The Bronze Bow

Reading can be a looking glass into places we’ve never been and times we’ve never lived. The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare is a perfect example of that. The book was published in 1961 and won the Newbery Medal in 1962.

The Bronze Bow is an historical fiction mid-grade novel. It’s about a troubled Jewish boy named Daniel who lives with his younger sister and grandmother. The story takes place in 1^st century Judea during the time of Jesus. Daniel’s father was killed by the Romans when Daniel was a young child. As a result, he’s angry with the Romans and his sister has gone mad. After Daniel is forced to work for a cruel blacksmith, he runs away into the mountains. There, Daniel is welcomed into a band of rebels led by a man named Rosh. Daniel lives in the mountains with the rebels for a couple years, but after his grandmother dies, he must go back to his village to care for his sister. Daniel takes over Simon the Zealot’s blacksmith shop after Simon leaves to follow Jesus. Daniel forms a band of rebels in the village, but soon discovers that their efforts weaken them, not the Romans. In the end, Jesus heals Daniel’s sister and Daniel gives up his hate of the Romans. 

I highly recommend this book to 6th graders.

List of Recommended Books by Grade:

2^nd grade –

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl

Miss Holly Is Too Jolly, by Dan Gutman

Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan

3^rd grade –

The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman

Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Among the Impostors by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater 

4^th grade –

Call It Courage by Armstrong Sperry

Louisiana's Song by Kerry Madden

The Maze of Bones by Rick Riordan

The Golly Whopper Games by Jody Feldman

5^th grade –

Benjamin Pratt & The Keeper of the School by Andrew Clements

Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool

A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park

6^th grade –

The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling

The Midwife's Apprentice by Karen Cushman

Dewey, by Vicki Myron with Bret Witter

The Wanderer by Sharon Creech

The View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg

The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare

7^th grade and up –

Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi

Pendragon Book One: The Merchant of Death by D.J. MacHale

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

The Seventeen Second Miracle, by Jason F. Wright