This School Year’s Best-Selling Books

This upbeat tale features easy-to-follow rhyming text, expressive illustrations, and familiar classroom scenes that will help get little ones excited for their first day of school.

This colorful pre-reader uses simple vocabulary and fun pictures to capture the interest and help develop the skills of beginning readers as they learn about butterflies.

This heartwarming classic is perfect for helping students deal with anxiety during times of separation and at the start of school, daycare, or camp.

This book in the groovy series uses repetitive text, bright, eye-catching illustrations, and positive messaging to engage students and keep them smiling along the way.

The duck, cows, hens, and pigs are back in top form in this hilarious follow-up to the beloved Caldecott Honor Book Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type.

Even reluctant readers will love this epic battle royale of the deadliest creatures of the deep.  Full-color illustrations and easy-to-read facts help students sharpen their reasoning skills as they predict the ultimate victor in one of the series’ most thrilling entries.

This Newbery Award-winning classic is a powerful tale of friendship and self-worth which has warmed the hearts of millions for over half a century. E. B. White's elegant style creates a lucid text that makes this novel accessible for even struggling readers.

Three foster siblings must rely on each other to survive a fierce winter blizzard after their family van crashes in the wilderness.  Readers will be enthralled by their story of perseverance as the trio seeks rescue—and avoids bears—without getting frozen in their tracks.

The giant squid is one of the most mysterious—and feared—creatures of the ocean, but is it any match for the brainy sperm whale? Encourage your students to think like scientists as they ponder the likely winner of an undersea showdown in this gripping nonfiction series.

Encourage middle grade readers to think creatively about language and the power of words with this quirky tale about a mischievous fifth grader who changes the word "pen" to "frindle." The incredible popularity of Nick Allen’s new word will inspire readers to invent their own words and further explore the evolution of language.

Bobby Ellis-Chan has a lot of fears to overcome—playing sports, stage fright... even girls. Use this book to empower your students to face their fears and come out on top—stronger, wiser, ...and maybe even braver.

A china rabbit’s extraordinary journey, from the depths of the ocean to the bustling streets of Memphis, honors the enduring power of love. Use this book to guide your students through in-depth discussions of character, setting, and theme, with unforgettable details from Kate DiCamillo’s timeless tale.

Historical fiction as riveting as this entry in the bestselling I Survived series is perfect for history buffs, thrill-seekers, and even reluctant readers. This first-person fictional account of the colonists’ bloody fight for freedom during the American Revolution pairs well with history lessons and storytelling exercises.

Separated by continents and decades, the harrowing escape stories of Josef, Isabel, and Mahmoud intertwine. For young readers of Refugee, these stories provide an opportunity to learn about the harsh realities of war and economic crisis that motivate people to seek refuge.

August Pullman was born with a craniofacial abnormality, but despite his differences, he is transitioning from home school to private school now that he's entering fifth grade. The heartwarming story of Auggie’s struggles to thrive at his new school helps students learn about bullying, acceptance, peer pressure, and courage, and is a testament to how literature can change the world.

As German troops begin their campaign to "relocate" all the Jews of Denmark, ten-year-old Annemarie Johansen's family takes in Annemarie's best friend, Ellen Rosen, and conceals her by pretending she's part of the family. Young readers will learn about the horror of the Holocaust and find inspiration in Annemarie’s bravery as she aims to save her family and friends.

Inspired by the true story of a gorilla who spent 30 years alone in a cage at an indoor zoo in a mall, this beautiful book imagines what that gorilla might have felt and said about his life. Readers will be enthralled by a cast of unforgettable characters in this ultimately hopeful story about the healing power of art.

Esperanza thought she'd always live with her family on their ranch in Mexico, but a sudden tragedy forces Esperanza and Mama to flee to California during the Great Depression and settle in a camp for Mexican farm workers. This eloquent book will give young readers insight into the Great Depression while giving voice to those who have historically been denied one.

In 1936, Flint, Michigan, ten-year-old Bud is a motherless boy on the run—and on a mission. With laugh-out-loud humor, Bud’s journey to find his father, will entice young readers to further explore the history of the Great Depression and great jazz music.

This winner of the Newbery Medal and the National Book Award features Stanley Yelnats, a kid who is under a curse and unjustly sent to a boys' detention center. As Stanley is forced to dig holes at Camp Green Lake to “build character”, young readers will explore how the large cast of characters—and their opinions of them—evolve over the course of the story.

The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963 is a hilarious, touching, and tragic novel about civil rights and the impact of violence on one African American family. Use this book to help navigate your students through sensitive classroom discussions on prejudice and discrimination.

Sharon Robinson shares memories of her famous father in this warm, loving biography of the man who broke the color barrier in baseball. Readers will enjoy learning more about Jackie Robinson, an outstanding athlete who was also a devoted family man and a dedicated civil rights activist.

This realistic novel was written by a first-time teen author no older than the characters she depicted. The story remains as hard-hitting and important today as when it was published in 1967, and is well-utilized in classroom discussions of bullying, class conflict, justice, and redemption.

After crash-landing in the remote Canadian wilderness, thirteen-year-old Brian has only a hatchet and the clothes on his back to help him survive the terrifying and brutal wild. Brian’s thrilling survival tale will enthrall even the most reluctant readers, while his resourcefulness and ingenuity will inspire students to make their own way into the world—and the wild.

Ten concentration camps. Ten different places where you are starved, tortured, and worked mercilessly. As a Jewish boy in 1930’s Poland, Yanek Gruener has been taken prisoner by the Nazis and must survive, at any cost. Based on an astonishing true story, this book will expose readers to the horrors of the Holocaust and the strength of the human spirit.

As the Revolutionary War begins, thirteen-year-old Isabel wages her own fight...for freedom. When Isabel meets Curzon, a slave with ties to the Patriots, he encourages her to spy on her owners, who know details of British plans for invasion. Chains will inspire thought-provoking discussion of the American Revolution, the lives of slaves, the meaning of freedom, and the use of symbolism and metaphor in effective storytelling.

Black sixteen-year-old Steve Harmon, an amateur filmmaker, is on trial for the murder of a Harlem drugstore owner and could face the death penalty. Steve copes by writing a movie script based on his trial, but reality is blurred until he can no longer tell what is truth. Engage readers in discussions of the criminal system, using art as a form of therapy, and the author’s stylistic choices, from the use of script formatting to the ambiguousness of Steve’s guilt or innocence.

When a planeload of British schoolboys crash-lands on a deserted Pacific island, the surviving boys struggle to create order among themselves so they have a chance at being rescued. Much discussed and debated (and even banned), this influential book will engage readers in reflections on human nature, the power of fear, and the fragileness of structured society.