Each year the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association, selects the best children’s books. Here is the selected list for Middle Readers, grades 3-5, ages 8-10:
Abraham Lincoln & Frederick Douglass: The Story Behind an American Friendship by Russell Freedman
Bear Has a Story to Tell by Philip Christian Stead, illustrated by Erin E. Stead
The Beetle Book by Steve Jenkins
A Black Hole Is Not a Hole by Carolyn Cinami DeCristofano, illustrated by Michael Carroll
Bomb: The Race to Build – and Steal – the Worlds’ Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin
Brothers at Bat: The True Story of an Amazing All-Brother Baseball Team by Audrey Vernick, illustrated by Steven Salerno
Chuck Close: Face Book by Chuck Close
Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson, illustrated by E. B. Lewis
Electric Ben: The Amazing Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin by Robert Byrd
George Bellows: Painter with a Punch! by Robert Burleigh
Helen’s Big World by Doreen Rappaport, illustrated by Matt Tavares
Iceberg Right Ahead!: The Tragedy of the Titanic by Stephanie Sammartino McPherson
In a Glass Grimmly by Adam Gidwitz
Island: A Story of the Galapagos by Jason Chin
Liar & Spy by Rebecca Stead
Lulu and the Duck in the Park by Hilary McKay, illustrated by Priscilla Lamont
May B. by Caroline Starr Rose
Mighty Mars Rovers: The Incredible Adventures of Spirit and Opportunity by Elizabeth Rusch
Moonbird: A Year on the Wind with the Great Survivor B95 by Phillip M. Hoose
The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate, illustrated by Patricia Castelao
See You at Harry’s by Jo Knowles
Splendors and Glooms by Laura Amy Schlitz
Starry River of the Sky by Grace Lin
Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage
Titanic: Voices from the Disaster by Deborah Hopkinson
Twelve Kinds of Ice by Ellen Bryan Obed, illustrated by Barbara McClintock
Unspoken: A Story from the Underground Railroad by Henry Cole
Wonder by R. J. Palacio
Zombie Makers: True Stories of Nature’s Undead by Rebecca L. Johnson
Waking Brain Cells 