(Stories that can actually happen and are true to real life)
100 Days and 99 Nights By: Alan Madison
Esme’s father is in the military and is being deployed for
one hundred days. Before he leaves he tells Esme to help her mother take care
of Ike, her younger brother. At the start of each chapter she talks about one
of her stuffed animals and how she got it. Many are from different places
because her family has traveled a lot. While her father is gone Esme tries to do
the things he did, like make pancakes on a Saturday. She also starts a scrap
metal drive at school to support the soldiers. Her dad tells her that she is
the true hero. When one hundred days are up Esme’s father returns home, and
that night they have his special pancakes for dinner.
Interest Level:
3-5
Grade level
Equivalent: 5.8
Bridge to Terabithia By: Katherine Paterson
Jesse Aarons wants to be the fastest runner at school this
year. He’s practiced all summer, but when the new girl Leslie runs she’s faster
than him. They become best friends and spend most of their time playing and
exploring the woods behind Leslie’s house. They call it Terabithia and it can
only be reached by a rope swing that crosses over a creek. One morning Leslie
ventures to Terabithia alone and drowns in the creek. To deal with his grief he
becomes in denial. Eventually he accepts what has happened, but Leslie’s family
moves away. One day May Belle, Jesse’s sisters tries to cross into Terabithia.
Jesse helps across a fallen tree and then crowns her the queen of Terabithia.
Interest Level:
3-5
Grade level
Equivalent: 4.6
Chocolate Fever By: Robert Kimmel Smith
Henry Green is a boy that loves chocolate. He eats so much
of it that one day it causes him to have a case of chocolate fever. He breaks
out in brown spots, and they even smell like chocolate. He gets scared of going
to the doctors, so he runs away. He gets a ride with a truck driver, but the
truck gets hijacked. The police catch the hijackers and Mac, the truck driver,
helps Henry to call his parents. Henry, once home, goes to the sugar shop and
talks to Mr. Cane. Mr. Cane tells Henry about how he too once had chocolate
fever. He gives him a vanilla pill and tells him not to eat so much chocolate.
Interest Level:
3-5
Grade level
Equivalent: 4.8
The Dark By: Lemony Snicket
Laszlo is afraid of the dark. The dark was everywhere,
especially in the basement. Each morning he would go to the basement and say hi
to the dark. One night the dark visited him in his room. It led him to the
basement to give him a light bulb for his night light. After that night Laszlo
wasn’t afraid of the dark anymore.
Interest Level:
K-3
Grade level
Equivalent: Not Available
First Day Jitters By: Julie Danneberg
Sarah Hartwell is nervous for her first day of school at a
new school. She tries to hide under the covers, but Mr. Hartwell convinces her
to get up and go to school. At school the principle welcomes her and introduces
her to the class as their new teacher.
Interest Level:
K-2
Grade level
Equivalent: 2.6
First Year Letters by: Julie Danneberg
Mrs. Hartwell has established a classroom post office
allowing her students to write letters to her. The students write to her about
all different things. Some write to apologize to her to relate and encourage
her and some write just too simply tell her things.
Interest Level:
K-2
Grade level
Equivalent: 2.8
Freak the Mighty By: Rodman Philbrick
Max lives with his grandparents because his father is in prison
for killing Max’s mother. Everyone fears Max will turn out like his father
because he looks like him and isn’t very bright. A kid named Kevin, “Freak”,
and his mom move in next door. The two eventually become friends. Freak helps
Max to learn to read and write. Max acts as more of a bodyguard for Freak, who
rides on Max’s shoulders because his sickness makes it hard for him to walk.
The two go on many adventures together. On one adventure they return a woman’s
purse they found in a sewer. The woman, Loretta Lee, and her husband knew Max’s
father. They worry Max’s father will get parole, so they leave the boys alone.
Max’s grandfather, Grim, tells Max that his father has been released from
prison. On Christmas Eve, Max’s father kidnaps him and takes him to the Lee’s
house. There he ties him up in a chair in the basement. Loretta tries to save
Max, but his dad catches her and begins to choke her. Max breaks free and saves
Loretta, but his father goes after him. Freak comes in and saves the day, with
a squirt gun. Max’s father goes back to prison with a longer sentence. Later,
Freak goes to the hospital on his birthday. He had a seizure. Max goes to visit
him and Freak gives him a blank book and tells him he wants him to write the
story of Freak the mighty. Freak dies the next day because his heart became too
big for his small body. Max becomes so depressed he hides away in his room and
doesn’t come out, not even for the funeral. One day Max, after seeing Loretta,
decides to write Freak the mighty.
Interest Level:
3-7 Grade level
Equivalent: 6.3
The Invisible Boy By: Trudy Ludwig
Brian is made to feel invisible by his peers. He is left out
at recess, lunch, and group activities. A new boy, Justin, joins their class
and Brian hopes to make him his friend. The other kids try to take Justin into
their own groups, but when Justin and Emilio are in a group Justin invites
Brian to join their group. Justin then invites Brian to join them at lunch the
same day Justin tells Brian to come and join them. Brian finally doesn’t feel
invisible anymore.
Love You Forever by: Robert Munsch
A woman sings to her baby while she holds him each night.
The song is simple and states that she will love him forever and he will always
be her baby. Even through his antics as he ages, she still loves him and
continues to hold and sing to him each night. Eventually, the son moves into
his own home, but the mother still drives over to his house creeps in through
his bedroom window and holds him and sings. One day the mother is too old and
weak to hold her son, so the son goes and holds and sings to her.
Interest Level:
PreK-2
Grade level
Equivalent: 4.8
S.O.R. Losers By: Avi
South Orange Middle School requires every student to play a
sport. Ed and his friends are not interested in sports and managed to make it
through sixth grade without playing one, but not this year. They miss all the
sign-ups, so a special soccer team is made for them. their coach is the history
teacher Mr. Lesster. The team plays their first game and loses thirty two to
zero. The next four games are lost as well. The team finally reaches their last
game and everyone comes out to watch. To their surprise, the team becomes
victorious and wins the game.