MCL's Books for Boys, Grade 4-6

Books for Boys, Grade 4-6

Boy with Book graphic

J AVI	Avi	The Barn In an effort to fulfill their dying father’s last request, nine-year-old Ben and his brother and sister construct a barn on their land in the Oregon Territory.
J BYA	Byars, Betsy	The Burning Questions of Bingo Brown Bingo Brown is hilarious. In his sixth-grade class, he has to keep a journal, which he fills with questions that reveal his secret concerns, such as, “Has there ever been a successful person with freckles?” Several equally funny sequels follow.
J CLE	Cleary, Beverly	Dear Mr. Henshaw In his letters to his favorite author, Ten-year-old Leigh reveals his problems in coping with his parents’ divorce, being the new boy in school, and generally finding his own place in the world.
J COO	Cooper, Susan	The Dark is Rising On his eleventh birthday Will Stanton discovers that he is the last of the Old Ones, Destined to seek the six magical signs that will enable The Old Ones to triumph over the evil forces of the Dark.
J DAH	Dahl, Roald	The Twits Mr. & Mrs. Twit are the smelliest, nastiest, ugliest people in the world. They hate everything—except playing mean jokes on each other and making their caged monkeys, the Muggle-Wumps, stand on their heads all day. The Muggle-Wumps have had enough. They don’t just want out; they want revenge.
J FIN	Fine, Anne	Flour Babies When his class of underachievers is assigned to spend three tortuous weeks taking care of their own “babies” in the form of bags of flour, Simon makes amazing discoveries about himself while coming to terms with his long-absent father.
J FIT	Fitzhugh, Louise	Harriet, the Spy Harriet plans to be a writer when she grows up, while her best friend, Sport, wants to be a ball player. Harriet practices by writing all her observations in a notebook, recording what she sees her friends and neighbors doing, and what she thinks of them. When Harriet loses her notebook, and the kids in her class find it, Sport becomes angry with Harriet for what she wrote about him.
J FLE	Fleischman, Sid	Jim Ugly The adventures of twelve-year-old Jake and Jim Ugly, his father’s part-mongrel, part-wolf dog, as they travel through the Old West trying to find out what really happened to Jake’s actor father.
J FLE	Fleischman, Sid	The Whipping Boy Every time Prince Brat, as he’s known, annoys his father or tutor, his whipping boy Jemmy gets whipped in the prince’s stead, because it’s illegal to hurt royalty. So when the prince wants to run away one night and take Jemmy with him, Jemmy plans to give him the slip as soon as possible.
J GEO	George, Jean Craighead	My Side of the Mountain \| Sam’s peaceful existence in his wilderness home is disrupted when his sister runs away and his pet falcon is confiscated by a conservation officer.
J GRA	Graham, Harriet	A Boy and his Bear Set in Elizabethan England, this adventure concerns the then-popular sport of baiting bears, setting dogs on them in a ring to amuse the public with a bloody fight. Dickon, who loves animals, rescues his bear cub friend from certain death at the hands of the bear catchers.
J GUN	Gundisch, Karin	How I Became an American In 1902, ten-year-old Johann and his family, Germans who had been living in Austria-Hungary, board a ship to immigrate to Youngstown, Ohio, where they make a new life as Americans.
J HEN	Henkes, Kevin	Words of Stone Busy trying to deal with his many fears and his troubled feelings for his dead mother, ten-year-old Blaze has his life changed when he meets the boisterous and irresistible Joselle.
J JAC	Jacques, Brian	Redwall When the peaceful life of ancient Redwall Abbey is shattered by the arrival of the evil rat Cluny and his villainous hordes, Matthias, a young mouse, determines to find the legendary sword of Martin the Warrior which, he is convinced, will help Redwall’s inhabitants destroy the enemy.
J LEN	L’Engle, Madeline	A Swiftly Tilting Planet The youngest of the Murry children must travel through time and space in a battle against an evil dictator who would destroy the entire universe.
J MAN	Manes, Stephen	Be a Perfect Person in Just Three Days Milo, tired of problems with his sister, parents, and classmates, finds a book in the library which promises to make him perfect in just three days.
J MOR	Morpurgo, Michael	Waiting for Anya In this novel about World War II, a twelve-year-old boy in a small French village has an unexpected chance to prove his bravery. Jo, whose father is a German prisoner of war, never expects to get involved with smuggling Jewish children over the mountains to Spain.
J ODE	O’Dell, Scott	Island of the Blue Dolphins Twelve-year-old Karana is accidently left behind when her Indian tribe departs from an island off the coast of California in this riveting story. Detailed descriptions of how she survives, makes shelters, hunts, and defends herself against the elements will draw readers deeply into her world.
J PAR	Park, Barbara	Skinnybones Slapstick humor characterizes this popular novel about a boy named Alex who cracks jokes all the time. His teachers rarely appreciate his jokes, his classmates scream with laughter, and his parents tolerate it with good humor.
J PIN	Pinkwater, Daniel	The Hoboken Chicken Emergency Arthur goes to pick up the turkey for Thanksgiving dinner but comes back with a 260-pound chicken.
J PIN	Pinkwater, Daniel	Lizard Music When left to take care of himself, a young boy becomes involved with a community of intelligent lizards who tell him of a little known invasion from outer space.
J REE	Reeder, Carolyn	Shades of Gray At the end of the Civil War, twelve-year-old Will, having lost all his immediate family, reluctantly leaves his city home to live in the Virginia countryside with his aunt and the uncle he considers a “traitor” because he refused to take part in the war.
J ROC	Rockwell, Thomas	How to Eat Fried Worms Two boys set out to prove that worms can make a delicious meal.
J RYL	Rylant, Cynthia	Every Living Thing Twelve animal stories in which animals change people’s lives for the better.
J SAC	Sachar, Louis	Sideways Stories from Wayside School Humorous episodes from the classroom on the thirtieth floor of Wayside School, which was accidentally built sideways with one classroom on each story.
J 398.2 SCH	Schwartz, Alvin (ed.)	Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark Stories of ghosts and witches, “jump” stories, scary songs, and modern-day scary stories.
J SCI	Scieszka, Jon	Knights of the Kitchen Table Joe receives a magic book for his birthday from his uncle. Joe, Fred and Sam are transported to a time when evil knights, fire-breathing dragons and vile-smelling giants roamed the land.
J SPI	Spinelli, Jerry	Loser Donald Zinkoff is giggly, loud, clumsy, sloppy, odd, and always last. In first grade his friends find him funny, but with the passing of each grade, they become less tolerant of him, until he finally becomes invisible. Will Zinkoff ever change his ways? Or will his classmates learn to accept him as he is?
J TAL	Talbert, Marc	A Sunburned Prayer As he makes a seventeen-mile pilgrimage to the Santurio de Chimayo that he hopes will save his beloved grandmother from cancer, eleven-year-old Eloy is joined by a friendly dog that helps him keep going.
J TAY	Taylor, Theodore	A Sailor Returns Evan, an eleven-year-old boy in 1914 whose strict father has little time for him, is delighted when his long-lost grandfather returns, relates his many sea adventures, and hobbles around like Evan who has a club foot.
J WIS	Wisler, G. Clifton	King’s Mountain What if you were fourteen years old and all of your friends were joining the militia to fight against the British? Francis Livingstone is an excellent shot when it comes to hunting, but he doesn’t think he could ever kill another person. Besides, what he really does well is draw…Then, Francis learns that the British are headed toward his mountain home in Watauga Valley. Can he protect his family?

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