3-5 Books

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  Chester and Gus

  Cammie McGovern

  Chester, a service dog, is adopted into a family where he becomes a companion to Gus, a ten-year-old boy with nonverbal autism, who initially challenges Chester by requiring a different kind of friendship.

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  Child Soldier: When Boys and Girls are Used in War

  Jessica Dee Humphreys and Michel Chikawanine

  Michel Chikwanine was only five-years-old when he was abducted from outside his school by rebel soldiers in The Democratic Republic of Congo. 'Child Soldier' tells the story of his happy life before the abduction, his time with the rebel militia, his escape from their clutches and finally the worsening situation and growing unrest for Michel and his family and his eventual immigration to Canada with his mother.

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  Cici: A Fairy's Tale #1 Believe Your Eyes

  Cori Doerrfeld

  When Cici's parents separate, her abuela moves in. On her tenth birthday, Cici wakes up with fairy wings and the ability to see who's a real friend and who's not. Will she keep her wings, when the truth is hard to face?

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  Cici: A Fairy's Tale #2 A Truth In Sight

  Cori Doerrfeld

  Cici, a young fairy, is only joking when she uses her powers to play a trick on the popular girl at school. But the changes Cici made to her classmate will last forever if she doesn't learn to see the best in people.

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  Cilla Lee-Jenkins Future Author Extraordinaire

  Susan Tan

  A half-Chinese, half-Caucasian girl's "memoir" about a new sibling, being biracial, and her path to literary greatness.

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  Circle

  Jeannie Baker

  Follows the migration of the bar-tailed godwits from Australia and New Zealand to their breeding grounds in the Arctic.

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  Cleo Edison Oliver, Playground Millionaire

  Sundee T. Frazier

  Fifth-grader Cleo Edison Oliver is full of money-making ideas, and her fifth-grade Passion Project is no different--but things get more complicated when she has to keep her business running, be a good listener when her best friend needs her, and deal with the bully teasing her about being adopted at the same time.

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  Cooper's Lesson

  Sun Yung Shin

  When Cooper, a biracial Korean-American boy, feels uncomfortable trying to speak Korean in Mr. Lee's grocery, his bad behavior eventually leads to a change in his attitude.

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  Countdown

  Deborah Wiles

  Franny Chapman just wants some peace. But that's hard to get when her best friend is feuding with her, her sister has disappeared, and her uncle is fighting an old war in his head. Her saintly younger brother is no help, and the cute boy across the street only complicates things. Worst of all, everyone is walking around just waiting for a bomb to fall. It's 1962, and it seems the whole country is living in fear.

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  Crenshaw

  Katherine Applegate

  A story about a homeless boy and his imaginary friend that proves in unexpected ways that friends matter, whether real or imaginary.

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  Dachy's Deaf

  Jack Hughes

  Dachy wears a hearing aid. But sometimes, when his friends get too noisy, he likes to turn it off to get some peace and quiet. One day, when his hearing aid is off, Dachy falls asleep and ends up floating down the river towards a waterfall and a hungry crocodile. Can his friends rescue him in time?

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  Dad David, Baba Chris and Me

  Ed Merchant

  This brightly illustrated book for children aged 5-10 years old tells Ben’s story about his ordinary life. Ben was adopted by his gay parents – Dad David and Baba Chris – when he was four years old, and they live happily together in an ordinary house, on an ordinary street and do ordinary things.

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  Daddy and Papa's Little Angels: Acceptance of All Kinds of People

  Mystique Ann U'Nique

  This children's book was inspired by Elton John's concern over his son Zachary having two homosexual dads. This book was written to promote love and compassion for homosexual families, those living with AIDS, and those who choose to have children via surrogacy. The author also wrote to encourage older people who choose to start families and to take away any stigmas.

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  Dad, Jackie, and Me

  Myron Uhlberg

  In Brooklyn, New York, in 1947, a boy learns about discrimination and tolerance as he and his deaf father share their enthusiasm over baseball and the Dodgers' first baseman, Jackie Robinson.

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  Dara Palmer's Major Drama

  Emma Shevah

  Dara Palmer dreams of being an actress, but when she does not get a part in the school play, she wonders if it is because of her different looks as an adopted girl from Cambodia, so Dara becomes determined not to let prejudice stop her from being in the spotlight.

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  Dear Mr. Henshaw

  Beverly Cleary

  In his letters to his favorite author, ten-year-old Leigh reveals his problems in coping with his parents' divorce, being the new boy in school, and generally finding his own place in the world.

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  Death by Toilet Paper

  Donna Gephart

  Contest-crazed twelve-year-old Ben uses his wits and way with words in hopes of winning a prize that will keep his family from being evicted until his mother can pass her final CPA examination.

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  Different Kind of Life

  Katie Leone

  Michael Davis is a nine year old boy who struggles with living up to the expectations of his father. In order to toughen up, he agrees to sign up for Pee-wee football to learn how to be the man he is suppose to be. During the routine sports physical the doctor discovers a serious condition that turns Michael's world upside down and inside out. Without warning, he is presented with a decision that he never dreamed possible. With his best friend by his side and the support of his mother, the child tries to make a decision beyond his years and discovers his true self in the process.

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  Digging Up Trouble (Amy Hodgepodge, #6)

  Kim Wayans and Kevin Knotts

  When Amy's fourth-grade class must come up with a "green" project, they learn about community activism and fund-raising from Amy's visiting Grandmother Hodges as they raise money to help revitalize a community garden.

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  Dirt

  Denise Orenstein

  Eleven-year-old Yonder stopped talking when her mother died, and she stopped going to school because of the bullies, knowing that her father would never even notice (although the social worker did); indeed the only creature that seems to care about her is the one-eyed Shetland pony called Dirt who lives on the neighboring farm--so when she discovers that Dirt is about to be sold for horsemeat she is determined to find a way to save him.

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  Do Not Pass Go

  Kirkpatrick Hill

  When Deet's father is jailed for using drugs, Deet learns that prison is not what he expected, nor are other people necessarily the way he thought they were.

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  Double Act

  Jacqueline Wilson

  Ruby and Garnet are ten-year-old twins. They're identical, and they do everything together, especially since their mother died three years earlier - but they couldn't be more different. Bossy, bouncy, funny Ruby loves to take charge, while quiet, sensitive, academic Garnet loves nothing more than to curl up with one of her favourite books

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  Double Dog Dare

  Lisa Graff

  When Kansas Bloom moves to California and joins the Media Club at school, he soon finds himself trying to outdo one of the other fourth-grade students in a "dare war" while vying for the job of on-air video homeroom announcer.

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  Dream of Night

  Heather Henson

  Told from their different points of view, twelve-year-old Shiloh, a troubled foster child, Dream of Night, an abused former racehorse, and Jess, a woman who cares for both, find healing by helping one another through their pain.

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  Dream On, Amber

  Emma Shevah

  As a half-Japanese, half-Italian girl with a ridiculous name, Amber's not feeling molto bene (very good) about making friends at her new school. But the hardest thing about being Amber is that a part of her is missing. Her dad. He left when she was little and he isn't coming back...not for her first day of middle school and not for her little sister's birthday. So Amber will have to dream up a way for the Miyamoto sisters to make it on their own.