Recommended Reading List

Alexandre, Lloyd

The Book of Three

This is the first book in the magical Chronicles of Prydain series, which also contains The Black Cauldron, The Castle of Llyr, Taran Wanderer, and The High King. As the book begins, the mythical kingdom of Prydain is in trouble. Taran, the Assistant Pig-Keeper who longs to be a hero, must set out on a perilous journey to save Prydain from the evil doings of the Horned King. Lots of adventure and plenty of laughs await you in this series.

Bloor, Edward

Tangerine

The Fisher family has just moved to Tangerine County, Florida, where the father has a new civil engineering job with the county government. The real reason for their move is an opportunity for the oldest son, Erik, to further his college athletic appeal by becoming the star of the local high school football team. All the family attention is directed toward Erik. Meanwhile, the youngest son, Paul, whose sight is impaired, sees all that is wrong with their family and Tangerine County.

Brittain, Bill

The Wish Giver, Three Tales of Coven Tree

The people of Coven Tree are no strangers to magic. In fact, the town's very name comes from a gnarled old tree where covens of witches used to gather. Even now, imps and fiends continue to appear, frightening the townfolk with their devilish pranks. Usually these creatures are easy to spot. They have a particular smell, sound, or way of moving that betrays their dark nature. But Thaddeus Blinn showed none of these signs when he came to Coven Tree. He was just a funny little man who drifted into town with a strange tale about being able to give people whatever they wished -- for only 50 cents. There was nothing scary about him. At least, not until the wishing began....

Card, Orson Scott	Ender's Game
	Andrew ―Ender Wiggin, who spends his childhood at military school in outer space, believes he is playing computer-simulated war games; in fact, he is commanding the last great fleet of Earth.

Clements, Andrew	Extra Credit
	Three young middle-school-age children, Abby, Amira, and Sadeed, exchange letters back and forth between the prairies of Illinois and the mountains of Afghanistan and begin to bridge a gap across cultural and religious divides.

Creech, Sharon

Absolutely Normal Chaos

A prequel to the Newbery Medal-winning Walk Two Moons, this book chronicles the daily life of 13-year-old Mary Lou Finney during her most chaotic and romantic summer ever. Mary Lou's summer journal -- which she begins grudgingly as a dreaded assignment for school -- becomes a hilarious chronicle of the circle of people and events that make her summer. What follows is the story of a summer filled with lessons and observations on love, death, friendship, and family.

Cushman, Karen	Catherine, Called Birdy
	Catherine, the spirited and inquisitive daughter of an English country knight, narrates in diary form the story of her 14th year -- in the year 1290. Here, she records the events of her life, particularly her longing for adventures beyond the usual role of women and her efforts to avoid being married off.

Gaiman, Neil	The Graveyard Book
	Toddler Bod, short for Nobody, stumbles into a graveyard after his family is brutally murdered, and is raised lovingly and carefully to the age of eighteen by the graveyard‘s ghosts and otherworldly creatures.

Giff, Patricia Reilly

Eleven

Sam has great difficulty reading, but he shows enormous talent in his grandfather's woodworking shop. Hunting for the presents he knows he will receive for his eleventh birthday, Sam sneaks into the attic where he spies a newspaper article he can only partially decipher, but which prompts vague and troubling memories that bring into question his past. With the help of Caroline, a new friend at school, they search for answers as they build an intriguing miniature castle for a class project.

Greene, Bette

Summer of My German Soldier

The summer that Patty Bergen turns 12 is a summer that will haunt her forever. When her small hometown in Arkansas becomes the site of a camp housing German prisoners during World War II, Patty learns what it means to open her heart. Even though she's Jewish, she begins to see a prison escapee, Anton, not as a Nazi, but as a lonely, frightened young man with feelings not unlike her own. In Anton, Patty finds someone who softens the pain of her own father's rejection and who appreciates her in a way her mother never will. While patriotic feelings run high, Patty risks losing family, friends -- even her freedom -- for this dangerous friendship. It is a risk she has to take and one she will have to pay a price to keep.

Hiaasen, Carl	Hoot
	Roy, a middle school boy who is the target of a school bully, gets involved in a mysterious case of vandalism and a barefoot boy’s commitment to save burrowing owls living on a construction site.

Juster, Norton

The Phantom Tollbooth

This fantasy centers around Milo, a bored ten-year old who comes home to find a large toy tollbooth sitting in his room. Joining forces with a watchdog named Tock, Milo drives through the tollbooth's gates and begins a memorable journey. He meets such characters as the foolish yet lovable Humbug, the Mathemagician, and the not-so-wicked "Which," Faintly Macabre, who gives Milo the "impossible" mission of returning two princesses to the Kingdom of Wisdom. Along his journey, Milo learns the importance of words and numbers -- and learns to appreciate life.

Kadohata, Cynthia	Kira, Kira
	This is the story of a close friendship between two Japanese-American sisters growing up in rural Georgia during the late 1950s and early 1960s and the despair they feel when one sister becomes terminally ill.

Kelly, Jacqueline	The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate
	Calpurnia struggles with growing up as she spends more of her free time with her grandfather, an avid naturalist, examining the beauty of nature, while at the same time her mother wants to teach her the responsibilities of a young woman during the turn of the century in Central Texas.

Lewis, C.S.	*The Complete Chronicles of Narnia*
	Enter the magical land of Narnia, where enchanted creatures live and battles are fought between good and evil!

London, Jack	Call of the Wild
	Considered a masterpiece, this dog story written 100 years ago, still holds readers spellbound with its descriptions of the Alaskan wilderness and its animal life. Butch, a family pet is sold to dog traffickers. He becomes a sled dog struggling for survival during the Gold Rush. His primitive instincts surface, and ultimately he transforms himself into the heroic ghost dog of the Klondike.

Lord, Cynthia	Rules
	Frustrated at life with an autistic brother, twelve-year-old Catherine longs for a normal existence, but her world is further complicated by a friendship with a young paraplegic.

Lowry, Lois

The Giver

Eleven-year-old Jonas lives in a seemingly ideal world. There is no war or pain, and there are no choices. Every person is assigned a role in the community. When Jonas turns 12, he is chosen to receive special training from The Giver himself -- a man who alone holds the key to the true pain and pleasure of life: memories. Now it is time for Jonas to receive the truth. What will Jonas do once he experiences the power of deep emotions? This gripping and provocative Newbery Award-winning novel keeps readers turning the pages and exploring the special qualities that make us each human.

Napoli, Donna Jo	*Bound*
	In a novel based on Chinese Cinderella tales, fourteen-year-old stepchild Xing-Xing endures a life of neglect and servitude as her stepmother cruelly mutilates her own child’s feet so that she alone might marry well.

Patterson, James	*Maximum Ride, the Angel Experiment*
	After the mutant Erasers abduct the youngest member of their group, the ―birdkids‖ take off in pursuit and find themselves battling their seemingly evil creators. Maximum Ride Series

Philbrick, Rodman	Freak the Mighty
	Max is big for his age. Burdened with a difficult past he is unable to do well in school. Kevin is brilliant, but trapped in a body that does not grow. Together they feel invincible. With Kevin on Max's shoulders, no quest seems too difficult for them, until they must face the issues that first brought them together.

Pullman, Philip	The Golden Compass
	Although she is an indifferent student, Lyra has the curiosity and independence needed to solve the mystery of what has happened to missing children, including her best friend. She lives on a planet in a distant universe, in a place not unlike Victorian London, a fantasy world where everyone has a supernatural animal spirit to serve them.

Rawls, Wilson	Where the Red Fern Grows
	A young boy living in the Ozarks achieves his heart's desire when he becomes the owner of two redbone hounds and teaches them to be champion hunters. Together, the three of them experience danger, adventure, love, and sorrow.

Ryan, Pam Muñoz	Becoming Naomi Leon
	When Naomi’s absent mother resurfaces to claim her, Naomi runs away to Mexico with her great-grandmother and younger brother in search of her father.

Spinelli, Jerry

Star Girl

A new girl has arrived at Mica High, and Leo Borlock as well as most of the student body are mesmerized with her. She is quite different from everyone else with her floor-length flowery skirts and whimsical way of serenading the other students with her ukulele. She captures their hearts at first with her strange antics, but then they start to despise her non-conforming ways. When the students begin to shun Stargirl, Leo devises a plan to make her normal. But, is being normal really worth the cost of losing oneself?

St. Exupery, Antoine de	The Little Prince
	The author was an aviator who was shot down by a German reconnaissance plane one year after writing this story. In the story, he imagines himself marooned in the desert following a plane crash, where he meets an alien in search of what is important in life.

Taylor, Mildred D.

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

The Logans, a black family living in the South during the 1930s, are faced with prejudice and discrimination which their children don't understand. It takes the events of one turbulent year -- the year of the night riders and the burnings, the year a white girl humiliates Cassie in public simply because she is black -- to show Cassie that having a place of their own is the Logan family's lifeblood. It is the land that gives the Logans their courage and pride, for no matter how others may degrade them, the Logans posess something no one can take away.

Verne, Jules	20,000 Leagues under the Sea
	This is a nineteenth-century science fiction tale of an electric submarine, its eccentric captain, and an undersea world, which anticipated many of the scientific achievements of the twentieth century.

Wells, H.G.	War of the Worlds
	Martians invade late 19th century England and create havoc in this classic science fiction story.

Woodson, Jacqueline	Feathers
	This short novel takes on very big issues with grace and humor. Frannie doesn't know what to make of a white boy, from the wrong side of the tracks, who enrolls in her historically black school and who is instantly nicknamed "Jesus boy." She discovers how much more complex life is when she takes the time to look beyond labels and assumptions in an effort to understand more completely.

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