Reading Lists

Courage

Picture Books | Juvenile Fiction | Young Adult Fiction | Juvenile Non-Fiction

Picture Books & Easy Readers

Andersen, H. C.                    
The Emperor's New Clothes (JE AND)
During a royal procession, an emperor wears an invisible suit of clothes made for him by two swindlers.

Berenstain, Stan       
The Berenstain Bears Get Stage Fright (JE BER)
Sister Bear worries about her lines in the school play while Brother Bear has no fear. Guess who forgets the lines during the performance?

Berenstain, Stan                   
Berenstain Bears Go to School (JE BER)
Sister Bear, nervous about entering kindergarten, overcomes her fears when she discovers that school is really fun.

Davol, Marguerite                
The Paper Dragon (JE DAV)
A humble artist agrees to confront the terrifying dragon that threatens to destroy his village.

Hearne, Betsy Gould            
Seven Brave Women (JE HEA)
A young girl recounts the brave exploits of her female ancestors, including her great-great-great grandmother who came to America in a wooden sailboat.

Piper, Watty                          
The Little Engine that Could (JE PIP)
Although he is not very big, the Little Blue Engine agrees to try to pull a stranded train full of toys over the mountain.

Polacco, Patricia                    
Thunder Cake (JE POL)
Grandma finds a way to dispel her grandchild's fear of thunderstorms.

Seuss, Dr.                  
The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins (JE SEU)
At first, Bartholomew Cubbins had just one hat, but when the King ordered him to take it off, he found that he cound not--each time there was another on his head.

Ward, Lynd                           
The Biggest Bear (JE WAR)
Johnny goes hunting for a bearskin to hang on his family's barn and returns with a small bundle of trouble.

Williams, Margery                
The Velveteen Rabbit (JE WIL)
By the time the velveteen rabbit is dirty, worn out, and about to be burned, he has almost given up hope of ever finding the magic called Real.

Juvenile Fiction

Alden, Raymond                   
Why the Chimes Rang (JUV FIC ALDEN)
The great church's wonderful Christmas chimes had not rung for years, because no one had brought an offering for the Christ Child that was great enough to deserve the music of the chimes.

Blume, Judy     
The One in the Middle is the Green Kangaroo (JUV FIC BLUME)
Freddy hates being the middle one in the family until he gets a part in the school play.

Fleischman, Sid                     
The Whipping Boy (JUV FIC FLEISCHMAN)
A bratty prince and his whipping boy have many adventures when they inadvertently trade places after becoming involved with dangerous outlaws.

Fritz, Jean                              
The Cabin Faced West (JUV FIC FRITZ)
Ten-year-old Ann overcomes loneliness and learns how to appreciate the importance of her role in settling the wilderness in Pennsylvania.

Howe, James                         
Bunnicula (JUV FIC HOWE)
Though scoffed at by Harold the dog, Chester the cat tries to warn his human family that their foundling baby bunny must be a vampire.

Lewis, C.S.                
The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe (JUV FIC LEWIS)
Four English school children find their way through the back of a wardrobe into the magic land of Narnia and assist Aslan, the golden lion, to triumph over the White Witch who has cursed the land with eternal winter.

MacLachlan, Patricia           
Sarah, Plain and Tall (JUV FIC MACLACHLAN)
When their father invites a mail-order bride to come live with them in their prairie home, Caleb andAnna are captivated by their new mother and hope that she will stay.

McCloskey, Robert              
Homer Price (JUV FIC MCCLOSKEY)
Six episodes in the life of Homer Price including one in which he and his pet skunk capture four bandits and another about a donut machine on the rampage.

Paulsen, Gary            
Hatchet (JUV FIC PAULSEN)
After a plane crash, thirteen-year-old Brian spends fifty-four days in the wilderness, learning to survive initially with only the aid of a hatchet given him by his mother, and learning also to survive his parents' divorce.

Pfeffer, Susan Beth               
Courage, Dana (JUV FIC PFEFFER)
After becoming a celebrity for saving a child's life, seventh-grader Dana finds herself in a situation at school that requires even more courage.

Speare, Elizabeth George     
The Sign of the Beaver (JUV FIC SPEARE)
Left alone to guard the family's wilderness home in eighteenth-century Maine, a boy is hard-pressed to survive until local Indians teach him their skills.

Silverstein, Shel                    
The Giving Tree (JUV FIC SILVERSTEIN)
A boy learns how to accept love and to give love in return.

Spinelli, Jerry                        
Wringer (JUV FIC SPINELLI)
As Palmer comes of age, he must either accept the violence of being a wringer at his town's annual Pigeon Day or find the courage to oppose it.

Young Adult Fiction

O'Brien, Robert C        
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (YA FIC OBRIEN)
Having no one to help her with her problems, a widowed mouse visits the rats whose former imprisonment in a laboratory made them wise and long lived.

Juvenile Non-Fiction

Lewis, Barbara A.                 
Kids with Courage : True Stories About Young People Making a Difference (JUV 920.008 LEWIS)
Relates the stories of kids who made a difference in their neighborhood, community, or the world by helping in such areas as crime, life-saving, and the environment.