2006 Teacher's Choices-Intermediate Readers (Grade 3-5)

Fifty years after her refusal to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, city bus, Mrs. Rosa Parks is still one of the most important figures in the American civil rights movement. This tribute to Mrs. Parks is a celebration of her courageous action and the events that followed.

Award-winning poet, writer, and activist Nikki Giovanni's evocative text combines with Bryan Collier's striking cut-paper images to retell the story of this historic event from a wholly unique and original perspective.

This amazing story touches on the causes of war, what would happen on a cease-fire day, ways to promote peace on September 21, and most important, how a single person can make a difference in the world.

Once upon a time there was ... a princess who loved all her beautiful ponies, a cool muscle dude who rode an awesome motorcycle. But a giant came and started stealing them! The dude came to fight the ugly, smelly giant with his mighty sword. She turned gold into thread while she cried for Buttercup, her favorite pony. And he took the princess's gold thread for payment The end!

Wait a minute! That's not how it ends!

Oh no?

Once upon a time there was a boy and a girl who had to tell a fairy tale to the class, but they couldn't agree on the story. Will everyone live happily ever after?

On April 18th at 9:30 p.m. Paul Revere learned that the British Army was marching toward Lexington and Concord to arrest rebel leaders. At 5:20 the next morning, a shot rang out and the American Revolution had begun. Told in a step-by-step account of the 24 hours leading up to the battles that sparked a revolution, this tale is sure to both inform and entertain.

"Strong writing, art, and design combine to make this a vivid introduction to the first battles in the American Revolution."―Booklist, starred review

"A crisply written, vivid, you-are-there account of Paul Revere's actions on the night of April 18, 1775."―BookLinks, starred review

"This makes a rousing introduction to the war's opening events."―Kirkus Reviews

And so the man from Pisa probed, watched, measured, and tested. He used the dripping of water to gauge time, hand spans and arm lengths to find distance. Where Aristotle had asked why things moved, Galileo asked how.

History is full of explorers, inventors, and revolutionaries. Yet few discovered, created, or braved as much as an Italian math professor named Galileo Galilei. In the lively rhymes of J. Patrick Lewis and beautiful illustrations of Tom Curry, the life and achievements of this pioneer of the sciences are now celebrated like never before.

Poems and images, set in a magnificent pop-up design, take readers back four centuries to watch this true Renaissance man play with pendulums, peer into the heavens, and risk his life to make known the truths of our world. Galileo's courage in challenging the long-held beliefs of his time draws special attention in this book, as do his unconventional methods of research and discovery. Sure to be enjoyed by readers of all ages, Galileo's Universe is a tribute to an icon of curiosity and conviction.

J. Patrick Lewis has been captivating young readers with his bright and lyrical writing style for years. His list of children's books includes Creative Editions' The Stolen Smile, The Last Resort, and Swan Song. His books have earned critical acclaim from such publications as Publishers Weekly and garnered such honors as the Kentucky Bluegrass Award.

Tom Curry has been working as an illustrator since 1977. His award-winning illustrations, which often portray both the humor and despair unique to the human condition, have appeared in five children's books and such prominent periodicals as TIME, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, and The Atlantic Monthly.