English Grade 4
Assignment
Beginning in third grade, students must read at least three books during the summer. Students must read the required book for English and at least one book in the other language of study. The third book may be from either language. The books listed below are generally grouped by curriculum area for the upcoming year.
Required
- DiCamillo, Kate, The Tale of Despereaux
- Byars, Betsy, Tornado
- Davis, Kenneth, Don't Know Much About the 50 States
- Lenski, Lois, Strawberry Girl
- Wilder, Laura Ingalls, Little House on the Prairie (series)
- Mathis, Sharon Bell, The Hundred Penny Box
- Myers, Walter Dean, Harlem: A Poem
- Pastan, Amy, Gandhi (DK Biography)
- Usher, Mark David, Wise Guy: The Life and Philosophy of Socrates
- Lasky, Kathryn, A Journey to the New World: The Diary of Remember Patience Whipple (Dear America series)
- Lawson, Robert, Ben and Me
- Rappaport, Doreen, The Boston Coffee Party
- George, Jean Craighead, One Day in the Tropical Rain Forest
- Robinson, Sandra Chisholm, The Wonder of Wolves
- Dr. Seuss, The Lorax
- Raum, Elizabeth, Mae Jemison
- Thimmesh, Catherine, Team Moon: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon
- Waugh, Sylvia, Earthborn
- Wilkinson, Philip, Spacebusters: The Race to the Moon
- Peet, Bill, Bill Peet: An Autobiography
- Prelutsky, Jack, It's Raining Pigs and Noodles
- Provensen, Alice, My Fellow Americans: A Family Album
- Hoose, Phillip, It's Our World Too!
- Blume, Judy, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing
- Martin, Ann M. and Laura Godwin, The Doll People
- Namioka, Lensey, Yang the Third and Her Impossible Family (series)
- Taylor, Mildred, The Gold Cadillac
- White, E.B., Stuart Little
- Van Draanen, Wendelin, Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief (series)
Despereaux Tilling is a mouse. He has big dreams and gets out of the world of mice and into the world of people and rats. He learns a lot about himself and the world around him. He learns that even a tiny mouse can be brave as a knight.
Choose from the following:
Land and People
When Pete was a young boy, a tornado struck his family farm, and brought with it a doghouse complete with a dog inside! Now another twister is on its way, and as a new family of farmers takes shelter from the howling winds, Pete passes the time with story after story about the amazing dog named Tornado.
Every state boasts a claim to fame: its rich history, natural splendor, advancement of the arts, or unique contribution to American life. Check out what's said about the place you call home, and learn surprising facts about the rest of the country.
Ten-year-old Birdie Boyer can hardly wait to start picking the strawberries. Her family has just moved to the Florida backwoods, and they haven't even begun their planting. Making the new farm prosper won't be easy - what with the heat, the droughts, the cold snaps and the neighbors.
Laura and her family journey west by covered wagon, only to find they are in Indian territory and must move on.
I Believe
Michael's love for his great-great-aunt, who lives with his family, leads him to intercede with his mother who wants to toss out all her old things.
Myers' poem to Harlem sings, dances, and swaggers across the pages, conveying the myriad sounds on the streets, from the voices of Africa and the Caribbean to the trains mixing and mingling in their own special rhythms.
DK Biography series celebrates one of histories most peaceful figures. The DK Biography series brings a new clarity and narrative voice to our valued history.
A biography of Socrates, a philosopher and teacher in ancient Greece who taught that wisdom comes from questioning ideas and values rather than simply accepting what others believe.
Time for a Change
A Pilgrim girl makes the exciting yet dangerous journey on the Mayflower, filling her diary with thoughts about new friends, contact with Native Americans at Plymouth Colony, and the sickness that leaves her motherless.
According to Good Mouse Amos, it was he who inspired the genius of Benjamin Franklin.
During the Revolutionary War, two sisters help a Boston woman get coffee from a greedy merchant.
Caring for our Planet
Jean Craighead George explores the ecology of the tropical rain forest.
This story and activity book explores the special relationship between people and wolves.
This well known picture book offers a message about our fragile planet.
Exploring Space
Learn about the life of Mae Jemison, her childhood in Chicago, her role in the space program, her career as a doctor and beyond, as described in this engaging biography of the first African-American female astronaut.
The whole story of Apollo 11 and the first moon landing as depicted in official transcripts, photos, archive documents and quotes from observers who were really there.
Twelve-year-old Nesta suddenly learns that her parents are aliens, researchers from another planet, and they must leave in seven days or risk discovery. Will Nesta decide to stay on Earth and say goodbye to her parents forever?
Describes the voyage of Apollo 11, its three astronauts, and details of the mission that put the first man on the moon in 1969.
Let's Write
In words and pictures, the children's book writer who animated major Disney films remembers his childhood and career.
This is a collection of humorous poetry containing titles such as "You Can't Make Me Eat That!"
A look at the lives of people who shaped American history, rich with portraits of artists, enduring icons, outlaws, radicals, visionaries, composers, writers, inventors, and reformers.
PYP Attitudes and Profile
This books contains more than a dozen accounts of children who have worked for everything from racial equality to world peace.
Living with his little brother, Fudge, makes Peter Hatcher feel like a fourth grade nothing. Whether he's throwing a temper tantrum in a shoe store, smearing mashed potatoes on the walls at Hamburger Heaven, or scribbling all over Peter's homework, Fudge is never far from trouble. How can Peter get his parents to listen to him for a change?
A family of porcelain dolls finds its traditional life overturned when a new family of plastic dolls arrives and doesn't follow The Doll Code of Honor.
Recent immigrant Mary Yang is trying to be more "American" so she can get to be friends with her popular classmate, Holly Hansen, but her family is making it hard. Mary gets her chance by adopting one of Holly's kittens. The only problem is that cats aren't allowed in the Yang house.
Two black girls living in the North are proud of their family's beautiful new Cadillac until they take it on a visit to the South and encounter racial prejudice for the first time.
An adventurous and heroic little mouse, with very human qualities, searches for his lost friend, the lovely bird, Margalo.
Sammy isn't looking for trouble when she trains her binoculars on the Heavenly Hotel across the street. She spies a man taking money from a purse. He sees her and she waves at him! Things begin to get complicated!