Great eBooks for 4th Graders from the Wake County Public Library

Check out the ebooks available from your Wake County Public Libraries

“The School for Good and Evil” by Soman Chainani (ebook version)

“My name is Sophie... I’m totally gorgeous - look at my long, flowing blond hair, and as selfless as I can be,  the very picture of all things good, but I’m am completely bored with my life and this town.  Now my best friend, Agatha, she is the complete opposite of me -  a loner, odd-looking, dark, mysterious, everything that seems evil.  We live in a town surrounded by a dark forest.  There seems to be only one way to leave the town, by getting kidnapped by the mysterious school-master, and I for one, cannot wait.  Now, not everyone is town believes the legend of the school-master, but once per year, two children disappear, never to return and they reappear as stars of their very fairy tales, Rapuzel, Jack, the Giant (that was a kid named Angus who used to be a pointy-eared, freckle-faced hooligan), they all got their own stories.  Now, the thing is, these kids that get taken, well one is good and one is evil.  Me, of course I’m good and I cannot wait to be a star in my very own princess story - sigh - Princess Sophie, sounds perfect.  I only hope there is a prince worthy of me out there somewhere.”  Sophie seems a little full of herself, right?  Well, she is, and she’s in for a BIG surprise.  She and her friend do indeed get kidnapped, but somehow, she ends up at the school for evil while Agatha ends up at the school for good.  The girls are sure there’s been a mistake - even Agatha’s mom has been prepping her to be an evil witch someday, but the girls are assured that there was NO mistake.  Seems like appearances can truly be deceiving.  What will happen to the girls?  Will they get their own fairy tale?

“Shredderman: Secret Identity” by Wendelin Van Draanen

He’s a boy, he’s a nerd, he’s a math-whiz, he’s a 5th grader... he’s Shredderman, secret cyber-hero who can’t quite keep his shoes tied.  Nolan Byrd is tired of being bullied by Bubba Bixby who lies, cheats, steals, pounds on people, and totally gets away with it - he’s a complete nightmare, but no one, not even the principal can control him.  Armed with a secret camera and a backpack, Nolan creates the website Shredderman.com to expose Bubba for the bully he is, but he has to figure out how to get kids to the site without exposing his identity, a superhero’s most sacred secret.  Nolan learns how to make change like a real superhero but no one can ever know it was him.  He's a true superhero. What kind of superhero would you be?

More Great Books for 2nd Graders!

“Back of the Bus” by Aaron Reynolds
"[Rosa] It’s a hot Alabama day, and it sure feels good to sit down on this here bus.  There’s a little boy in the back playing with his marble… sweet thing, keeps rolling up to the front every time the bus stops.  He best be careful lest someone slip on that marble.  The bus stops again, and that grumpy old bus driver tells me to get up for the white folks.  He says to move on to the back where we belong.  Who says we belong on the back of the bus… some silly law about blacks and whites being separated. Well, I’ll tell you something.  I’m not getting up today. I’m not moving and there’s nothin that bus driver can do about it. I see some folks giving me angry looks, even some colored folks - but I’m not movin, not no more.  It just ain’t right."

Learn all about a fictional account of Rosa Parks' famous story, the day she protested the injustice of segregation on buses, from the perspective of a little boy.  I've presented the story from Rosa’s perspective, but this story tells about it from the little boy’s perspective.  Very awesome illustrations.

"The Day the Crayons Quit" by Drew Daywalt

This is a different kind of protest book, a very silly one, about some crayons who are tired of being singled out, mistreated, ignored, or pigeon-holed into a certain type of drawing. Each of the crayons in Duncan's crayon box writes Duncan a letter, outlining their various concerns. Duncan reads each letter patiently, and brainstorms a way to make all the crayons happy, so that he can get back to the serious business of coloring. Will Duncan be able to come up with a compromise that will make all the crayons happy? You'll just have to read it to find out.

More Great Books for 1st Graders!

“Tacky the Penguin”… by Helen Lester Tacky is a penguin but he’s not your typical penguin. He doesn’t march in a straight line and he doesn’t dive gracefully and he definitely doesn’t sing pretty songs. He’s just plain different. One day some hunters come and they are looking for penguins, you know the kind that march in a straight line, dive gracefully, and sing pretty songs. Tacky doesn’t know that he should run away from the hunters like a typical penguin would. In fact, he’s the only penguin that the hunters find. What will happen to Tacky? To the other penguins? Will being different finally get Tacky into real trouble??

“Curious George Rides a Bike” by H. A. Rey

Can you imagine how much trouble a curious little monkey like George might get into with a bike?  He heads out to explore the town with his new bike, has a mishap, and they next thing he knows, he’s part of a circus.  But the trouble doesn’t stop there.