Life Success
For Students With Learning Disabilities:
A Teacher Guide
Book List: General Children’s Literature
Self-Awareness
After the Rain – Norma Fox Mazer IL: YA RL: 5.3
After discovering her grandfather is dying, 15-year-old Rachel gets to know him better than ever before and finds the experience bittersweet.
Bad Case of Stripes – David Shannon IL: K-3 RL: 3.5
In order to ensure her popularity, Camilla Cream always does what is expected, until the day arrives when she no longer recognizes herself.
Caddie Woodlawn – Carol Ryrie Brink IL: 5-8 RL: 5.3
The adventures of an 11-year-old tomboy growing up on the Wisconsin frontier in the mid-nineteenth century.
Chrysanthemum – Kevin Henkes IL: K-3 RL: 4.2
Chrysanthemum loves her name, until she starts going to school and the other children make fun of it.
Dillon Dillon – Kate Banks IL: 3-6 RL: 5.3
During the summer when he turns 10 years old, Dillon Dillon learns the surprising story behind his name and develops a relationship with three loons living on the lake near his family’s New Hampshire cabin. The loons help him make sense of his life.
Fanny’s Dream – Caralyn Buehner IL: K-3 RL: 2.8
Fanny Agnes is a sturdy farm girl who dreams of marrying a prince, but when her fairy godmother does not show up, she decides on a local farmer instead.
Grandfather’s Journey – Allan Say IL: K-3 RL: 4.2
A Japanese-American recounts his grandfather’s journey to America which he later also undertakes, and the feelings of being torn by a love for two different countries.
Hatchet – Gary Paulsen IL: 3-6 RL: 5.9
After a plane crash, 13-year-old Brian spends 54 days in the Canadian wilderness. Here he learns to survive with only the aid of a hatchet given him by his mother, and also to survive his parents’ divorce.
Holes – Louis Sachar IL: 5-8 RL: 6.5
As further evidence of his family’s bad fortune, which they attribute to a curse on a distant relative, Stanley Yelnats is sent to a hellish correctional camp in the Texas desert. However, here he finds his first real friend, a treasure, and a new sense of himself.
House of the Scorpion – Nancy Farmer IL: 5-8, YA RL: 6.3
In a future where humans despise clones, Matt enjoys special status as the young clone of El Patrón, the 142-year-old leader of a corrupt drug empire nestled between Mexico and the United States.
House of Sports – Marisabina Russo IL: 3-6 RL: 6.3
Through a series of triumphs and tragedies at home, at school, and on the basketball court, plus time reluctantly spent with his elderly grandmother, 12-year-old Jim Malone learns that there is a lot more to life than basketball.
Jennifer, Hecate, William, McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth – E.L. Konigsburg
IL: 3-6 RL: 4.7
Two fifth-grade girls, one of whom is the first black child in a middle-income suburb, play at being apprentice witches.
Keeper of the Doves – Betsy Byars IL: 3-6 RL: 5.7
In the late 1800s in Kentucky, Amie McBee and her four sisters both fear and torment the reclusive and seemingly sinister Mr. Tominski, but their father continues to provide for his needs.
Leo the Late Bloomer – Robert Krauss IL: K-3 RL: 1.7
Leo, a young tiger, finally blooms under the anxious eyes of his parents.
Love That Dog – Sharon Creech IL: 3-6 RL: 4.1
A young student who comes to love poetry through a personal understanding of what different famous poems mean to him surprises himself by writing his own inspired poem.
Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters – John Steptoe IL: K-3 RL: 5.2
Mufaro’s two beautiful daughters, one bad-tempered, the other kind and sweet, go before the king, who is choosing a wife.
Olive’s Ocean – Kevin Henkes IL: 5-8 RL: 6.6
On a summer visit to her grandmother’s cottage by the ocean, 12-year-old Martha gains a perspective on the death of a classmate, on her relationship with her grandmother, on her feelings for an older boy, and on her plans to be a writer.
Stargirl – Jerry Spinelli IL: 5-8 RL: 6.1
In this story about the perils of popularity, the courage of nonconformity, and the thrill of first love, an eccentric student named Stargirl changes Mica High School forever.
Surviving the Applewhites – Stephanie Tolan IL: 5-8, YA RL: 5.7
Jake, a budding juvenile delinquent, is sent for home schooling to the arty and eccentric Applewhite family’s Creative Academy, where he discovers talents and interests he never knew he had.
Ugly Duckling – Hans Christian Andersen IL: K-3 RL: NR
An ugly duckling spends an unhappy year ostracized by the other animals before he grows into a beautiful swan.
Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963 – Christopher Paul Curtis IL: 5-8 RL: 5.0 The ordinary interactions and everyday routines of the Watsons, an African-American family living in Flint, Michigan, drastically change after they visit Grandma in Alabama in the summer of 1963.
Year of Impossible Goodbyes – Sook Nyul Choi IL: 5-8 RL: 6.3
A young Korean girl survives the oppressive Japanese and Russian occupation of North Korea during the 1940s, later to escape to freedom in South Korea.
Next: Book List – General Children’s Literature – Perseverance
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