Esperanza Rising

by:  Pam Munoz Ryan

Esperanza has the life of a very rich young girl.  She lives in Mexico and has beautiful dresses and goes to fancy parties.

Tragedy changes everything forcing Esperanza to run from Mexico to California.  In California she is forced to live in a Mexican farm labor camp and to work long, hard days.

Esperanza had never had to work a day in her life.  This new life is not fun and not fair.

Read to see if Esperanza will rise to the occasion.

Skellig

by:  David Almond

Michael's family moved into a new home where Michael discovers a strange man living in their garage that is about to cave in.  Michael keeps the man a secret to everyone except his friend Mina.  Mina and Michael sneak food to the man and plan to move him to a safe location before the builders come to tear down the garage.  Who is this man and where did he come from?...

The Magician's Nephew
Book 1, The Chronicles of Narnia
by:  C.S. Lewis

Excellent for grades 3 and up.

Narnia... where the woods are thick and cool, where talking beasts are called to life... a new world where the adventure begins.

Black Duck
by:  Janet Taylor Lisle

Good 5th grade "read aloud".

What happened next that spring afternoon is something I know Jeddy remembers.  I can see us standing there by the bootleg crate.  We wandered toward the pool and it came into view with no more drama thank if it had been a sodden piece of driftwood lying on the sand, a naked human leg.

Chains
by:  Laurie Halse Anderson

Set at the time of the Revolutionary War.  Isabell is a young slave who was promised freedom.  When that promise gets broken, it's up to Isabel to wage her own war to get her freedom back.  This is an amazing story of the life of a very brave girl that will leave you wanting to read the sequel, Forge!

Among the Impostors
by:  Margaret Peterson Haddix

Luke is an illegal 3rd child.  All his life has been spent in hiding.  Now - Luke has assumed a deceased boy's identity and is attending Hendricks School for boys - a windowless building with cruel classmates and oblivious teachers.

Read the 1st book in this series: Among the Hidden.

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
Book 2, The Chronicles of Narnia
by:  C.S. Lewis

Very good book!

Lucy is the first to find the secret of the wardrobe.  At first, the others don't believe her when she talks about Narnia.  When Edmund, Peter and Susan discover Narnia for themselves they are amazed.  When they all meet the great lion king Aslan, their lives are forever changed.