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  Mr. Black's Recommended Booklist

Having trouble finding the "just right" book for you?  Use the "5 Finger Rule".

1.  Go to a page in the middle of the book.

2.  Begin reading the page.  Hold up 1 finger each time you come to a word you don't know.

3.  Use the following scale:

1 finger = book is good for you

2 fingers = book should still be okay

3 fingers = book may be a little challenging

4 fingers = book is probably too difficult                             

5 fingers = choose another book to read!         

Animal Stories
Click on the book title for more info Rating Difficulty
BABE THE GALLANT PIG
by Dick King-Smith
Average
Ereth's Birthday
by Avi
Poppy
by Avi
Average
Poppy and Rye
by Avi
Ragweed
by Avi
Average
The Good Dog
by Avi
 
Biography
Click on the book title for more info Rating Difficulty
An Indian Winter
by Russell Freedman
Eleanor Roosevelt: A Life of Discovery
by Russell Freedman
Indian Chiefs
by Russell Freedman
Lincoln: A Photobiography
by Russell Freedman
Average
The Adventures of Marco Polo
by Russell Freedman
The Life and Death of Crazy Horse
by Russell Freedman
Challenging
The Wright Brothers: How They Invented the Airplane
by Russell Freedman
Average
 
Classics
Click on the book title for more info Rating Difficulty
A WRINKLE IN TIME
by Madeleine L'Engle
Challenging
ABEL'S ISLAND
by William Steig
ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND
by Lewis Carroll
Challenging
ANNE OF GREEN GABLES
by L.M. Montgomery
Challenging
BIG RED
by Jim Kjelgaard
Average
CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY
by Roald Dahl
Average
CHARLOTTE'S WEB
by E.B. White
Average
CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN
by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey
Challenging
DADDY-LONG-LEGS
by Jean Webster
DOMINIC
by William Steig
ISLAND OF THE BLUE DOLPHINS
by Scott O'Dell
Challenging
JULIE OF THE WOLVES
by Jean Craighead George
Challenging
KING OF THE WIND
by Marguerite Henry
Average
LASSIE, COME HOME
by Eric Knight
Average
LITTLE HOUSE IN THE BIG WOODS
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Average
LITTLE WOMEN
by Louisa May Alcott
Challenging
MARY POPPINS
by P.L. Travers
Challenging
SADAKO AND THE THOUSAND PAPER CRANES
by Eleanor Coerr
Challenging
SARAH, PLAIN AND TALL
by Patricia MacLachlan
Average
SOUNDER
by William H. Armstrong
Average
STUART LITTLE
by E.B. White
Average
THE BLACK STALLION
by Walter Farley
Challenging
THE CRICKET IN TIMES SQUARE
by George Selden
Average
THE HOBBIT
by J.R.R. Tolkien
Challenging
THE INCREDIBLE JOURNEY
by Sheila Burnford
Average
THE LITTLE PRINCE
by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Challenging
THE PHANTOM TOLL BOOTH
by Norton Juster
THE RELUCTANT DRAGON
by Kenneth Grahame
THE SECRET GARDEN
by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Challenging
THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS
by Kenneth Grahame
Challenging
WHERE THE RED FERN GROWS
by Wilson Rawls
Average
WINNIE-THE-POOH
by A. A. Milne
Easy Reading
 
Fantasy
Click on the book title for more info Rating Difficulty
Dragon Rider
by Cornelia Caroline Funke
Average
JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH
by Roald Dahl
Average
MRS. FRISBY AND THE RATS OF NIMH
by Robert C. O'Brien
Average
Princess Academy
by Shannon Hale
THE BORROWERS
by Mary Norton
Average
THE EGYPT GAME
by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
The Great Good Thing
by Rod Townley
THE HERO AND THE CROWN
by Robin McKinley
THE INDIAN IN THE CUPBOARD
by Lynne Reid Banks
Average
THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE
by C. S. Lewis
Average
The Owlstone Crown
by X.J. Kennedy
Average
The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread
by Kate DiCamillo
Average
TUCK EVERLASTING
by Natalie Babbitt
Whittington
by Alan Armstrong
 
Historical Fiction
Click on the book title for more info Rating Difficulty
CADDIE WOODLAWN
by Carol Ryrie Brink
Average
Captain Grey
by Avi
Challenging
Crispin: The Cross of Lead
by Avi
Average
Encounter at Easton
by Avi
Fever, 1793
by Laurie Halse Anderson
Hattie Big Sky
by Kirby Larson
Night Journeys
by Avi
Nory Ryan’s Song
by Patricia Reilly Giff
ROLL OF THUNDER, HEAR MY CRY
by Mildred Taylor
Average
Stowaway
by Karen Hesse
The Barn
by Avi
THE SIGN OF THE BEAVER
by Elizabeth George Speare
Average
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle
by Avi
Average
THE WITCH OF BLACKBIRD POND
by Elizabeth George Speare
Challenging
Who Was That Masked Man Anyway?
by Avi
 
Mystery and Suspense
Click on the book title for more info Rating Difficulty
BUNNICULA
by James Howe
Average
Chasing Vermeer
by Blue Balliett
FROM THE MIXED-UP FILES OF MRS. BASIL E. FRANKWEILER
by E.L. Konigsburg
Average
The Man Who Was Poe
by Avi
The Mysterious Matter of I. M. Fine
by Diane Stanley
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase
by Joan Aiken
Challenging
 
Mythology, Folktales, etc.
Click on the book title for more info Rating Difficulty
D'AULAIRE'S BOOK OF GREEK MYTHS
by Ingri and Edgar Parin D'Aulaire
Challenging
ROOTABAGA STORIES: Part One
by Carl Sandburg
 
Nonfiction
Click on the book title for more info Rating Difficulty
Children of the Great Depression
by Russell Freedman
Give Me Liberty: The Story of the Declaration of Independence
by Russell Freedman
Challenging
Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow
by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
Challenging
Secrets of Sound: Studying the Calls and Songs of Whales, Elephants, and Birds
by April Pulley Sayre
Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World: the Extraordinary True Story of Shackleton and the Endurance
by Jennifer Armstrong
Challenging
The Real Vikings: Craftsmen, Traders, and Fearsome Raiders
by Melvin Berger
 
Poetry
Click on the book title for more info Rating Difficulty
A Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson
A LUCKY THING
by Alice Schertle
Carver: A Life in Poems
by Marilyn Nelson
CASEY AT THE BAT: A Ballad of the Republic Sung in the Year 1888
by Ernest L. Thayer
DAYS LIKE THIS
by Simon James
FALLING UP
by Shel Silverstein
Average
Hailstones and Halibut Bones
by Mary O'Neill
Average
INSECTLOPEDIA
by Douglas Florian
IS IT FAR TO ZANZIBAR?
by Nikki Grimes
IT'S RAINING PIGS AND NOODLES
by Jack Prelutsky
JUST AROUND THE CORNER: Poems
by James Stevenson
LIZARDS, FROGS, AND POLLIWOGS
by Douglas Florian
No More Homework! No More Tests!
by Bruce Lansky
ODDHOPPER OPERA: A Bug's Garden of Verses
by Kurt Cyrus
PIECES: A Year in Poems and Quilts
by Anna Grossnickle Hines
SAD UNDERWEAR AND OTHER COMPLICATIONS: More Poems for Children and Their Parents
by Judith Viorst
THERE'S AN AWFUL LOT OF WEIRDOS IN OUR NEIGHBORHOOD
by Colin McNaughton
THIS SAME SKY: A Collection of Poems from Around the World
by Naomi Shihab Nye
When the Teacher Isn't Looking and Other Funny School Poems
by Kenn Nesbitt
WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS
by Shel Silverstein
Average
WORDS WITH WINGS: A Treasury of African-American Poetry and Art
by Belinda Rochelle
 
Realistic Fiction
Click on the book title for more info Rating Difficulty
A Single Shard
by Linda Sue Park
Average
A Year Down Yonder
by Richard Peck
Al Capone Does My Shirts
by Gennifer Choldenko
Because of Winn-Dixie
by Kate DiCamillo
Bernie Magruder & the Bats in the Belfry
by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Code Orange
by Caroline Cooney
Challenging
Dillon Dillon
by Kate Banks
Everything on a Waffle
by Polly Horvath
Hoot
by Carl Hiaasen
Ida B:…and her plans to mazimize fun, avoid disaster, and (possibly) save the world
by Katherine Hannigan
Joey Pigza Loses Control
by Jack Gantos
Journey to the River Sea
by Eva Ibbotson
My Side of the Mountain
by Jean Craighead George
Average
ONE-EYED CAT
by Paula Fox
Average
Penny from Heaven
by Jennifer L. Holm
Red Kayak
by Priscilla Cummings
Average
Rules
by Cynthia Lord
Sahara Special
by Esme Raji Codell
So B. It
by Sarah Weeks
Challenging
Spider Sparrow
by Dick King-Smith
Surviving the Applewhites
by Stephanie S. Tolan
TALES OF A FOURTH GRADE NOTHING
by Judy Blume
Average
The Big Bazoohley
by Peter Carey
The Chicken Doesn’t Skate
by Gordon Korman
The Gorillas of Gill Park
by Amy Gordon
The Higher Power of Lucky
by Susan Patron
The Last Holiday Concert
by Andrew Clements
The Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place
by E. L. Konigsburg
The Report Card
by Andrew Clements
The Star of Kazan
by Eva Ibbotson
The Teacher’s Funeral: a comedy in three parts
by Richard Peck
The Tiger’s Apprentice
by Laurence Yep
The Young Man and the Sea
by W. R. Philbrick
 



Mr. Black's 5th @ Bmile
Bridlemile Elementary School
4300 SW 47th Ave.
Portland, OR 97221