordinary happens that will change her life for ever.

Cowboy and Octopus by Jon Scieszka
Peanut butter and jelly. George and Martha. Frog and Toad. Cowboy and . . . Octopus? Yes, that's right. Meet Cowboy and Octopus, the next great pair to become a household name. Cowboy likes beans'n'bacon and bacon'n'beans. Octopus eats raw seafood. Octopus prefers knock-knock jokes, but Cowboy doesn't get them. How will these two ever be friends?

The Composer is Dead by Lemony Snicket 
There's dreadful news from the symphony hall—the composer is dead! If you have ever heard an orchestra play, then you know that musicians are most certainly guilty of something. Where exactly were the violins on the night in question? Did anyone see the harp? Is the trumpet protesting a bit too boisterously? In this perplexing murder mystery, everyone seems to have a motive, everyone has an alibi, and nearly everyone is a musical instrument. But the composer is still dead. Perhaps you can solve the crime yourself. Join the Inspector as he interrogates all the unusual suspects.
Crow Call by Lois Lowry
This is the story of young Liz, her father, and their strained relationship. Dad has been away at WWII for longer than she can remember, and they begin their journey of reconnection through a hunting shirt, cherry pie, tender conversation, and the crow call. This allegorical story shows how, like the birds gathering above, the relationship between the girl and her father is graced with the chance to fly
The Frog Prince Continued by Jon Scieszka
After the Princess kissed the frog, he turned into a handsome prince and they lived happily ever after... or did they?
The Princess can't stand the Prince's froggy habits - the way he hops around on the furniture, or sneaks off to the lily pond. The Prince is unhappy, too, and decides that it would be best if he were changed back to a frog. But finding a witch who will do the job is harder than he expects.
The Garden of Abdul Gasazi by Chris Van Allsburg
Alan accidentally allows Miss Hester's dog Fritz to enter a magician's garden and is horrified when he thinks Fritz has been turned into a duck.
The Girl on the High Diving Horse by Linda High
Ivy Cordelia is plain lucky. It's the summer of 1936, and she gets to stay in Atlantic City all summer long, where there's so much to see: boxing kangaroos, human cannonballs, card-playing cats . . . and high-diving horses! If there's anyone luckier than she is, it must be the girl on the high-diving horse, who daily performs her dangerous-looking act while the crowd cheers. Ivy's dream is to be that girl. But could she ever be that brave?



 
Lucha Libre: The Man in the Silver Mask by Xavier Garza
Young Carlitos attends his first lucha libre match in Mexico City. At ringside, Carlitos sees the famous luchador-the Man in the Silver Mask, a man whose eyes look terribly familiar. The masked wrestler even smiles at Carlitos! He is mesmerized as the Man in the Silver Mask is pitted against the terrible forces of evil-los rudos, the bad guys of lucha libre. They make the audience boo and hiss! In the end, though, the Man in the Silver Mask triumphs and, in the process, gains a lifelong fan.
Math Curse by Jon Scieszka
A tale of a girl in the relentless grip of math-mania. What if you think of everything as a math problem--and you spend your morning tabulating your teeth and calculating your corn flakes? You've got the math curse, that's what!
Probuditi by Chris Van Allsburg
For his birthday, Calvin's mother gives him two tickets to see Lomax the Magnificent. Even though Mama hints that his sister, Trudy, would love to go, Calvin invites his friend Rodney instead. The boys return home greatly impressed by the magician. When Calvin's mother goes out, she leaves him in charge of Trudy. Calvin and Rodney  make her the first subject for their own hypnotizing machine. Much to the boys' surprise, the machine works. But unfortunately they cannot undo what they have done.
Rapunzle by Paul Zelinsky



Salt in His Shoes by Deloris Jordan
Before basketball star Michael Jordan's name was uttered reverently in households all over the planet, young Michael was just a shrimpy kid trying to play ball with the big boys in the neighborhood. Tired of being teased by the biggest boy on the court, Michael is convinced the only solution is to grow taller. His mama smilingly suggests putting salt in his shoes and saying a prayer every night.


Science Verse by Jon Scieszka
When the teacher tells his class that they can hear the poetry of science in everything, a student is struck with a curse and begins hearing nothing but science verses that sound very much like some well-known poems
The Secret Lives of Princesses by Philippe Lechermeier
Go beyond Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella! Some princesses are well-known to all children—but others, equally magical (and sometimes, a lot funnier) have remained anonymous, mysterious, and far from the fairy-tale crowd.

Smoky Night by Eve Bunting
This is a story about cats -- and people -- who couldn't get along until a smoky and fearful night brings them together.  The Los Angeles riots made author Eve Bunting wonder about what riots meant to the children who live through them -- and what we can all learn from such upheavals.
Squids will be Squids by Jon Scieszka
A collection of new and wacky fables with fresh morals, which are about all kinds of bossy, sneaky, funny and annoying people. A general moral offered by the book is, "If you are planning to write fables, don't forget to change people's names and avoid places with high cliffs".
The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales by Jon Scieszka A riotous romp through fairy-tale-land that will have readers clutching their sides happily ever after.
The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs  by Jon Scieszka
Voices in the Park by Anthony Browne
Four people enter a park, and through their eyes readers see four different visions. As the story moves from the bossy woman to the sad man, from the lonely boy to the young girl whose warmth touches all she meets, the perspectives are reflected in the park's shifting landscapes and changing seasons. 

The Wall by Eve Bunting
The Widow’s Broom by Chris Van Allsburg
The lonely widow Minna Shaw finds a wounded, sky-fallen witch in her vegetable garden. The witch disappears before dawn, but leaves her old broom behind. Minna begins to use it around the house and finds that "it was no better or worse than brooms she'd used before." However, one morning, Minna sees the broom sweeping by itself! Opportunistically, she trains it to chop wood and fetch water.  When the neighbors find out about this "wicked, wicked thing", they accost the widow and demand that the broom be burned.
The Wolves in the Walls by Neil Gaiman
Lucy is sure there are wolves living in the walls of their house—and, as everybody says, if the wolves come out of the walls, it's all over. Her family doesn't believe her. Then one day, the wolves come out. 

Wreck of the Zephyr by Chris Van Allsburg
At the edge of a cliff lies the wreck of a small sailboat. How did it get there? "Waves carried it up in a storm," says an old sailor. But is it possible that waves could ever get that high? There is another story -- the story of a boy and his obsessive desire to be the greatest sailor, the story of a storm that carried the boy and his boat to a place where boats glide like gulls high above the water and not upon it.
The Wretched Stone by Chris Van Allsburg
In a story recounted through the daily log of Captain Allan Hope, the sailors aboard the Rita Anne become mesmerized and transformed by a mysterious glowing rock, and only music and books can restore them to normal. 

Zathura by Chris Van Allsburg
On the last page of the Caldecott-winning book Jumanji, young Danny Budwing is seen running after his brother, Walter, with a game tucked under his arm. Now after twenty years, Chris Van Allsburg is ready to reveal what happens when Danny and Walter roll the dice. This time the name of the game is Zathura and the battling Budwing boys are in for the ride of their lives. 



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