by Kate DiCamillo
Unconditional Recommendation: With the help of a funny stray dog, Opal makes friends in her new town.
Awards: Newbery Honor (2001)
Conditional Recommendation: An emotional tale of a self-centered china rabbit who learns to love despite experiencing a harsh world.
Awards: Zilveren Griffel (2007), Grand Canyon Reader Award for Intermediate Book (2008), Sunshine State Young Readers Award for Grades 3-5 (2007), Pacific Northwest Library Association Young Reader’s Choice Award for Junior (2009), Charlie May Simon Children’s Book Award (2009), Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Fiction and Poetry (2006), The Magnolia Award (2010), Rebecca Caudill Young Readers’ Book Award Nominee (2008), Hea Lasteraamat (2019)
Conditional Recommendation: With the help of a feisty friend and a caged tiger, a 12-year-old boy learns how to process his bottled-up grief.
Awards: Charlie May Simon Children’s Book Award Nominee (2004), National Book Award Finalist for Young People’s Literature (2001)
Why should your young Christian read good fiction books? In this article, I seek to give you seven reasons from a Christian worldview of the benefits your young reader can gain from reading and how reading could impact their personal walk with the Lord.
Conditional Recommendation: Four hobbits, a dwarf, two men, an elf, and a wizard embark on a quest across Middle-earth with a group of friends to keep the ring of power out of evil hands and reach Mount Doom to destroy it.
Genre: Fantasy
Conditional Recommendation: A dragon, a brownie, and a boy set off on a quest to find the Rim of Heaven, a safe place for dragons to live, before humans invade their home or an ancient villain catches them.
Genre: Fantasy/Adventure
Conditional Recommendation: Three Canadian children fall through television sets to land in a world where they have to escape captivity, help free a king, and defeat the powers of evil.
Genre: Christian Fantasy/Allegory
Unconditional Recommendation: In this fairytale retelling, Ella, cursed by a fairy to obey every command, sets out to break her curse and protect those she loves.
Awards: Newbery Honor (1998), Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children’s Literature (1999), Grand Canyon Reader Award for Teen Book (1999), Maryland Black-Eyed Susan Book Award for Grade 6-9 (2000), Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children’s Book Award (1999)
Unconditional Recommendation: Eleven-year-old orphan Pollyanna, full of happiness and love, goes to live with her cold, strict Aunt Polly and turns the household and the town upside down in the best way.
Genre: Classic Continue reading