I always wanted to be a writer, but as a kid, my teacher told me to write about what I know, and I didn’t know much. I didn’t know much for a long time, but eventually started writing anyway. Today, I’ve written more than thirty books for children including the popular novels Class Dismissed, The Pet War, Field Tripped, and Unschooled. I also write books under a variety of pen names, such as “Fowler DeWitt.” When I’m not writing I’m probably visiting a school or a library. I live with my family outside Chicago.
A series of standalone, but connected stories centered around the strangest elementary school you’re likely to ever see. Louis Sachar is one of my all-time favorite kid writers and I recommend all of work (his Newberry Winning “Holes” is one of my top five favorite books of all time). Wayside School was accidentally built sideways so it stands 30 stories high. Lots of strange things happen at the school, especially on the 13th floor where Mrs. Gorf may be the meanest teacher of all time. There are three more books in this series, and they are all hysterical, but if you’re going to start somewhere, start with the first one.
There has been a terrible mistake. Instead of having thirty classrooms side by side, Wayside School is thirty storeys high! (The builder said he was sorry.) Perhaps that's why all sorts of strange and unusual things keep happening - especially in Mrs Jewls's classroom on the very top floor.
There's the terrifying Mrs Gorf, who gets an unusually fruity comeuppance; Terrible Todd, who always gets sent home early; and Mauricia, who has a strange ice-cream addiction. Meanwhile, John can only read upside down, and Leslie is determined to sell her own toes.
A Newberry Medal winner from the peerless Kate DiCamillo (quick, read all her books!), with comic panels from K.G. Campbell. Flora is a 10-year-old girl and Ulysses is a squirrel with superpowers, who Flora rescues from a vacuum cleaner. You’re already giggling, aren’t you? We follow the pair, and a bunch of other wacky characters, on a series of laugh-out-loud adventures that will keep you turning the page. I bet you’ll read the entire book in one sitting, like I did.
Holy unanticipated occurrences! A cynic meets an unlikely superhero in a genre-breaking new novel by a master storyteller.
It begins, as the best superhero stories do, with a tragic accident that has unexpected consequences. The squirrel never saw it coming - the vacuum cleaner, that is. As for self-described cynic Flora Belle Buckman, she has read every issue of the comic book Terrible Things Can Happen to You! so she is just the right person to step in and save him. What neither can predict is that Ulysses (the squirrel) has been born anew, with powers of strength, flight and…
Oh, c’mon. Do you have to ask? Roald Dahl was a genius, and it was hard to pick just one of his books. Honestly, I waffled between this book and three others. But what sets Matilda apart is its heart—and when a book has heart it makes the funny parts funnier, and those grow inside you a little bit (it also makes the suspense parts feel more suspenseful and the sadder parts feel sadder). Matilda is a sweet girl who doesn’t get along with the school’s kid-hating headmistress, Miss Trunchbull. In fact, things look bleak for Matilda until she discovers some exceptional superpowers hidden inside her.
11
authors picked
Matilda
as one of their favorite books, and they share
why you should read it.
This book is for kids age
8,
9,
10, and
11.
What is this book about?
Puffin Audiobooks presents Roald Dahl's Matilda, read by Kate Winslet. This audiobook features original music and sound design by Pinewood film studios.
Matilda Wormwood is an extraordinary genius with really stupid parents.
Miss Trunchbull is her terrifying headmistress who thinks all her pupils are rotten little stinkers.
But Matilda will show these horrible grown-ups that even though she's only small, she's got some very powerful tricks up her sleeve . . .
Kate Winslet's award-winning and varied career has included standout roles in Titanic, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Finding Neverland, Revolutionary Road and The Reader, for which she…
Miles Murphy has always been his school’s star prankster, a position he assumes will continue when he moves to a new school. Wrong. He quickly discovers the school already has a prankster, and Miles has a lot to learn about successful pranking if he’s going to keep up with his new rival. The outrageous and ingenious pranks, combined with great characters and hilarious writing, make this book by Mac Barnett and Jory John a fall-on-the-floor delight.
Miles Murphy is not happy to be moving to Yawnee Valley, a sleepy town that's famous for one thing and one thing only: cows. In his old school, everyone knew him as the town's best prankster, but Miles quickly discovers that Yawnee Valley already has a prankster, and a great one. If Miles is going to take the title from this mystery kid, he is going to have to raise his game.
It's prankster against prankster in an epic war of trickery, until the two finally decide to join forces and pull off the biggest prank ever seen: a prank…
Oh, really, do you have to ask “why this book?” I mean, how can I make a list of funny middle school books and not include Captain Underpants? Frankly, this list could just consist of Dav Pilkey books and I’d be fine with it, from Dog Man to Super Diaper Baby. The whimsical yet simplistic drawings make his absurd stories that much funnier. And really, any book featuring drawings of an adult in diapers is going to be funny.
Put The Wolfman, Happy Feet, and a box of fish sticks together, and you might come up with The Curse of the Werepenguin, the novel that best-selling author Chris Grabenstein called “the most hysterically hilarious book I’ve read in years.” Twelve-year orphan Bolt Wattle goes to live with his new family—a Baron in the far-away country of Brugaria. Unfortunately, the evil Baron turns into a sinister penguin every night and plans to take over the entire country with his evil penguin army. As far as families go, it’s pretty much rock bottom. After the Baron bites Bolt, the boy has just three days to figure out a way to break the curse or become an evil werepenguin creature forever. Will Bolt succeed or will Brugaria, and the world, fall under the Baron’s evil webbed feet? (The first of a trilogy).
From early childhood, I escaped into nature when times got tough—climbing trees, exploring the woods, and chatting with beach creatures. When I had to be indoors, books were my escape, and most of my favorites had rich nature settings that were so well-drawn that I could see them and feel like I was actually there. Following strong protagonists as they deal with life challenges by interacting with nature was an affirmation for me and still is. As a parent and former fifth-grade teacher, I’ve witnessed the power that books have to lessen loneliness and inspire hope and activism.
Artemis Sparke has had it with humans. She heads to the nearby salt marsh to hang out with the birds, plants, and mollusks who don't make a big deal of her stutter. The shoreline sanctuary is predictable, unlike her family and friends, and the data in her science journal proves it.
But one day that data goes haywire, and her bird friend RT confirms it: the salt marsh is dying. Artemis discovers that the historic hotel where she lives with her mom may be part of the problem, but speaking up would mean confronting the cranky hotel owner who happens…
"...Artemis Sparke is pure energy! ...Kenna's well-crafted debut is a timely gift." -Leslie Connor, National Book Award finalist and author of The Truth as Told by Mason Buttle and Anybody Here Seen Frenchie?
When Artemis Sparke has had it with humans, she heads to the nearby salt marsh to hang out with the birds, plants, and mollusks who don't make a big deal of her stutter. The shoreline sanctuary is predictable, unlike her family and friends, and the data in her science journal proves it. But one day that data goes haywire, and her bird friend RT confirms it: the…
