Hello friends! I am giving away two copies of Tom Angleberger’s new book Darth Paper Strikes Back. Mr. Angleberger did so much for my class last year, that I was hoping to do something small to try and repay his generosity.
If you do not know about my Origami Yoda obsession please check my Origami Yoda Post.
On Tuesday August 23rd (official release date of Darth Paper) I am throwing a release party for the book with my class from last year, and my incoming class this year (first day of school September 6th).
To enter please leave a comment on the blog recommending a book for my students to read this fall. Remember these are fourth and fifth grade students. We will read all the recommendations at the party, and then I will have students draw the winners. I will mail the books to the winners after the party.
TO ENTER:
Leave a comment on the blog recommending a great book to a fourth or fifth grader.
Post must be made by 11:59 EST August 22.
Check out this Darth Paper giveaway at The Non Reluctant Reader
Our Origami Yoda spring break video:
I can’t wait to see these readers!
sharpread 
Please do not enter me into the drawing, but I wanted to post a comment.
My recommendations:
1. Lunch Lady and the Field Trip Fiasco by Farrett Krosoczka
2. Sidekicks by Dan Santat
3. Bigger Than a Bread Box by Laurel Snyder
4. Squish series by Jennifer and Matthew Holm
5. When Life Gives You O.J. by Erica Perl
6. 11 Birthdays by Wendy Mass
7. Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai
8. Amulet series by Kazu Kibuishi
9. Binky the Space Cat by Ashley Spries
10. Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick
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The best books for that grade level are:
Guinea Dog by Patrick Jennings
Aliens on Vacation by Clete Barrett Smith
Contact me: benjikenworthy@gmail.com
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Please don’t enter Mr. Hankins into the drawing:
Have a super reading year, kids. Read, Read, Read. . .read short stories, read chapter books, read poetry, read magazines, read the back of cereal boxes. . .read, read, read. . .Enjoy the year with books throughout. . .fall books, winter book, spring books. . .read, read, read. . .talk to others about what you are reading while you are reading. . .read, read, read. . .read to yourself, read to a little brother or sister, read to someone who would just like to hear your voice. . .read, read, read.
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I know that you will be disappointed, but I have not read any of these graphic novels. I need to start with one . . . but other books I’ve loved:
Marty McGuire – Kate Messner
Junonia – Kevin Henkes
Love that Dog and Hate that Cat – Sharon Creech
Because of Winn Dixie and The Tale of Desperaux – Kate DiCamillo
Mockingbird – Kathryn Erskine
Check out this list too: http://www.clpgh.org/kids/books/showbooklist.cfm?list=fourthfifth
There’s an interesting mystery, The Danger Box, that takes place in a small town in Michigan! Your kids may dig this one!
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I recommend Lizard Music by Daniel Pinkwater!
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What a great idea, Colby! So many great suggestions that’d I’d second from above!
I’d add:
Honus and Me by Dan Gutman (or others from the Baseball Card series)
Arabel’s Raven by Joan Aiken
The Saturdays (or other Melendy Books) by Elizabeth Enright
The Penderwicks Series by Jean Birdsall
Our Only May Amelia by Jenni Holm
The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich
The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
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Storm in the Barn-Matthew Phelan
Skeleton Creek-Patrick Carman
One Beastly Beast: Two Aliens, Three Inventors, Four Fantastic Tales-Garth Nix
Happy Reading!
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John tried to hog the good recs, but here’s my two cents:
1. Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper
2. A View From Saturday by EL Konisberg (sp?)
3. Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu
4. Savvy by Ingrid Law
5. The Search for Wondla by Tony DiTerlizzi
6. Slob by Ellen Potter
7. Saving Sky by Diane Stanley
8. Joey Fly, Private Eye by Aaron Reynolds
9. Warp Speed by Lisa Yee
10. Camo Girl by Kekla Magoon
11. Neil Armstrong is My Uncle by Nan Marino
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My students loved The Thing About Georgie. Night Fairy is another must read.
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Must read Jaguar Stone books by J & P Volkel and the Accidental Adventurer books by C Alexander London (they will Skype as well!)
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Oh my goodness, so many of my favorites have already been posted. Is Shipbreaker appropriate for 4/5 graders? Dark Life was another wonderful read. Good luck and have a wonderful year with Mr. Sharp!
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I think they would like
Charlie Joe Jackson’t Guide to Not Reading by Tommmy Greenwald
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I’d recommend Marty McGuire, Lunch Lady, Baby Mouse and Frankie Pickle- love them all!
Thanks Colby!
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Kids, you have a very cool teacher! Enjoy your Darth Paper party!
Here are some books I like to recommend to 4th and 5th graders who come into my library:
Running Out of Time by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Leon and the Spitting Image by Allen Kurzweil
The Secret of Platform 13 by Eva Ibbotson
The Candymakers by Wendy Mass
A Nest for Celeste by Henry Cole
Swindle by Gordon Korman
Masterpiece by Elise Broach
Rules by Cynthia Lord
The Fantastic Secret of Owen Jester by Barbara O’Connor
The Day-Glo Brothers by Chris Barton
Strong Man by Meghan McCarthy
Knucklehead by Jon Scieszka
The Dunderheads by Paul Fleischman
Phineas L. Macguire Erupts! Frances O’Roark Dowell
Call It Courage by Armstrong Sperry
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Here are s few more nonfiction titles:
Can We Save the Tiger?
How They Croaked: The Awful Ends of the Awfully Famous
Mermaid Queen
Journey Into the Deep (This book has amazing photographs!)
The Incredible Life of Balto
The Chiru of High Tibet
The Boy Who Drew Birds
The Bat Scientists
The Wolves Are Back
A Nation’s Hope: The Story of Boxing Legend Joe Louis
Amelia Lost
Nurse, Soldier, Spy: The Story of Sarah Edmonds
Animals Up Close
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Okay, I can’t resist a good book list! I suggest:
The Name of This Book is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch (and rest of the books in the series)
Alcatraz Vs. the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson (and the rest of the books in the series)
The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart (and the rest of the books in the series)
(hmm…I’m seeing a series pattern here, so just to break the mold)
Horton Halfpot by Tom Angleberger
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So many great new books–I recommend:
A Million Miles from Boston by Karen Day
Bigger Than a Breadbox by Laurel Snyder
When Life Gives You O.J. by Erica Perl
The Bambino by Nel Yomtov
The Friendship Doll by Kirby Larson
Queen of the Falls by Chris Van Allsburg
For a scary read, Patrick Carman’s 3:15 is good.
And of course, Pete the Cat by Eric Litwin.
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OK. Let me think. Here are some favorites that I don’t think have already been mentioned.
*any of the Chet Gecko books by Bruce Hale
*Tunnels series by Roderick Gordon & Brian Williams
*How to Talk to Girls or How to Talk to Moms or How to Talk to Dads or School Rules–all written by Alec Greven who was in 4th grade when he was first published (SO FUNNY … soon after I got the How to Talk to Girls one boys started coming in to the library and whispering “Where is that red book?” I had to try very, very, very hard not to giggle as I helped them find it.)
*Flipped by Wendelin Von Draanen
*Eager by Helen Fox
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Don’t enter me in your contest, but I thought I’d throw in Holes, Harriet the Spy, The Phantom Tollbooth, Cosmic, and The Great Wall of Lucy Wu.
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Lots of great suggestions here already! I would also add Meg Cabot’s Allie Finkle books and Patricia MacLachlan’s Word after Word after Word. Two books to look for that aren’t quite out yet: Wildwood by Colin Meloy and Liesl & Po by Lauren Oliver.
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Please don’t enter me in the drawing… I just wanted to share 5 favorite graphic novels for students of the awesome Mr. Sharp!
1. Usagi Yojimbo series by Sakai (about a samurai rabbit from ancient Japan)
2. Amelia Rules! series by Gownley
3. Meanwhile (Pick Any Path. 3,856 Story Possibilities) by Shiga
4. Amulet series by Kibuishi
5. Zita the Space Girl by Hatke
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Please don’t enter me into the contest. But happy to make recommendations. Wow! What great recommendations so far. Here are a few more…trying not to duplicate others:
1. Tortilla Sun by Jennifer Cervantes
2. The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place by Maryrose Wood
3. The Emerald Atlas by John Stephens
4. Spellbinder by Helen Stringer
5. A Tale Dark and Grimm by Adam Gidwitz
6. The Name of this Book Is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch
7. Jeremy Bender vs. the Cupcake Cadets by Eric Luper
8. Dying to Meet You: 43 Old Cemetery Road by Kate Klise
9. The Shadows by Jacqueline West
10. Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko
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Here are a few favorites from last year’s class (I taught 4th grade!):
The Lemonade War and The Lemonade Crime by Jacqueline Davies
Big Nate by Lincoln Pierce
The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan
Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper
Amulet series by Kibuishi
The Miraculous Adventures of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo
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No need to put me in the contest, but here are a few books I’ve enjoyed lately:
Turtle in Paradise by Jenni Holm
Peter Nimble and his Fantastic Eyes by Jonathan Auxier
That’s all I have at the moment without repeating others’, though I strongly concur about Wonderstruck!
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Wonderstruck
Amelia Lost
The Absolute Value of Mike
Lawnboy
All good reads!
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I forgot to mention how lucky you are to have Mr. Sharp as a teacher. Oh, and I have more recommendations.
1. Chalk by Bill Thomson
2. Art and Max by David Wiesner
3.Marty McGuire by Kate Messner
4. I’m Here and DOT by Peter Reynolds (good for ages 4-150)
5. The Genius Files by Dan Gutman
6. Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper
7. Jellaby by Kean Soo
8. Sticky Burr by John Lechner
9. The Search for Wondla by Tony DiTerlizzi
10. A Nest for Celeste by Henry Cole
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I hope you have an excellent party. Here are a few books that I and some of my students love. Some of them have been around for a long time, but maybe you haven’t gotten to read them yet.
A few non-fiction first:
-Saving Audie
-Knucklehead (by the author of Stinky Cheese Man and The True Story of the Three Little Pigs)
-When Life Gives You O.J.
-Chains and the sequel Forge – about the Revolutionary War0
-Where the Mountain Meets the Moon
-Skeleton Man – seriously creepy
-The Bone series (graphic novels)
-The Invention of Hugo Cabret
-Rapunzel’s Revenge and sequel Calamity Jack (graphic novels with tons of wild stuff)
-Bad Kitty books
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The Sisters Grimm series by Michael Buckley
Nerds series also by Michael Buckley
The Popularity Papers by Amy Ignatow
Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DeCamillo
Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DeCamillo
43 Old Cemetery Road series by Kate Klise
Nathaniel Fludd Beastologist series by R.L. LaFevers
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Ladies and gentlemen, I wish I could teach across the hall from Mr. Sharp. Although that might not be a good deal for you because I’m kind of loud. Anyway, my favorite books for 4th and 5th graders are Hatchet, Bud Not Buddy, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankenweiler, and Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. Those are old-ish. So for new books, you should totally read Okay for Now. I had a chance to see a real Audubon print in person this summer, and it was magnificent. Also, I really liked The Magnolia League, but don’t read the back cover because it totally gives away all the good parts of the story.
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My favorite book I read in the past year for fourth and fifth grade students was Savvy by Ingrid Law.
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