Children's Book Week Reading Challenge

(Bill's Recommendation)

Bruce is a grumpy bear who likes no one and nothing but cooked eggs, but when some eggs he was planning to boil hatch and the goslings believe he is their mother, he must try to make the best of the situation.

(Bill's Recommendation)

Nancy is called in to help find a missing will. True to her reputation as a good detective, Nancy tracks down every possible lead in her quest.

(Hailey's Recommendation)

As Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire travel along Lousy Lane toward their new home, they fear the worst.

It's true that Violet Baudelaire has escaped some close calls before. For a fourteen-year-old, she has an extraordinary talent for inventing things. And her brother, Klaus, is also well equipped for emergencies. He has read a great deal and possesses just the sort of knowledge that can get them out of a tight spot. Their younger sister, Sunny, is also helpful in a jam. Though she is only an infant, she has four very sharp teeth, and she likes to bite things.

Still, even though the Baudelaires have great talent among them, they can't help but worry about what sort of guardian their strange Uncle Montgomery Montgomery will be. After all, these siblings are extremely unlucky and they had best be on their guard. Certainly, they will need all of their abilities if they should find themselves faced with a dreadful series of unfortunate events.

(Hailey's Recommendation)

Percy Jackson is about to be kicked out of boarding school...again. And that's the least of his troubles. Lately, mythological monsters and the gods of Mount Olympus seem to be walking straight out of the pages of Percy's Greek mythology textbook and into his life. And worse, he's angered a few of them. Zeus's master lightning bolt has been stolen, and Percy is the prime suspect.

Now Percy and his friends have just ten days to find and return Zeus's stolen property and bring peace to a warring Mount Olympus. But to succeed on his quest, Percy will have to do more than catch the true thief: he must come to terms with the father who abandoned him; solve the riddle of the Oracle, which warns him of betrayal by a friend; and unravel a treachery more powerful than the gods themselves.

(Laurel's Recommendation)

This is a book about a bad seed. A baaaaaaaaaad seed. How bad? Do you really want to know?

He has a bad temper, bad manners, and a bad attitude. He's been bad since he can remember! This seed cuts in line every time, stares at everybody and never listens. But what happens when one mischievous little seed changes his mind about himself, and decides that he wants to be'happy?

(Madison's Recommendations)

Kate and her younger brother Tom lead dull, uninteresting lives. And if their dull, uninteresting parents are anything to go by, they don't have much to look forward to. Why can't Kate have thrilling adventures and save the world the way people do in books? Even her 11th birthday is shaping up to be mundane -- that is, until her mysterious and highly irresponsible Uncle Herbert, whom she's never even met before, surprises her with the most unexpected, exhilarating, inappropriate birthday present of all time: a colossal steam locomotive called the Silver Arrow.

Kate and Tom's parents want to send it right back where it came from. But Kate and Tom have other ideas -- and so does the Silver Arrow -- and soon they're off to distant lands along magical rail lines in the company of an assortment of exotic animals who, it turns out, can talk. With only curiosity, excitement, their own resourcefulness and the thrill of the unknown to guide them, Kate and Tom are on the adventure of a lifetime . . . and who knows? They just might end up saving the world after all.

(Samantha's Recommendation)

Ally has been smart enough to fool a lot of smart people. Every time she lands in a new school, she is able to hide her inability to read by creating clever yet disruptive distractions.  She is afraid to ask for help; after all, how can you cure dumb? However, her newest teacher Mr. Daniels sees the bright, creative kid underneath the trouble maker. With his help, Ally learns not to be so hard on herself and that dyslexia is nothing to be ashamed of. As her confidence grows, Ally feels free to be herself and the world starts opening up with possibilities. She discovers that there’s a lot more to her—and to everyone—than a label, and that great minds don’t always think alike.

(Samantha's Recommendation)

In life, there is one thing we can all agree on: cookies.

And there is no greater expert on this endless source of joy, warmth, and crumbs than Cookie Monster. In The Joy of Cookies, Cookie Monster offers deep thoughts on life, friendship, baking, and the love of cookies. He serves as our guide to all things cookie and shares how best to fully experience the joy cookies bring us.

This is a book to get us through the dark times and celebrate the good times, and to help us more fully understand who we truly are as both cookie lovers and as people.

It’s the perfect gift for friends, family, and fellow monsters—the gift of cookies.

(Sarah's Recommendation)

It's time to start your engines in this Richard Scarry classic all about vehicles!

Buckle-up for a fun-filled day of planes, trains, automobiles . . . and even a pickle truck! Featuring hundreds of clearly labeled vehicles, this is the perfect book for little vehicle fans from the one and only Richard Scarry.

(Sarah's Recommendation)

Grover worries page by page about meeting the monster at the end of this book. Many, many adults name this book as their favorite Little Golden Book. Generations of kids have interacted with lovable, furry old Grover as he begs the reader not to turn the page-for fear of a monster at the end of the book. "Oh, I am so embarrassed," he says on the last page ... for, of course, the monster is Grover himself!

(Susan's Recommendation)

Follows the progress of a hungry little caterpillar as he eats his way through a varied and very large quantity of food until, full at last, he forms a cocoon around himself and goes to sleep. Die-cut pages illustrate what the caterpillar ate on successive days.