This list will be a work in progress. Please email me with recommendations! The concept of this list is almost impossible, as school grade levels are such a nonspecific way to categorize book levels - not to mention ranking them! But I need a structure to begin sorting through books and make a useful tool for selecting books for club discussions. Also, I will only add titles which have been reviewed on bookclubshelf.com. Here goes nothing...
Grade 1
1. The Cat on the Mat is Flat by Andy Griffiths
Grade 2
1. Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
2. Just Grace by Charise Mericle Harper
3. Moose Crossing by Stephanie Greene
Grade 3
1. The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo
2. Holes by Louis Sachar
3. The Lemonade War by Jacqueline Davies
4. The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
5. A Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban
6. Being Teddy Roosevelt by Claudia Mills
7. The Cricket in Times Square by George Selden
8. Mr. Popper's Penguins by the Atwaters
9. Judy Moody series by Megan McDonald
Grade 4
1. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate Dicamillo
2. Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
3. Gossamer by Lois Lowry
4. Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse
5. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
6. Leepike Ridge by N.D. Wilson
7. Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
8. The Willoughbys by Lois Lowry
Grade 5
1. The Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt
2. Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! by Laura Amy Schlitz
3. A Drowned Maiden's Hair by Laura Amy Schlitz
4. Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett
5. Shooting the Moon by Frances O'Roark Dowell
Grade 6
1. The Giver by Lois Lowry
Middle School
1. The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex
High School
1. The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
2. The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing by M.T. Anderson
