1. The Magic Hat By: Mem Fox Summary: In the beginning of the book a magical hat appears in the sky and turns all of the townspeople into animals! Characters: Townspeople Setting: A town Theme: Magic 2. Chrysanthemum By: Kevin Henkes Summary: This is about a little girl named Chrysanthemum. She grew up and loved her name because it was different and it described her perfectly. On the first day of school, her classmates giggled when they heard her name announced during roll call. They said it was too long to fit on a name tag and that she was named after a flower. Chrysanthemum no longer loved her name and she was very upset. Later on in the story the class was introduced to the music teacher, Mrs. Twinkle. Mrs. Twinkle happened to love Chrysanthemum’s name and Mrs. Twinkle said she would name her daughter that. She also told the class her name was long: Delphinium Twinkle. Chrysanthemum then knew that her name was perfect. I like the lesson this book teaches, its very important for young children to understand that. Characters: Chrysanthemum, Mrs. Twinkle, Classmates Setting: School Theme: Acceptance 3. Interrupting Chicken By: David Ezra Stein Summary: It was bedtime for the little red chicken and he begged Papa to read him a bedtime story., and he agreed as long as he doesn’t interrupt. Papa read the beginning of the story Hansel and Gretel until…out jumped a little red chicken and she said, “Don’t go in the house! She’s a witch! So Hansel and Gretel didn’t. The End.” Papa got mad and told the little red chicken that he interrupted the story, and this continued on. Little Red Chicken decided to create her own story and it went like this: “Once there was a little red chicken who put her Papa to bed. She read him a hundred stories. She even gave him warm milk, but nothing worked: he stayed wide away all-ZZZZZZ.” Little red chicken looked up and Papa was sound asleep in his bed. Characters: Little red chicken, Papa Setting: Bedroom Theme: Patience 4. Charlotte’s Web By: E.B. White Summary: Charlotte’s Web is a classic story about a little girl named Fern, her little piglet Wilbur and a spider named Charlotte. Fern begins the story by begging Mr. Arable not to kill the runt (of pigs) and he allows her to keep him, who she names Wilbur. Eventually Mr. Arable sells Wilbur to the Zuckerman’s farm down the road, where he meets Charlotte. Fern continues to visit him everyday, but one day the sheep tells Wilbur that Mr. Zuckerman is fattening him up for Christmas dinner. Charlotte beings writing words in her web with the help from Templeton the rat. It makes newspapers all over. Charlotte ends up saving Wilbur’s life and she later dies from old age, but he gets to save her babies and bring them back to the barn with him. Characters: Charlotte, Mr. Arable, Fern, Wilbur, Mr. Zuckerman Setting: Farm Theme: Friendship, Loyalty, Determination 5. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone By: J.K. Rowling Summary: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone is about a wizard named Harry Potter who attends Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Characters: Harry, Ron, Hermione, Dudley, Professor Quirell, Voldemort, Snape, Aunt and Uncle Setting: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Theme: Magic 6. Frog and Toad are Friends By: Arnold Lobel Summary: Frog and Toad are Friends includes five mini stories where it explains the relationship between Frog and Toad and the adventures they go on. No matter what happens to them they are always there for each other. The five mini stories include Spring, The Story, A Lost Button, A Swim and The Letter. Characters: Frog and Toad Setting: Frog and Toad's House Theme: Friendship 8. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH By: Robert C. O’Brien Summary: Mrs. Frisby's son, Timothy, is ill just as the farmer Mr. Fitzgibbon begins preparation for spring plowing in the field where the Frisby family lives. Mrs. Frisby seeks medicine from Mr. Agnes and saves the life of a crow named Jeremy on the way home, who advises her to seek help from an owl. He flies her to the owl’s tree but says he can’t help her until he find out that she as married to Jonathan Frisby and suggests she seeks help from the rats that live in a close rosebush. She then discovers these rats have human-level intelligence. The rat’s leader, Nicodemus, tells Mrs. Frisby of the rats capture by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) which increased their intelligence. This increased intelligence and strength allowed them to escape from the NIMH laboratories and migrate to their present location. Jonathan Frisby and Mr. Ages were the only two survivors of a group of eight mice who had been part of the experiments at NIMH, and made the rats' escape possible. Out of respect for Jonathan, Nicodemus agrees to help Mrs. Frisby's family. The rats move her house to a location safe from the plough. Characters: Mrs. Frisby, Timothy, Mr. Fitzgibbon, Mr. Agnes, Jonathan Frisby, Nicodemuus Setting: Farm Theme: Family Love 9. Swimmy By: Leo Leonni Summary: The story begins with a school of fish that live in the corner of the sea. All of the fish were red besides the only black fish, Swimmy. There was a big tuna fish that ate all of the red fish but swimmy escaped. He was lonely without any other fish but found beautiful creatures in his new spot in the ocean. He regained his happiness and came across another school of fish that reminded him of his own. He wanted to swim and play but they were afraid of the larger fish eating them. So Swimmy had an idea to swim together like a large fish and chased the big fish away. Characters: Swimmy, other fish, and a larger fish Setting: The ocean Theme: Friendship, and working together 10. The Hunger Games By: Suzanne Collins Summary: The Hunger Games is about 12 different districts and a male and female are selected from each district to compete in the “Hunger Games,” with only one winner allowed. Katniss Everdeen volunteers herself after her little sister Prem was chosen to compete. All of the tributes receive intense training and her and her fellow tribute; Peeta, become extremely close throughout the course of the games. They are taken to the Capitol to compete in the arena and receive sponsors based on votes. Katniss and Peeta compete for district 12. During the course of the games President Snow changes the rules and allows there to be two winners but only if they are from the same district. At the end of the Hunger Games when everyone else has died besides Katniss and Peeta he decides to go back on his word, Katniss disobeys the government and decides they will go without any winner and they will die together. But before they can eat the poisonous berries President Snow interrupts and crowns them both the winners. Characters: Peeta, Gail, Katniss, President Snow, Prem, Kato, Rue Setting: The Capitol, District 12 Theme: Government 11. The Adventures of Captain Underpants By: Dav Pilkey Summary: This story is about two boys named George and Harold who are both troublemakers and live their lives through comics. Characters: Captain Underpants, Mr. Krupp, George, Harold, Melvin Sneedly Setting: School Theme: Middle School, Trouble 12. Chester Raccoon and the Big Bad Bully By: Audrey Penn Summary: Chester didn't want to go to school because he was afraid of a bully. Mrs. Raccoon told them a story about walking together and so finally they did just that. They showed up at school and walked right towards Badger and he got nervous, and then they asked him to play and he was shocked. But in the end Badger never bullied again. Characters: Chester Raccoon, Ronny, Cassy, Mrs. Raccoon and Badger (bully) Setting: School Theme: Bullying 13. Dog KU By: Andrew Clements Summary: A dog named Mooch needed a new home. So a family bought him all new stuff and made him theirs. Characters: Dog, Kids and Parents Setting: Home Theme: Love, and Family 14. Snowflake Bentley By: Jaqueline Briggs Martin Summary: Willie loves snowflakes and his parents eventually buy him a camera to use to take pictures with. He ends up publishing all of his snowflake pictures in magazines and became very well known. He ended up dying from pneumonia during a snow storm but has lived in history ever since. Characters: Willie Bentley, Charlie, Mother and Father Setting: Outside in the snow, Willie's house Theme: Perseverance, and determination 15. Curious You On Your Way! By: Kathleen W. Zoehfeld Summary: This is a book about the places you'll go in life! Characters: Curious George Setting: No real setting Theme: Life experiences 16. Bubba the Cowboy Prince By: Helen Ketteman Summary: This is a story very similar to Cinderella- but it's a fractured texas tale. They live on a farm and use a cowboy boot instead of a glass slipper. Characters: Bubba, Wicked Stepdad, Dwayne, Milton, Lurleen, Miz Fairy, Godcow Setting: Farm Theme: Overcoming diversity, 17. Piggie Pie! By: Margie Palatini Summary: A witch wanted to make a piggie pie but didn't have any pigs to make it with. She went out to the zoo to look for pigs and waved her broom in the air. When she waved her broom she said "surrender piggies," which caused all of the pigs to dress up as different animals. Finally she meets up with a wolf after searching all over for pigs and he says he has three pigs back home. So they set off together and at the end of the story they are both picturing eating each other. Characters: Gritch the Witch, Wolf, Pigs, Cow and "Old McDonald" Setting: The Witches' house and the farm Theme: Witches 18. James Marshall's Cinderella By: Barbara Karlin Summary: This is a traditional story about Cinderella. Characters: Dad, step-mother, 2 step-sisters, Cinderella, king, fairy godmother, prince Setting: Her house Theme: Humor |
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