Great books for 4th Graders

Avi       Poppy and Rye

When their home next to a brook is destroyed by beavers, a large family of golden mice is aided by Poppy the deer mouse and her grumpy porcupine friend, who in the process forges a relationship with the son he had abandoned.

Bauer, Marion     Runt

Runt, the smallest wolf cub in the litter, seeks to prove himself to his father King and the rest of the pack and to earn a new name.

Birney, Betty    The World According To Humphrey

Humphrey, pet hamster at LongfellowSchool, learns that he has an important role to play in helping his classmates and teacher.

Blume, Judy   Tales Of A Fourth Grade Nothing

A fourth grade boy tries to deal with his very active brother.

Bowen, Fred    Winners Take All

When Kyle fakes a catch, his baseball team goes on to win the league championship but Kyle doesn't feel good about winning by cheating. Includes a section on the sportsmanship of Christy Mathewson, a pitcher who played professional baseball in the early 1900s.

Bowen, Fred     The Final Cut

After tryouts for the school basketball team, eighth graders Zeke, Eli, Ryan, and Miles find their friendship tested when two of them make the team and two of them do not.

Christopher, Matt    Football Nightmare

Having dropped a pass and made his football team miss having an undefeated season, thirteen-year-old Keith fears that he will continue to make bad mistakes and wonders if he should continue playing football.

Christopher, Matt    Soccer Duel

Team rivalry threatens to spoil a budding friendship between a showy soccer player, Bryce, and soft-spoken but talented Renny.

Cleary, Beverly    Dear Mr. Henshaw

In his letters to his favorite author, ten-year-old Leigh reveals his problems coping with his parents' divorce, being the new boy in school, and generally finding his own place in the world.

Cleary, Beverly    The Mouse and the Motorcycle

A reckless young mouse named Ralph makes friends with a boy in room 215 of the Mountain View Inn and discovers the joys of motorcycling.

Coville, Bruce    The Dragon of Doom

Life in the village of Pigbone is boring until an aspiring magician and his talking toad come to town and ask Edward to help them slay the Dragon of Doom.

Coville, Bruce      Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher

Small for his age but artistically talented, twelve-year-old Jeremy Thatcher unknowingly buys a dragon's egg.

Clements, Andrew    The Report Card

Fifth-grader Nora Rowley has always hidden the fact that she is a genius from everyone because all she wants is to be normal, but when she comes up with a plan to prove that grades are not important, things begin to get out of control.

Dahl, Roald   Matilda

Child genius, Matilda, applies her untapped mental powers to rid the school of the evil, child-hating headmistress, Miss Trunchbull, and restore her nice teacher, Miss Honey, to financial security.

Davies, Jacqueline   The Lemonade War

Evan and his younger sister, Jesse, react very differently to the news that they will be in the same class for fourth grade and as the end of summer approaches, they battle it out through lemonade stands, each trying to be the first to earn 100 dollars. Includes mathematical calculations and tips for running a successful lemonade stand.

DiCamillo, Kate     The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

Edward Tulane, a cold-hearted and proud toy rabbit, loves only himself until he is separated from the little girl who adores him and travels across the country, acquiring new owners and listening to their hopes, dreams, and histories.

DiCamillo, Kate   The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread

The adventures of Desperaux Tilling, a small mouse of unusual talents, the princess that he loves, the servant girl who longs to be a princess, and a devious rat determined to bring them all to ruin.

Eager, Eager    Half Magic

Faced with a dull summer in the city, Jane, Mark, Katharine, and Martha suddenly find themselves involved in a series of extraordinary adventures after Jane discovers an ordinary-looking coin that seems to grant wishes.

Estes, Eleanor   The Moffats

Portrays the adventure-studded existence of the poor, but resourceful, Moffat family, whose members lie in a yellow house on New Dollar Street

Gilson, Jamie   4B Goes Wild

Fourth graders on a three-day camping trip with their teachers experience frights and delights.

Gutman, Dan    Mickey & me: A Baseball Card Adventure

When Joe travels back in time to 1944, he meets the Milwaukee Chicks, one of the only all-female professional baseball teams in the history of the game.

Hahn, Mary Downing   Anna all year round

Eight-year-old Anna experiences a series of episodes, some that are funny, others sad, involving friends and family during a year in Baltimore just before World War I.

Hahn, Mary Downing   The Doll in the Garden: a Ghost Story

After Ashley and Kristi find an antique doll buried in old Miss Cooper's garden, they discover that they can enter a ghostly turn-of-the-century world by going through a hole in the hedge.

Hale, Bruce    The Hamster of the Baskervilles: From the Tattered Casebook of Chet Gecko, Private Eye                       

Something is trashing the classrooms at EmersonHickyElementary School, and sixth-grade private eye Chet Gecko sets out to find the creature that's responsible.

Hurwitz, Johanna   Teacher's Pet

Nine-year-old Cricket's expectations of being, as always, the teacher's favorite student are dashed by the arrival of an unusual new girl in her fourth-grade class.

Konigsburg, E. L.    From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler

Claudia and her brother run away to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she sees a statue so beautiful, she must identify its sculptor. To find out, she must visit the statue's former owner, the elderly Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.

Lasky, Kathryn   The Capture

When Soren, a barn owl, arrives at St. Aggie's, a school for orphaned owls, he suspects trouble and with his new friend, a clever elf owl named Gylfie, embarks on a perilous journey to save all owls from the danger at St. Aggie's.

Lasky, Kathryn    Marie Antoinette, Princess of Versailles

In 1769, thirteen-year-old Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna, daughter of Empress Maria Theresa, begins a journal chronicling her life at the Austrian court and her preparations for her future role as queen of France.

Lindgren, Astrid     Pippi Longstocking

Escapades of a lucky little girl who lives with a horse and a monkey--but without any parents--at the edge of a Swedish village.

Mathis, Sharon Bell    The Hundred Penny Box

Michael's love for his great-great-aunt who lives with them leads him to intercede with his mother who wants to toss out all her old things.

McDonald, Megan    Judy Moody Declares Independence

After learning about the American Revolution on a family trip to Boston, Massachusetts, Judy Moody makes her own Declaration of Independence and tries to prove that she is responsible enough to have more freedoms, such as a higher allowance and her own bathroom.

Nixon, Joan Lowery    Lucy's Wish

Ten-year-old Lucy, an orphan who wants a little sister more than anything, finds a very special one in the less than perfect family which she joins.

Park, Barbara    The Kid in the Red Jacket

When ten-year-old Howard has to move with his family to a distant state, he is forced to live on a street named Chester Pewe, adjust to a new school, and get used to being shadowed by the little girl in a nearby house.

Pearce, Philippa     The Little Gentleman

A young girl's dull life is transformed when she meets and befriends an extraordinary talking mole that likes to be read to and tell of his own past exploits throughout the centuries.

Pennypacker, Sara    Clementine

While sorting through difficulties in her friendship with her neighbor Margaret, eight-year-old Clementine gains several unique hairstyles while also helping her father in his efforts to banish pigeons from the front of their apartment building.

Prelutsky, Jack     Awful Ogre's Awful Day

In a series of poems, Awful Ogre rises, grooms himself, dances, pens a letter, and goes through other activities as the day passes.

Rodowsky, Colby     Not My Dog

Eight-year-old Ellie has to give up her life-long dream of getting a puppy after her parents agree to take in the dog that Great-aunt Margaret can no longer keep.

Sachar, Louis    Sideways Stories from WaysideSchool

Humorous episodes from the classroom on the thirtieth floor of WaysideSchool, which was accidentally built sideways with one classroom on each story.

Scieszka, Jon    Knights Of The Kitchen Table

Three boys use a magical book to travel through time and have many adventures with King Arthur, the Knights of the Roundtable and Merlin, the Magician.

Spinelli, Jerry   Fourth Grade Rats

Suds learns that his best friend is wrong. You don't have to be a tough guy, a "rat," to be a grown up fourth grader.

Taylor, Theodore   The Trouble with Tuck

A young girl trains her blind dog to follow and trust a seeing-eye companion dog.

Van Leeuwen, Jean   The GreatGooglesteinMuseum Mystery

Three adventurous mice escape from their home at Macy's department store and spend an exciting week in the GuggenheimMuseum, creating a sensation in the art world.

Wilder, Laura Ingalls   Little House in the Big Woods (or any book from this series)

A year in the life of two young girls growing up on the Wisconsin frontier, as they help their mother with the daily chores, enjoy their father's stories and singing, and share special occasions when they get together with relatives or neighbors.

Wright, Betty Ren   The Ghost Comes Calling

While vacationing at a spooky cabin on PerchLake, nine-year-old Chad tries to clear the name of Tim Tapper, the cabin's ghostly inhabitant, who was blamed for a truck accident in the 1930s.

Yolen, Jane   Wizard's Hall

A young apprentice wizard saves the wizard's training hall by trusting and believing in himself.

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