Mrs. Malecha Reads!

by Holly Goldberg Sloan Lexile:  810 Genre:  Realistic Fiction Julia hates the word short.  She hears it a lot, because she is short.  Very short.  In fact, she is so short that she is the perfect person to play the part of a Munchkin in her city's summer production of The Wizard of Oz.   Julia's mother made her tryout and she is convinced that this will be the worst summer ever.  But Julia meets some new people who give her a different perspective on how to look at life and what seems like a sure disaster, actually ends up turning into something that is pretty cool.

by Nicholas Blechman Lexile:  400 Genre:  Informational How many lights do you see?  Count the lights and guess which vehicle they belong to.  How many lights does a school bus have?  How many lights does a taxicab have?  Get ready to count and you will find out.

by Kimberly and James Dean Lexile:  190 Genre:  Fantasy Pete and his friends have made 10 cupcakes.  But wait!  What has happened?  There are no longer ten freshly baked and decorated cupcakes in Pete's kitchen!  Pete and his friends will have to get to the bottom of this mystery!

by Laura Numeroff Illustrated by Felicia Bond Lexile:  480 Genre:  Fantasy If you give a mouse a brownie, what do you suppose he will want with it?  This mouse is ready for an adventure so get ready to see where he takes you!

by Martine Murray Lexile:  780 Genre:  Fantasy Molly just wants to be seen as normal.  She doesn't want to stand out and have people think she is different or weird.  But that is hard to do when your mother gathers plants and makes mysterious potions.  Her mother becomes convinced that she can solve their problems if she can use a special acorn to brew up a magic potion.  Just as the potion is complete, Molly's mother makes a mistake, that is going to force Molly to confide in someone.  Instead of her best friend, Ellen, Molly chooses Pim, a strange yet interesting boy that she has never spoken to him.  Why would Molly trust him with the biggest secret of her life?

by Adam Gidwitz Illumintated by Hatem Aly Genre:  Fantasy Three children and a magical dog have turned France upside down.  The king is ready to fight a war and he has prepared an army to fight these 4 seemingly undefeatable beings.  For these are no ordinary children...the girl and see the future, one boy is a healer, and one is so strong he can defeat whoever crosses his path.  And their dog...Gwenforte...was once dead, but has no come alive again. How will the king defeat this foursome and why is it so important that he does?

by Anne Nesbet Lexile:  850 Genre:  Historical Fiction Noah is leading a normal life as a 5th grader in Virginia, until one day when his parents pick him up at school and tell him that they are on their way to the airport.  He learns that his name is no longer Noah (it's Jonah) and that his birthday is actually in November and not March.  And if that wasn't bad enough, he is now on his way to East Germany where he and his parents will be living for the next 6 months.  All the way there, his parents quiz him on the role (of Jonah) that he is supposed to play. They show him fake pictures of his childhood.  Noah (Jonah) doesn't know what to make of all this and he becomes even more suspicious once they arrive at their new home.  What secrets are his parents keeping from him?