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Picture Books | Younger Fiction | Intermediate Fiction | Young Adult Fiction  

The books recommended below received starred reviews within the last several years. Grade levels are only suggestions; the individual child is the real criterion.

Picture Books
Suggested grade level listed with each entry

Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse written and illustrated by Kevin Henkes (Greenwillow)
Enchanted with school, Lilly wants to be a teacher until one fateful Monday when she gets in trouble. Grade level: K–3. 32 pages.

Math Curse written by Jon Scieszka, illustrated by Lane Smith (Viking)
After the narrator’s teacher suggests that almost everything can be thought of as a math problem, the math curse, wherein everything is a problem, begins. Grade level: K–3. 32 pages.

Science Verse written by Jon Scieszka, illustrated by Lane Smith (Viking)
Clever verses and zany illustrations depict a boy’s problem of “hearing everything as a science poem.” Grade level: K–3. 40 pages.

Edward Unready for School written and illustrated by Rosemary Wells (Dial)
Another memorable character from Wells makes his anxious debut as Edward approaches a scary new experience and, by the end, is reassured. Grade level: Preschool. 24 pages.

Babymouse: Heartbreaker written and illustrated by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm (Random)
In her fifth graphic novel, Babymouse finds her confidence shaken by her school’s impending Valentine’s Day dance. 94 pages.

Martin Bridge, on the Lookout! written by Jessica Scott Kerrin, illustrated by Joseph Kelly (Kids Can)
Three chapter episodes pit young Martin against the various challenges of elementary school with a light touch. 143 pages.

Morgy Makes His Move written by Maggie Lewis, illustrated by Michael Chesworth (Houghton)
As the disoriented new kid in school, Morgy makes the transition from laid-back California to close-knit Massachusetts in this intimately regional but still universal novel. 74 pages.

Intermediate Fiction
Suggested grade level for each entry: 4–6

Frindle written by Andrew Clements, illustrated by Brian Selznick (Simon)
When Nick reinvents the name for pen, a hilarious student-teacher battle ensues. 105 pages.

Ghost Girl: A Blue Ridge Mountain Story by Delia Ray (Clarion)
Eleven-year-old April’s isolated life in Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains changes when President and Mrs. Hoover start a school in her community. 216 pages.

Thumb on a Diamond written by Ken Roberts, illustrated by Leanne Franson (Groundwood)
Thumb and his fellow middle-schoolers learn baseball for a chance to visit the big city (Vancouver). 128 pages.

Bad Girls by Cynthia Voigt (Scholastic)
Two troublemakers, Margalo and Mikey, form a powerful and wickedly entertaining alliance in this deft portrayal of the dynamics of a fifth-grade classroom. 278 pages.

Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson (Putnam)
Lonnie’s fifth-grade teacher introduces him to poetry and makes him believe in his writing in this series of artfully composed poems. 102 pages.

Young Adult Fiction
Suggested grade level for each entry: 7 and up

Nothing but the Truth: A Documentary Novel by Avi (Jackson/Orchard)
Philip’s antipathy toward his English teacher catapults him into a school protest involving the National Anthem in this ironic, flawlessly constructed novel. 179 pages.

The Year of Secret Assignments by Jaclyn Moriarty (Levine/Scholastic)
A class pen pal project produces an unexpected friendship in this fast and funny Australian novel told entirely in letters, diary entries, emails, etc. 340 pages.

The Teacher’s Funeral: A Comedy in Three Parts by Richard Peck (Dial)
Within days of his teacher’s (unlamented) passing in 1904 rural Indiana, Russell finds himself an unwilling pupil of her replacement: his older sister, Tansy. 195 pages.

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