#Gearpicks Reading Power 2022

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Don't Hug Doug (He Doesn't Like It) - Carrie Finison

On the Trapline-David A. Robertson

Watercress-Andrea Wang

A Walk in the Words by Hudson Talbott

What Does it Mean to Be Brave? by Kelly Shuto

Connecting to Feelings

I’m Worried – Michael Ian Black

The Don’t Worry Book – Todd Parr

When You Are Brave – Pat Zietlow Miller

When You're Scared - Andrée Poulin

When Sadness is at Your Door – Eva Eland (also Transform)

Today I Feel – An Alphabet of Feelings – Madalena Moniz

Visualize

My Forest is Green – Darren Lebeuf

A Walk Through the Woods – Louise Greig

The Hideout – Susanna Mattiangeli

How to Read a Book – Kwame Alexander

Moon Wishes – Patricia Storms

Run Wild – David Covell

Question

Noodlephant – Jacob Kramer

The Girl and the Wolf – Katherena Vermette

The Rough Patch – Brian Lies

Little Doctor and the Fearless Beast - Sophie Gilmore

Little Brown – Marla Frazee

Lubna and Pebble – Wendy Meddour

Why? – Laura Vaccaro Seeger

Infer

Another – Christian Robinson

Bear Came Along – Richard T. Morris

Seagull & Sea Dragon – Sydni Gregg

Found – Jeff Newman

Mine. Yours. – Marsha Diane Arnold

The Wall in the Middle of the Book – Jon Agee

Transform

Ojiichan's Gift - Chieri Uegaki

Mr. Pack Rat Really Wants That – Marcus Ewert (material things do not = happiness)

Say Something! – Peter H. Reynolds

Maybe Tomorrow? – Charlotte Agell (grief)

The Undefeated – Kwame Alexander

All the Ways to be Smart – Davina Bell

My Heart – Corinna Luyken

Carl and the Meaning of Life- Deborah Freedman

What is Given From the Heart – Patricia C. McKissack

#Gearpicks Nonfiction 2019

Links to Science & Socials

What's the Difference?: 40+ Pairs of the Seemingly Similar - Emma Strack

Power Up! (Your Incredible Supercharged Body) – Seth Fishman

Two Truths and a Lie – Forces of Nature Ammi-Joan Paquette

Encounter – Brittany Luby

The Very Impatient Caterpillar - Ross Burach

Water, Geography, & Oceans

Water-Land – Christy Hale

Most of the Better Natural Things in the World – Dave Eggers

The Biggest Puddle in the World – Mark Lee

Hideaway Cove – Strong Nations Publishing

Nighttime at Hideaway Cove – Strong Nations Publishing

Hey, Water – Antoinette Portis

Math

Flow Spin Grow – Looking for Patterns in Nature – Patchen Barss

Snowman-Cold=Puddle – Spring Equations – Laura Purdie Salas

Count on Me – Miguel Tanco

I’m Trying to Love Math – Bethany Barton

Environment & Conservation

The No-Plastic Challenge!: A First Book of Reducing Waste – Scot Ritchie

What a Waste: Trash, Recycling, and Protecting our Planet - Jess French

Natural World

Nature All Around: Trees – Pamela Hickman

Seashells – More Than a Home – Melissa Stewart

From Tree to Sea – Shelley Moore Thomas

Everything is Connected - Jason Gruhl

You Are Never Alone – Elin Kelsey

Animals

Superlative Birds – Leslie Bulion

The Elephant – Jenni Desmond

Sea Bear – Lindsay Moore

The Truth About Crocodiles – Maxwell Eaton III

One Fox – A Counting Book Thriller – Kate Read

How To Books

How to Be a Butterfly – Laura Knowles

How to Read A Book – Kwame Alexander

How to Walk an Ant – Cindy Derby

The Proper Way to Meet a Hedgehog - Paul B. Janeczko

How to Give Your Cat a Bath in Five Easy Steps- Nicola Winstanley

Look! Wrote a Book! - Sally Lloyd Jones

Biographies

A Voice for the Spirit Bears: How One Boy Inspired Millions to Save a Rare Animal – Carmen Oliver

You Are My Friend – Aimee Reid

Titan and the Wild Boars: The True Cave Rescue of the Thai Soccer Team – Susan Hood

The Crayon Man: The True Story of the Invention of Crayola Crayons -Natascha Biebow

The Girl Who Named Pluto - Alice B. McGinty

Magic Ramen – Andrea Wang

From an Idea to Lego: The Building Bricks Behind the World's Largest Toy Company - Lowey Bundy Sichol

#Gearpicks Reading Power 2019

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The Good Egg – Jory John

Remarkably You – Pat Zietlow Miller (connecting to identity)

Where Are You From? - Yamile Saied Mendez (connecting to heritage)

Under My Hijab – Hena Khan (connecting to culture)

Daniel’s Good Day – Micha Archer (connecting to community)

Connecting to Feelings

I’m Worried – Michael Ian Black

The Don’t Worry Book – Todd Parr

When You Are Brave – Pat Zietlow Miller

When You're Scared - Andrée Poulin

When Sadness is at Your Door – Eva Eland (also Transform)

Today I Feel – An Alphabet of Feelings – Madalena Moniz

Visualize

My Forest is Green – Darren Lebeuf

A Walk Through the Woods – Louise Greig

The Hideout – Susanna Mattiangeli

How to Read a Book – Kwame Alexander

Moon Wishes – Patricia Storms

Run Wild – David Covell

Question

Noodlephant – Jacob Kramer

The Girl and the Wolf – Katherena Vermette

The Rough Patch – Brian Lies

Little Doctor and the Fearless Beast - Sophie Gilmore

Little Brown – Marla Frazee

Lubna and Pebble – Wendy Meddour

Why? – Laura Vaccaro Seeger

Infer

Another – Christian Robinson

Bear Came Along – Richard T. Morris

Seagull & Sea Dragon – Sydni Gregg

Found – Jeff Newman

Mine. Yours. – Marsha Diane Arnold

The Wall in the Middle of the Book – Jon Agee

Transform

Ojiichan's Gift - Chieri Uegaki

Mr. Pack Rat Really Wants That – Marcus Ewert (material things do not = happiness)

Say Something! – Peter H. Reynolds

Maybe Tomorrow? – Charlotte Agell (grief)

The Undefeated – Kwame Alexander

All the Ways to be Smart – Davina Bell

My Heart – Corinna Luyken

Carl and the Meaning of Life- Deborah Freedman

What is Given From the Heart – Patricia C. McKissack

#Gearpicks Reading Power 2018

Connect

Drawn Together – Minh Lê (connections to grandparents)

I’m Sad – Michael Ian Black (connections to emotions)

A Big Mooncake for Little Star – Grace Lin

Alma and How She Got Her Name – Juana Martinez-Neal (connections to your name)

I Hate Everyone – Naomi Danis

Islandborn – Junot Díaz (connections to culture and family history)

Quiet Please, Owen McPhee! – Trudy Ludwig (connections to being a good listener)

Pie is for Sharing – Stephanie Parsley Ledyard (connecting to sharing)

The Patchwork Bike – Maxine Beneba Clarke

Me, My Selfie, and I – Jamie Lee Curtis

Question

My Wounded Island – Jacques Pasquet

The Day the War Came – Nicola Davies

The Antlered Ship – Dashka Slater

Tintinnabula – Margo Lanagan

The Stuff of Stars – Marion Dane Bauer

Adrian Simcox Does Not Have a Horse – Marcy Campbell

Visualize

Picture the Sky – Barbara Reid

They Say Blue – Jillian Tamaki

A Walk in the Forest – Maria Dek

The Forest - Riccardo Bozzi

Deep Underwater - Irene Luxbacher

Tiny, Perfect Things – M H Clark

Hello Lighthouse – Sophie Blackhall

Red Sky at Night – Elly MacKay

The Golden Glow – Benjamin Flouw

When the Moon Comes – Paul Harbridge

Run Wild – David Covell

Infer

The Outlaw – Nancy Vo

The Big Umbrella – Amy June Bates

Small Things - Mel Tregonning

How to Be A Lion – Ed Vere

Whale in a Fishbowl - Troy Howell

We Are All Dots – Giancarlo Macrì

The Wall in the Middle of the Book – Jon Agee

Transform

Be Kind – Pat Zietlow Miller

Life – Cynthia Rylant

What Matters – Alison Hughes

All Are Welcome – Alexandra Penfold

Funeral – Matt James

The Day You Begin – Jacqueline Woodson

Lit Circle Themes Grades 3 - 6

Family & Friendship

The Lemonade War – Jacqueline Davies

Year of the Rat – Grace Lin

The Year of Billy Miller – Kevin Henkes

Bridge to Terabithia - Katherine Paterson

Travels with My Family - Marie-Louise Gay

Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing – Judy Blume

Jack Strong Takes a Stand - Tommy Greenwald

Wish – Barbara O’Conner

Nest – Esther Ehrlich

The Misadventures of the Family Fletcher - Dana Alison Levy

My Funny Family - Chris Higgins

Books about Animals or featuring Animal Characters

Pax – Sara Pennypacker

The One and Only Ivan – Katherine Applegate

Silverwing – Kenneth Oppel

Stone Fox – John Reynolds Gardiner

A Boy Called Bat – Elana K. Arnold

Nuts to You – Lynne Rae Perkins

A Handful of Stars – Cynthia Lord

Crenshaw – Katherine Applegate

8 Class Pets + 1 Squirrel ÷ 1 Dog = Chaos - Vivian Vande Velde

Appleblossom the Possum - Holly Goldberg Sloan

Rain Reign - Ann M. Martin

Magic & Fantasy

Baker's Magic - Diane Zahler

My Father’s Dragon – Ruth Stiles Gannett

Waiting for the Magic – Patricia MacLachlan

Jack: The True Story of Jack and the Beanstalk - Liesl Shurtliff

Sweep: The Story of a Girl and Her Monster - Jonathan Auxier

Nightingale’s Nest -Nikki Loftin

Toys Go Out – Emily Jenkins

The Boundless – Kenneth Oppel (also Canadian History)

Wishtree – Katherine Applegate

A Snicker of Magic – Natalie Llyod

All the Answers – Kate Messner

Survival

Tikta'liktak: An Inuit-Eskimo Legend - James A. Houston

The Hatchet – Gary Paulsen

Lost in the Backyard - Alison Hughes

The Cay – Theodore Taylor

The Wild Robot – Peter Brown

Beyond the Bright Sea - Lauren Wolk

School

Ms. Bixby's Last Day - John David Anderson

Frindle – Andrew Clements

Fourth Grade Rats – Jerry Spinelli

Armstrong & Charlie - Steven B. Frank (also friendship)

Wonder – R.J. Palicio

Lola Levine is Not Mean - Monica Brown

Short – Holly Goldberg Sloan

The New Kid: The Carver Chronicles - Karen English

Jane, the Fox and Me – Fanny Britt

Fatty Legs – Christy Jordan Fenton

8 Class Pets + 1 Squirrel ÷ 1 Dog = Chaos – Vivian Vande Velde

Alvin Ho: Allergic to Girls, School, and Other Scary Things - Lenore Look

Justin Case: School, Drool, and Other Daily Disasters - Rachel Vail

Save Me a Seat – Sarah Weeks

Lit Circle Themes Middle School (Grades 6-9)

Exploitation & Child Labor

Boys without Names - Kashmira Sheth

Bitter Chocolate – Sally Grindley

I am a Taxi – Deborah Ellis

Sweep: The Story of a Girl and Her Monster - Jonathan Auxier

Iqbal - Francesco D'Adamo

The Bitter Side of Sweet – Tara Sullivan

Lost Riders- Elizabeth Laird

Poverty & Homelessness

Crenshaw – Katherine Applegate

Homecoming - Cynthia Voigt

The Seventh Most Important Thing - Shelley Pearsall

The Bridge Home - Padma Venkatraman

The Hundred Dresses – Eleanor Estes

Death By Toilet Paper – Donna Gephart

Paper Things - Jennifer Richard Jacobson

The Garbage King – Elizabeth Laird

Refugee Crisis & Immigration

Refugee – Alan Gratz

A Long Walk to Water - Linda Sue Park

Walking Home – Eric Walters

The Only Road – Alexander Diaz

Shooting Kabul – N.H. Senzai

Stormy Seas: Stories of Young Boat Refugees - Mary Beth Leatherdale

The Red Pencil – Andrea Davis Pinkney

Immigration Experience

Inside Out and Back Again – Thanhha Lai

It Ain’t So Awful, Falafel! – Firoozeh Dumas

The Turtle of Oman – Naomi Shihab

Front Desk – Kelly Yang

Drita, My Homegirl - Jenny Lombard

The Wish Tree – Katherine Applegate

Chloe in India - Kate Darnton

Children in War

I am David – Anne Holm

Number the Stars – Lois Lowry

The Breadwinner – Deborah Ellis

The Boy at the Top of the Mountain – John Boyne

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas – John Boyne

The War that Saved My Life – Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

The Devil’s Arithmetic – Jane Yolen

Making Bombs for Hitler - Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch

Oranges in No Man’s Land – Elizabeth Laird

Segregation & Racism

Iggie’s House - Judy Blume

Stella by Starlight – Sharon M. Draper

Ninth Ward – Jewell Parker Rhodes

Full Cicada Moon – Marilyn Hilton

Brown Girl Dreaming – Jacqueline Woodson

The Wish Tree – Katherine Applegate

Maniac Magee – Jerry Spinelli

Sylvia & Aki - Winifred Conkling

LBGTQ & Gender Identity

George – Alex Gino

Girl Mans Up – M. E. Girard (for 13 and up)

Gracefully Grayson - Ami Polonsky

My Life as A Diamond – Jenny Manzer

The Boy in the Dress - David Walliams

Better Nate Than Ever - Tim Federle

Lily and Dunkin – Donna Gephart

The Stars Beneath Our Feet - David Barclay Moore

Diversity, Inclusion & Overcoming Adversity

Out of My Mind – Sharon M. Draper

A Boy Called Bat – Elana K. Arnold

Rules – Cynthia Lord

El Deafo – Cece Bell

Stargirl – Jerry Spinelli

Fish in a Tree – Lynda Mullaly Hunt

Wonder – R.J. Palacio

Jane, the Fox and Me – Fanny Britt

A Mango-Shaped Space - Wendy Mass

Save Me a Seat – Sarah Weeks

Counting By 7’s – Holly Goldberg Sloan

Paperboy – Vince Vawter

Truth & Reconciliation

Wenjack - Joseph Boyden

Tilly: A Story of Hope and Resilience - Monique Gray Smith

My Name is Seepeetza - Shirley Sterling

Speaking Our Truth: A Journey of Reconciliation - Monique Gray Smith

A Stranger at Home: A True Story - Christy Jordan-Fenton

Fatty Legs – Christy Jordan Fenton

Sugar Falls: A Residential School Story - David Alexander Robertson

#Gearpicks Fall 2017

Connect

Sparkle Boy - Leslaea Newman

Me, Me, Me - Annika Dunklee

The Loneliest Whale - Jessica Therrien

Ira Crumb Makes a Pretty Good Friend - Naseem Hrab

Now - Antoinette Portis

Jabari Jumps - Gaia Cornwall

Carson Crosses Canada - Linda Bailey

There Might Be Lobsters - Carolyn Crimi

Question

The Secret Project – Jonah and Jeanette Winter

Silent Days, Silent Dreams – Allen Say

Mr. Benjamin's Suitcase of Secrets - Pei-Yu Chang

Questions Asked - Jostein Gaarder

Visualize

Things to Do - Elaine Magliaro

A River - Marc Martin

All Ears, All Eyes - Richard Jackson

Round - Joyce Sidman

And Then Comes Summer - Tom Brenner

Infer

Professional Crocodile – Giovanna Zoboli

Lines – Suzy Lee

Town Is by the Sea - Joanne Schwartz

Free the Lines – Clayton Junior

That Neighbor Kid - Daniel Miyares

Draw the Line – Kathryn Otoshi

The Fog - Kyo Maclear

Transform

Come With Me - Holly M. McGhee

Why Am I Me? - Paige Britt

Shelter - Céline Claire

Life – Cynthia Rylant

We’re All Wonders – R. J. Palacio

It Takes a Village: Picture Book - Hillary Rodham Clinton

The Book of Mistakes – Corinna Luyken

La La La: A Story of Hope - Kate DiCamillo

Reading Power Tried & True

Top Picture Books for Reading Power 2016

Top Picks 2015/2016

Recommended First Nations Picture Books

Top Picks Fall 2015

Nonfiction Reading Power Achor Books 2015

Top Picks Spring 2014

New Books for 2012

Great Novels 2012

Writing Power Anchor Books