Search: age 11, a favorite of Laurel's

rating: asin: 055345532X binding: Audio CD list price: $30.00 USD amazon price: $21.90 USD

Although he lacks a voice in the traditional "Ko-hoh!" sense, trumpeter swan Louis learns to speak to the world with a trumpet stolen from a music store by his father. With the support of an unusual boy named Sam, who helps Louis learn how to read and write, the swan has some rather unswanlike adventures and ultimately wins the love--and the freedom--of a beautiful swan named Serena. For over 30 years, E.B. White's masterpiece has captured the fancy of countless readers.

author: Gunhild Sehlin rating: asin: 0863150640 binding: Paperback list price: $12.23 USD amazon price: $12.23

The stubborn, dirty little donkey is of no use to anyone in Nazareth, but he becomes a quick and willing helper under Mary's care. Here is an engaging alternative to the traditional Christmas story. It can be read to children aged 6-8, or children from 8-10 can read to themselves. (Ages 6-10)

author: Carol Ryrie Brink rating: asin: 1416940286 binding: Paperback list price: $6.99 USD amazon price: $6.99 USD

At age 11, Caddie Woodlawn is the despair of her mother and the pride of her father: a clock-fixing tomboy running wild in the woods of Wisconsin. In 1864, this is a bit much for her Boston-bred mother to bear, but Caddie and her brothers are happy with the status quo. Written in 1935 about Carol Ryrie Brink's grandmother's childhood, the adventures of Caddie and her brothers are still exciting over 60 years later.

author: Kathleen Krull rating: asin: 0152008071 binding: Hardcover list price: $21.00 USD amazon price: $14.28 USD

Not all governments have been run by men. Lives of Extraordinary Women turns the spotlight on women who have wielded power, revealing their feats--and flaws--for all the world to see. Here you'll find twenty of the most influential women in history: queens, warriors, prime ministers, first ladies, revolutionary leaders. Some are revered. Others are notorious. What were they really like?

author: Beverly Cleary rating: asin: 0380732726 binding: Paperback list price: $5.99 USD amazon price: $5.99 USD

Ramona Quimby is back! Beverly Cleary's best-loved and most exuberant character has been winning friends since the 1950s when she made her first appearance as Beezus's pesky little sister. Now, in Cleary's first Ramona book in 15 years, our beloved spitfire is 9 years old, and she fully intends to make fourth grade the best year of her life. Even with her spelling struggles, a new baby sister, and a fall through her best friend's ceiling, her wish seems to be coming true. Old friends Yard Ape and Howie are still around--and with her new best friend Daisy, Ramona is on top of her world!

author: Beverly Cleary rating: asin: 0380709562 binding: Paperback list price: $5.99 USD amazon price: $5.99 USD

From the first day of third grade, when Ramona Quimby meets her eventual nemesis Yard Ape, life moves on at its usual wild pace--usual for the boisterous Ramona, that is. Soon she is accidentally squashing a raw egg into her hair at the school cafeteria, being forced to play Uncle Rat with her annoying young neighbor, and, worst of all, throwing up in her classroom. The responsibilities of an 8-year-old are sometimes daunting, especially in a family that is trying to squeak by while the father goes back to school. But Ramona is full of too much vim and vigor to ever be down for long.

author: Beverly Cleary rating: asin: 0807210285 binding: Audio Cassette list price: $18.00 USD amazon price: $18.00

From the moment Howie Kemp's mysterious "rich" Uncle Hobart arrives from Saudi Arabia, everything around Ramona Quimby seems to be changing. Howie and his sister, Willa Jean, talk only about Uncle Hobart. Ramona's mother and Aunt Bea seem to be keeping secrets. Life for Ramona, now a grown-up third-grader is full of beginnings and discoveries and surprises–one very big surprise and one very small, but just as special!

author: Beverly Cleary rating: asin: 038070952X binding: Paperback list price: $5.99 USD amazon price: $5.99 USD

At 7 and a half, with working parents and a sister at "a difficult age," Ramona Quimby tries hard to do her part to keep family peace. Usually, however, she ends up behind every uproarious incident in the house. Whether she's dying herself blue, watching while her young neighbor flings Kleenex around the house, or wearing her soft new pajamas to school one day (under her clothes, of course), Ramona's life is never dull. Through it all, she is struggling for a place in her mother's heart, worried that she might be unlovable. Not a chance.

author: Noel Streatfeild rating: asin: 0679847596 binding: Paperback list price: $5.99 USD amazon price: $5.99 USD

In the tradition of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Little Princess come Noel Streatfeild’s tales of triumph. In this story, three orphan girls vow to make a name for themselves and find their own special talents. With hard work, fame just may be in the stars! Originally published in 1937.