THEME: ANIMALS
Grades 4-5
Name of Book / Author / ISBN / DescriptionShiloh (Newberry Award Winner) / Phylis
Reynolds Naylor / 0-689-31614-3
Macmillan Pub.
1991 / Eleven-year-old Marty Preston loves to spend time up in the hills behind his home near Friendly, West Virginia. Sometimes he takes his .22 rifle to see what he can shoot, like some cans lined up on a rail fence. Other times he goes up early in the morning just to sit and watch the fox and deer.
But one summer Sunday, Marty comes across something different on the road just past the old Shiloh schoolhouse—a young beagle—and the trouble begins.
What do you do when a dog you suspect is being mistreated runs always and come to you? When it is someone else’s dog? When the man who owns him has a gun? This is Marty’s problem, and he finds it is one he has to face alone. When his solution gets to big for him to handle, things become more frightening still. Marty puts his courage on the line, and discovers in the process that it is not always easy to separate right from wrong. Sometimes, however, you do almost anything to save a dog.
Shiloh Season / Phyliss Reynolds Naylor / 0-689-80647-7
Simon & Schuster
1996 / After Marty Preston worked so hard to earn the dog Shiloh, he had hoped that his troubles with Judd Travers were over. He could not rescue all the dogs that Judd mistreated, but since Shiloh was the one who ran away and came to him, Shiloh was the one he love.
Judd, however, has other problems. Anyone who cheats and swears and lies and kicks his dogs has troubles inside himself, and when the man starts drinking, Marty realizes that Shiloh is in danger once again. As hunting season approaches and Judd begin hunting on their land, the Prestons know that something is bound to happen.
They’re right. Marty does the only thing he can think of to do, and discovers just how deep a hurt can go and how long it takes to heal.
Where the Red Fern Grows / Wilson Rawls / 0-440-22814-X
Doubleday
Reprint (1998)
1961 / Billy, Old Dan, and Little Ann—a boy and his two dogs.
A loving threesome, they ranged the dark hills and river bottoms of Cherokee country. Old Dan had the brawn, Little Ann had the brains, and Billy had the will to make them into the finest hunting team in the valley. Glory and victory were coming to them, but sadness waited them too.
Where the Red Fern Grows is an exciting tale of love and adventure you’ll never forget.
The Puppy Sister / S.E. Hinton / 0-440-41384-2
1995
Delacorte Press
Reprint 1997 / Aleasha the puppy loves her new family. Mom and Dad Davidson smell friendly, and they laugh a lot. And though Nick would have preferred a sister to an unruly pup, he can usually be coaxed to play. Aleasha even enjoys spending time with Miss Kitty, who’s sort of stuck-up but can be helpful in a pinch.
Still, Aleasha wants to play human games with Nick and to eat at the table with the family. Worse, she doesn’t even look like her family, and Miss Kitty tells her that she’ll never become a person. But Aleasha won’t give up without trying. She has a most amazing plan.
Name of Book / Author / ISBN / Description
The Trouble with Tuck / Theodore Taylor / 0-385-17774-7
1981
Doubleday / No one, not even the veterinarian, could say exactly when Helen’s beautiful golden Labrador began to go blind. Probably the light had begun to fail for Friar Tuck long before the alarming day when he raced after some cats and crashed through the screen door, apparently never seeing it. But from that day on, Tuck’s trouble—and how to cope with it—was the focus of Helen’s life.
Based on true events, this is a remarkable story of a girl and her dog, of their devotion, determination, and triumph.
A Dog on Barkham Street / M. S. Stolz / 06-025840-3
06-025841-1
Harper & Row
1960 / More than anything in the world Edward wanted a dog. And second only to that was his desire to be free of the constant plaguing of Martin Hastings, the bully of Barkham Street.
Then into the heart of both these problems came Uncle Josh, an unabashed hobo, and Argess, a collie, who was his traveling companion. How Edward convinced his parents that he was responsible enough to have a pet, and how Argess was instrumental in solving the problem of Martin make a story boys will know is written about their own world, expressly for them.
Gooseberry Park / Cynthia Rylant / 0-15-232242-6
Harcourt Brace & Company
1995 / When Kona, A Labrador retriever, meets Stumpy, a squirrel in Gooseberry Park, he is happy to have a new friend. But after Stumpy’s babies are born, disaster strikes, and Kona strikes, and Kona finds himself caught up in a magnificent adventure.
With the help of Murray, a hilarious bat, and Gwendolyn, a wise hermit crab, Kona shows just how true—and heroic—a friend can be.