1. Adrienne Dunkerley Customized Library Resources Log
The focus of my resources log is books for upper primary, with an interest level from grades 3-6, with an emphasis on
recently released award winners and books not currently found in our school library. I also have a personal interest in
European historical fiction.
Title/Author/
Publisher/Year
London Eye
Mystery
by Siobhan
Dowd
Yearling, 2008
Vanished
by Sheela Chari
Disney Hyperion,
2011
Holes
by Louis Sachar
Dell Yearling,1998
Award/Review
Description
Fiction
Ted’s cousin Salim comes to visit
London and convinces his family
to go to the London Eye. He goes
up – but never comes back down.
Ted, who has Asperger’s
Syndrome, solves the case.
Kirkus Reviews (June 1, 2011) Tells the story of Neela, a budding
musician, who’s grandmother
http://titlewave.com/search gives her a ‘cursed’ instrument
which goes missing. She travels to
?SID=
f634644538f931907fe95dabc India to discover its secret.
8f4059b
Newbery Medal 1999
Stanley and other boys at a workdetention camp must dig holes
every day, searching for a
mystery…Stanley redeems his
family in the end.
ALA Notable Children's
Books 2009
Interest Level
3-6
3-6
3-6
Curriculum
Connection
Diversity/Autism,
personal, social,
physical and
emotional health
curriculum
connections
Music, musical
instruments,
Geography,
Cultural Diversity
suspenseful read –
aloud, good for
inference, possible
author study for
Louis Sachar

2. Revolution Is Not
a Dinner Party by
Ying Chang
Compestine
Holt, 2007
Tells the story of Ling, a nine- year
– old girl growing up in the
Cultural Revolution in China. She
has an educated professional
family and faces persecution and
her father’s arrest, but the story
ends with their reunion.
Historical Fiction
Booklist (September 15, 2010 A teenage boy enlists the help of
(Vol. 107, No. 2)
his siblings to successfully run an
http://titlewave.com/search apple orchard and win its
?SID=
ownership from an older neighbor.
f634644538f931907fe95dabc Set in the 80’s in New Mexico.
8f4059b
5-8
Social Studies and
Y6 conflict
resolution unit
5-8
Hero on a
Bicycle
by Shirley Hughes
Walker books Ltd,
2012
https://www.kirkusreviews.c
om/book-reviews/shirleyhughes/hero-bicycle/
A novel set in Italy during WWII,
about Paolo, his sister Costanza,
and his family, living in occupied
Florence, trying to help the
resistance.
5-8
Math: geometry,
money,
computation,
practical math
application. And
Science: botany
and biology, Y4
food unit. A good
read- aloud.
Social studies –
WWII and the
Holocaust,
European history,
Year 5 ‘beliefs’ unit.
Yellow Star
by Jennifer Roy
Rozines
Marshall
Cavendish, 2006
ALA Notable Children's
Books 2007
A biography of Syvia, and her
family forced to live in a ghetto in
Poland, with only 800 survivors
after bombing at the end of WWII.
The story is told in a prose-poetry
form instead of a narrative.
5-8
Black Radishes
by Susan Lynn
Meyer
Horn Book starred (April,
2011)
Tells the story of Gustave and his
family in France during WWII. They
leave their home and are living in
5-8
The Year Money
Grew on Trees
by Aaron R.
Hawkins
Houghton Mifflin
Harcourt, 2010
ALA Notable Children's
Books 2008
Social Studies, WWII
and the Holocaust,
European history,
Year 5 ‘beliefs’ unit,
could be used as a
comparison of
forms to The
Upstairs Room.
Social studies –
WWII and the
Holocaust,

3. Delacourte Press,
2010
http://titlewave.com/search
?SID=f63464453
8f931907fe95dabc8f4059b
Kirkus starred review
(October, 2009)
https://www.kirkusreviews.c
om/book-reviews/monikaschroder/the-dog-in-thewood/
unoccupied France, helping the
resistance.
Told from the perspective of a
German boy after WWII has
ended, it tells about Fritz’s family
and struggles for Germany after
the war.
5-8
Alchemy and
Meggy Swann
by Karen
Cushman
Houghton Mifflin
Harcourt, 2010
Kirkus starred review (March,
2010)
https://www.kirkusreviews.c
om/ search/?
q=Alchemy+and+Meggy+S
wann&scope=all
Meggy Swann is a poor girl in
London, with a disability of her
legs. Her father is an alchemist
and has no interest in her. She
finds a way to help a baron
despite her father’s troubles.
5-8
Stephen Biesty's
Cross-Sections
Castle by
Stephen Biesty
DK Publishing,
updated version
2013
http://www.publishersweekl
y.com/978-1-56458-467-0
The Upstairs
Room
by Johanna Reiss
Graymalkin
Media, 1972,
renewed 2000
Newbery Honor 1973
The Dog in the
Wood
by Monika
Schröder
Front Street, 2009
Non-Fiction
This intricately - detailed nonfiction text depicts all the inner
workings of a medieval English
castle. All the jobs and materials
needed to support and supply the
castle, and all the inner workings
of the building and people are
presented here.
The autobiography of Annie, and
her family in the Netherlands. They
are Jewish and go into hiding
from the Germans for 3 years
during the war, aided by Dutch
farmers.
European history,
Year 5 ‘beliefs’ unit.
Recommended as
a companion read
to Black Radishes,
also to Yellow Star,
in regards to
Russians. Social
studies – WWII and
the Holocaust,
European history
Diversity/Disability
History, England,
Elizabethan times
and language, Y6
civilizations unit
5-8
History, England,
Medieval times, Y6
civilizations unit
5-8
Social studies –
WWII and the
Holocaust,
European history,
Year 5 ‘beliefs’ unit

4. The Journey
Back
by Johanna Reiss
iUniverse, 2007
https://www.kirkusreviews.c
om/book-reviews/johannareiss-2/the-journey-back/
Chuck Close,
Face Book
by
Abrams, 2012
Action Jackson,
by Jan
Greenberg
Winner 2012 Boston Globe
Horn Book Nonfiction Award
Puffling Patrol by
Ted Lewin, Lee &
Low Books, 2012
The Wall:
Growing Up
Behind the Iron
Curtain by Peter
Sis
Frances Foster
Books, 2007
Harlem by Walter
Dean Myers
Scholastic Press,
Tells the story of Annie’s family
after the war, when they reunite
after 3 years of separation and
hiding.
YA (5-8)
An autobiography and interview
with Chuck Close. Includes a
unique flip-book mix of his
portraits.
ALA Notable Children's
Tells the process of Jackson
Books 2003
Pollock’s work in a prose- style. The
illustrations vividly depict the artist
at work.
Horn Book starred (Fall 2012) A non-fiction text following the
‘Puffling Patrol’ in the Westman
http://titlewave.com/search Islands in Ireland. Children join the
?SID=12ef52fd49617f89b027f patrol and take care of all the
baby Puffins born on the island
7bcab269457
cliffs.
Picture Books
Caldecott Honor 2008
An autobiography in a graphic
novel style depicting Peter’s
childhood in Soviet – governed
Czechoslovakia. The use of color
to depict the Western vs. Eastern
worlds is striking.
3-6
Caldecott Honor 1998
A poem depicting the
neighborhood of Harlem and its
history in a rhythmic and eloquent
Social studies –
WWII, and also
personal, social,
physical and
emotional health
curriculum
connections, Y6
conflict resolution
unit
Disability/Dyslexia,
Art, Contemporary
Art
3-6
Art, Modern Art
3-6
Science, biology,
ecology, Y3 read –
aloud, animal
habitats unit
3-6
Social Studies,
European history,
Art – use of color
3-6
Music – Harlem
Renaissance,
Poetry, possible

5. 1997
form, with beautiful collage
illustrations.
The Arrival by
Shaun Tan
A.A.Levine,1996
ALA Notable Children's
Books 2008
This tells the story of a newly
arrived immigrant in an unfamiliar
land through a wordless picture
book/graphic novel format.
5-8
The Chronicles of
Harris Burdick : 14
Amazing Authors
Tell the Tales ,
illustrated by
Chris Van
Allsburg
Houghton Mifflin
Harcourt for
Children, 2011
Publishers Weekly starred
07/25/11
http://titlewave.com/search
?SID=12ef52fd49617f89b027f
7bcab269457
This is a compilation of stories by
many great authors, inspired by
Chris Van Allsburg’s original book.
The mysterious black and white
illustrations naturally lend
themselves to various
interpretations and the
participation of great authors
makes for great stories.
3-6
author study/ in
connection with
Love that Dog by
Sharon Creech
Social Studies –
Who We
are/Where We are
in Time and Place
units Y5-6
Literacy – Writing