Día Booklist (Grades 3-5)

Created on February 23, 2023, 1:49 pm

Last Updated March 2, 2023, 11:33 am

El día de los niños / El día de los libros (Children’s Day/Book Day) is a celebration of children and wonderful books. Día honors the cultures and languages of all children. Día is celebrated yearly on April 30. For more information see dia.ala.org. Each story matters. Every child counts. This DÍA BOOKLIST was created by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA). Titles on this list were selected by members of ALSC’s Quicklists Consulting Committee. For printable copies of the lists go to https://www.ala.org/alsc/publications-resources/book-lists/Dia-2023

1) The war to save the worlds

Author

Series

Amira and Hamza volume 1

Formats:

Description

A genie informs twelve-year-old Amira and her younger brother Hamza that they are the chosen ones who must defeat a monstrous demon of Islamic folklore to save the Earth and a parallel dimension.

2) Julieta and the diamond enigma

Author

Duarte Armendáriz, Luisana

Formats:

Book, eBook, Kindle

Description

When a diamond goes missing from the Louvre, it is up to nine-year-old Julieta to identify the thief, exonerate her father, and return home to Boston before her baby brother is born. Includes glossary of French and Spanish words and notes about the Regent Diamond, Athena, and works of art mentioned in the book.

3) Too small Tola

Author

Series

Too Small Tola volume 1

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook, Playaway

Description

Presents three tales of an endearing and enduring character, Tola, who lives in an apartment in the busy city of Lagos, Nigeria, with her sister, brother and grandmommy.

4) Moving forward: from space-age rides to Civil Rights sit-ins with Airman Alton Yates

Author

Description

"A picture book biography on Alton Yates, a Black man who served in the Air Force in the 1950s and contributed to key research on flight safety for pilots and passengers. After returning home, Alton dedicated his life to standing against Jim Crow and fighting for racial equality"--

5) Swim Team: A Graphic Novel

Author

Christmas, Johnnie

Formats:

eBook, Graphic Novels & Manga, Kindle

Description

"Combines wonderful characters and history to create a story that will make you want to dive right in!" JERRY CRAFT, author of the Newbery Medal–winning New Kid

A splashy, contemporary middle grade graphic novel from bestselling comics creator Johnnie Christmas!

Bree can't wait for her first day at her new middle school, Enith Brigitha, home to the Mighty Manatees—until she's stuck with the only elective

...

6) Falling short

Author

Cisneros, Ernesto

Formats:

Book, eBook, Kindle, Playaway

Description

Best friends Isaac and Marco face various challenges in sixth grade, such as Isaac getting better grades, Marco winning a spot on the basketball team, and both seeing their efforts make a change in their respective family lives. They hope their friendship and support for one another will be enough to help them from falling short.

7) Just right Jillian

Author

Collier, Nicole D

Description

It's hatching season and Jemison Elementary is buzzing about the arrival of the baby chicks. Fifth-grader Jillian must learn to speak and break free of her shell to enter her school's competition and keep her promise to her grandmother.

8) The other side of the river

Author

Series

Petra Luna volume 2

Formats:

Description

"Petra Luna is in America, having escaped the Mexican Revolution and the terror of the Federales. Now that they are safe, Petra and her family can begin again, in this country that promises so much. Still, twelve-year-old Petra knows that her abuelita, little sister, and baby brother depend on her to survive. She leads her family from a smallpox-stricken refugee camp on the Texas border to the buzzing city of San Antonio, where they work hard to build...

9) Singing with elephants

Author

Engle, Margarita

Description

Lonely Cuban-born eleven-year-old Oriol lives in Santa Barbara, California, where she enjoys caring for injured animals, but her budding friendship with Gabriela Mistral, the first Latin American winner of a Nobel Prize in Literature, emboldens Oriol, an aspiring writer, to open up and create a world of words for herself.

10) Counting in dog years: and other sassy math poems

Author

Description

Award-winning author Betsy Franco is back with another performance that explores a range of math topics--from fractions and time measurements to geometry and graphs--in a way that relates math to the daily lives of children.

11) If you read this

Author

Description

"When Brie was younger, her mama used to surprise her with treasure hunts around their island town. After she died three years ago, these became Brie's favorite memories. Now, on her twelfth birthday, her mama has another surprise: a series of letters leading Brie on one last treasure hunt. The first letter guides Brie to a special place. The next urges her to unlock a secret. And the last letter will change life as she knows it"--Provided by publisher....

12) A duet for home

Author

Glaser, Karina Yan

Formats:

Description

"It's June's first day at Huey House, and as if losing her home weren't enough, she also can't bring her cherished viola inside. Before the accident last year, her dad saved tip money for a year to buy her viola, and she's not about to give it up now. Tyrell has been at Huey House for three years and gives June a glimpse of the good things about living there: friendship, hot meals, and a classical musician next door. Can he and June work together...

13) Carlos Gomez freestyles: heavy on the style

Author

Gonzales, Chuck

Description

Carlos Gomez is a member of the only Mexican American family in town, so he's used to being the odd one out. A lisp, a penchant for girl glamor, and being picked on by the class bully don't help either. But now there's a talent show coming up, and Carlos is performing with the BMX stunt team. What could possibly go wrong?

14) How to find what you're not looking for

Author

Hiranandani, Veera

Description

Middle schooler Ariel Goldberg must find her own voice and define her own beliefs after her big sister elopes with a young man from India following the Supreme Court decision that strikes down laws banning interracial marriage.

15) Surely surely Marisol Rainey

Author

Kelly, Erin Entrada

Series

Maybe Marisol volume 2

Description

"One of Marisol's least-favorite things is gym class--especially when Coach Decker announces that they will be playing kickball--so Marisol and her best friend Jada ask the best (and stinkiest) athlete they know--Marisol's big brother Oz--for help"--

16) Zara's rules for record-breaking fun

Author

Series

Zara's rules volume 1

Description

Ten-year-old (nearly eleven) Zara's nickname is "Queen of the Neighborhood" because she organizes the other children (even the older ones), sets the rules, and generally makes sure everyone has fun; but now another ten-year-old, Naomi, has moved in across the street and she has her own ideas about fun games, and suddenly the other kids (even Zara's younger brother Zayd) are listening to Naomi--if she is going to retain her influence Zara needs to...

17) Ain't gonna let nobody turn me 'round: my story of the making of Martin Luther King Day

Author

Kirkwood, Kathlyn J

Description

This moving memoir-in-verse tells about what it means to be an everyday activist and foot solider for racial justice, as Kathlyn recounts how she went from attending protests as a teenager to fighting as an adult for Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday to become a national holiday.

18) Sofía Acosta makes a scene

Author

Description

Sofía Acosta, a fifth grader trying to fit into her ballet-obsessed Cuban American family and her affluent suburban New York community, learns to speak up for herself and others when she mistakenly reveals a visiting dancer's plan to defect to the United States.

19) Seen and unseen: what Dorothea Lange, Toyo Miyatake, and Ansel Adams's photographs reveal about the Japanese American incarceration

Author

Partridge, Elizabeth

Formats:

Description

"Legendary photographers Dorothea Lange, Toyo Miyatake, and Ansel Adams all photographed the Japanese American incarceration, but with different approaches-and different results. This nonfiction picture book for middle grade readers examines the Japanese-American incarceration-and the complexity of documenting it-through the work of these three photographers"--

Author

Pérez, Celia C

Formats:

Book, eBook, Kindle, Playaway, Talking Book

Description

Before she decides whether to accept her stepfather's proposal of adoption, twelve-year-old Adela Ramírez reaches out to her estranged biological father--who is in the midst of a career comeback as a luchador--and the eccentric extended family of wrestlers she has never met, bringing Adela closer to understanding the expansive definition of family.