Reading with You – Summer Break 2023

NBC 5, Telemundo 39, the Fort Worth Public Library and Reading Partners North Texas are Reading With You. Listed below are an assortment of wonderful books that young readers can check out for free during summer break. 

To apply for a free Fort Worth Public Library card, click HERE. Any student currently attending pre-K through 12th grade at any formally recognized educational institution in North Texas may borrow Fort Worth Public Library books at no cost. Students do not have to be residents of Fort Worth to do so. They can get a Non-Resident Student library card from any Fort Worth Public Library location and the card provides them access to digital content as well as physical materials.

Fort Worth Public Library - Book List 

You can find these books and more in the Fort Worth Public Library catalog at Fwmlc.polarislibrary.com/Polaris/view.aspx?brs=238219

Grades K-1 English:
Ants. By Melissa Stewart. Ants are everywhere. They creep, they crawl, they climb, and they fall. But they get up and they keep on working. Ants come in all different shapes, different sizes, and different colors. And they do a lot of different jobs. These hard-working little creatures thrive wherever they go, making whatever adaptations necessary in their ever-changing world. In the catalog HERE.

Blackout. By John Rocco. When a busy family's activities come to a halt because of a blackout, they find they enjoy spending time together and not being too busy for once. In the catalog HERE. 

Brave. By Stacy McAnulty. Every kid faces unique challenges, fears and pressures. Every kid can be brave. This book encourages kids to be brave in all the ways they can: trying new things, speaking their mind, confronting bullies, and more. In the catalog HERE.

Exclamation Mark. By Amy Krouse Rosenthal. An exclamation points finds out that he is very important. In the catalog HERE.

Plants Feed Me. By Lizzy Rockwell. "Watermelons are fruits. Cabbages are leaves. Walnuts are seeds. Carrots are roots. People eat many parts of plants. Even flowers! In the catalog HERE.

Rocket Says Look Up. By Nathan Bryon. Aspiring astronaut Rocket draws her community together to see a rare appearance of the Phoenix Meteor Showers, hoping especially that her big brother, Jamal, will look up from his phone. In the catalog HERE. 

Ruby Finds a Worry. By Tom Percival. A young girl's sense of adventure and exploration vanishes when she discovers a Worry that grows and grows until she learns how to get rid of it. In the catalog HERE. 

The Book with No Pictures. By BJ Novak. In this book with no pictures, the reader has to say every silly word, no matter what. In the catalog HERE. 

The One Day House. By Julia Durango. A little boy promises his beloved friend, an elderly lady, that one day he will fix up her old house--and his words inspire the other people in the neighborhood to pitch in and get it done. In the catalog HERE. 

Grades 2-3 English:
CeCe Loves Science. By Kimberly Derting. Cece, a budding and inquisitive scientist, and her equally curious best friend Isaac conduct experiments to see whether Cece's dog Einstein will eat his vegetables. In the catalog HERE. 

Drawn Together. By Minh Le. A boy and his grandfather cross a language and cultural barrier using their shared love of art, storytelling, and fantasy. In the catalog HERE.

How to make a mountain: in just 9 simple steps and only 100 million years! By Amy Huntington. Geology and earth science made easy (to learn) and super-quick (to read about). You, too, can make a mountain--start today! In the catalog HERE. 

Layla and the Bots: Happy Paws. By Vicky Fang. While Layla and her three Bots (Beep, Boop, and Bop) are setting up for their rock band's performance, she gets some bad news, Happy Days Amusement Park is closing; Layla thinks she has the perfect solution: turn the place into an amusement park for dogs--but the new rides have to pass a safety inspection before Happy Paws Amusement Park can open. In the catalog HERE. 

One Plastic Bag: Isatou Cheesy and the Recycling Women of The Gambia. By Miranda Paul. Plastic bags are cheap and easy to use. But what happens when a bag breaks or is no longer needed? In Njau, Gambia, people simply dropped the bags and went on their way. One plastic bag became two. Then ten. Then a hundred. In the catalog HERE. 

Paletero Man. By Lucky Diaz. Follow along with our narrator as he passes through his busy neighborhood in search of the Paletero Man. But when he finally catches up with him, our narrator's pockets are empty. Oh no! What happened to his dinero? It will take the help of the entire community to get the tasty treat now." In the catalog HERE. 

Planting Stories: the life of librarian and storyteller Pura Belpre. By Anika Aldamuy Denise. From the author of MONSTER TRUCK and STARRING CARMEN comes a gorgeous and lyrical story about Pura Belpré, a Puerto Rican librarian who changed the world. In the catalog HERE.

Sparky. By Jenny Offill. A child takes a sloth named Sparky as a pet. In the catalog HERE. 

The Brilliant Deep: rebuilding the world's coral reefs: the story of Ken Nedimyer and the Coral Restoration. By Kate Messner. Looks at the life of the coral restoration pioneer Ken Nedimyer, from his early fascination with the ocean to his ongoing efforts to save and rebuild the world's coral reefs. In the catalog HERE.

Grades 4-5 English:
A wish in the Dark. By Christina Soontornvat. A boy on the run. A girl determined to find him. A compelling fantasy looks at issues of privilege, protest, and justice. In the catalog HERE. 

Aru Shah and the End of Time. By Roshani Chokshi. Best-selling author Rick Riordan introduces this adventure by Roshani Chokshi about twelve-year-old Aru Shah, who has a tendency to stretch the truth in order to fit in at school. While her classmates are jetting off to family vacations in exotic locales, she'll be spending her autumn break at home, in the Museum of Ancient Indian Art and Culture, waiting for her mom to return from her latest archeological trip. In the catalog HERE.

Future Hero: Race to Fire Mountain. By Remi Blackwood. Jarell has never quite known where he belongs. He's ignored at home and teased at school for wanting to draw instead of playing sports with the other boys. The only place he's ever felt truly at ease is his local barbershop where the owner hangs Jarell's art up on the walls. When Jarell discovers a hidden portal in the barbershop, he's transported to a magical world that's unlike anything he's seen before. In the catalog HERE. 

Horse Power: how horses changed the world. By Jennifer Thermes. Until the popularization of the family car, horses and humans lived, worked, and played side by side. With the invention of the wheel, saddle, bit, and bridle; horses pulled far-flung lands closer together at the speed of a gallop. Trade, agriculture, exploration, and war-none of these would have been possible in the same way without horses. In the catalog HERE.

Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus. By Dusti Bowling. The audio edition of the bestselling middle grade novel about a spunky girl born without arms and a boy with Tourette syndrome navigating the challenges of middle school, disability, and friendship--all while solving a mystery in a western theme park. In the catalog HERE. 

Kalpana Chawla. By Raakhee Mirchandani. Born and raised in India, Kalpana Chawla was discouraged from pursuing a career in aeronautical engineering because there were limited career options for women in that field. But she persisted, getting her degree and then moving to the US to obtain other, more advanced education before joining NASA and becoming the first Indian-born woman to go to space. Though she was killed in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, she continues to inspire girls in India and around the world to pursue their dreams of spaceflight. In the catalog HERE.

Treasure Tracks. By S.A. Rodriguez. Twelve-year-old Fin drags his reluctant father on a diving hunt for a missing treasure, hoping that finding the family legacy will help his ailing Abuelo. In the catalog HERE. 

Two Truths and a Lie: histories and mysteries. By Ammi-Joan Paquette. Assorted unbelievable stories about people, places and events--most of which are true, some of which are not. In the catalog HERE. 

Under Your Feet. By Dr. Jackie Stroud. Down where worms wriggle and microbes squirm, there's a whole world waiting to be discovered... Under Your Feet delves beneath the Earth's surface and explores the diverse wonders hidden there. Encounter creatures of the deep and marvel at the mind-boggling size of the humongous fungus--the biggest organism in the world. Learn how one handful of ordinary soil contains more organisms than there are people on Earth, and carry out experiments using dirt from your own back garden. In the catalog HERE.

Fort Worth Public Library - Spanish Book List

Grades K-1 Spanish
El cabello maravilloso de Dalia. Por Laura Lacamora. El cabello de una muchacha cubana que es difícil controlar se convierte en un jardín. In the catalog HERE. 

El mapa de los buenos momentos. Por Fran Nuño. Hay lugares que nos traen recuerdos de momentos felices. Zoe, una niña que debe huir de su ciudad con su familia por causa de la guerra, los rememora antes de partir. Dibujará su mapa de los buenos momentos con esos recuerdos y con la certeza de que siempre la acompañarán. In the catalog HERE. 

La casa de algún día. Por Julia Durango. In the catalog HERE.

Grades 2-3 Spanish
Paletero Man. Por Lucky Diaz. ¡Anillo! ¡Anillo! ¡Anillo! ¿Puedes o?r su llamada? Paletas para uno! Paletas para todos! Sigue a nuestro narrador mientras pasa por su ajetreado barrio en busca del Hombre Paletero. In the catalog HERE.

Sembrando historias: Pura Belpré: bibliotecaria y narradora de cuentos. Por Anika Aldamuy Denise. Sigue la vida y el legado de Pura Belpré, la primera bibliotecaria puertorriqueña del ciudad de Nueva York. In the catalog HERE.

Una niña llamada Rosita : la historia de Rita Moreno : ¡actriz, cantante, bailarina, pionera. Por Anika Aldamuy Denise. Rita Moreno es considerada un tesoro norteamericano y un adorado ídolo puertorriqueño. Es una de las seis mujeres galardonadas con el conjunto de premios conocido como EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Óscar, Tony), y particularmente admirada por su papel de Anita en West Side Story, entre muchas otras actuaciones célebres a lo largo de sus 70 años de carrera. In the catalog HERE. 

Grades 4-5 Spanish
Bajo Tus Pies. Por Jacqueline Stroud. Allí abajo, donde las pantas hunden sus raíces y los gusanos excavan sus galerías, hay un mundo oculto que aguarda a ser descubierto... Lleno de vida y rebosante de pequeños animales, el suelo que pisamos esconde un sinfín de historias fascinantes: cómo sobreviven las plantas en la aridez del desierto, cómo crecen los hongos, cómo puede ayundar el suelo a frenar el cambio climático. In the catalog HERE. 

De como tia Lola vino (de visita) a quedarse. Por Julia Alvarez. Esta novela "cuenta la deliciosa historia de una familia dominicana, instalada en Vermont, que recibe la visita de una pariente muy especial. La irresistible, incontrolable e incluso mágica tía Lola transforma la vida de su familia. In the catalog HERE. 

Me llamo María Isabel. Por Alma Flor Ada. Estudiante de tercer grado María Isabel, naci? en Puerto Rico y ahora vive en Estados Unidos, quiere adaptarse mucho en la escuela; la asignatura de escritura "My Greatest Wish" asignada por la maestra le da esa oportunidad. In the catalog HERE.