Reading Lists

Responsibility

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

Picture Books

Berenstain, Stan                   
The Berenstain Bears and the Blame Game (JE BER)
Members of the Bear family try to solve their problems without playing the blame game of arguing over who is responsible for every disaster.

Berenstain, Stan                   
The Berenstain Bears Trouble at School (JE BER)
When Brother Bear returns to school after being out sick, he gets into a mess that gets worse and worse until Gramps gives him some advice.

Brenner, Barbara                  
Wagon Wheels (JE READ BRE)
Shortly after the Civil War a black family travels to Kansas to take advantage of the free land offered through the Homestead Act.

Brown, Marc                         
Arthur’s Computer Disaster  (JE BRO)
Arthur disobeys his mother by playing his favorite game on her computer, which leads to a lesson in taking responsibility for one's actions.

Brown, Marc                         
Arthur’s Pet Business (JE BRO)
Arthur's determination to prove he is responsible enough to have a puppy brings him a menagerie of animals to care for.

Burton, Virginia                  
Katy and the Big Snow (JE BUR)
Katy, a red crawler tractor, belonged to the Highway Department of the City of Geoppolis.  She was not used in winter, however, until a huge snow storm snowed in the whole city.  Then Katy plowed out everyone.

Gramatky, Hardie                 
Little Toot (JE GRA)
Little Toot, the tugboat, conquers his fear of rough seas when he singlehandedly rescues an ocean liner during a storm.

Green, Norma                       
The Hole in the Dike (JE GRE)
Retells the tale of the little boy whose resourcefulness and courage saved his country from being destroyed by the ocean.

Hodges, Margaret                
Saint George and the Dragon (JE HOD)
Retells the segment from Spenser's The Faerie Queene, in which George, the Red Cross Knight, slays the dreadful dragon that has been terrorizing the countryside for years and brings peace and joy to the land.

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.

Wells, Rosemary                  
Fritz and the Mess Fairy (JE WEL)
Fritz, a master at creating terrible messes, meets his match when his science project goes wrong and the Mess Fairy emerges.

Juvenile Fiction

Byars, Betsy                         
The Summer of the Swans (JUV FIC BYARS)
A teen-age girl gains new insight into herself and her family when her mentally retarded brother gets lost.

Carlson, Natalie                    
The Family Under the Bridge (JUV FIC CARLSON)
An old tramp, adopted by three fatherless children when their mother hides them under a bridge on the Seine, finds a home for mother and children and a job for himself.

Cleary, Beverly                     
Henry and the Clubhouse (JUV FIC CLEARY)
Henry has a paper route and he and his friends build a clubhouse.

Cleary, Beverly                     
Henry and the Paper Route (JUV FIC CLEARY)
Henry receives unexpected help from pesty Ramona as he strives to get and maintain a paper route.

Cleary, Beverly                     
Henry Huggins (JUV FIC CLEARY)
When Henry adopts Ribsy, a dog of no particular breed, humorous adventures follow.

Cleary, Beverly                     
Ramona Forever (JUV FIC CLEARY)
Ramona's year in third grade is highlighted by the arrival of Howie's rich uncle, a change in her after-school situation, a surprise wedding, a death and a new arrival in the family, and her father's getting a job.

Clymer, Eleanor                                
The Horse in the Attic (JUV FIC CLYMER)
Twelve-year-old Caroline's discovery of a forgotten painting in the family barn leads to her father's restoration of the portrait of Sprite, a filly in the Racehorse Hall of Fame, and a revelation about the previous owners of their old house.

Gardiner, John Reynolds                 
Stone Fox (JUV FIC GARDINER)
Little Willie hopes to pay the back taxes on his grandfather's farm with the purse from a dog sled race he enters.

Reed, Teresa                        
Keisha to the Rescue ([SERIES] JUV FIC MAGIC)
Keisha's thrilled to be a lifeguard at an exclusive country club, but som eof the other lifeguards are snobby.  The seem more interested in acting cool than guarding lives and a little boy almost drowns.  Does Keisha dare to stand up to them?  Part of the Magic Attic Club series.

Sachar, Louis     
Marvin Redpost: Alone in His Teacher’s House (JUV FIC SACHAR)
Marvin is pleased when his teacher asks him to take care of her dog while she's away, but he soon finds that there's more pressure involved than he likes.

Speare, Elizabeth George                 
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.

Stolz, Mary                                        
A Dog on Barkham Street (JUV FIC STOLZ)
Edward wanted a dog but his parents didn't think he was responsible enough and to make matters worse he was pestered by the neighbor bully.  But Edward's uncle comes for a visit with his collie and saves the day.

Young Adult Fiction

Fox, Paula                              
One-Eyed Cat (YA FIC FOX)
An eleven-year-old shoots a stray cat with his new air rifle, subsequently suffers from guilt, and eventually assumes responsibility for it.

Myers, Walter Dean            
The Young Landlords (YA FIC MYERS)
Five devoted friends become landlords and try to make their Harlem neighborhood a better place to live.                      

Peck, Richard            
Father Figure: A Novel (YA FIC PECK)
Living with their mother and grandmother following the divorce of their parents, seventeen-year-old Jim Atwater and his younger brother, Byron, find their lives turned upside down by the death of their mother and the return of their long-lost father.

Voight, Cynthia                     
Dicey’s Song (YA FIC VOIGHT)
Now that the four abandoned Tillerman children are settled in with their grandmother, Dicey finds that their new beginnings require love, trust, humor, and courage.

Voight, Cynthia                     
Homecoming (YA FIC VOIGHT)
Abandoned by their mother, four children begin a search for a home and an identity.

Juvenile Non-Fiction

Berry, Joy Wilt                                                                                 
Mine and Yours: a Children’s Book About Rights and Responsibilities (JUV 170.2 WILT)
Lists the rights that children automatically have and explains the responsibilities that accompany these rights.

Bryan, Ashley           
The Story of Lightning and Thunder (JUV 398.26 BRYAN)
In this retelling of a West African tale, Ma Sheep Thunder and her impetuous son Ram Lightning are forced to leave their home on Earth because of the trouble Ram causes.

Raatma, Lucia                       
Responsibility (JUV 179.9 RAATMA)
Explains the virtue of responsibility and how readers can practice it at home, in school, in the community, and with each other.

Juvenile Video

The Super Shoot-for-the-Stars Space Ship (JUV SUPER [VIDEO])
The kids in Quigley's Village hold a lemonade sale to raise money for a space ship.  When Bubba accidentally breaks Mr. Quigley's glass pitcher, they must decide on the responsible thing to do.  Teaches Christian values through use of puppets, music and dialogue.