This list of available titles is arranged in alphabetical order and provides the title, listening level and brief description of the story. Check for these titles at your local library.
| ROMONA THE PEST |
By Beverly Cleary
Listening level: Gr. K-3
|
Five-year-old Ramona tries to adjust to life in kindergarten. A surefire success when each of the eight chapters is read a session at a time. (J)
|
| ROLL OF THUNDER, HEAR MY CRY |
By Mildred D.Taylor
Listening level: Gr. 4-6
|
Chronicles the Logan family's struggle to hold onto their land in Mississippi during the Depression. Through young Cassie, the listener experiences bigotry and injustice tempered with the courage and warmth of the adult Logans. (J)
|
| SADAKO AND THE THOUSAND PAPER CRANES |
By Eleanor Coerr
Listening level: Gr. 4+
|
A poignant true story of courage, friendship and love about a twelve-year-old Japanese girl who is stricken with leukemia ten years after the bomb was dropped over Hiroshima. (J92 S252)
|
| SARAH, PLAIN AND TALL |
By Patricia MacLachlan
Listening level: Gr. 3-5
|
A warm pioneer family story of a widower and his children in search of a wife and mother. Sarah, a mail order bride, seems to be the perfect answer. (J)
|
| SECRET GARDEN |
By Frances H. Burnett
Listening level: Gr. 3-6
|
Two children discover a neglected secret garden and bring it back to life; in turn, the garden rewards them with health and happiness. Each of the twenty-seven chapters can be read in a fifteen-minute session. (J)
|
| THE SECRET OF PLATFORM 13 |
By Eva Ibbotson
Listening level: Gr. 3+
|
Cornelius the Wizard, Gurkintrude the Fey, Hans the Ogre, and Odge Gribble the Young Hag have only nine days to search London, locate the kidnapped prince, and return him to the island before the passageway to their magical kingdom will close. If they fail they will not be able to return for nine years. (J)
|
| SEEDFOLKS |
By Paul Fleischman
Listening level: Gr. 2+
|
One by one, a number of people of varying ages and backgrounds transform a trash-filled inner-city lot into a productive and beautiful garden, and in doing so, the gardeners are themselves transformed. (J)
|
| THE SKULL OF TRUTH |
By Bruce Coville
Listening level: Gr. 4-7
|
Charlie, a sixth-grader with a compulsion to tell lies, acquires a wisecracking skull that forces its owner to tell only the truth, causing some awkward moments before the boy understands its power. (J)
|
| THE SOS FILE |
By Betsy Byars
Listening level: Gr. 1-5
|
The students in Mr. Magto's class write stories for the "SOS File" about their biggest emergencies and then read them aloud for extra credit. Each chapter is one child's experience and includes familiar difficulties (like losing a favorite object) to extraordinary experiences (like being rescued as a newborn from a motel dumpster). Inspiring, moving, funny and with great illustrations. (J)
|
| SOUNDER |
By William Armstrong
Listening level: Gr. 5-8
|
Although harsh custom and hard circumstances cripple the bodies of both Sounder, a coon hound, and his master, their invincible spirit is passed on to the boy. A Newbery Medal winner that dramatizes the resilience of a Black sharecropper, his family and dog. (J)
|
| SQUIDS WILL BE SQUIDS: FREASH MORALS; BEASTLY FABLES |
By Jon Scieszka
Listening level: Gr. 4+
|
Inventive and humorous contemporary fables. (J)
|
| STONE FOX |
By John Reynolds Gardiner
Listening level: Gr. 3-7
|
Little Willie hopes to pay the back taxes on his grandfather's farm with the purse from a dog sled race he enters. (J)
|
| SWIMMING UPSTREAM: MIDDLE SCHOOL POEMS |
By Kristine O'Connell George
Listening level: Gr. 4-8
|
This collection of poems captures the feelings and experiences of a girl in middle school. The first year brings the challenges of making new friends, moving from class to class, tests and homework, changing for PE, gossip, school dances, and, of course, romance. Lively illustrations complement this perceptive, humorous, poignant record of an important year. (J811.54)
|
| TALE OF DESPEREAUX: BEING THE STORY OF A MOUSE, A PRINCESS, SOME SOUP AND A SPOOL OF THREAD |
By Kate Dicamillo
Listening level: Gr. 2+
|
The adventures of Despereaux Tilling, a small mouse of unusual talents, the princess that he loves, the servant girl who longs to be a princess, and a devious rat determined to bring them all to ruin. A tale both humorous and poignant. (J)
|
| TALES OF A FOURTH GRADE NOTHING |
By Judy Blume
Listening level: Gr. 3-5
|
Having a pesky two-year-old brother can be extremely troublesome at times. An all-time favorite filled with delightful episodes. (J)
|
| TEACHER'S FUNERAL: A COMEDY IN THREE PARTS |
By Richard Peck
Listening level: Gr. 4+
|
In August 1904, in rural Indiana, fifteen-year-old Russell Culver's dream of quitting school and joining a wheat threshing crew nearly comes true with the unexpected death of old Miss Myrt Arbuckle, teacher at their one room schoolhouse. Surely, the school board with tear down the schoolhouse; why hire a new teacher for only six students? But they do hire a teacher, his sister Tansy, who takes to teaching at the one room schoolhouse, much to Russell's horror. (J)
|
| THREE GOOD DEEDS |
By Vivian Vande Velde
Listening level: Gr. 2-6
|
Caught stealing some goose eggs from a witch, Howard is cursed for his heartlessness and turned into a goose himself, and he can become human again only by performing three good deeds. (J)
|
| TIKKI TIKKI TEMBO |
By Arlene Mosel
Listening level: Gr. PS-3
|
Tikki Tikki Tembo (his name was really much longer) almost drowned because it took his brother so long to say his name. This imaginative story of how the Chinese came to give their children very short names readily invites participation. (EB)
|
| TIME STOPS FOR NO MOUSE |
By Michael Hoeye
Listening level: Gr. 3+
|
Hermux Tantamoq is a captivating hero who fixes watches by day and spends quiet evenings at home with his pet ladybug. But his life is forever changed by the appearance of Linka Perflinger, daredevil, aviatrix and adventuress. When she suddenly disappears, Hermux sets out to find her. What has happened to Ms. Perflinger? Who is the mysterious Dr. Mennus, and how is he connected with Tucka Mertslin, the eccentric cosmetics tycoon? Hermux must be daring and vigilant-tall orders for a small mouse. (J)
|
| TOO MANY TAMALES |
By Gary Soto
Listening level: Gr. 1-3
|
Maria tries on her mother's wedding ring while helping make tamales for a Christmas family get together, but panic ensues when hours later, she realizes the ring is missing. (EB)
|
| THE TREES OF THE DANCING GOATS |
By Patricia Polacco
Listening level: Gr. 1-6
|
After many of the neighbors contract scarlet fever and can't celebrate the holiday, Trisha's grandfather decides to deliver Christmas trees in secret. The family delights in decorating the evergreens, which Babushka dubs "the trees of the dancing goats" because each one sports a wooden goat carved by Grandpa. Later, as Trisha's family sits down to their Hanukkah dinner, the neighbors arrive with a special gift of their own. (J)
|
| THE TRUE STORY OF THE THREE LITTLE PIGS |
By Jon Scieszka
Listening level: Gr. 1+
|
The wolf gives his own outlandish version of what really happened when he tangled with the three little pigs. (J)
|
| TUCK EVERLASTING |
By Natalie Babbitt
Listening level: Gr. 4+
|
Ten-year-old Winnie Foster stumbles across the Tuck family's secret and finds herself involved in a dangerous situation. Those who are used to enjoying reading aloud sessions will appreciate this view of eternal life. Suggestion: It is best to start with chapter # 1. Skip the prologue. (J)
|
| THE VAN GOGH CAFE |
By Cynthia Rylant
Listening level: Gr. 2-6
|
The Van Gogh Cafe, located in Flowers, Kansas, has magic in its walls, causing strange and mysterious events to occur there. (J)
|
| WEASEL |
By Cynthia DeFelice
Listening level: Gr. 5-7
|
Alone in the frontier wilderness in the winter of 1839 while his father is recovering from an injury, eleven-year-old Nathan runs afoul of the renegade killer known as Weasel and makes a surprising discovery about the concept of revenge. (J)
|
| WEIRD HENRY BERG |
By Sarah Sargent
Listening level: Gr. 4-6
|
Although Henry's mother objects, he is determined to keep his pet, an unusual lizard, which a strange lady claims is really a baby dragon. (J)
|
| WESTMARK |
By Lloyd Alexander
Listening level: Gr. 5-8
|
Printer's apprentice Theo finds himself confronted with political intrigue which leads to his involvement in one hair-raising episode after another with a dwarf and an urchin girl. (J)
|
| WHERE THE RED FERN GROWS |
By Wilson Rawls
Listening level: Gr. 4+
|
A ten-year-old Ozark boy finally achieves his goal to buy two coon dogs and then faces heartbreak when they die. A story of perseverance, courage and sacrifice which can be divided easily for reading aloud. (J)
|
| WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS: POEMS AND DRAWINGS |
By Shel Silverstein
Listening level: Gr. 1-7
|
A poetry collection which speaks to today's child. Funny, warm, touching, sensible--often expressing fears or dreams of childhood. (J811)
|
| THE WHITE MOUNTAINS |
By John Christopher
Listening level: Gr. 4-6
|
In the twenty-first century, three boys escape their machine masters and journey toward freedom in the White Mountains. A fast-paced story filled with adventures and continued in City of Gold and Lead. (J)
|
| THE WISH GIVER: THREE TALES OF COVEN TREE |
By Bill Brittain
Listening level: Gr. 4-6
|
"Be careful what you wish for : it may come true." At a church social, three children buy wishes from an odd little man and find out their dreams-come-true are really nightmares. (J)
|
| THE WITCH OF BLACKBIRD POND |
By Elizabeth Speare
Listening level: Gr. 5-8
|
Sixteen-year-old Kit, when sent to colonial Connecticut, befriends a lonely old woman rumored to be a witch and also becomes suspect. Explores how independent and unconventional behavior causes peer pressure and ostracism. (J)
|
| THE WOLVES OF WILLOUGHBY CHASE |
By Joan Aiken
Listening level: Gr. 4-6
|
Two cousins outwit their wicked governess-guardian and the wolves who rampage about their home, Willoughby Chase. "Cliff-hanging" episodes can be read in thirty minute reading sessions. (J)
|
| WORDS BY HEART |
By Ouida Sebestyen
Listening level: Gr. 5+
|
A young girl struggles to live up to her father's high ideals and fulfill his dream of a better future for their family in a town where, in 1910, they are the only Blacks. (J)
|
| WRECKERS |
By Iain Lawrence
Listening level: Gr. 4-8
|
It is 1799, and fourteen-year-old John Spencer is sailing on his father's ship when a vicious storm shipwrecks the vessel on the coast of Cornwall. He soon learns that the villagers are not rescuers but wreckers, pirates who lure ships close to shore only to plunder their cargo. (J)
|
| WRINGER |
By Jerry Spinelli
Listening level: Gr. 5-8
|
As Palmer comes of age, he must either accept the violence of being a wringer at his town's annual Pigeon day or find the courage to oppose it. (J)
|
| ZEELY |
By Virginia Hamilton
Listening level: Gr. 4-6
|
Tall, beautiful and kind Zeely helps an 11-year-old city girl by gently guiding her from her day dreams to reality during the summer "Geeder" spends at her uncle's farm. A young Black girl experiences a universal "growing-up" milestone. (J)
|
| ZUCCHINI |
By Barbara Dana
Listening level: Gr. 3-5
|
A ferret named Zucchini, born at the Bronx Zoo, escapes and meets Billy, a painfully shy young boy, who loves animals. Humorous and tender touches are blended in this story of love and friendship. (J)
|
