This guide contains about 200 recommended books for students in Grades 4-6 that would be great to use in the classroom. Pairing nonfiction and fiction titles, the guide is organized around the various disciplines. With several of those subject areas, there are some focused topics such as Charles Dickens, ocean life, politics, and the Holocaust. All the books featured were published since 2007. An introduction by Common Core experts gives the context for choosing quality and current literature. This is a nice place to start when librarians are looking for recommendations to give to teachers in supporting the Common Core.

School Library Connection

The Common Core in Grades 4-6 provides two invaluable gifts to teachers, parents, and public librarians. Its pages are filled with informative reviews of a wide range of recent, well-written, well-researched, and engaging nonfiction titles. A tour through these reviews is the perfect guide to either enhance or explore a nonfiction collection. But the grace note is the wise and informed introductory essay by two experts, Drs. Myra Zarnowski and Mary Ann Cappiello. Here you have the right books, with the right framing notes, and the right road map for using them in a classroom. What more could you want in a Common Core guide?

Marc Aronson, lecturer, School of Communication and Information at Rutgers University and host of the first joint Common Core training for librarians, teachers, and principals