Summary: Catholic-schooled seventh-graders Sophie, Margaret, Rebecca, and Leigh Ann help an elderly neighbor solve a puzzle her father left for her estranged daughter twenty years ago. 299p., Alfred A. Knopf.
The Red Blazer Girls: The Ring of Rocamadour by Michael D. Beil
July 7, 2009 by Ms. LisaJungle Crossing, by Sydney Salter
July 2, 2009 by Ms. Martha
Summary: Thirteen-year-old Kat wants to be at “mini-camp” with classmates rather than touring the jungles near Cancun, Mexico, on a family vacation, but a story told by one of her Mayan guides helps her understand that by always trying to please her friends, she is losing herself.
Harcourt
Flight of the Phoenix, by R. L. LaFevers
July 2, 2009 by Ms. Martha
Nathanilel Fludd, Beastologist, Bk. 1
Summary: Nathaniel Fludd’s life has taken a turn for the worse. With his parents lost at sea, he lands on the doorstep of a distant cousin—the world’s last remaining beastologist. Soon Nate is whisked off on his first expedition, to Arabia, where the world’s only phoenix prepares to lay its new egg. When disaster strikes, Nate quickly finds himself all alone.
Houghton Mifflin
Discordia: the Eleventh Dimension, by Dena Salmon
June 30, 2009 by Ms. Martha
Summary: For Lance and his online friend, “MrsKeller,” life’s a battle and then you die. At least that’s how it is in Discordia, the addictive online game that makes real life seem dreary in comparison. At his new school Lance feels weird and out of place, but in beautiful and complex Discordia, his zombie sorcerer is leveling fast, learning new skills, and making friends. After a level 60 toon, TheGreatOne, recruits Lance and MrsKeller into his guild, Lance wishes he could spend all his time in the game–until TheGreatOne transports Lance and MrsKeller to the real Discordia, the perilous world in the eleventh dimension which inspired the game. Before they’re allowed to leave, they must complete a high-level quest that may determine Discordia’s survival as well as their own.
Disney/Hyperion
First Short List This Year!
June 27, 2009 by Ms. MarthaWe had a great time Friday night eating pizza, playing freeze-tag in the LIBRARY, and deciding what everyone should definitely read. Although we have plenty more to go, these are the titles we came up with so far:
Amaranth Enchantment, by Julie Berry
Bones of Faerie, by Janni Simner
Carolina Harmony, by Marilyn McDowell
Darkwood by M. E. Breen
The Desperado Who Stole Baseball by John Ritter
Dormia, by Jake Halpern
Evolution of Calpurnia Tate, by Jacqueline Kelly
Jane in Bloom, by Deborah Lytton
Kaleidoscope Eyes, by Jan Bryant
Mare’s War, by Tanita Davis
Operation Redwood, by S. Terrell French
Scat, by Carl Hiaasen
Seven Keys of Balabad, by Paul Haven
Stone Child, by Dan Poblocki
Watersmeet by Ellen Jensen Abbott
When the Whistle Blows, by Fran Slayton
(additional titles added 6/27/09)
Written in Bone: Buried Lives of Jamestown and Colonial Maryland, by Sally Walker
June 26, 2009 by Ms. Martha
Summary: This book reports on the work of forensic scientists who are excavating grave sites in James Fort, in Jamestown, Virginia, to understand the people who lived in the Chesapeake Bay area in the 1600s and 1700s.
Carolrhoda
Dragon Spear, by Jessica Day George
June 26, 2009 by Ms. Martha
Summary: Creel’s adventures continue when she, her brother, and her betrothed travel across the seas to visit their dragon friends. They become involved in a battle against an alien group of dragons that has kidnapped Queen Velika, endangering her and her expected litter of hatchlings.
Bloomsbury
Marching for Freedom, by Elizabeth Partridge
June 25, 2009 by Ms. Martha
Summary: The chaotic, passionate, and deadly three months of protests culminated in the landmark march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965. Focusing on the courageous children who faced terrifying violence in order to march alongside King, this is an inspiring look at their fight for the vote.
Viking
The Cupcake Queen, by Heather Hepler
June 25, 2009 by Ms. Martha
Summary: While longing to return to life in New York City, thirteen-year-old Penny helps her mother and grandmother run a cupcake bakery in Hog’s Hollow, tries to avoid the beastly popular girls, to be a good friend to quirky Tally, and to catch the eye of enigmatic Marcus.
Dutton
Return of the Homework Machine, by Dan Gutman
June 24, 2009 by Ms. Martha
Summary: After discarding their infamous homework machine, four friends, now in sixth grade, find themselves once again at the police station, this time giving testimony about an incident involving a powerful computer chip, a Grand Canyon treasure, and a dead body.
Simon & Schuster
Return to Sender, by Julia Alvarez
June 24, 2009 by Ms. Martha
Summary: After his family hires migrant Mexican workers to help save their Vermont farm from foreclosure, eleven-year-old Tyler befriends the oldest daughter, but when he discovers they may not be in the country legally, he realizes that real friendship knows no borders.
Knopf
Locked Garden, by Gloria Whelan
June 24, 2009 by Ms. Martha
Summary: After their mother dies of typhoid, Verna and her younger sister Carlie move with their father, a psychiatrist, and stern Aunt Maude to an asylum for the mentally ill in early-twentieth-century Michigan, where new ideas in the treatment of mental illness are being proposed, but old prejudices still hold sway.
HarperCollins
Milestones, by Samira Armin Hodges
June 23, 2009 by Ms. Martha
Summary: Fourteen year-old Faye Martin got struck by lightning, made worse because Benjamin Parker, the object of her obsession, witnessed her near-death experience. Then she came home to find her parents are forcing her to leave her friends and hometown of Seattle to attend a summer camp. Only, Camp Milestone is no ordinary camp. The only good turn of events is Benji her longtime crush is among the sparsely populated camp. But as the summer unfolds, she realizes there is much more to Camp Milestone than meets the eye.
Gauthier
Bettina Valentino and the Picasso Club, by Niki Daly
June 23, 2009 by Ms. Martha
Summary: A controversial new teacher at Bayside Preparatory School introduces the exciting world of art to aspiring artist Bettina Valentino and her fifth-grade classmates, encouraging them to see everyday life in a different way.
FS&G
Operation Yes, by Sara Lewis Holmes
June 23, 2009 by Ms. Martha
Summary: In her first ever teaching job, Miss Loupe uses improvisational acting exercises with her sixth-grade students at an Air Force base school, and when she experiences a family tragedy, her previously skeptical class members use what they have learned to help her, her brother, and other wounded soldiers.
Levine
