Mrs. Malecha Reads!

as retold by Mo Willems Once upon a time...there were three hungry dinosaurs.  What?  Wait a minute?  Three hungry dinosaurs?  I thought it was the bears who were hungry!  This is Mo Willems' take on an old classic story about dinosaurs in Norway who decide to clean up their house, make their beds, make some pudding and then decide to leave their house.  And along comes Goldilocks...

by Sarah Dooley Lexile:  800 Genre:  Realistic Fiction Fella and Zany are struggling to find the right way to say goodbye to Mama Lacy.  The sisters are no longer living together because the court decided that Zany should stay with Mama Shannon and that Fella should live with Grandma Madison.  So nothing feels right since their family of four dissolved. Zany shows up one night and decides to steal Mama Lacy's ashes and before Fella realizes it, they have kidnapped Grandma Madison's poodle and are off on an adventure.  Zany promises they will be back before the morning and no one will even know they were gone.  Fella isn't so sure, but she is happy to be with her sister so she goes along with the plan of taking Mama Lacy's ashes back to Asheville, NC where they once lived happily all together.

by Jeanette Winter For fourteen years, the librarian of Basra has run the library and created a place where people can meet to talk about books.  But now war has come and she fears that her library will be destroyed.  It is her job to protect the 30,000 books that the library holds.  Will she be able to protect these valuable resources?

by Jon Agee A daring young astronaut has landed on Mars with a box of cupcakes that he would like to share with anyone he finds living there.  Soon he realizes that he can't find life there and during his exploration time as realized that he lost his spaceship.  Now what is he going to do?  Life on Mars is not what he had expected it to be.

by Bill Martin Jr. and Michael Sampson Illustrated by Brian Won Spunky Little Monkey doesn't want to get out of bed, but the doctor tells him he has to get some exercise so away he goes to do his spunky monkey dance.  Stomping, shaking, and clapping will get this spunky little monkey up and going!

by Margot Lee Shetterly Lexile:  1120 Genre:  Informtational/Biography Dorothy Vaughn, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Christine Darden were mathematical pioneers who were responsible for many of the calculations that got the very first U.S. astronauts into space.  Read about how these inspirational African American women broke many barriers in their quest to be recognized for the important work they did.

by Kevin Henkes There are 4 eggs.  3 of the eggs hatch.  There is one left to go.  Why won't that egg hatch?  When it finally does, there is a fun surprise inside!

by Monica Brown Illustrated by John Parra Realistic Fiction Luis Soriano Bohorquez is a librarian who travels across the Colombian countryside on his donkey. He loads it up with books and sets out on an 8 hour journey to bring books to children who otherwise wouldn't have them.  This story, told by Monica Brown, depicts how one girl, Ana, is changed by the visits from the Biblioburro.  She can't wait for each time he returns with new books for her to read and enjoy.

by James Patterson and Christ Grabenstein Illustrated by Joe Sutphin Lexile:  690 Genre:  Fantasy Isaiah is a mouse, but he is a mouse with words.  And he has a lot to say.  He narrowly escaped captivity, but now he is all alone in a world that he has never discovered.  His family was recaptured during the escape attempt so it is now up to Isaiah to save them.  Luckily, he runs into McKayla who invites him to join her mice family and Isaiah becomes a helpful addition to her family.  But he still misses his own and he will need the help of all of his new friends, including a human named Hailey, to get his family the freedom they deserve.

by Keith Baker Join the Peas as they travel through the year learning all about the months.  January through December - we are Hap-Pea all year long!

by James Dean Five little ducks went out to play and Pete the cat went with them to have a fun day! They jumped and hopped and went on the swings. When it started to rain, they played inside.  How much fun it is to hang with this cool cat - rain or shine!

by Lisa Papademetriou Genre:  Realistic Fiction Callie didn't mean to skip a week of school.  It sort of just happened...Callie's parents are busy trying to hold their lives together, Callie's brother is being bullied at school, and Callie's grandmother wants to go back to the 1980's.  And Callie is dealing with her own issues at her new private school.  There doesn't seem to be anyone who can help her with her problems until she meets Cassius at the art museum.  He might actually be a friend, but then Callie learns that he has a secret too.  Callie is going to need to figure out what to do about a lot of secrets if she is going to get her life back on track.

by Rob Buyea Lexile:  790 Genre:  Realistic Fiction Mr. Terupt's gang has all moved on to 7th grade.  They feel excited about the challenges of 7th grade, but also a little lost without their favorite teacher.  And things are changing...boys are starting to be interested in girls, Lexie's mom is sick, Danielle isn't feeling right, and then Mr. Terupt has big news of his own to share!  The kids go through many ups and downs, but when they learn that Mr. Terupt is is facing a new battle, they realize that they will need each other if they are going to save him.

by Melanie Walsh Genre:  Informational We have many similarities and we have many differences.  Similarities and differences should be celebrated.  That's what happens in this book!  Lions are big, kittens are small, but guess what?  They both have claws.  Read this book to find out about other similarities that different animals share.

by Emily Gravett Genre:  Fantasy Pete the Badger likes to have everything neat and tidy.  But in a forest, that is tough to do!  Once Pete gets everything just the way he thinks he wants it, he realizes that maybe a little messy can be good.

by Emma Donoghue Lexile:  840 Genre:  Realistic Fiction The Lotterys are a large family - 4 parents and 7 kids.  When they won the lottery, all of the parents quit their jobs, changed their names, and moved to a giant old house.  All of their children are named after trees, they are homeschooled, and believe in upcycling whenever possible.  But one day, someone new joins the family.  He is not happy about having to give up his home, car, and freedom so that the Lotterys can help him out.  Sumac, the 5th of the 7 kids, has to give up her room for this grumpy old man.  Even though he is her grandfather, she isn't happy about it.  She wants to come up with a plan to figure out how to get things back to normal.