Forsyth County



Forsyth County

Suggestions for Middle School Readers

|[pic] |Abdel-Fattah, Randa. Does My Head Look Big In This? Year eleven at an exclusive prep school in the suburbs of |

| |Melbourne, Australia, would be tough enough, but it is further complicated for Amal when she decides to wear the |

| |hijab, the Muslim head scarf, full-time as a badge of her faith--without losing her identity or sense of style. AR|

| |4.9 Lexile 850 |

|[pic] |Alcott, Louisa May. Little Women. The classic story of Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy in nineteenth-century New England. |

| |AR 7.9 |

|[pic] |Alexie, Sherman. Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. 14-year-old Arnold “Junior” Spirit, a Spokane |

| |Indian, is regularly the target of bullies, and loves to draw. He expects disaster when he transfers from the |

| |reservation school to the rich, white school in Reardan, but soon finds himself making friends with both geeky and|

| |popular students and starting on the basketball team. Meeting his old classmates on the court, Junior grapples |

| |with questions about what constitutes one's community, identity, and tribe. AR 4.0 Lexile 600 |

|[pic] |Bell, Hilari. Shield of Stars. Pickpocket-turned-law-clerk Weasel has two weeks to save his employer from |

| |execution. With girl-adventurer Arisa Benison, Weasel goes in search of reinforcements for a jail break. Although |

| |Weasel's oft-stated philosophy of looking out for number one is never credible, Bell soon dispenses with it and |

| |settles down to a good old-fashioned trickster caper. This offering sustains Bell's reputation for |

| |thought-provoking light fantasy. AR 5.6 Lexile 830 |

|[pic] |Bingham, Kelly. Shark Girl. Conversations, letters, and prose poems tell the story of fifteen-year-old artist |

| |Jane's recovery from a shark attack and adjustment to life as an amputee. We read letters from sympathizers (after|

| |a bystander's video is televised) and feel the sting of pity. Jane's slowly growing comfort with herself is |

| |realistically portrayed. Nicely drawn relationships round out the involving, affecting story. AR 3.5 |

|[pic] |Boniface, William. The Hero Revealed - The Extraordinary Adventures of Ordinary Boy, Book 1. Ordinary Boy is the|

| |only resident of Superopolis who doesn't have superpowers. His personal hero is the Amazing Indestructo, the |

| |self-proclaimed greatest hero of Superopolis. When the Junior Leaguers get the opportunity to help the Amazing |

| |Indestructo foil the sinister plans of villainous Professor Brain-Drain, Ordinary Boy realizes that even without |

| |superpowers, he can still do extraordinary things. AR 6.1 Lexile 890. |

|[pic] |Buchanan, Andrea. Daring Book for Girls. The Daring Book for Girls is the manual for everything that girls need|

| |to know—and that doesn't necessarily mean sewing buttonholes! Whether it's female heroes in history, science |

| |projects, friendship bracelets, double dutch, cats cradle, the perfect cartwheel or the eternal mystery of what |

| |boys are thinking, this book has it all. But it's not just a guide to giggling at sleepovers—although that's |

| |included, of course! Whether readers consider themselves tomboys, girly-girls, or a little bit of both, this book |

| |is every girl's invitation to adventure. (Non-fiction). |

|[pic] |Cabot, Meg. Avalon High. Avalon High seems like a typical high school, attended by typical students: There's |

| |Lance, the jock. Jennifer, the cheerleader. And Will, senior class president, quarterback, and all-around good |

| |guy. But not everybody at Avalon High is who they appear to be ... not even, as new student Ellie is about to |

| |discover, herself. What part does she play in the drama that is unfolding? What if the bizarre chain of events and|

| |coincidences she has pieced together means -- as with the court of King Arthur -- tragedy is fast approaching |

| |Avalon High? Worst of all, what if there's nothing she can do about it? AR 5.1 Lexile 800 |

|[pic] |Cabot, Meg. Shadowland (#1 in The Mediator Series). Sixteen-year-old Susannah Simon, a liaison between the |

| |living and the dead, hopes to be able to live as a normal teenager after moving from New York to California with |

| |her mom and new stepfather, but on the very first day at her new school, Suze realizes it's not that easy. There's|

| |a ghost with revenge on her mind ... and Suze happens to be in the way. AR 4.9 |

|[pic] |Carbone, Elisa. Blood on the River: Jamestown 1607. Includes bibliographical references. Traveling to the New |

| |World in 1606 as the page to Captain John Smith, twelve-year-old orphan Samuel Collier settles in the new colony |

| |of James Town, where he must quickly learn to distinguish between friend and foe. AR 5.3 Lexile 830 |

|[pic] |Coombs, Kate. The Runaway Princess. A young princess conspires to nullify a contest for her hand in marriage by |

| |rescuing the dragon, witch, and bandits named in the challenge--despite the horde of determined princes that stand|

| |in her way. With a wry humor that embraces modern sensibilities but sidesteps anachronisms, this delightfully |

| |devious girl-power fantasy cheerfully undercuts every fairy-tale convention it encounters. AR 4.3 Lexile 700 |

|[pic] |Cummings, Priscilla. Red Kayak. Living near the water on Maryland's Eastern Shore, thirteen-year-old Brady and his|

| |best friends J.T. and Digger live an idyllic life, spending their days crabbing and fishing. When a community |

| |issue starts to gain momentum--the watermen and environmentalists are at odds--the three friends become divided. |

| |At the story's climax, J.T. and Digger devise a prank involving a kayak that kills an innocent child, and Brady |

| |wrestles with ethical responsibility to tell the truth. Lexile 800 |

|[pic] |Curtis, Christopher Paul. Elijah of Buxton. Eleven-year-old Elijah Freeman, the first free-born child in Buxton, |

| |Canada, which is a haven for slaves fleeing the American South in 1859, uses his wits and skills to try to bring |

| |to justice the lying preacher who has stolen money that was to be used to buy a family's freedom. AR 5.4 Lexile |

| |1070 |

|[pic] |Dahlberg, Maurine F. The Story of Jonas. Thirteen-year-old slave Jonas must accompany his master's cruel son |

| |from their home in Missouri to the Kansas Territory gold fields. They join a wagon train led by a kindly man with |

| |abolitionist leanings who puts thoughts of freedom into Jonah's head. Though Jonah's naiveté is tiresome, his |

| |conflicting emotions are believable, given his situation. An author's note provides more information. AR 4.9 |

| |Lexile 820 |

|[pic] |Dowell, Frances O’Roark. Phineas L. MacGuire …Erupts! When science-minded Mac's best friend unexpectedly moves |

| |away, he is assigned another partner for the upcoming school science fair--the obnoxious new boy. Told in |

| |fourth-grader Mac's open, humorous, and self-effacing voice, the straightforward story is simple without being |

| |simplistic. The amusing tale and frequent illustrations are perfect for fans of Martin Bridge and the Julian |

| |stories. AR 5.0 Lexile 810. |

|[pic] |Draper, Sharon. Double Dutch. Three eighth-grade friends, preparing for the International Double Dutch |

| |Championship jump rope competition in their home town of Cincinnati, Ohio, cope with Randy's missing father, |

| |Delia's inability to read, and Yo Yo's encounter with the class bullies. Lexile 760. AR 4.9 |

|[pic] |Duprau, Jeanne. The City of Ember. The city of Ember has no natural light, and the blackouts of its antiquated |

| |electrical grid are coming more and more frequently: "disaster was right around the corner." So thinks Doon, a |

| |curious twelve-year-old who, along with his spirited schoolmate Lina, determines to save the city. The writing is |

| |agreeably spare and remarkably suspenseful; fans will be pleased to know that there's plenty of room for a sequel.|

| |AR 5.0 Lexile 680. |

|[pic] |Gauthier, Gail. Happy Kid. All he wants is to get through seventh grade unnoticed. On the night before school |

| |starts, his mother gives him a book to help him counteract his negativity, claiming that Happy Kid: A Young |

| |Person's Guide to Satisfying Relationships and a Happy and Meaning-filled Life just screamed his name when she saw|

| |it. But the book seems to have a plan of its own, falling open to the parts that are pertinent to the zany |

| |situations that Kyle finds himself in, although sometimes offering advice that makes his life more complicated. |

| |AR 4.9 |

|[pic] |Graff, Lisa. The Thing About Georgie. The novel introduces its main character by having readers touch their left|

| |ears with their right hands, something Georgie cannot do because he is a dwarf. What could have been heavy-handed |

| |becomes a way for readers to empathize with Georgie as he faces sibling rivalry and a falling-out with a friend. |

| |Graff has created a likable, realistic fourth grader. AR 4.3 Lexile 770 |

|[pic] |Grimes, Nikki. Bronx Masquerade. Open Mike Friday is everyone's favorite day in Mr. Ward's English class. On |

| |Fridays, his 18 high-school students dare to relax long enough to let slip the poets, painters, readers, and |

| |dreamers that exist within each of them. By book's end, all the voices have blended seamlessly into a |

| |multicultural chorus laden with a message that is probably summed up best by one student’s comment, "I am not a |

| |skin color or a hank of wavy hair. I am a person, and if they don't get that, it's their problem, not mine." AR |

| |4.5 Lexile 670 |

|[pic] |Henkes, Kevin. Olive’s Ocean. This powerful coming-of-age novel starts with twelve-year-old Martha Boyle preparing|

| |for a two week vacation on the New England coast . Before she departs, Martha receives a visit from the mother of |

| |her deceased classmate, Olive Boyle. Mrs. Boyle presents Martha with a page taken from Olive's diary; on this page|

| |Olive expresses her dream of one day seeing the ocean, becoming a writer and her hope to become a friend of |

| |Martha's. Although Martha is initially puzzled as to why this girl she hardly knew desired a friendship, she is |

| |touched nonetheless. During her vacation, Martha undergoes growing pains as she confronts her own mortality, and |

| |experiences her first crush and her first betrayal. Throughout it all, Martha often returns to the soothing words |

| |of Olive as she confronts the many changes in her life. AR 4.7 Lexile 680 |

|[pic] |Hiaasen, Carl. Flush. In his second children's book, Hiaasen hits his stride, offering a great action adventure |

| |without a hint of the didacticism that crept into Hoot (rev. 11/02). As is his trademark, he sets this eco-mystery|

| |in Florida and peoples it with crooks (Dusty Muleman, who dumps sewage from his gambling boat into Florida's |

| |waters); idealists (Paine Underwood, who sinks Muleman's boat in an effort to call attention to the illegal waste |

| |disposal); everyday heroes (Noah and Abbey, Paine's children, who finally reveal Muleman's operation and validate |

| |their dad's noble gesture); and oddball characters (an old "pirate" who shows up throughout the story and a |

| |tattooed, hard-living card dealer). While the plot offers enough twists and turns to satisfy even the most serious|

| |adventure junkies, it is the multidimensional characters who give the novel its vitality. Hiaasen always shows |

| |rather than tells, and that showing creates individuals who are simultaneously noble and petty, quirky and |

| |realistic, decent and wayward. Horn Book. AR 5.0 Lexile 830 |

|[pic] |Hill, Kirkpatrick. Do Not Pass Go. In his small Alaskan town, Deet is certain that everyone in his school will |

| |learn that his stepfather has been jailed for drug possession. He faces his classmates with trepidation, but even |

| |more intimidating is the prison, where Deet goes to visit his stepdad. Through these visits, Deet comes to know |

| |some of the prisoners and gains insight into their stories. Most of these insights are explained in Deet's |

| |homework assignment for English class, and he forms a friendship with a fellow student whose brother is also in |

| |jail. Hill is a master of the telling detail; she conveys the atmosphere of the visitor's center of the jail, for |

| |example, in a few vivid sentences. Best is her portrait of Deet, a strong, thoughtful teenager, forced through |

| |circumstances to hold things together for his family. There's not a great deal of action here, but the story is |

| |compelling nonetheless. AR Lexile 850 |

|[pic] |Hobbs, Valerie. Defiance. Toby Steiner, age 11, doesn't want to go back to the cancer hospital. He doesn't want |

| |to "puke up his guts" or "make . . . friends with kids who disappeared." So he's not going to tell anyone about |

| |the hard marble-sized lump that just reappeared in his side. Instead, while on a country vacation, he's going to |

| |ride a bike, view the heavens through his telescope and enjoy being a regular kid. What happens in this stirring |

| |evocative tale is that Toby strikes up an unlikely acquaintanceship with an elderly lady who lives nearby, a once |

| |famous poet who has been "losing her vision" both physically and metaphorically. Hobbs manages to wring genuine |

| |emotion from the reader despite a somewhat pat ending. The feisty, life-affirming, lesson-teaching elder is a |

| |familiar character in children's literature, but Hobbs breathes new life into the situation, giving the character |

| |some problems of her own and making the intersection of these two souls both real and poignant. AR 4.0 Lexile |

| |640 |

|[pic] |Hobbs, Will. Crossing the Wire. When falling crop prices threaten his family with starvation, fifteen-year-old |

| |Victor Flores heads north in an attempt to "cross the wire" from Mexico into the U.S. so he can find work and send|

| |money home. But with no money to pay the smugglers who sneak illegal workers across the border, Victor must |

| |struggle to survive as he jumps trains, stows away on trucks, and hikes through the Arizona desert. His journey is|

| |fraught with danger. Through Victor's often desperate struggle, Will Hobbs brings to life one of the great human |

| |dramas of our time. AR 4.3 Lexile 670 |

|[pic] |Hoffman, Alice. Incantation. During the Spanish Inquisition, sixteen-year-old Estrella, brought up a Catholic, |

| |discovers her family's true Jewish identity. When their secret is betrayed by Estrella's best friend, the |

| |consequences are tragic. AR 5.0 |

|[pic] |Holmes, Sara Lewis. Letters from Rapunzel. A girl deals with her poet father's institutionalization for |

| |clinical depression by writing letters to an unknown recipient, whom she thinks must be her father's muse. In the |

| |process, she discovers more about herself and uncovers the hidden facts of her father's situation. The main |

| |character offers a fresh, interesting--albeit a little too precocious--voice. AR 5.3 Lexile |

|[pic] |Howe, James. The Misfits. Bobby Goodspeed is not your typical 12-year-old. He's probably the world's youngest |

| |tie salesman. He also meets his friends at the local Candy Kitchen for regular "forums." When his pals decide they|

| |need to create a third political party for the school election, Bobby gets an idea that could really change |

| |Paintbrush Falls Middle School. It is an upbeat, reassuring novel that encourages preteens and teens to celebrate |

| |their individuality. AR 5.2 Lexile 960 |

|[pic] |Iggulden, Conn. Dangerous Book for Boys. Intentionally old-fashioned, this eclectic collection addresses the |

| |undeniable boy-appeal of certain facts and activities. Dozens of short chapters cover a wide range of topics. |

| |Simple instructions for coin tricks and paper airplanes alternate with excerpts from history such as Famous |

| |Battles and facts about ancient wonders of the world and astronomy. The dangerous aspect is more apparent in such |

| |chapters as Making Cloth Fireproof, and Hunting and Cooking a Rabbit, but also applies to the overall premise that|

| |action is fun and can be worth the risks. (Non-fiction) |

|[pic] |Lombard, Jenny. Drita, My Homegirl. Fourth-graders Drita and Maxie alternate telling the story of their |

| |friendship. Drita and her family have come to New York City from war-torn Kosova and are struggling to adjust, |

| |especially Drita's mother, who becomes more and more depressed. Maxie is still dealing with her mother's |

| |accidental death years before. Though weighed down with many serious issues, the story is ultimately moving. AR |

| |Lexile 690. |

|[pic] |Lord, Cynthia. Rules. "No toys in the fish tank"is one of many rules that 12-year-old Catherine shares with her |

| |autistic younger brother, David, to help him understand his world. Lots of the rules are practical. Others are |

| |more subtle and shed light on issues in Catherine's own life. Torn between love for her brother and impatience |

| |with the responsibilities and embarrassment he brings, she strives to be on her parents'radar and to establish an |

| |identity of her own. At her brother's clinic, Catherine befriends a wheelchair-bound boy, Jason, who talks by |

| |pointing at word cards in a communication notebook. Her drawing skills and additional vocabulary cards--including |

| |"whatever"(which prompts Jason to roll his eyes at his mother)--enliven his speech. The details of autistic |

| |behavior are handled well, as are depictions of relationships: Catherine experiences some of the same unease with |

| |Jason that others do in the presence of her brother. In the end, Jason helps Catherine see that her rules may |

| |really be excuses, opening the way for her to look at things differently. AR 3.9 Lexile 390 |

|[pic] |Lowery, Linda. Truth and Salsa. Having moved temporarily from Michigan to live with her grandmother in Mexico, |

| |thirteen-year-old Hayley tries to sort out her feelings about her parents' separation while also helping some |

| |townsmen who have run into trouble while working in the United States. |

|[pic] |Lupica, Mike. Heat. Michael Arroyo's left arm is "a gift from the gods." His Papi would say, "Someday, you will |

| |make it to the World Series." Michael has grown up the object of his father's dreams, but what he loved most was |

| |just playing catch with his father in Cuba and, now, playing pickup games with his friends in the shadow of Yankee|

| |Stadium. Lurking behind the scenes is the issue of Michael's real age and whether he's really eligible to play in |

| |the Little League World Series, if his team makes it that far. Lupica follows his bestselling Travel Team (2004) |

| |with another winner. He has the veteran sportswriter's gift of dialogue and muscular prose, employed well in |

| |creating believable characters and well-developed action scenes. The story culminates in a tear-jerking scene with|

| |Michael on the mound in Yankee Stadium, making this work an irresistible treat for sports fans. AR 5.3 Lexile |

| |940 |

|[pic] |Lupica, Mike. Miracle on 49th Street. Josh Cameron is MVP of the championship Boston Celtics and a media darling |

| |with a spotless reputation. He has it all . . . including a daughter he never knew. When twelve-year-old Molly |

| |Parker arrives in his life, claiming to be his daughter, she catches him off guard. Molly says her mom, Jen, |

| |revealed his identity before losing her battle with cancer. Josh isn’t so sure about this girl. She must be trying|

| |to scam him for his money. Still, there is something about Molly that reminds him so much of Jen. But as Molly |

| |gets to know the real Josh, the one the camera never sees, she starts to understand why her mother never wanted |

| |her to know her dad. Josh has room in his heart for only two things: basketball and himself. Does Molly really |

| |want this man for a father? Together, these two strangers learn that sometimes, for things to end up the way you |

| |want them to, you have to fire up a prayer at the buzzer and hope it goes in. AR 4.7 Lexile 790 |

|[pic] |Meyer, Stephanie. Twilight. Seventeen-year-old Bella leaves Phoenix to live with her father in Forks, |

| |Washington, where she meets an exquisitely handsome boy. She feels an overwhelming attraction to him and comes |

| |to realize he is not wholly human. AR 4.9 Lexile 720 |

|[pic] |Murdock, Catherine Gilbert. Dairy Queen. In this charming, "painfully funny" novel, 15-year-old D.J. Schwenk |

| |provides a first-person memoir of her fifteenth summer on her family's small Wisconsin dairy farm. D.J. comes from|

| |a family of successful football players: Her two older brothers were legends in high school, and her dad was a |

| |coach until he injured his hip. When she is asked to train Brian, a stud quarterback on the rival football team, |

| |she develops a monster crush and decides to try out for her own school's football team. AR 5.3 Lexile 990 |

|[pic] |Murdock, Catherine Gilbert. Off Season. Life is looking up for D.J. Schwenk. She's in eleventh grade, finally and |

| |after a rocky summer, she's reconnecting in a big way with her best friend, Amber. She's got kind of a thing going|

| |with Brian Nelson, who's cute and popular and smart but seems to like her anyway. And then there's the fact she's |

| |starting for the Red Bend High School football team--the first girl linebacker in northern Wisconsin, probably. As|

| |autumn progresses, D.J. struggles to understand Amber, Schwenk Farm, her relationship with Brian, and most of all |

| |her family. As a whole herd of trouble comes her way, she discovers she's a lot stronger than she--or anyone--ever|

| |thought. This hilarious, heartbreaking and triumphant sequel to the critically acclaimed Dairy Queen takes D.J. |

| |and all the Schwenks from Labor Day to a Thanksgiving football game that you will never forget. AR 5.8 Lexile |

| |1160 |

|[pic] |Paulsen, Gary. Hatchet. 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. AR 5.7 |

|[pic] |Paolini, Christopher. Eragon. In Aagaesia, a fifteen-year-old boy of unknown lineage called Eragon finds a |

| |mysterious stone that weaves his life into an intricate tapestry of destiny, magic, and power, peopled with |

| |dragons, elves, and monsters. AR 5.6 Lexile 710. |

|[pic] |Peck, Richard. On the Wings of Heroes. Peck gives readers a nostalgic glimpse into the American heartland during|

| |World War II. He's all about setting here, using Davy Bowman as the voice to describe the scene: a town that |

| |remembers the horrors of the preceding war but nonetheless supports the present one. Davy's idols, his father and |

| |his brother, begin and end as heroes, creating a weak arc. AR 4.6 |

|[pic] |Riordan, Rick. The Lightning Thief. Percy Jackson, living with ADHD, finds meaning behind his difficulties at |

| |last--he's really a half-blood offspring of Poseidon. It's not long before he's sent on a quest to retrieve Zeus's|

| |thunderbolt from Hades (located, naturally, in L.A.). The book is packed with humorous allusions to Greek |

| |mythology and clever updates of the old stories, along with rip-snorting action sequences. AR 4.7 Lexile 740 |

|[pic] |Ruby, Laura. The Wall and the Wing. In a future New York where most people can fly and cats are a rarity, a |

| |nondescript resident of Hope House for the Homeless and Hopeless discovers that although she is shunned as a |

| |non-flying “leadfoot," she has the surprising ability to become invisible. AR 4.6 Lexile 770 |

|[pic] |Rupp, Rebecca. Journey to the Blue Moon. This fast-paced fantasy, dusted with humor, rife with danger and |

| |bulging with bizarre characters, delivers wisdom about time use, loyalty, bravery and integrity. Alex loses his |

| |grandfather's stopwatch and notices that time has begun to slip through his fingers. After a chance encounter in |

| |the library, Alex learns that to stabilize time, he must retrieve the watch from the moon (where all lost items |

| |go) when it is blue. Alex and his dog Zeke are zipped to the moon aboard a rickety and rat-filled space ship. |

| |Accompanied by two other seekers, they discover many odd places, such as the Gallery of Ar that houses unfinished |

| |art and the chest of wasted talents. They also encounter loathsome creatures such as the Time Eaters; like grim |

| |reapers in look and deed, they suck time and nearly kill Zeke. Before the job is done, they must face off with |

| |time's greatest and greediest foe. Among the knowledge Alex gleans along the way, he learns that, "Time isn't |

| |wasted if you're doing what you love best," and reading this is absolutely time well spent. AR 5.1 |

|[pic] |Sachar, Louis. Holes. As further evidence of his family's bad fortune which they attribute to a curse on a |

| |distant relative, Stanley Yelnats is sent to a hellish correctional camp in the Texas desert where he finds his |

| |first real friend, a treasure, and a new sense of himself. AR 4.6 |

|[pic] |Schlitz, Robert. Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village |

| |(2008 Newbery Award). The author helps students step directly into the shoes-and lives-of medieval children in |

| |this outstanding collection of interrelated monologues. The book offers students an incredibly approachable format|

| |for learning about the Middle Ages that makes the period both realistic and relevant. The text, varying from |

| |dramatic to poetic, depending on the point of view, is accompanied by historical notes that shed light on societal|

| |roles, religion, and town life. AR 5.6 |

|[pic] |Selznick, Brian. The Invention of Hugo Cabret (2008 Caldecott Award). Orphan, clock keeper, and thief, Hugo |

| |lives in the walls of a busy Paris train station, where his survival depends on secrets and anonymity. But when |

| |his world suddenly interlocks with an eccentric, bookish girl and a bitter old man who runs a toy booth in the |

| |station, Hugo's undercover life, and his most precious secret, are put in jeopardy. AR 5.1 Lexile 820 |

|[pic] |Smith, Roland. Peak. Peak is a natural-born climber. After being apprehended atop the Woolworth Building, he's |

| |rescued from juvie by his estranged father, who pushes Peak to be the youngest to summit Everest. Smith takes |

| |classic plot elements--kid in trouble, physical challenge, overly ambitious parent--and plays them perfectly. The |

| |gripping story pulls no punches about the toll Everest exacts on body and psyche. AR 5.0 Lexile 780 |

|[pic] |Taylor, Theodore. The Cay. After the freighter on which Phillip and his mother were traveling from wartime |

| |Curacao to the U.S. is torpedoed, the boy finds himself dependent on an old West Indian for survival. AR 5.3 |

|[pic] |Weeks, Sarah. So B. It. Twelve-year-old Heidi It and her severely mentally disabled mother survive through a |

| |combination of good luck and their next-door neighbor's loving attention. An undeveloped roll of old film leads |

| |Heidi to embark alone on a risky cross-country quest to answer questions about Mama's past. Narrator Heidi's |

| |realistic voice lends authenticity to her unusual circumstances. AR 5.0 Lexile 860 |

|[pic] |Wells, Rosemary. Red moon at Sharpsburg : a novel. Three promises precede the birth of India Moody in 1848, and |

| |everything that follows in India's wartime experience comes from those promises--two kept, one broken. The Civil |

| |War comes to India's home in the Shenandoah Valley and, by its end, northern Virginia is a charred and desolate |

| |land, and India's life is forever changed. India is a memorable character, so well drawn she seems to leap from |

| |the pages of the period letters and diaries upon which Wells based her tale. She studies chemistry with Emory |

| |Trimble, witnesses the battle of Antietam and dreams of studying science at Oberlin College. Thorough research is |

| |neatly woven into this epic tale of war, romance, faith, science and promise without ever overwhelming the |

| |telling, and India is a feisty heroine making her way into a new world forged by the fires of war. A grand |

| |historical novel of exceptional scale and depth. AR 4.7 Lexile 760 |

|[pic] |Westerfeld, Scott. Pretties. Tally's perfect life as a Pretty is disrupted when she receives a letter from |

| |herself, written when she was an Ugly, reminding her of the promise she made to take a drug developed to cure the |

| |brain lesions that keep the Pretties shallow and happy--and when she takes the pills, she becomes a target of |

| |those determined to keep Pretty society carefree. AR 5.7 Lexile 860 |

|[pic] |White, Ruth. Way Down Deep. In the West Virginia town of Way Down Deep in the 1950s, a foundling called Ruby |

| |June is happily living with Miss Arbutus at the local boarding house when suddenly, after the arrival of a family |

| |of outsiders, the mystery of Ruby's past begins to unravel. AR 4.8 Lexile 820 |

| |Woodworth, Chris. Georgie’s Moon. In 1970, an angry seventh-grader copes with life in a new town while her |

| |father, a career Air Force pilot, is away in Vietnam. Every night, she looks for the moon, knowing that her father|

| |has sent his love to her on it. Her anger comes out in vicious spurts, cynicism and casual cruelty shielding her |

| |from her other emotions. Woodhouse gives Georgie fairly standard plot elements to help her out, a school project |

| |binding her to Lisa, a girl she simultaneously likes and despises, while they help in a nursing home. For all that|

| |these devices are hardly new, they work, for both the reader and Georgie. A touching exploration of an aspect of |

| |the Vietnam War not often seen in books for children. Kirkus Review. AR 3.8 Lexile 630 |

|[pic] |Yep, Laurence. The Earth Dragon Awakes. On April 17, 1906, neither eight-year-old Henry nor his friend Ching is |

| |aware that the earth beneath their San Francisco homes is shifting. When the earthquake shakes the city and a |

| |firestorm breaks out, Henry and his parents scramble in the chaos and battle the fire. Ching and his father |

| |survive the collapse of their Chinatown tenement and flee to the ferry through the debris and turmoil. In the |

| |midst of catastrophe, the boys realize that their fathers are real-life heroes. AR 3.7 Lexile 510 |

|[pic] |Zevin, Gabrielle. Elsewhere. After fifteen-year-old Liz Hall is hit by a taxi and killed, she finds herself in a|

| |place that is both like and unlike Earth, where she must adjust to her new status and figure out how to "live." |

| |AR 4.3 |

|[pic] |Patterson, James. Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment. Max Ride and five other human-avian genetic hybrids fly |

| |(literally) from the lab where they were created as experiments and forge a new life in hiding. When six-year-old |

| |Angel is captured, Max leads her makeshift family in a rescue attempt, raising questions about their origins and |

| |destiny. Smart-mouthed, sympathetic characters and copious butt-kicking make this fast read pure escapist. AR 4.6 |

| |Lexile 700 |

|[pic] |Horowitz, Anthony. Alex Rider: Stormbreaker. When Uncle Ian is murdered, Alex learns that his guardian was a |

| |spy. England's intelligence agency then drafts the fourteen-year-old to complete his uncle's work. Equipped with |

| |sophisticated gadgetry, Alex investigates a businessman who is planning a violent act of terrorism. This junior |

| |James Bond skydives, dodges bullets, and swims through underwater caves in a book that, despite its preposterous |

| |premise, is hard to put down. AR 5.1 Lexile 600 |

|[pic] |MacHale, D.J. Pendragon: Merchant of Death. "Journal of an adventure through time and space." Fourteen-year-old |

| |Bobby Pendragon, having learned he is a Traveler--someone who can ride "flumes" through time and space, is soon |

| |off to the alternative dimension of Denduron where he teams up with Loor, a girl his age from the |

| |warrior-territory of Zadaa, in an attempt to save the gentle Milago people from slavery. Lexile 660 |

|[pic] |Hunter, Erin. Warriors: Into the Wild. When Rusty--later renamed Firepaw and then Fireheart--leaves his life as a|

| |house pet to join one of the clans of wild cats that live in the woods, he must overcome the disdain that the |

| |other ThunderClan cats feel for pets and prove his worth as a warrior and as a friend. Filled with details about |

| |warrior life and populated with interesting characters, the series may draw in some Redwall readers. AR 5.6 |

| |Lexile 790 |

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