Primary For Children

Yes, there really is a Normal, Illinois. Charles Harrisong should know; he was born there. But life is difficult for Charles because his family isn't normal. They're poor, for one thing. They stand out, which is the worst thing. After an ugly incident at school, Charles and family leave Normal and begin an adventure that takes them to a houseboat that just might be their new home. And Charles begins a personal journey within his own heart; one that will ultimately deliver him both from and to himself.

This middle grade novel is an excellent choice for tween listeners in grades five to six, especially during homeschooling. It's a fun way to keep your child entertained and engaged while not in the classroom. Based on a Rocky Mountain legend, Stone Fox tells the story of Little Willy, who lives with his grandfather in Wyoming. When Grandfather falls ill, he is no longer able to work the farm, which is in danger of foreclosure. Little Willy is determined to win the National Dogsled Race - the prize money would save the farm and his grandfather.

Henry Green was a boy who loved chocolate. He liked it bitter, sweet, dark, light, and daily; for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks; in cakes, candy bars, milk, and every other form you could possibly imagine. Henry probably loved chocolate more than any boy in the history of the world.

A charming tale of the peddler whose stolen caps mean all kinds of monkey business.

Eight-year-old Jack, his seven-year-old sister, Annie, and Peanut the mouse ride in a tree house to the Amazon rain forests, where they encounter giant ants, flesh-eating piranhas, hungry crocodiles, and wild jaguars.

In productive classrooms, teachers don't just teach children skills, they build emotionally and relationally healthy learning communities. Teachers create intellectual environments that produce not only technically competent students, but also caring, secure, actively literate human beings.

Follow one large ungainly "duck" as he is laughed at, kicked, and pecked for being different. Hans Christian Andersen shows that beauty is only skin-deep, and many other important moral lessons in more than five hours of his best, inspiring stories.

In Maximum Ride: Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports, the time has arrived for Max and her winged "Flock" to face their ultimate enemy and discover their original purpose: to defeat the takeover of "Re-evolution", a sinister experiment to re-engineer a select population into a scientifically superior master race...and to terminate the rest. Max, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gasman, and Angel have always worked together to defeat the forces working against them—but can they save the world when they are torn apart, living in hiding and captivity, halfway across the globe from one another?

Every morning, Judy measures Stink, and it's always the same: 3 feet, 8 inches tall. Stink feels like even the class newt is growing faster than he is. Then one day, the ruler reads 3 feet, 7 and 3/4 inches! Can it be? Is Stink shrinking? Stink tries everything to look like he's growing, but wearing up-and-down stripes and spiking his hair don't seem to be fooling anybody into thinking he's taller.

Can Zack save the earth from butts gone berserk? Can he defeat the biggest, ugliest, meanest butt the world has ever seen? More importantly, will Zack and his butt ever find true happiness? It's an adventure you and your butt will never forget!

New York Times best-selling novelist Brian Jacques, creator of the beloved Redwall books and one of the most popular children's authors in the world, delivers the second rousing escapade from his Castaways of the Flying Dutchman series. This time around, the immortal Ben and Ned are high in the Pyrenees Mountains, where they make new allies and fight to save a man from a legendary tribe strong in the black arts.

Genuinely funny books for children are few and far between. So, when a story like Henry Huggins comes along, it comes to stay. Children everywhere see themselves in this irresistible boy's adventures.

For Hart Evans, being the most popular fifth grader has its advantages: kids look up to him and teachers let him get away with everything. But during one choir practice, Hart zones out too far, accidentally flinging a rubber band at his teacher. Mr. Meinert realizes that if Hart is ever going to discover his musical potential, his punishment must march to a different drummer.

Welcome to the Rotten School, a new series set in a boarding school that's rotten to the core. The school motto is Growth, Learning, Pizza. Meet charming conniver Bernie Bridges, his arch-rival Sherman Oaks, housemother Mrs. Heinie, Coach Bunz, Headmaster I. Will Upchuck, and the rest of the students and faculty in two stories that prove that while good is good and bad is better, rotten is the best of all!

Is this town haunted? Jack and Annie wonder when the Magic Tree House carries them to the Wild West. But before they can say "Boo!" they rush headlong into an adventure filled with horse thieves, a lost colt, rattlesnakes, and a cowboy named Slim. Will Jack and Annie have time to solve the next Tree House riddle? The answer may depend on a ghost!

Young wizards Nita and Kit face their most terrifying challenge yet: Nita’s little sister, Dairine. Not only is Dairine far too smart for a ten-year-old, she also recently has become a wizard, and worse yet, a wizard with almost limitless power. When Dairine’s computerized wizard’s manual glibly sends her off on her novice adventure—her Ordeal—Kit and Nita end up chasing her across the galaxy, trying to catch up with Dairine before she gets into trouble so deep that not even her brains can rescue her.

Hattie Owen prefers to be steeped in the familiarity of her small-town life than to think about the vast world beyond her own. Her family's boarding house is where she feels most at home, with its eccentric tenants and predictable routines, so different from the controlling and repressive home of her well-to-do grandparents who live nearby.

In their first adventure as Master Librarians, Jack and In their first adventure as Master Librarians, Jack and Annie go to the city of Pompeii to bring back an ancient story that is in danger of being lost forever. Little do they know they are saving the myth of Hercules! But before they can find it, the town's volcano erupts in a mighty explosion. Just when things look hopeless, Jack and Annie get some unexpected help from a certain mythic hero...and the rest, as they say, is history.

A patchwork doll comes to life, and Dorothy, the Tin Woodman, and a host of new characters have enchanting adventures in the Land of Oz.

Julia Song and her friend Patrick want to team up to win a blue ribbon at the state fair, but they can't agree on the perfect project. Then Julia's mother suggests they raise silkworms, as she did years ago in Korea. The optimistic twosome quickly realizes that raising silkworms is a lot tougher than they thought. And Julia never suspected that she'd be discussing the fate of her and Patrick's project with Ms. Park, the author of this book!