Kate Sullivan Elementary School

Sunshine State Young Readers Award Books 2020-2021 List for Grades 3-5

Attack of the Not-So-Virtual Monsters by Kim Harrington
What happens when your cool virtual-reality game...becomes REAL? Monsters Unleashed—where you catch virtual-reality monsters on your cellphone—is one of the ho est mobile games around, and Bex and Charlie just can’t stop playing. But when they nd a strange machine and switch it on, the WiFi goes down... and Bex’s en re catalog of monsters vanishes! And that’s not the worst of it: all the creatures she’s collected on her phone escape into the real world. Can the friends nab the beasts before they become monster lunch?

Beatrice Zinker, Upside Down Thinker by Shelley Johannes
Beatrice does her best thinking upside down. She was de nitely upside down when she and her best friend, Lenny, agreed to wear matching ninja suits on the rst day of third grade. But when Beatrice shows up at school dressed in black, Lenny arrives with a cool new ou it and a cool new friend. Even worse, she seems to have forgo en all about the top-secret opera on they planned! Can Beatrice use her topsy-turvy way of thinking to save the mission, mend their friendship, and ip things sunny-side up?

Bernice Buttman, Model Citizen by Niki Lenz
When you’re a Bu man, the label “bully” comes with the territory, and Bernice lives up to her name. But life as a bully is lonely. A er her mom leaves her in a new town with her aunt (who is also a real live nun), Bernice decides to mend her ways and become a model ci zen. If her plan works, she just might be able to get herself to Hollywood Hills Stunt Camp! But it’s hard to be kind when no one shows you kindness, so a few cheesy pranks may s ll be up her sleeve...

Caterpillar Summer by Gillian McDunn
Cat and her brother Chicken have always had a very special bond--Cat is one of the few people who can keep Chicken happy. When a summer trip doesn't go according to plan, Cat and Chicken end up spending three weeks with grandparents they never knew. For the rst me in years, Cat has the opportunity to be a kid again, and the journey she takes shows that even the most broken or strained rela onships can be healed if people take the me to walk in one another's shoes.

Dragons in a Bag by Zetta Elliott
When Jaxon is sent to spend the day with a mean old lady his mother calls Ma, he nds out she’s not his grandmother–but she is a witch! She needs help delivering baby dragons to a magical world where they’ll be safe. There are two rules when it comes to the dragons: don’t let them out of the bag and don’t feed them any- thing sweet. Before he knows it, Jax and his friends have broken both rules! Will Jax get the baby dragons deliv- ered safe and sound? Or will they be lost in Brooklyn forever?

How I Became a Spy: a Mystery of WWII London by Deborah Hopkinson
Ber e Bradshaw never set out to become a spy. He never imagined traipsing around war-torn London, solving ciphers, prac cing surveillance, and searching for a traitor to the Allied forces. But when a young woman goes missing, leaving behind a coded notebook, Ber e is determined to solve the mystery. With the help of his friends and his trusty pup, Ber e must decipher the notebook in me to stop a double agent from spilling the biggest secret of all to the Nazis.

Inkling by Kenneth Oppel
The Rylance family is stuck. Dad's got writer's block. Ethan promised to illustrate a group project at school-- even though he can't draw. Enter Inkling. Inkling begins life in Mr. Rylance's sketchbook. But one night the ink of his drawings runs together--and then leaps o the page! This small burst of crea vity is about to change everything. It's not un l Inkling goes missing that this family has to face the larger ques ons of what they-- and Inkling--truly need.

Klawde: Evil Alien Warlord Cat by Johnny Marciano and Emily Chenoweth
Klawde is not your average cat. He has sharp claws. Fine fur. And, being the High Commander of the planet Ly yrboks, has an en re world of warlike cats at his command. He’s an emperor from another planet un l he is exiled to Earth. He’s cruel. He’s cunning. He’s brilliant... and he’s about to become Raj Banerjee’s best friend.

Olga and the Smelly Thing from Nowhere by Elise Gravel
When Olga crosses paths with a weird creature and becomes the rst kid to discover the species olgamus , she is ecsta c! What does an olgamus eat? How does it poop? Why does its burp sound like the word rubber? With her trusty observa on notebook and the help of a librarian, a shopkeeper, and some friends, Olga sets out to do science—learning the facts about her smelly, almost-furry pal and searching for him when he goes missing.

Operation Frog Effect by Sarah Scheerger
Everyone makes mistakes. But what happens when your mistake hurts someone else? Told in eight perspec ves–including one in graphic novel form, Opera on Frog E ect celebrates standing up and standing together and tells the unforge able story of how eight very di erent kids take responsibility for their ac ons and unite for a cause they all believe in.

Planet Earth is Blue by Nicole Panteleakos
Nova and her big sister, Bridget, share a love of astronomy and the space program. They planned to watch the space shu le Challenger launch together. But Bridget has disappeared, and Nova is in a foster home. While foster families and teachers dismiss Nova as severely au s c and nonverbal, Bridget understood how intelligent and special Nova is. Every day Nova is coun ng down to the launch and Bridget’s hopeful return.

Power Forward by Hena Khan
Fourth grader Zayd Saleem has some serious hoop dreams. He’s not just going to be a professional basketball play- er. He’s going to be a star. A legend. The rst Pakistani-American kid to make it to the NBA. He knows it deep in his soul. It’s his des ny. There are only a few small things in his way. His mom and dad don’t get it. They want him to prac ce his violin way more than his jump shot. When he gets caught blowing o his violin lessons to prac ce, Zayd’s parents lay down the ul mate punishment: he has to hang up his high tops and isn’t allowed to play basket- ball anymore. As tryouts for the Gold Team approach, Zayd has to nd the courage to stand up for himself and chase his dream.

Strongheart: Wonder Dog of the Silver Screen by Candace Fleming
When a movie director travels to Berlin searching for his next big star--a dog!--he nds Etzel, a erce, highly trained three-year-old German shepherd police dog. He sees past the snarls and growls and brings Etzel back to Hollywood, where the dog is renamed Strongheart. Strongheart soon becomes a movie sensa on.

The Unicorn in the Barn by Jacqueline K Ogburn
For years people have claimed to see a mysterious white deer in the woods around Chinaberry Creek. One evening, Eric Harper thinks he spots it. But a deer doesn’t have a coat that shimmers like a pearl, or an ivory horn curling from its forehead. When Eric discovers that a unicorn is hurt and being taken care of by the vet next door and her daugh- ter, Allegra, his life is transformed. He's thrust into a world of magical creatures just as his world at home starts to crumble. A tender tale of love, loss, and the connec ons we make, The Unicorn in the Barn shows us that some mes ordinary life can take extraordinary turns.

Voyage of the Dogs by Greg Van Eekout
Dogs in space! The Barkonauts aboard the spaceship Laika are en route to set up an outpost on a distant planet. When the mission takes a disastrous turn, the Barkonauts on board suddenly nd themselves completely alone on their severely damaged ship. Survival seems impossible. But these dogs are Barkonauts - and Barkonauts always complete their mission.