Father and Son Read-Aloud Stories retold by Robert Gould

This collection of well-loved tales (Puss in Boots, The Lion and the Mouse, Jack and the Beanstalk, and more) are perfectly adapted for sharing between the men of the family. Though the core stories remain the same, certain details have been adjusted for the intended readers - for example, when a blonde-haired visitor breaks Baby Bear's chair, he can still look forward to an afternoon in the workshop with Papa Bear, making a new one.

Lara Gurin's artwork appears to be based on photographs, creating a combination of fantasy and reality that perfectly balances the stories they illustrate.

Mouse Guard: Fall 1152 by David Petersen

Imagine if mice had their own civilization. Towns of mice living in the trunks of trees; guardian mice protecting travelers from such enemies as snakes, wolves, and weasels; blacksmith mice and weaver mice. What would it be like?

Imagine a world of swords and spears, honor and treachery, heroes and villains. Imagine four mouse guards - Lieam, Kenzie, Saxon, and Sadie - who each find pieces of the puzzle. A forbidden map, a shadowy meeting, a mouse who claims to be a hero of legend. A war coming, mouse against mouse rather than against their natural predators.

This vibrantly-colored comic book story tells a tale of bravery and sacrifice, friendship and suspicion. It's probably better for older readers because of the subject matter.

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

Melinda Sordino is a high school freshman with a terrible secret, no friends, and a newly acquired habit of remaining mute whenever possible. She is ostracized by her classmates for calling the police to break up a summer party. Gradually, readers will realize the events of that party are the catalyst that sent her spiraling out of control. Will she find her voice in time to save herself?

Anderson does an excellent job of writing realistic teen dialog and creating believable settings and scenarios for her characters to interact. Date rape, which is the trauma Melinda experiences, is thinly veiled and easily predicted; however, there is still interesting build-up to the final scene.

The conclusion of the book may be considered a bit too perfect for more mature readers but, overall, Speak navigates the inner mind of a traumatized teenager with impressive insight. Melinda's use of art to express herself, her parents' detached attitudes, and her utter sense of despair will have readers rooting for her.

The Robber and Me by Josef Holub; translated by Elizabeth D. Crawford

When Boniface woke up in a warm soft featherbed, he thought at first that he was in heaven. The last thing he knew, he'd been lost in the middle of the woods on a freezing-cold night. But if he was safe and warm now, with no memory of getting from the forest to this bed, did that mean that it had all been a dream? His father's death, the year with his aunt, the horrid cart-ride with the man who stank to high heaven? And what about the man Boniface thought he remembered - the one with the big black hat who picked him up and carried him out of the forest?

It hadn't been a dream - except maybe the man with the big black hat; no one is sure about that. But Boniface is indeed in the tiny village of Graab (in Germany, you understand), in the house of his uncle, the mayor, and life is about to be very interesting.

His uncle is strict, and the schoolmaster even more so. There's Christian Knapp, who is the son of the local robber and so is always in trouble, but he stands up for Boniface against a bully. And then there's Frederika, his uncle's maid, who is tall and stout and has a loud voice, but Boniface suspects she's actually a very kind person.

But when Boniface learns about several holdups in the area committed by a man in a big black hat, he has a difficult decision to make. Does he help the man who probably rescued him from the forest, and tell his uncle what he knows? Or does he keep quiet and not risk this new family he's found?

Mostly Monty by Johanna Hurwitz

Monty has asthma. That means that sometimes it's hard for him to breathe, especially if there is a lot of dust or if there is a dog or a cat in the room. It also means that he can't go camping, or join Little League, or run around as much as the other kids in his neighborhood.

But there are a lot of things Monty can do. He's a terrific reader - he's only in first grade, but his teacher says he reads as well as a fourth grader. He's also very observant; he finds a lot of lost things at school and makes sure that they get to the Lost and Found lady. Now, that doesn't mean that Monty doesn't make mistakes sometimes, but at least he always tries his best - and has fun along the way!

For young readers who are looking for something adventuresome and challenging to read, Monty is here to lend a hand!

Two Bear Cubs: A Miwok Legend from California's Yosemite Valley by Robert San Souci

Once upon a time, before the world was what it is today, two bear cubs wandered away from Oo-hoo'-mah-tee, Mother Grizzly Bear, and fell asleep on a sun-warmed rock. They were so tired from playing and splashing in the river that they slept for many days and many nights, not realizing that the rock they were sleeping on was growing taller, and bigger, and taller...

When Mother Grizzly Bear goes in search of her two small cubs, it will take the effort of several of her friends - and one unusual hero - to get Older Brother and Little Brother back down on solid earth.

This origin tale of the El Capitan landmark in Yosemite Valley is full of beautiful paintings by Daniel San Souci and details of Miwok life from many years ago.

Surviving Brick Johnson by Laurie Myers

It was a perfectly innocent mistake. In fact, Alex didn't realize it was a mistake until after he'd made it.

See, the guys at the lunch table were doing impressions - Bugs Bunny, Road Runner, that kind of thing. Alex was never quite sure what made him do it, but he did an impression of Brick Johnson, the new transfer student in his class. And everybody laughed.

Everybody except Brick Johnson, that is. Big and mean looking (bigger than skinny Alex, that's for sure!), Brick leaned over the table and said, "At my other school a boy did an imitation of me and..."

And what?!? Alex doesn't know, because a teacher interrupted them right then. And I punched him? And they never saw him again? And I gave him a big hug and a lollipop? (Alex is pretty sure it's not that last one.)

Whatever it might be, Alex is making sure to stay well out of Brick's way - which is tough when it seems that every time he turns around, Brick's in the area. Great! Not even two weeks into his fifth grade year and Alex is already starting to worry that he won't live to be one hundred.

But even while he's running away from Brick, Alex is learning some things about himself and about the other guy that could change the way he thinks about a few things...

Cages by Peg Kehret

It was so easy. Kit had already been examining the bracelet for several minutes, and everyone else was focused on Marcia - braggy, annoying Marcia, who had gotten the lead in the class play when Kit wanted it, who had a father who was willing to buy her expensive jewelry, who had everything Kit wanted in the world.

Kit slipped the bracelet into her pocket, turned away... and her life changed forever.

She had come to the mall to escape her alcoholic step-father and her too-forgiving mother, to escape her disappointment at not getting a role in the play - but when a heavy hand falls on her shoulder, Kit discovers that she's locked herself into a worse cage.

The police are called, and so is her mother. She has to pay a fine and appear before a court committee. It's the most frightening thing that has ever happened to Kit. Now she's lying to her best friend and to everyone else she knows, scared silly that someone is going to find out what happened, and sure that she's lost every chance at the scholarship she needs to go to college.

But there is a bright side as well - like the hours she spends at the Humane Society petting and playing with the dogs, and the friend she makes there, who teaches her that cages aren't always made of chain links and metal poles... and that sometimes you are the one with the key.

Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson

First off, I should point out that I am indeed a librarian.

But I’m not one of those evil ones Alcatraz is fighting.

At least I don’t think I am.

Maybe I just haven’t been inducted yet?

…

Okay, enough with the self-identity philosophy stuff. Back to the point then, yes?

In an effort to prove to you that I am not one of those evil Librarians, I would like to introduce you to this book, Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians.

Of course, if I were one of those evil Librarians, I might be handing you this book in order to see how you reacted to it. Then if you seemed interested, I might have to… Cough, cough, ahem. Sorry. Was I saying something?

Back to the point. (Again.) The first thing you should know is: Everything you think you know is wrong.

Okay. Not everything. But most of it is.

For instance, there are three continents out there that you never knew existed, one of them quite large and smack-dab in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. How’s that, eh? Guns and elevators are actually quite primitive – swords and stairs are much more advanced inventions. Glass is the most important substance in the world – you can use it to shoot fire, track people, and even create expanding houses. Special things like Talents and Ocular abilities might seem like magic, but are really quite commonplace and can be very powerful if used correctly.

Oh, and dinosaurs are still alive. They’re British, and quite a bit smaller than the museums make them out to be. Librarian trickery, you know.

Oh, that’s right, you don’t know. Well, Librarians rule the world. (At least the evil ones do; I don’t have anything to do with that, unfortunately.) They have all the power, because they control all the information. At least they do in the Hushlands, which is where you and I live. That’s why Alcatraz Smedry is publishing his autobiography under the pseudonym Brandon Sanderson. It’s so people like you will read it and understand how the world truly is, while the Librarians will think you’re simply reading Fantasy.

Oh, are you going to read it? Oh good, I’m glad to hear that. Hmm? What am I doing? Oh, just pulling out my horn-rimmed glasses, that’s all…

((Highly recommended for older readers, due to the high volume of Truths in this story.))

Vampire Island by Adele Griffin

Lexie, Hudson, and Maddy all have the same kind of troubles that you and I do.

Lexie has a deep and near-hopeless crush on Dylan Easterby, the cutest boy in her seventh-grade class. But with her too-long fingers and her love of poetry, she's afraid he'll never like her back.

Nine-year-old Hudson cares about the environment. He cares a lot about the environment. But his attempts to educate his fourth-grade class backfire in a way that gets them all recycling but but doesn't make them very friendly.

And eleven-year-old Maddy is convinced that there is something very strange going on in the house across the street. She's sure the von Kriks are up to something shady; she just hasn't figured out how to prove it yet.

But the three siblings are also different from you and I. Lexie is extremely strong, fast, and agile. Hudson understands what animals are saying, and he can transform into a bat at night. And Maddy is having a hard time sticking to the all-fruit, all-veggie diet her family has been on for the past four years...

Zucchini Out West by Barbara Dana

Zucchini loves living with Billy.

Billy is a quiet, shy boy who loves animals. He has a list next to his bed of all of the endangered and threatened animal species in the world. He told Zucchini he wants to help shorten that list, to help save the lives of all of those animals, but he isn't sure yet how to do it.

Right now, Billy has two problems. One is his shyness. He never quite gets the courage to ask people questions, and sometimes he'll talk himself out of doing things because he thinks he'll be stupid.

The other problem is Zucchini. Now, Zucchini is Billy's best friend, but he's also a ferret. He's a small tan ferret with a cold nose, a black mask, and black feet, which is where the problem really starts. There are three different kinds of ferrets in the world, and one of them is endangered: the black-footed ferret. It's one of the rarest mammals in the world, and it's illegal to own one. So if Zucchini really is a black-footed ferret, he and Billy won't be able to stay together anymore.

The only way to know for certain is to ask one of the experts on ferrets. Billy has the chance, on a family vacation, to talk to the scientists who study ferrets and ask them questions about saving endangered animals, about ferrets, and about Zucchini in particular. If only he can pull his courage together...

Escape to West Berlin by Maurine Dahlberg

It’s July of 1961, and Heidi Klenk is about to have the worst summer of her life. To start things off, she just found out that her family won’t be going to visit Opa and Oma, her grandparents, on their farm this August like they do every year. Her mom is about to have a baby, so she doesn’t want to travel, and Heidi’s parents won’t let her go alone; they say she’s too young.

Even worse, Heidi’s father is being called a traitor. You see, Heidi and her family live in Berlin, which after World War II was split into two parts – the East, which is Soviet, and the West, which is not. Heidi’s family lives in East Berlin, but her father works in the West, and has since long before the division of the city. Some people in the East think that border-crossers like Heidi’s dad are betraying the East by working in the higher-paying West but receiving the health care and other benefits of the East, and recently the tension has been getting worse and worse.

Now even Heidi’s best friend Petra won’t play with her, and Heidi’s father has been told he must get a job in the East. Their landlord is threatening to evict them, and Heidi’s parents have begun whispering behind closed doors.

And that is worst of all, because above all else, Heidi wants to be treated like the responsible teen she is and not like a child. She wants to be able to ride the train out to Opa and Oma’s on her own, she wants to be able to choose her friends, and she wants to be able to help make the decisions about her family’s life.

But when everything goes wrong all at once, will Heidi be as level-headed and responsible as she thinks she is?

The Secret History of Tom Trueheart by Ian Beck

Tom Trueheart’s whole family are adventurers. Ever hear of Jack the Giant-Killer? That’s his dad. Jack and the Beanstalk? His brother, also named Jack. The Frog Prince? Prince Charming? All Tom’s brothers. Oh, the names have been changed a bit, to make things more exciting, but all of the great stories you’ve ever heard come from the adventures of the Trueheart family, recorded and passed on by the Story Bureau.

The Story Bureau, you see, is responsible for the creation, writing, and publishing of all of the best stories one finds on one's bookshelves: Cinderella, Hansel and Gretel, Rapunzel, the list goes on and on. The creative minds at the Story Bureau come up with ideas for stories and then someone - usually a member of the Trueheart family - lives out the adventure, solving problems, rescuing princesses, and killing monsters. Then that person tells his story, and the writers and artists at the Bureau create a book out of it to be published and sent out for everyone in the world to read.

At least... that's the way it's supposed to happen. But when all six of Tom's older brothers leave for adventures and don't come back in time for his twelfth birthday, it's up to Tom to find them and set things right.

But it’s not all his brothers’ fault, you see; there’s an evil mastermind hiding in the wings. Who is he? And what is he trying to do?

Call It Courage by Armstrong Sperry

"It happened many years ago, before the traders and missionaries first came to the South Seas, while the Polynesians were still great in numbers and fierce of heart. But even today the people of Hikueru sing this story in their chants and tell it over the evening fires. It is the story of Mafatu, the Boy Who Was Afraid."

Mafatu, whose mother was killed by the sea when he was only three years old and who nearly died at the same time. Mafatu, who ever since has been afraid of the ocean, though the sea surrounds and supports the life of his people. He is the son of the Chief, but how is he to earn his place as a man and one day his people's leader if he sits on the land and does women's work instead of going out onto the sea and fishing?

When he can no longer stand the teasing of the other boys, Mafatu goes out in one of the canoes late one night with only his dog, Uri, and the albatross Kivi for companionship. He is determined to sail out to another island and return with proof of his courage and of his conquering of the sea.

But a wild storm sees Mafatu thrown up on the shores of an uninhabited island with no canoe, no supplies, and no weapons. If he is ever to get home, he will have to find ways to create all of these things from the island and the surrounding ocean. And - is the island truly uninhabited?

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C O'Brien

When widowed Mrs. Frisby's youngest son Timothy comes down with pneumonia, she goes to the area herbalist, Mr. Ages, for medicine which he says will cure the sickness in three or four days. But, he adds, it will be several weeks before Timothy can go out into cold or cool air safely without falling sick again and dying.

This doesn't seem like much of a problem, does it? And it wouldn't be, for you or I. We'd be a little bored, of course, stuck in the house, bundled in blankets, a little tired and weak, but it wouldn't be that big of a thing.

But you see, Mrs. Frisby, Timothy, and the rest of her children are field mice, and even Mr. Ages is a small white mouse. They live in houses they've created on Mr. Fitzgibbon's farm. Mr. Ages lives in a hollowed-out space of a brick wall, and Mrs. Frisby lives with her four children in a concrete block - you know, one of those ones with two holes through the middle, just right to make two cozy rooms for a mouse family? - against a boulder in the middle of Mr. Fitzgibbon's big field.

Which is the biggest problem of all, for you see, every spring when Mr. Fitzgibbon begins to plow his field, Mrs. Frisby and her family have to move to a safe place in the woods. But with Timothy sick, they can't move - and the spring thaw is coming soon. Mr. Fitzgibbon has the tractor ready, with the sharp shiny plow already attached to the back.

They can't go and they can't stay, and perhaps there's only one direction Mrs. Frisby can look for help, if she can find the courage: the mysterious rats of NIMH.

100 Days and 99 Nights by Alan Madison

Meet Esme. At seven years old, she's already lived in Kenya, Korea, and Germany. That's because her dad, August Aloysius McCarther the Third, is a sergeant in the United States Army. That means that Esme, her little brother Ike, and their mom and dad go to live wherever the Army tells them to, whenever they are told to. It's their duty, which Esme knows means doing something that no one in the whole entire universe really wants to do.

But on the other hand, traveling all over the world has given her the chance to collect her bedzoo: thirty-one stuffed animals running the length of the alphabet (Aardvark to Zebra, with the eXception of X, because there are no animals that start with X) that remind her of all the places she's been and all the people she loves.

Besides, their family is always together, with their everyday routines that make life so good. Like making pancakes on Saturday morning, or movie nights on Fridays. Esme's Dad always has silly words or strange sayings - what does "than you can shake a stick at" really have to do with anything? - and he is, Esme knows, the strongest, bravest person alive.

But then one Saturday Dad tells them he has to go away for a tour of duty - one hundred days and ninety-nine nights in a faraway place. And gradually Esme learns that her Dad isn't the only strong, brave person in the family.

The Door in the Wall by Marguerite De Angeli

Do you like stories of knights on horseback, or ladies in beautiful long gowns? Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live in the very old days, in England during the times of ladies and knights and honor and courage?

If you have, I would like to introduce you to my young friend Robin. He is only ten years old, but he lives in those grand old times and has several adventures that are both ordinary and at the same time truly brave.

You see, Robin grew up as an ordinary young boy, the son of Sir John de Bureford, living with his mother and father and expecting that soon after he turned ten - as he is now - he would go to live with another lord of the realm as his page and learn from that lord all the skills he would need to be a brave and honorable knight - to fight, to speak, to lead people, to rule his own lands.

But not long after he turned ten, while his mother and father were away serving the King and Queen in the war, Robin fell very ill. Even when he recovered, he was too weak to walk around on his own. How on earth would he be able to serve as a page now? How would he even get to Lord Peter's castle?

With the help of Brother Luke and the minstral John-go-in-the-Wynd he will do it, but even then it's not an easy path. Robin will have to overcome challenges like learning to use crutches and dealing with robbers along the road. And even when he gets to Sir Peter's home, Robin will have one last challenge that will take every bit of skill he's learned over the past few months - but if he can overcome it, he will earn a reward befitting a truly noble knight.

The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo

This is a sweetheart of a book, full of just enough adventure to keep you turning the pages, just enough detail to make you fall in love with the characters, and just enough intelligence to make you feel you've read something fully worthwhile.

Despereaux is a mouse who can be summed up quite quickly in the words of his Aunt Florence: "It simply isn't done!" He is born far too small and with far too big of ears - and if that were not enough, he reads books instead of eating them and he talks to humans!

Most specifically, he speaks to the Princess Pea, in whose castle he lives, and with whom he falls deeply in love. This is, of course, another thing that Is Not Done, but how can a young mouse help himself?

And this is only the beginning of the story. There is also Chiaroscuro, a most unusual rat, and his story of living in the dungeons of the castle, and Miggery Sow, a young scullery maid who dreams of being a princess.

This is a story of dreams and realities, of bravery and perfidy, of love and hate and light and darkness. But it is, most of all, the story of a young mouse who follows his heart.

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I also highly recommend the audio version of this story, read by Graeme Malcolm. He brings each character individually to life with unique, recognizable voices, and I - who have a terrible time listening to audio books - was fully entranced the entire story.