This month I read a nonfiction book for mid-grade readers. The Book of Think (Or How to Solve a Problem
Twice Your Size) written by Marilyn Burns and published by Little Brown and
Company is a book about stimulating your brain and thinking outside the box.
Are your kids sitting on the couch playing video games or
watching TV too much this summer? Do you need some activities to get them
moving and thinking? Marilyn Burns’ book is just what you need. The book is
full of activities about getting to know yourself and your brain that will
inspire deep cognitive processes. The kids will have fun and you’ll know that
their brains are getting some exercise over the summer.
I recommend this book to 4th and 5th graders and
thinkers of all ages.
List of Recommended Books by Grade:
Picture books
Alphabet
Puke—Monsters’ Medicine A-Z by Quinn Cole
2nd grade –
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
Miss Holly Is Too Jolly, by Dan Gutman
Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan
Time Warp Trio #1: Knights of the Kitchen Table by Jon Scieszka
Time Warp Trio #2: The Not-So-Jolly Roger by Jon Scieszka
3rd grade –
Who
Is J.K. Rowling? By Pam Pollack and Meg Belviso
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
4th grade –
The Book of Think (Or How to Solve a Problem Twice Your Size) by Marilyn Burns
Call It Courage by Armstrong Sperry
The Maze of Bones by Rick Riordan
The Golly Whopper Games by Jody Feldman
5th grade –
Dead
End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos
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
6th 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
7th grade and up –
Holes
by Louis Sachar
The
Summer of the Swans by
Betsy Byers
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