The Scholastic Reading Club “Book Boys” hosted our monthly "First Look Flyer” Facebook Live yesterday to help parents and educators find some great reads through the Scholastic Reading Club March catalogs. This month, the Book Boys offered some “top picks”for kids from Pre-K through middle school.
In case you missed it, you can check out the live video on the Scholastic Facebook page:
Here is a quick recap of their top picks:
Max’s Top Picks for April’s flyers include:
Featured in the Kindergarten catalog:
- Mighty Mighty Construction Site bySherri Duskey Rinker; A picture book that’s a great read aloud for the classroom or at home. After Duskey Rinker’s first book “Good night, Good night, Construction Site,” the crew of trucks and excavators face their biggest job yet.
- I Know a Sasquatch by Jessica Bradley; This is a book about a girl who meets a Sasquatch and discovers that the Sasquatch species are more like her than she knew.
Featured in the 2nd and 3rd grade catalog:
- Hubie Cool: Superhero by Mike Thaler; This book is a part of the Black Lagoon series. The trash monster is coming to destroy the Earth with litter and it’s up to Hubie to save the day!
Featured in the 4th-6th grade catalog:
- The Kindness Club: Chloe on the bright side by Courtney Sheinmel; Chloe is in the 5th grader and she’s having a tough time. Her parents are getting divorced and she’s starting a new school. Chloe needs to find a group of friends. Luckily, Chloe manages to become a part of the cool group, but she has a science project with a different group of friends. Throughout the book, Chloe straddles the question of “what’s cool?”
Jamie’s Top Picks for April’s flyers include:
Featured in the Kindergarten catalog:
- One Day in the Eucalyptus Eucalyptus Tree by Daniel Bernstrom; A great read aloud, especially for fans of the old lady series. This book is about a kid who is swallowed up by a snake. Now, the boy’s job is to figure out a funny way to outsmart the snake.
Featured in the 2nd and 3rd grade catalog:
- Wild Sea Creatues: Sharks, Whales and Dolphins by Chris and Martin Pratt; A nonfiction illustrated reader that follows a group of boys that go underwater and learn about various animals.
Featured in the 4th-6th grade catalog:
- Victor Schmud: Total Expert by Jim Benton; In this story, a kid genius, boy wonder, larger than life character Victor Schmud has to resolve an intergalactic conflict that’s unfolding before him.
- Dolphin Dreams by Catherine Hapka; A heartfelt story about a dolphin who brings together two girls who are struggling with past experiences in their life. While the dolphin leads them to a cove where the two become friends, he also gets them into some trouble.
- Tricked by Jen Calonita; In the conclusion in the trilogy of the Fairy Tale Reform School series, the main character, Gilly no longer attends the Fairy Tale Reform school, instead she attends the Jack of All Trades school. Her younger sister matriculated onto the Fairy Tale Reform School is in trouble, so Gilly has to figure out a way to get back into the Fairy Tale Reform School to look after her sister. Will Gilly be able to get back in the Fairy Tale Reform School and save her sister?
Elliot’s Top Picks for April’s flyers include:
Featured in the Kindergarten catalog:
- Explorers of the Wild by Cale Atkinson; A boy and a bear are simultaneously going through the woods and they stumble across each other. They’re scared at first and then they realize the best adventures are the ones you share with your friends.
Featured in the 2nd and 3rd grade catalog:
- Princess in Black by Shannon and Dean Hale; Princess Magnolia just can’t seem to get a break from fighting monsters. This is an action packed with tons of beautiful illustrations.
- A to Z Mysteries: Super Edition #9 April Fools Fiasco by Ron Roy; In this mystery, Dink, Josh, Rose and Ruth’s favorite bookstore gets robbed! It’s the kids’ job to go investigate. What kind of clues will the friends find?
Featured in the 4th-6th grade catalog:
- Big Nate: Revenge of the Cream Puffs by Lincoln Peirce; Nate’s Little League team, the “Cream Puffs” are the laughing stock of the whole little league and they want to prove that they can win games and they’re a force to be reckoned with.
Allister’s Top Picks for April’s flyers include:
Featured in the Kindergarten catalog:
- Farm Babies by Charles Reasoner; Learn all about your favorite farm animals in this photo filled collection including photos of baby ducklings and sleeping piglets.
Featured in the 2nd and 3rd grade catalog:
- Ready Freddy 2nd grade Rock and Roll by Abby Klein; Freddy’s favorite band is having a contest to win tickets for one of their concerts and for the contest Freddy has to make a music video. Freddy is pretty concerned because he can’t dance.
- The Sea Turtle Rescue by Thea Stilton; This book is a part of the Botsford Academy series, which consists of five sisters. Two of the sisters, Nicki and Paulina give up their summer vacation to guard a nest of sea turtle eggs and they become stars of a new nature documentary. But once they find out they’re in trouble, all five sisters jump into help.
Featured in the 4th-6th grade catalog:
- Spring According to Humphrey by Bett G. Birney; Humphrey, everyone’s favorite classroom hamster and his pal Og the Frog are preparing with the class of room 26 for a spring party and while preparing for the party a group of tadpoles are introduced to the classroom.
- Restart by Gordon Korman; Chase, the class bully, suffers a terrible accident and he loses all of his memories due to amnesia. When Chase comes back to class, he has to relearn everything: walking, writing and reading!
Don’t forget to check out the We Need Diverse book offers in April!
For the early readers:
- We’re all Wonders byR.J. Palacio; A story about a kid that looks a little different from the other kids, but at the end of the day that’s okay because everybody’s their own little wonder. People can be different and it’s a way of life.
- Lost and Found Cat by Amy Shrodes; This is a refugee story about a family from Iraq specifically from Mosul, which has been considered very dangerous in recent years. They fled Mosul all the way to Norway and they weren’t allowed to take very many of their belongings, but they did make it a point to take their cat. This is a true story about a family being reunited with their cat. It’s compelling, heartfelt, rich and comes from a multicultural perspective.
For older readers:
- Amina’s Voice by Hena Khan; A moving novel with a powerful message about a Pakistani American girl and an act of vandalism is committed in her community, which is predominantly Muslim. This act threatens her community and begins shake things up for Amina. She’s forced to confront what it means to be herself as a Muslim girl in America.
- NewsPrints by Ru Xu; The story is about a girl who disguises herself as a man in order to work for a newspaper during war time. The main theme in this book is female empowerment.
