Houston Family Book List - June 2009

Toddlers (Ages 1-3)

Dora’s Chicks by Julie Sykes
Dora’s six chicks go missing while she is hunting for breakfast. Children will have fun looking for the chicks with Dora.

Flower Garden by Eve Bunting
This is a wonderful story of a little girl and her father creating a special birthday surprise for her mom.

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin, Jr.
A classic—each illustration is of a different animal in a bold color. Children will meet new animals and learn their colors at the same time.

Picture Books (Pre K-K)

Dogs on the Bed by Elizabeth Bluemle
Mom, Dad, two kids and six dogs start in the same bed. The rhyming text is full of fun as the dogs exhibit dog behavior and the humans try to sleep. It all ends with a nice sleeping arrangement of humans and dogs throughout the house!

The Odd Egg by Emily Gravett
A drake is feeling left out when all of the other birds have laid an egg so when he finds a large egg with green spots he sits on it and waits for it to hatch. The other birds tease him…until the egg hatches and they are all surprised.

Rhyming Dust Bunnies by Jan Thomas
The four dust bunnies, Ed, Ned, Ted and Bob love to rhyme. The only problem is Bob seems to be giving warnings instead of rhymes. Children will love learning to rhyme and might figure out what Bob’s warning them about before Ed, Ned and Ted do!

Early Readers (Grades 1-3)

Going to the Firehouse by Mercer Mayer
Little Critter and his class visit the firehouse where they learn to stop, drop and roll.

Fancy Nancy Sees Stars by Jane O’Connor
Nancy and her friend, Robert are disappointed when they miss out on a nighttime field trip to the planetarium due to rain. Always resourceful Nancy has a plan to make things wonderful again!

Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa: Rain or Shine by Erika Silverman
Cowgirl Kate and her horse, Cocoa get caught in a rain storm and Cocoa is afraid of the thunder and lightning. Kate is calm and reassuring and the two friends learn to work together in rain or shine.

Children's Fiction (Grades 4-6)

The Maze of Bones by Rick Riordan
This is the first book of the 39 Clues series which also has a website and game cards so that readers can also compete in the game. When their grandmother dies and the will is read, Amy and Dan decide to forgo the money and compete in a race against the rest of the family to find clues hidden around the world and win the game!

Who Stole Uncle Sam? by Martha Freeman
Alex and his best friend, Yasmeen are at the park when the baseball coach disappears right before portraying Uncle Sam in the Memorial Day festivities. Even though they have promised not to get involved in any more investigations they end up finding clues and working on the mystery.

The Case of the Peculiar Pink Fan by Nancy Springer
Enola Holmes, the much younger sister of Sherlock Holmes is once again on the case while keeping a low profile in order to hide from her brothers. This time she is trying to save her friend, Cecily from an arranged marriage but it turns out her brother, Sherlock is also on the case—who will solve it first?!

Teen Fiction (Ages 12 & Up)

What I Saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell
When Evie’s stepfather returns home from World War II her family life returns to normal. But then a young ex-GI who served in her stepfather’s company shows up and Evie gets caught up in a web of lies, family secrets and begins to fall for the ex-GI even though she can sense there is trouble.

The Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw by Jeff Kinney
In the third book of this series, Greg is still wimpy but now his father wants him to change his wimpy ways or be sent to military school. These books are full of funny situations that young readers will love—even reluctant readers won’t be able to put this book down.

Alcatraz Versus the Scrivener’s Bones by Brandon Sanderson
Alcatraz Smedry and his companions face the undead and a part-human, part-machine mercenary as they search for his father and grandfather while continuing their fight against the Evil Librarians.