A shorter list tonight:
Jewish:
Mendel the Mouse: Welcome Back by Ruth Finkelstein
-Short Stories.
-For younger (7-8 year-old) kids.
-Cautionary notes: none.
Recommended.
Avraham ben Avraham By Selig Schachnowitz
In the time of the Gaon of Vilna, there lived a Ger Tzedek by the name of Avraham ben Avraham. The Ger Tzedek was born in Poland to a family of the Polish nobility and he was known as the Count Pototski (a Catholic priest).
He was sent to Rome for his studies and it was here that he arrived at the conclusion that Christianity is utterly false and that that the truth is to be found only in Torah and Judaism. He made up his mind that he would convert.
In those days, conversion to Judaism was punishable by death. Count Pototski fled to Holland where there was freedom of religion. He underwent conversion and was named “Avraham ben Avraham.”
A fascinating story with fictionalized details mixed in with the real story of a ger tzedek.
-Chapter book.
Highly recommended.
Our Heroes One
and
Our Heroes two by Chaim Walder
Stories about unusual strength of character shown by ordinary people i.e. a boy being taunted by another boy who resists the impulse to stop the taunter by letting others know that the taunter is wearing his own old coat donated to tzedaka.
-Longer short stories
-Cautionary notes: Like other Chaim Walder books, not every story is happy, and some may be scary for young kids.
Highly recommended.
Secular:
Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig
The following is cut and pasted from Wikipedia:
The tale of a donkey from Oatsdale, Sylvester, who collects pebbles “of unusual shape and color.” One day he happens to come across a pebble that grants wishes. Immediately afterward, a lion scares Sylvester, and as a defense he wishes himself into a rock, the only thing he could think of at the moment. The rest of the story deals with the resulting aftermath: Sylvester’s personal attempt to change back into his true self and his parents’ search for their only son.
-Picture book.
-Cautionary notes: none
Highly recommended
Pecos Bill and the Long Lasso by Elizabeth and Carl Carmer
An amusing western story about legendary cowboy Pecos Bill
-Picture book
Cautionary notes: may not be for yeshivish families.
Recommended
Children discover new worlds by studying grass, bugs and other things with their grandfather using his magnifying glass. (Long out-of-print, may be impossible to get).
-Picture book
Cautionary notes: none
Recommended
(Need any more be said?)
Cautionary notes: may not be for yeshivish families.
Time of the Great Freeze by Robert Silverberg
The following is cut and pasted from a reviewer on Amazon:
The book is written on a fifth or sixth grade level and is chock-full of adventure and intrigue. (I remember staying up late at night just to read as much as I could!) It tells the story of an underground city which submerged to live through a world-wide glacial event. Seven men make radio contact with another city and are expelled as this is against the law. The men must make their way across the ice covered land to find shelter in another underground city. But they find that there is much more than just ice going on in the world.
-Chapter book
-Science fiction
Recommended