October 19, 2020 | melissa c
The following fiction and non-fiction titles may be enjoyed by fourth graders. Please remember, readers have different interests and read at different levels so not all of these titles will appeal to, or be appropriate for, every fourth grader.
For more specific recommendations, we encourage you to chat with the librarian at the Children's Desk about your child's reading interests or use our May We Suggest form.
Fiction
For twelve-year-old Emily, the best thing about moving to San Francisco is that it's the home city of her literary idol: Garrison Griswold, book publisher and creator of the online sensation Book Scavenger (a game where books are hidden in cities all over the country and clues to find them are revealed through puzzles). Upon her arrival, however, Emily learns that Griswold has been attacked and is now in a coma, and no one knows anything about the epic new game he had been poised to launch. Then Emily and her new friend James discover an odd book, which they come to believe is from Griswold himself, and might contain the only copy of his mysterious new game.
Beware the Hare! Is he or isn't he a vampire? Before it's too late. Harold the dog and Chester the cat must find out the truth about newest pet in the Monroe household--a suspicious-looking bunny with unusual habits...and fangs! Though scoffed at by Harold the dog, Chester the cat tries to warn his human family that their foundling baby bunny must be a vampire.
Welcome to a neighborhood of kids who transform ordinary boxes into colorful costumes, and their ordinary block into cardboard kingdom. This is the summer when sixteen kids encounter knights and rogues, robots and monsters--and their own inner demons--on one last quest before school starts again.
Daphne and Sabrina Grimm have been tossed from one bad foster home to another after the disappearance of their parents. Now the grandmother they had been told was dead has sent for them. Naturally there's a measure of distrust, and it only increases when their new home of Ferryport Landing starts getting stranger and stranger.
Is Nick Allen a troublemaker? He really just likes to liven things up at school -- and he's always had plenty of great ideas. When Nick learns some interesting information about how words are created, suddenly he's got the inspiration for his best plan ever...the frindle.
Sixth grade is coming to an end, and so is life as Macy McMillan knows it. Already a "For Sale" sign mars the front lawn of her beloved house. Soon her mother will upend their perfect little family, adding a stepfather and six-year-old twin stepsisters. To add insult to injury, what is Macy's final sixth grade assignment? A genealogy project.
Jeffrey Lionel "Maniac" Magee might have lived a normal life if a freak accident hadn't made him an orphan. After living with his unhappy and uptight aunt and uncle for eight years, he decides to run--and not just run away, but run. This is where the myth of Maniac Magee begins, as he changes the lives of a racially divided small town with his amazing and legendary feats.
Merci Suarez knew that sixth grade would be different, but she had no idea just how different. For starters, Merci has never been like the other kids at her private school in Florida, because she and her older brother, Roli, are scholarship students. They don't have a big house or a fancy boat, and they have to do extra community service to make up for their free tuition. So when bossy Edna Santos sets her sights on the new boy who happens to be Merci's school-assigned Sunshine Buddy, Merci becomes the target of Edna's jealousy.
Twelve-year-old Catherine just wants a normal life. Which is near impossible when you have a brother with autism and a family that revolves around his disability. She's spent years trying to teach David the rules from "a peach is not a funny-looking apple" to "keep your pants on in public," in order to head off David's embarrassing behaviors. But the summer Catherine meets Jason, a surprising, new sort-of friend, and Kristi, the next-door friend she's always wished for, it's her own shocking behavior that turns everything upside down and forces her to ask: What is normal?
Joe and Ravi might be from very different places, but they're both stuck in the same place: SCHOOL. Joe's lived in the same town all his life, and was doing just fine until his best friends moved away and left him on his own. Ravi's family just moved to America from India, and he's finding it pretty hard to figure out where he fits in. Joe and Ravi don't think they have anything in common -- but soon enough they have a common enemy (the biggest bully in their class) and a common mission: to take control of their lives over the course of a single crazy week.
Accidentally built sideways and standing thirty stories high (the builder said he was very sorry for the mistake), Wayside School has some of the wackiest classes in town, especially on the thirtieth floor. That's where you'll meet Bebe, the fastest draw in art class; John, who only reads upside down; Myron, the best class president ever; and Sammy, the new kid--he's a real rat.
After finding a mysterious, handmade field guide in the attic of the ramshackle old mansion they've just moved into, Jared; his twin brother, Simon; and their older sister, Mallory, discover that there's a magical and maybe dangerous world existing parallel to our own--the world of faerie. The Grace children want to share their story, but the faeries will do everything possible to stop them.
Eleven-year-old Amar'e Stoudemire has a lot going on. He loves to go skateboarding in the park. He takes his school work very seriously. He helps out with his dad's landscaping company. And he likes to play basketball with his best friends-but just for fun. When a group of older kids start disrespecting his boys on their neighborhood basketball court, there is only one solution.
Nonfiction
This is Ada. Although she might look like an ordinary little girl, she's about to change the world. Augusta Ada Byron, better known as Ada Lovelace, is an inquisitive child. Like her clever mother, she loves solving problems--big problems, little problems, and tricky, complicated problems. Ada invents crazy contraptions and reads all the books in the library of her father, the poet Lord Byron; but most of all she loves to solve mathematical problems. Together with her teacher, the mathematician Charles Babbage, Ada invents the world's first computer program.
Sure you know T-Rex was the meat-eating king and brontosaurus munched on leaves, but what else was on the dino dining menu during the Mesozoic era?
Dogs fart. Cats fart. Horses fart (a lot). But what about snakes? Spiders? Octopuses? Cheetahs? In this gaseous guide to kids' favorite animals (and some they've never heard of), readers will discover not only which animals pass gas, but also which have the stinkiest farts, which fart the most, and where all this smelly stuff comes from. Perfect for reluctant readers, Does It Fart? is the funniest book you never knew you needed.
In the sprawling African scrub desert of Etosha National Park in Namibia, they call her "the mother of all elephants." American scientist Caitlin O'Connell could not believe what she was seeing from these African elephants: as the mighty matriarch scanned the horizon, the other elephants followed suit, stopped midstride, and stood as still as statues. This observation would guide the scientist to a groundbreaking discovery about elephant communication: elephants actually listen with their limbs.
Do you know what happened when a kid forgot his glass of soda with a stir stick in it outside on a freezing cold night? Popsicles were invented! And did you know ancient people loved to chew on gum, just like we do? Get ready to learn the strange stories behind inventions you use every day. From the guy who thought white-flour snacks were evil so he invented graham crackers to the evolution of ketchup, you'll be amazed how we got the food inventions we enjoy today.
Welcome to the museum! There are more than 160 historical artifacts to be discovered in Welcome to the Museum: Historium. Wander the galleries of this museum whenever you wish--it's open 365 days a year!--and discover a collection of curated objects on every page, accompanied by informative text. Each chapter features a different ancient civilization, from the Silla dynasty of Korea to ancient Rome.
Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has spent a lifetime disagreeing: disagreeing with inequality, arguing against unfair treatment, and standing up for what's right for people everywhere. This biographical picture book about the Notorious RBG, tells the justice's story through the lens of her many famous dissents, or disagreements.
Two hundred years ago, the Brothers Grimm published their famous collection of folk tales, including these thirty much-loved stories of helpful elves; giants who can see into the next land; foolish but good-hearted lads; princesses with golden hair; faithful servants and wicked queens.
Every activist started out as a kid-and in some cases they were kids when their activism began! But even the world's greatest champions of civil liberties had relatable interests and problems--often in the middle of extraordinary circumstances. Martin Luther King, Jr. loved fashion, and argued with his dad about whether or not dancing was a sin. Harvey Milk had a passion for listening to opera music in different languages. Dolores Huerta was once wrongly accused of plagiarizing in school. Kid Activists tells these childhood stories and more.
In Science Comics: Cars, you'll learn where cars came from and how they work. When you pop the hood, what are you looking at? How does gasoline make a car move? Rev up your motor and take look at the combustible history of the automobile and its explosive effects on our modern lives.
Every volume of Science Comics offers a complete introduction to a particular topic. Whether you're a fourth grader doing a natural science unit at school or a thirty year old with a secret passion for airplanes, these books are for you! Click here for more books in the Science Comics series.
Explore the many different kinds of spacecraft in use today, from the artificial satellites that orbit Earth to the probes that explore the furthest reaches of our solar system. Find out how they are built, how they navigate and communicate, and what operations they perform as they travel through their airless environment.
Though she grew up in rural Pennsylvania, Rachel Carson dreamed of the sea. In 1936 she began work with the Bureau of Fisheries and soon after published Under the Sea Wind, her first of many nature books. Her 1962 bestseller, Silent Spring, sent shockwaves through the country and warned of the dangers of DDT and other pesticides. A pioneering environmentalist, Rachel Carson helped awaken the global consciousness for conservation and preservation.
Click here for more books in the Who Was/Who Is or What Was/What Is series.
A childhood favorite and summer staple, the Super Soaker was invented entirely by accident. Trying to create a new cooling system for rockets, inventor Lonnie Johnson instead created the mechanics for an iconic toy. Lonnie Johnson's life began alongside a whole mess of brothers and sisters and grew to include a love for rockets, robots, inventions, and creativity. With persistence and a passion for problem solving, he became an engineer and worked for NASA.