Children's Books for Parents and Teachers - book reviews and suggestions for parents and teachers.
6th Grade (Age 11)

All books suitable for children in 6th grade.

My Secret Life as a Ping-Pong Wizard (Hank Zipzer #9)

Hank thought that getting through summer school to get to the fifth grade would be hard enough, but little did he know that it would get worse! Everyone in the fifth grade is starting to focus on a sport-and they’re really good. Everyone, that is, except Hank. When Papa Pete suggests that Hank take up Ping-Pong, he decides to give it a try but keeps it top secret, as he thinks the other kids will tease him about it not being a “real” sport. Hank is so good that he …

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Who Ordered This Baby Brother? Definitely Not Me! (#13)
By: Henry Winkler
Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated

One afternoon, Hank overhears his mom and Frankie’s mom talking about having a baby. Having a baby!? It must be Frankie’s mom that they’re talking about! Frankie will go crazy when he hears about this! Hank worries about how to break the news to his best friend—until he finds out that it’s his own mother who is pregnant! How could she do this to him? One annoying sibling is enough. Hank definitely did not order this baby!

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Barfing in the Backseat: How I Survived my Family Roadtrip (#12)
By: Henry Winkler
Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated

Hank’s dad has decided to enter a crossword-puzzle tournament, and he wants to make a family road trip of it! So the family piles into the car—along with Frankie and Katherine the iguana (Hank and Emily each get to bring a “friend”). When they reach their destination, they’ll get to spend the day at a roller-coaster park during Hank’s dad’s tournament! The only caveat is that Hank has a homework packet to finish before they get there . . . which he somehow manages to lose at a stop along …

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Rules
By: Cynthia Lord
Publisher: Scholastic, Inc.

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 stop his embarrassing behaviors. But the summer Catherine meets Jason, a paraplegic boy, 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 …

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James and the Giant Peach

When James Henry Trotter accidentally drops some magic crystals by the old peach tree, strange things start to happen. The peach at the top of the tree begins to grow, and before long it’s as big as a house. Then James discovers a secret entranceway into the fruit, and when he crawls inside, he meets a bunch of marvelous oversized friends — Old Green-Grasshopper, Centipede, Ladybug, Miss Spider, and more.

After years of feeling like an outsider in the house of his despicable Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker, James has finally …

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Coraline
By: Neil Gaiman
Publisher: Harpercollins Childrens Books

The day after they moved in, Coraline went exploring…. In Coraline’s family’s new flat are twenty-one windows and fourteen doors. Thirteen of the doors open and close. The fourteenth is locked, and on the other side is only a brick wall, until the day Coraline unlocks the door to find a passage to another flat in another house just like her own. Only it’s different.

At first, things seem marvelous in the other flat. The food is better. The toy box is filled with wind-up angels that flutter around the bedroom, …

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Higher Power of Lucky
By: Susan Patron
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing

Lucky, age ten, can’t wait another day. The meanness gland in her heart and the crevices full of questions in her brain make running away from Hard Pan, California (population 43), the rock-bottom only choice she has.

It’s all Brigitte’s fault — for wanting to go back to France. Guardians are supposed to stay put and look after girls in their care! Instead Lucky is sure that she’ll be abandoned to some orphanage in Los Angeles where her beloved dog, HMS Beagle, won’t be allowed. She’ll have to lose her friends …

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The Underneath
By: Kathi Appelt
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing

There is nothing lonelier than a cat who has been loved, at least for a while, and then abandoned on the side of the road.

A calico cat, about to have kittens, hears the lonely howl of a chained-up hound deep in the backwaters of the bayou. She dares to find him in the forest, and the hound dares to befriend this cat, this feline, this creature he is supposed to hate. They are an unlikely pair, about to become an unlikely family. Ranger urges the cat to hide underneath the …

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The Girls Book of Glamour: A Guide to Being a Goddess
By: Sally Jeffrie
Publisher: Scholastic, Inc.

Transform yourself from drab to fab with this nifty guide to all things glamorous! Whether you want to have the shiniest hair or convince people you’re a celebrity, this book will show you how! Being a glamour goddess has never been so easy.

Inside this handy guide you’ll find instructions on how to host a spa party, create your own style, exit a limo gracefully, make your own body glitter, persuade your best friend to lend you her clothes, put on a fashion show, make your own jewelry box, and much, …

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Mackenzie Blue
By: Tina Wells
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

Meet Mackenzie Blue, aka Zee. She has it all—smarts, talent, humor, and style.. Is it enough to survive middle school? Countdown to a 7th Grade Meltdown 1. Your BFF moves away, 2. Someone steals your diary and reveals your deepest secrets—to the entire class, 3. You have one chance to become a rock star and one chance to totally blow it. Guess what!? All three happened to me! School’s a disaster already. Don’t get me wrong—I love Brookdale Academy and I have a fabulous crew of friends. (At least, I …

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