Fifth Grade Read-Aloud Set

There is a small handful of books that have so insinuated themselves into our cultural subconscious that we somehow know them even if we haven't read them. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is one of these books.

How is it that a book of nonsense can help to make such good sense of the world? The Cheshire Cat, the Mad Hatter, the Queen of Diamonds, the White Rabbit, Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum — they have become topsy-turvy reference points in a topsy-turvy world. G. K. Chesterton once said that the best position from which to view the world is by standing on one's head. Lewis Carroll saved us the trouble of trying to see the world upside down by standing the world itself on its head. He shows us what a world of pure logic bereft of common sense would be like so that when we see our own reality behaving this way, we might not fear it. Carroll knew that only truly serious things are funny.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is, in a sense, a mathematician's nightmare, but one which invites us to dispel the nonsense with laughter.

From the publisher: "It was a dark and stormy night." Out of this wild night, a strange visitor comes to the Murry house and beckons Meg, her brother Charles Wallace, and their friend Calvin O'Keefe on a most dangerous and extraordinary adventure - one that will threaten their lives and our universe.

Join Ebenezer Scrooge - a cold-hearted, lonely old man - one Christmas eve as he is visited by the Ghost of Jacob Marley, his sole friend and former business partner. The troubled phantom has come to tell Scrooge that in order for him to avoid Marley's horrible fate, Scrooge must heed the warnings of Three Spirits who will haunt him that very night. Will those visits alter the course of Scrooge's life, melt his cold heart, and change him forever?

From the publisher: "Mafatu has been afraid of the sea for as long as he can remember. Though his father is the Great Chief of Hikueru - an island whose seafaring people worship courage - Mafatu feels like an outsider. All his life he has been teased, taunted, and even blamed for storms on the sea.
Then at age fifteen, no longer willing to put up with the ridicule and jibes, Mafatu decides to take his fate into his own hands. With his dog, Uri, as his companion, Mafatu paddles out to sea, ready to face his fears. What he learns on his lonesome adventure will change him forever and make him a hero in the eyes of his people."

From the publisher: As the German troops begin their campaign to "relocate" all the Jews of Denmark, Annemarie Johansen's family takes in Annemarie's best friend, Ellen Rosen, and conceals her as part of the family. Through the eyes of ten-year-old Annemarie, we watch as the Danish Resistance smuggle almost the entire Jewish population of Denmark, nearly seven thousand people, across the sea to Sweden. The heroism of an entire nation reminds us that there was pride and human decency in the world even during a time of terror and war.

From the publisher: This acclaimed story of World War II is rich in suspense, characterization, plot and spiritual truth. Every element of occupied Holland is united in a story of courage and hope: a hidden Jewish child, an underdiver, a downed RAF pilot, an imaginative, daring underground hero, and the small things of family life which surprisingly carry on in the midst of oppression. The Verhagen family, who live in the old windmill called the Winged Watchman, are a memorable set of individuals whose lives powerfully demonstrate the resilience of those who suffer but do not lose faith.

From the publisher: "Instinct told them that the way home lay to the west. And so the doughty young Labrador retriever, the roguish bull terrier and the indomitable Siamese set out through the Canadian wilderness. Separately, they would soon have died. But, together, the three house pets faced starvation, exposure, and wild forest animals to make their way home to the family they love. The Incredible Journey is one of the great children's stories of all time--and has been popular ever since its debut in 1961."

From the publisher:  Burnett's conviction that love conquers all is memorably embodied in this tale of an American boy who is transported from the mean streets of 19th-century New York to the splendor of his titled grandfather's English manor. "Compellingly readable." — Horn Book.

Mark Twain spins a Shakespearean tale of two young men who share the same face: one a prince, the other a pauper. After a chance encounter one day, the two decide to switch places for a short time. The comedy of errors that follows includes not only a royal case of mistaken identities, but also biting political commentary cloaked in Twainian humor.

Tom Canty, London pauper, struggles to maintain a monarchical facade, while Edward Tudor, heir to the throne of England, explores the dismal underbelly of the London slums. From these two opposite settings, sixteenth-century England comes to life in sharp contradiction, confronting the reader with the complexities of courage, compassion, and mercy.

Black Beauty Sample

"We call them dumb animals, and so they are, for they cannot tell us how they feel, but they do not suffer less because they have no words."

Rarely does an entertaining children's book also bring about significant societal change, but Black Beauty, a touching story following the tumultuous life of a young colt, forced Victorian England to take notice of the mistreatment of horses and seek to improve their welfare. Anna Sewell's novel was an immediate success and has since sold more than fifty million copies.