Book Recommendations

To Use in the Classroom

Kindergarten

Citizenship

• Abe Lincoln’s Hat by Martha Brenner
• Three Young Pilgrims by Cheryl Harness
• Good King Wenceslas by John Neale

Compassion

• The Good Samaritan
• Dogger by Shirley Hughes
• Frog and Toad Are Friends by Arnold Lobel
• Great Uncle Albert Forgets by Be Schechter

Diligence

• Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton
• The Little Red Hen
• Tillie and the Wall by Leo Lionni
• The Three Little Pigs
• The Tortoise and the Hare

Responsibility

• Now One Foot, Now the Other by Tomie DePaolo
• Horton Hatches the Egg by Dr. Seuss
• Horton Hears a Who! By Dr. Seuess
• Leah’s Pony by Elizabeth Friedrich
• The Pearl by Helme Heine

Truth

• The Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Anderson
• The Empty Pot by Demi
• Honest Abe by Evaline Ness
• Sam, Bangs, and Moonshine by Evaline Ness

Courage

• David and Goliath
• Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes
• Alfie Gives a Hand by Shirley Hughes
• Cecil’s Story by George Ella Lyon
• Ira Sleeps Over by Bernard Waber
• Henny Penny by Jane Wattenberg

Respect

• Cinderella
• Goldilocks and the Three Bears
• Johnny Appleseed
• All the Places to Love by Patricia MacLachlan
• It’s Not Fair! by Charlotte Zolotow

Self-Mastery

• The Stonecutter: A Japanese Folktale by Demi
• King Midas and the Golden Touch
• The Tale of Jeremy Fisher by Beatrix Potter
• The Hating Book by Charlotte Zolotow

First Grade

Citizenship

• Sam the Minutemen by Nathanial Benchley
• Exodus by Miriam Chaikin
• The Legend of Bluebonnet by Tomie DePaulo
• Betsy Ross by Alexandra Wallner

Compassion

• How Many Days to America: A Thanksgiving Story by Eve Bunting
• The Queen’s Necklace: A Swedish Folktale by Jane Langton
• Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters by John Steptoe
• The Friend, Obadiah by Brinton Turkle
• The Selfish Giant by Oscar Wilde

Respect

• Yussel’s Prayer by Barbara Cohen
• The Story of Hanukkah by Amy Ehrlich
• The Frog Prince
• Brother Francis and the Friendly Beast by Margaret Hodges
• Through Grandpa’s Eyes by Patricia MacLachlan
• The Rough-Face Girl by Rafe Martin

Self-Mastery

• Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst
• The Shaker Boy by Jeanette Winter
• It Could Always Be Worse by Margot Zemach

Courage

• Pocahontas: Daughter of a Chief by Carol Greene
• The Boy Who Held Back the Sea by Lenny Hort
• Brave Irene by William Steig
• Lon Po-Po: A Red Ridinghood Story from China by Ed Young

Diligence

• Hansel and Gretel
• Silent Locus by Jeanne M. Lee
• Across the Wide Dark Sea: The Mayflower Journey by Jean Van Leeuwen
• The Little Engine that Could by Watty Piper
• A Chair for My Mother by Vera Williams

Responsibility

• The Story of Jonah by Kurt Baumann
• Samuel Eaton’s Day: A Day in the Life of Pilgrim Boy by Kate Waters
• Good Griselle by Jane Yolen

Truth

• The Adventures of Pinocchio adapted by Sue Kassirer
• The Emperor’s New Clothes
• The Pied Piper of Hamelin
• The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter

Second Grade

Citizenship

• The Picture Book of Harriet Tubman by David Adler
• The Picture Book of Frederick Douglas by David Adler
• Just a Few Words, Mr. Lincoln: The Story of the Gettysburg Address by Jean Fritz
• By the Dawn’s Early Light: The Story of the Star-Spangles Banner by Steven Kroll

Compassion

• The Gift by Aliana Broadmann
• The Golden Deer by Margaret Hodges
• The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde
• Everyone Knows What a Dragon Looks Like by Jay Williams
• The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams

Respect

• Beauty and the Beast
• The Cat Who Went to Heaven by Elizabeth Coatsworth
• Molly’s Pilgrim by Barbara Cohen
• The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses by Paul Goble
• The Bicycle Man by Allan Say
• The Emperor and the Kite by Jane Yolen

Self-Mastery

• The Josefina Story Quilt by Eleanor Coerr
• The Fisherman and His Wife by Randall Jarell
• Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan
• Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig

Courage

• Wagon Wheels by Barbara Brenner
• Daniel in the Lion’s Den
• The Magic Tapestry: A Chinese Folktale by Demi
• The Lotus Seed by Sherry Garland
• The Sabbath Lion by Howard Schwartz
• Theseus and the Minotaur

Diligence

• The Wild Swans by Hans Christian Anderson
• Peppe the Lamplighter by Elisa Bartone
• The Ten Mile Day: The Building of the Transcontinental Railroad by Mary Ann Fraser
• Hidden in the Sand by Margaret Hodges
• John Henry: An American Legend by Ezra Jack Keats

Responsibility

• The Great Kapok Tree: A take of the Amazon Rain Forest by Lynne Cherry
• In My Mother’s House by Ann Nolan Clark
• Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney

Truth

• Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears: A West African Tale by Verna Aardema
• The Gold Coin by Flor Ada
• Bub or the Very Best Thing by Natalie Babbitt
• Matilda Whole Told Such Dreadful Lies by Hillaire Belloc
• St. Jerome and the Lion by Margaret Hodges
• When Solomon Was King by Sheila MacGill-Callahan

Third Grade

Citizenship

• Can’t You Make Them Behave, King George? by Jean Fritz
• Shh! We’re Writing the Constitution by Jean Fritz
• Casey Over There by Staton Rabin
• The Pilgrims of Plimoth by Marcia Sewall
• Esther’s Story by Diane Wolkstein

Compassion

• The Litter Match Girl by Hans Christian Andersen
• Clancy’s Coat by Eve Bunting
• Damon and Pythias
• The Sailor Who Captured the Sea by Deborah Lattimore
• Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White

Respect

• The Indian in the Cupboard by Lynn Reid Banks
• The Kitchen Knight by Margaret Hodges
• Hiawatha by H.W. Longfellow
• Old Turtle by Douglas Wood

Self-Mastery

• Annie and the Old One by Miska Miles
• Ben and Me by Robert Lawson
• The Crane Wife by Sumiko Yagawa

Courage

• The Story of Ruby Bridges by William Coles
• William Tell by Margaret Early
• Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
• Frederick Douglass: The Last Day of Slavery by William Miller

Diligence

• Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coerr
• Seven Ravens by Grimm
• Knots on a Counting Rope by Bill Martin and John Archambault
• Least of All by Carol Purdy

Responsibility

• The Summer of the Swans by Betsy Byars
• George Washington: A Picture Biography by James Goblin
• Rikki Tikki Tavi by Rudyard Kipling

Truth

• Alice in Wonderland (Abridges version) by Lewis Carroll
• Young Abigail Adams by Francene Sabin
• The Real Thief by William Steig
• Elfwyn’s Saga by David Wisnieski

Fourth Grade

Citizenship

• St. George and the Dragon by Margaret Hodges
• Paul Revere’s Ride by H.W. Longfellow
• Once Upon A time: A Story of the Brothers Grimm by Robert Quackenbush

Compassion

• The Litter Princess by Francis Hodgson Burnett
• The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles
• The House of Sixty Fathers by Meinder DeJong
• The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes
• The Giant by Moricai Gerstein
• The Legend of King Arthur by Robert Lister
• The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
• The Taste of Blackberries by Doris Smith

Respect

• The Indian in the Cupboard by Lynn Reid Banks
• The Little Princess by Francis Hodgson Burnett
• The Kitchen Knight by Margaret Hodges
• Escape from Slavery: The Boyhood of Frederick Douglass in His Own Words edited by Michael McCurdy
• The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare

Self-Mastery

• The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
• Pollyanna by Eleanor Porter
• Missing May by Cynthia Rylant
• Casey of the Bat by Ernest L. Thayer

Courage

• The Door in the Wall by Marguerite de Angeli
• Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert O’Brien
• Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell
• Harry Potter (series) by J.K. Rowling
• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight retold by Selina Hastings
• The Castle in the Atiic by Elizabeth Winthrop

Diligence

• The Incredible Journey by Sheila Burnford
• Hatchet by Gary Paulson
• The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White
• Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Responsibility

• The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
• The Legend of King Arthur by Robin Lister
• Kate Shelley: Bound for Legend by Robert San Souci

Truth

• The Canterbury Tales selected and retold by Barbara Cohen
• Walk Two Moons by Susan Creech
• The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
• Holes by Louis Sachar

Fifth and Sixth Grade

Citizenship

• Walking the Road to Freedom: A Story About Sojourner Truth by Jeri Ferris
• Lincoln: A Photobiography by Russell Freedman

Compassion

• Sour Land by William Armstrong
• Sounder by William Armstrong
• The Summer of Swans by Betsy Byars
• Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
• The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman
• The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry
• The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley
• Tiktala by Margaret Shaw-MacKinnon
•  The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth Speare

Respect

• Iggie’s House by Judy Blume
• Commodore Perry in the Land of Shogun by Rhoda Blumberg
• On the Frontier with Mr. Audobon by Barbara Brenner
• Constance by Patricia Clapp
• Thank you, Jackie Robinson by Barbara Cohen
• Strawberry Girl by Lois Lenski
•  To Be a Slave by Julius Lester
• Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
• Gay Neck: The Story of a Pigeon by Dhan Gopal Mukerji
• Sing Down the Moon by Scott O’Dell
• The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson
• Word by Heart by Ouida Sebestyen
• Call it Courage by Armstrong Sperry
• Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry by Mildred Taylor
• The Cay by Theodore Taylor

Self-Mastery

• Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
• Sounder by William Armstrong
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl

Courage

• The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
• Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
• A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
• The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley
• Black Star, Bright Dawn by Scott O’Dell
• Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell
• Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
• A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck
• The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings (series) by J. R.R. Tolkein

Diligence

• A Gathering of Days: A New England Girl’s Journal by Joan Blos
• Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Janet Gray
• Lyddie by Katherine Paterson
• Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rauls

Responsibility

• The Barn by Avi
• Andy Buckram’s Tin Man by Carol Ryrie Brink
• A River Ran Wild by Lynne Cherry
• My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier
• The Ballad of Lucy Whipple by Cushman
• The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
• The Slave Dancer by Paula Fox
• Lincoln: A Photobiography by Russell Freedman
• Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene
• Have Space Suit, Will Travel by Robert A. Heinlien
• Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt
• Sing Down the Moon by Scott O’Dell
• Lyddie by Katherine Paterson
• The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare
• Call it Courage by Armstrong Sperry
• When the Road Ends by J. Thresman
• Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
• Dicey’s Song by Cynthia Voight

Truth

• The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi
• Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt
• A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
• The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare

Seventh and Eight Grade

Citizenship

• Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes
• Rifles for Watie by Harold Keith

Compassion

• Crazy Lady! By Jane Leslie Conly
• The Secret garden by Frances H. Burnett
• Eleanor Roosevelt: A Life of Discovery by Russell Freedman
• Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene
• Phoenix Rising by Karen Hesse

Diligence

• Watership Down by Richard Adams
• Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis
• Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse
• Call of the Wild by Jack London
• So Far From the Bamboo Grove by Yoko Kawishima Watkins
• Up from Slavery by Booker T. Washington

Self-Mastery

• Little Women, Alcott by Louisa May
• The Trouble with Lemons by Daniel Hayes
• The Story of my Life by Helen Keller
• Anne of Green Gables (series) by Lucy Maud Montgomery
• Wringer by Jerry Spinelli

Justice

• Edgar Allen by John Neufield
• The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
• Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston
• Hiding Mr. McMulty by Bernice Rabe

Courage

• The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi
• The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
• Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
• A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
• The Lord of the Rings (series) by J. R.R. Tolkein
• Ryan White: My Own Story by Ryan White

Respect

• Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
• The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain
• The Pigman by Paul Zindel

Responsibility

• Where the Lilies Bloom by Bill and Vera Cleaver
• Flour Babies by Anne Fine
• Old Yeller by Frank Gipson
• The Red Pony by John Steinbeck

High School

Citizenship

• Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave by Frederick Douglass
• Carver: A Life in Poems by Marilyn Nelson

Compassion

• Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
• A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
• Hope Leslie by Catharine Maria Sedgwick

Diligence

• All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
• The Miracle Worker by William Gibson
• The Old Man and the Sea by Earnest Hemingway
• The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

Justice

• Warriors Don’t Cry by Melba Pattillo Beals
• Forbidden City by William Bell
• Fiery Vision: The Life and Death of John Brown by Clinton Cox
• The Crucible by Arthur Miller

Self-Mastery

• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
• Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
• Man’s Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl
• The Odessey by Homer
• A Separate Peace by John Knowles

Courage

• The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
• The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
• Spite Fences by Trudy Krisher
• The Tale of Sir Gawain by Neil Philip
• The Cage by Ruth Minsky Sender
• Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift
• The Lord of the Rings (series) J.R.R. Tolkein
• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Respect

• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
• Slave Day by Rob Thomas

Responsibility

• Silas Marner by George Eliot
• The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien