Primary (ages 6-9)

Material appropriate for primary age groups

Carolina’s Gift: A Story of Peru

Today is a very important day! It is market day, and Carolina and her mother are going to the plaza to find a birthday gift for Carolina’s abuelita, or grandmother. But there are so many things to see and so many gifts to choose from! Would Abuelita like a pretty hat? No, these hats are not for Abuelita. Would Abuelita like a bird that chirps and sings? No, a bird might keep Abuelita up when she is trying to sleep at night. Finally, Carolina finds the perfect gift! Won’t Abuelita be surprised?

See the review at WOW Review, Volume 5, Issue 1

Out of the Way! Out of the Way!

A young boy spots a baby tree growing in the middle of a dusty path in his village. He carefully places rocks around it as the local mango seller rushes past shouting, ?Out of the way! Out of the way!” As the tree grows bigger, people and animals traverse the path until it becomes a lane, flowing like a river around the tree and getting out of its way. Over time, the lane becomes a road, and a young man crossing the road with his children remembers the baby tree from long ago. By the time he is an old man, the tree has become a giant. The city traffic continues to rattle past, noisier and busier than ever, but sometimes the great tree works its magic, and people just stop, and listen. In this simple, lyrical story, a wide-spreading tree and a busy road grow simultaneously, even as time passes and the footsteps of people and animals give way to speeding cars, buses and trucks.

See the review at WOW Review, Volume 5, Issue 1

Dave The Potter

To us it is just dirt, the ground we walk on…But to Daveit was clay, the plain and basic stuffupon which he formed a lifeas a slave nearly 200 years ago. Dave was an extraordinary artist, poet, and potter living in South Carolina in the 1800s. He combined his superb artistry with deeply observant poetry, carved onto his pots, transcending the limitations he faced as a slave. In this inspiring and lyrical portrayal, National Book Award nominee Laban Carrick Hill’s elegantly simple text and award-winning artist Bryan Collier’s resplendent, earth-toned illustrations tell Dave’s story, a story rich in history, hope, and long-lasting beauty.

The Librarian Who Measured The Earth

Describes the life and work of Eratosthenes, the Greek geographer and astronomer who accurately measured the circumference of the Earth.

My Name Is Jorge: On Both Sides of the River

A collection of 27 insightful poems that illuminates the migrant experience from the point of view of a grade school child from Mexico. Jorge doesn’t want to be called George. He thinks the name sounds strange. “What an ugly sound!/Like a sneeze!” His struggles to fit in result in a friendship with a boy named Tim; a tentative coming to terms with American society; and some degree of sadness when, upon his grandmother’s death, his family must cross the river again.

This book has been included in WOW’s Language and Learning: Children’s and Young Adult Fiction Booklist. For our current list, visit our Booklist page under Resources in the green navigation bar.

The Man in the Clouds

The Man in the Clouds lives up a mountain and shares his treasure–a beautiful painting–with all the people from the village below. Those whose lives are touched by unkindness and cruetly are especially moved by the painting, finding comfort in its promise of a beautiful world that does not know pain and suffering.

One day, a stranger comes up and tells the Man in the Clouds how much his painting is actually worth. Bit by bit, this changes how he perceives his art and begins to think of it in terms of monetary value. In fear of his precious painting being stolen, the Man in the Clouds puts locks on his doors and chases people away. Finally, he is all alone, then finds out that his painting has lost all its beauty.

He destroys the painting, opens his doors and windows, and discovers the real beauty lies outside.

Monsters Aren’t Real

Beaten down by a ubiquitous chorus of denials (see title), a monster suffers an existential crisis.

Surrounded by emphatic claims that it doesn’t even exist, a monster sets out not only to prove the contrary, but to establish its scariness credentials too. Alas, neither blasting the world with graffiti and printed fliers nor rearing up menacingly over a baby in a carriage, children at the barre in a ballet class and other supposedly susceptible victims elicits any response. Juggling some cows attracts attention but not the terrified kind. But the monster’s final despairing surrender—“That’s it! It’s over! I give up! … /  Monsters aren’t real (sniff)”—triggers an indignant denial of a different sort from a second, smaller but wilder-looking, creature. It takes the first in hand and leads it off, declaring “We’re two big, strong, scary monsters, and we’ll prove it.” In truth, it won’t escape even very young readers that neither is particularly scary-looking. Indeed, the protagonist-monster is depicted in the sparsely detailed cartoon illustrations as a furry, almost cuddly, bearlike hulk with light-blue spots, antlers and comically googly eyes, certain to provoke more giggles than screams.

Elephant Joe, Brave Knight

Oh no! The Dark Knight has stolen the King’s crown!  Who will rescue it?  Elephant Joe will!  (With his trusty sidekick, Zebra Pete, of Course.)  But there’s an unexpected twist in this tale.  Is the damsel in distress who she sems to be?  And what happens when Elephant Joe and Zebra Pete wake the dragon guarding the Dark Knight’s tower?  There’ll be lots of jousting and heroics before this comical adventure is over!