Recommended Reads
The Linder Library has about 3,300 books, and the wider world, well … too many to count. Each book offers something to love, so it can be pretty tough to play favorites.
I’ve had lots of requests from parents for book recommendations for their children, customized lists I compile based on both a student’s reading level and their interests (and my gentle nudging to widen them a little).
But it wasn’t until just before winter break that I received a request I hadn’t before, when a student asked me, “What is on your reading list?” Good question! (They always ask the best questions.)
So I made an end-of-year bibliography of sorts, in which I included some of my favorite books of all time alongside books I had read and enjoyed last year. I shared it with our Linder families in December, and I thought it would be a good first entry for Book Lynx.
Happy reading,
Ms. Jennie
Upper Elementary & Middle-Grade Fiction
The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo
The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise & Coyote Lost and Found by Dan Gemeinhart
The Inquisitor's Tale: Or, The Three Magical Children and Their Holy Dog by Adam Gidwitz
The Fourteenth Goldfish by Jennifer L. Holm
Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt
Hello, Universe by Erin Entrada Kelly
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg
Rules by Cynthia Lord
The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
How to Stay Invisible by Maggie C. Rudd
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
What Happened to Rachel Riley? by Claire Swinarski
Emma Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree by Lauren Tarshis
Upper Elementary & Middle-Grade Nonfiction
Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World: The Extraordinary True Story of Shackleton & the Endurance by Jennifer Armstrong
The Boys in the Boat (Young Readers Adaptation) by Daniel James Brown
The Mona Lisa Vanishes by Nicholas Day
A Black Hole Is Not a Hole by Carolyn Cinami DeCristofano
The Enigma Girls: How Ten Teenagers Broke Ciphers, Kept Secrets, and Helped Win World War II by Candace Fleming
The Lady Is a Spy by Don Mitchell
The Girl Who Drew Butteries: How Maria Merian's Art Changed Science by Joyce Sidman
Escape at 10,000 Feet: D.B. Cooper and the Missing Money by Tom Sullivan
Elementary Fiction & Nonfiction
Sam and Dave Dig a Hole by Mac Barnett
Whoosh! Lonnie Johnson's Super-Soaking Stream of Inventions by Chris Barton
The Legend of Rock Paper Scissors by Drew Daywalt
Fortunately, the Milk by Neil Gaiman
A Library by Nikki Giovanni
Bear and Bird: The Stars and Other Stories by Jarvis
The Red Balloon by Albert Lamorisse
Me … Jane by Patrick McDonnell
Jennifer and Josephine by Bill Peet
Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Peña
Big Foot and Little Foot by Ellen Potter
Yo! Yes? by Chris Raschka
Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold
Watercress by Andrea Wang
Flotsam by David Wiesner
Graphic Novels
Watership Down: The Graphic Novel by Richard Adams, James Sturm, and Joe Sutphin
The Great American Dust Bowl by Don Brown
Older Than Dirt: A Wild But True History of Earth by Don Brown
Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales (series) by Nathan Hale (and really anything else by Nathan Hale)
The Comic Book Story of Video Games: The Incredible History of the Electronic Gaming Revolution by Jonathan Hennessey
Roller Girl by Victoria Jamieson
March (series) by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell
Bone (series) by Jeff Smith
Hooky (series) by Míriam Bonastre Tur
