Kids Book Index
Kate Messner
Twelve-year-old Charlie feels uncertain about how to win her family’s attention. While ice-fishing, she encounters a floppy, scaly talking fish that offers to grant a wish if she lets it go free. Her wishes turn her hopes into disorder, while she learns that her older sister has developed a heroin addiction. The story combines a wish-making premise with a family’s difficult confrontation with addiction.
This book appears on 1 reading list across 1 edition.
Growing Peace: A Story of Farming, Music, and Religious HarmonyRichard SobolA photo-essay about Jewish, Muslim, and Christian families in a village in Uganda. The families form a Fair Trade coffee cooperative and learn to work and live alongside one another peacefully. Local farmer and musician J. J. Keki organizes the cooperative, which becomes central to the families’ shared efforts. Through photographs and the story of the community, the book focuses on coexistence, farming, music, and cooperation across religious traditions.Nine to TwelveOn the same reading list for the same age or grade groupView book details
A Voyage in the Clouds: The (Mostly) True Story of the First International FlightBalloon in 1785 by Matthew OlshanSet in 1785, this picture book follows Englishman John Jeffries and French pilot Jean-Pierre Blanchard as they attempt to cross the English Channel by balloon. Both men want to achieve the first flight from one country to another, despite not getting along. During the journey, Jeffries worries that the balloon looks too full and changes its air valve. The book is inspired by the first international flight and includes an author’s note.Nine to TwelveOn the same reading list for the same age or grade groupView book details
The Tale of a No-Name SquirrelRadhika R. DhariwalSquirrel is the last enslaved animal in Bimmau and has never expected a life beyond slavery. Provoked to seek Brittle’s Key, he begins a quest to discover his origins and win his freedom. Accompanied by a crow and a dog, Squirrel must solve riddles as he travels through places including a walled city of bees, a tea plantation run by mice, and a desert inhabited by tricksters. His journey joins mystery, friendship, and a search for a name of his own.Nine to TwelveOn the same reading list for the same age or grade groupView book details