The Carrollton Public Library recognizes the fact that every child learns to read and develops as a reader at his/her own unique pace. The following list is very general, and is in no way designed to be prescriptive.

Aiken, Joan. The wolves of Willoughby Chase.
Bonnie and her cousin Sylvia are left in the care of a cruel governess when Bonnie's parents go on a sea voyage. Besieged by wolves without and the terrible Miss Slighcarp within, how are they to reclaim Willoughby Chase?

Alexander, Lloyd. The book of three.
Taran, Assistant Pig-Keeper to a famous oracular sow, sets out on a hazardous mission to save Prydain from the forces of evil. Book 1 of the The Prydain Chronicles.

Avi. The true confessions of Charlotte Doyle.
As the lone "young lady" on a transatlantic voyage in 1832, Charlotte learns that the captain is murderous and the crew rebellious.

Balliet, Blue. Chasing Vermeer.
When seemingly unrelated and strange events start to happen and a precious Vermeer painting disappears, eleven-year-olds Petra and Calder combine their talents to solve an international art scandal. Sequel: The Wright 3.

Baskin, Nora Raleigh. What every girl (except me) knows.
Twelve-year-old Gabby feels that she needs a mother to help her grow into a woman, so when things between her father and his latest girlfriend do not work out, Gabby set off for the last place she remembers seeing her own mother.

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Choldenko, Gennifer. Al Capone does my shirts.
A twelve-year-old boy named Moose moves to Alcatraz Island in 1935 when guards' families were housed there, and has to contend with his extraordinary new environment in addition to life with his autistic sister.

Cooper, Susan. Over sea, under stone.
Three children on a holiday in Cornwall find an ancient manuscript which sends them on a dangerous quest for a grail that would reveal the true story of King Arthur and that entraps them in the eternal battle between the forces of the Light and the forces of the Dark. First book in the Dark is rising sequence.

Johnston, Tony. Any small goodness.
Arturo and his family and friends share all kinds of experiences living in the barrio of East Los Angeles--reclaiming their names, playing basketball, championing the school librarian, and even starting their own gang.

Klise, Kate. Deliver us from Normal.
With a mother who buys Christmas cards in August and a younger brother who describes the Trinity as a toasted marshmallow on a graham cracker, life for eleven-year-old Charles Harrisong is anything but normal in Normal, Illinois.

Kongisburg, E.M. From the mixed-up files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.
Claudia is a bored and brainy twelve-year-old who ran away and took her younger brother with her. To throw everyone off, they hid in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. It's an exciting story of hide and seek and a marvelous art lesson to boot.

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L'Engle, Madeleine. A wrinkle in time.
Meg Murry and her friends become involved with unearthly strangers and a search for Meg's father, who has disappeared while engaged in secret work for the government. First book in the Time trilogy series.

Montgomery, L.M. Anne of Green Gables.
Anne, an eleven-year-old orphan, is sent by mistake to live with a lonely, middle-aged brother and sister on a Prince Edward Island farm and proceeds to make an indelible impression on everyone around her. First book in the Anne of Green Gables series.

Naylor, Phyllis Reynolds. The grand escape.
After years of being strictly house cats, Marco and Polo escape into the wonderful, but dangerous outside world and are sent on three challenging adventures by a group of cats known as the Club of Mysteries.

O'Dell, Scott. Island of the blue dolphins.
Young Karana was unintentionally left behind by members of her California Native American tribe (when they fled a tragedy-ridden island.) Without bitterness or self-pity, she is able to extract joy and challenge from her eighteen years of solitude.

Paterson, Katherine. Bridge to Terabithia.
A very powerful novel dealing with a special friendship between a boy and a girl. Sports, school, death, guilt, art, and family are some of the emotional issues covered.

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Paulsen, Gary. Hatchet.
A thirteen- year- old boy is the lone survivor of a plane crash in the Canadian wilds. He only takes three things with him from the crash site: the hatchet his mother gave him, his fierce spirit, and the secret that his mother was unfaithful to his father. All three elements are vital to this exciting story.

Raskin, Ellen. The Westing game.
The mysterious death of an eccentric millionaire brings together an unlikely assortment of heirs who must uncover the circumstances of his death before they can claim their inheritance.

Rawls, Wilson. Where the red fern grows.
A ten-year-old boy growing up in the Ozark mountains, praying and saving for a pair of hounds, finally achieves his wish. He then begins the task of turning the hounds into first class hunting dogs. This is a wonderful story about perseverance, courage, family, work, sacrifice, life and death.

Sachar, Louis. Holes.
As further evidence of his family's bad fortune which they attribute to a curse on a distant relative, Stanley Yelnats is sent to a hellish correctional camp in the Texas desert where he finds his first real friend, a treasure, and a new sense of himself.

Schwartz, Alvin. Scary stories to tell in the dark.
This is an anthology of nearly 100 stories that represents the oral tradition in African-American culture (including sermons, truth tales, poetry, biography, humor, and ghost tales).

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Woodson, Jacqueline. Feathers.
When a new, white student nicknamed "The Jesus Boy" joins her sixth grade class in the winter of 1971, Frannie's growing friendship with him makes her start to see some things in a new light.

Yolen, Jane. Favorite folktales from around the world.
Adapted versions from 150 classic tales from forty different cultures. There is a bibliographic history of each tale, edited by one of our country's most prolific children's authors.

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