The Lemonade War by Jacqueline Davies

A wonderful series starts with a great book. The Lemonade War is book one in a four book series about siblings Jessie and Evan Treski. Jessie recently completed 2nd grade and was double promoted to 4th grade. She gets to skip 3rd grade .... how cool is that? Her brother Evan doesn't think it is so cool, HE is going into 4th grade, how can his kid sister be in his class? The week before school starts Jessie and Evan have a fight and decide to settle it by having a Lemonade War - who can make $100 in 5 days? We join the siblings on their wild 5 day adventure of trying to outdo each other and win the war.  Jessie and Evan are very close and do everything together, but not now. Neither one of them really remembers why they started the war, but someone has to win - right? If you enjoy book one don't forget to pick up the rest of the series, The Lemonade War books.

When Life Gives You O.J. by Erica S. Perl

What would you do if your family moved from New York to Vermont to help out your grandfather after your grandmother died? Zelly (Zelda) faces this issue in When Life Gives You O.J. Zelly, her parents, and her little brother Sam, pack up and leave New York for a town in Vermont to "help" her grandpa - Ace. Ace lived on a farm in Vermont where they often vacationed when Zelly's grandma, Bubbles, was alive. But when Bubbles died, Ace was all alone so her parents decided they would all move to Vermont and Ace would move in with them. Life changed quickly for Zelly - who went from feeling "normal" in her neighborhood in New York to feeling like the "odd" girl with the frizzy hair in Vermont. Zelly knows the one thing that can make her feel "normal" is a dog! Her parents say no, but Ace comes up with a plan. He gives Zelly an empty orange juice jug with a "leash" and tells her that if she can prove to her parents that she is responsible - by taking care of her "practice dog" - they will get her a real dog. Zelly humors Ace and takes her orange juice jug out for walks, feeds it pretend meals, and even has to have the jug dump out pretend messes on their walks that Zelly scoops up with a plastic bag. As the summer goes on Zelly continues the routine. Then she meets a new boy in town, Jeremy, who tells her she has to "up the ante". If she wants a real dog, she needs to show her parents she can take care of her "practice dog" - who she names O.J. for "old jug" - plus start her own dog care business - The Zelly Treatment. Will Zelly get her wish, will Ace's crazy plan work, does "upping the ante" pay off? Read this delightful book and find out for yourself.

Pete the Cat books by Eric Litwin; illustrated by James Dean

I cannot believe we did not post Pete the Cat or his sequels. So here they all are.

Pete the Cat: I Love my White Shoes

Pete the Cat: Rockin' in My School Shoes 

Pete the Cat: And His Four Groovy Buttons

We invite you to join the fans (our staff and students) of Pete the Cat - you will love his adventures and songs. You can get the audio of his stories learn all about Pete as well as the author and the illustrator at http://www.harpercollinschildrens.com/feature/petethecat/ See the YouTube video reading of I Love my White Shoes with Eric Litwin below. It's ALL good!!

Everything on a Waffle by Polly Horvath

Everyone in her small town thinks that her parents are lost at sea, but not 11-year-old Primrose Squarp. She asks, "Haven't you ever just known something deep in your heart without reason?" That is her feeling, her parents are on an island somewhere wondering if she is OK and she doesn’t much care what anyone else thinks. Primrose was left with a babysitter when her mother went out to rescue her father who failed to return from his fishing trip before a typhoon hit off the coast of their small British Columbia town, and the babysitter is getting paid three dollars an hour! The town council quickly tries to find a relative to take care of Primrose. Finally they find her Uncle Jack. Primrose has a lot to deal with, missing parents, a wacky uncle, accidentally setting the class guinea pig on fire, plus much more. The school counselor, Miss Honeycut was not very helpful. Primrose did find comfort in Kate Bowzer who is the cook and owner of The Girl on the Red Swing, a restaurant where everything is served on a waffle, anything you would like to eat. Join Primrose and the quirky adults in this charming adventure. Find out if Primrose is right about her parents. An added bonus are the recipes in the book. To find more titles by Polly Horvath check out her web site.

Miss Daisy is Crazy! by Dan Gutman

Miss Daisy looked like a normal teacher, but her second graders soon discovered that she was not quite your typical teacher. “Miss Daisy is crazy”, said Ryan. “She’s the weirdest teacher I ever had,” said Emily. “She can’t read, she can’t write, and she can’t even do arithmetic. What kind of teacher is that?” “A bad one”, I said.

Is Miss Daisy really crazy or is she just fooling her students into learning things in her class? How does a principal dressed like a gorilla and students playing video games all night, fit into the story? Read the first book in this silly series and find out for yourself. The series is My Weird School, a beginning chapter book series for our young readers. As of this writing there are 28 books in the series!

Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar

The Wayside School was supposed to be one story high, with 30 classrooms side by side; instead, it was built sideways, with 30 one-classroom stories. The tales that happen in this school are stranger than fiction, quite humorous, and enjoyable. You won't believe it when the teacher turns her students into apples!

Mr. Yates, principal at Hawkins Elementary was kind enough to share a few chapters with students at first grade library card sign-up night at Brighton District Library last week. Take a peek below! *This video may not be compatible with all computers and browsers. If you do not see an image below, this is the case. We hope, in the future everyone will be able to view the videos.*