I, Houdini
10 best books like I, Houdini (Lynne Reid Banks): Say Goodnight, Gracie, The Unfinished Angel, Alchemy and Meggy Swann, Calico Captive, The Toilet Paper Tigers, Taming the Star Runner, The Wainscott Weasel, Little Fur Family, Athletic Shorts: Six Short Stories, Attaboy, Sam!
There are friends we can't imagine living without.
Morgan and Jimmy were kids together, whirling around the porch on hot summer days. They've been friends forever, and by now they know each other inside out. They do everything together--from cutting high school to go into the city to coaching...
| Author | Sharon Creech |
| ISBN | 0061430951 |
'Peoples are strange!
The things they are doing and saying - sometimes they make no sense. Did their brains fall out of their heads?'
Angel, not fond of people at the best of times and having an identity crisis, is about to meet Zola - a talkative young girl who makes herself at home in Angel's...
| Author | Karen Cushman |
| ISBN | 0547231849 |
Fans of Karen Cushman's witty, satisfying novels will welcome Meggy Swann,newly come to London with her only friend, a goose named Louise. Meggy's mother was glad to be rid of her; her father, who sent for her, doesn't want her after all. Meggy is appalled by London,dirty and noisy, full of rogues and...
| Author | Elizabeth George Speare |
| ISBN | 0618150765 |
In the year 1754, the stillness of Charlestown, New Hampshire, is shattered by the terrifying cries of an Indian raid. Young Miriam Willard, on a day that had promised new happiness, finds herself instead a captive on a forest trail, caught up in the ebb and flow of the French and Indian War.
It is a...
| Author | Gordon Korman |
| ISBN | 0590462318 |
Forget about winning, they're just trying to score!
Corey Johnson never dreamed Little League could be so humiliating. But that was before he joined the Feather Soft Tigers.
It's bad enough that the team uniforms have pictures of toilet paper on them-thanks to their sponsor. But...
| Author | S.E. Hinton |
| ISBN | 0440204798 |
Travis is the epitome of cool, even when he's in trouble. But when he's sent to stay with his uncle on a ranch in the country, he finds that his schoolmates don't like his tough city ways. He does find friendship of a sort with Casey, who runs a riding school at the ranch. She's the bravest person Travis has...
| Author | Tor Seidler |
| ISBN | 0062059114 |
While other young weasels dance under the pines, Bagley thinks about Bridget, the mesmerizing fish who lives in a pond down the brook from his den. Only a true hero can save Bridget from the gruesome death that awaits her'and this is exactly what Bagley, much to his own surprise, proves himself to be.
Notable...
| Author | Margaret Wise Brown |
| ISBN | 0060518987 |
There was a little fur family
warm as toast
smaller than most
in little fur coats
and they lived in a warm wooden tree.
The Little Fur Family tells the story of a little fur child's day in the woods. The day ends when his big fur parents tuck him in bed "all soft and warm," and sing...
| Author | Chris Crutcher |
| ISBN | 0060507837 |
This short story collection serves as my introduction to Chris Crutcher as an author.
These stories are easy to read despite dealing with social situations and moral dilemmas: self-esteem, reaction to death and dying, prejudice and discrimination, or family relationships.
I...
| Author | Lois Lowry |
| ISBN | 0440408164 |
Lois Lowry is an incredibly talented children’s author, but I’m not much of a fan of this entry. Yes, Sam is just as endearing, and I enjoy how Lowry shows his growth into the preschool-age era. The story is enjoyable and well written, but it doesn’t seem to have quite the same flair as the original...
| Author | Tor Seidler |
| ISBN | 0064407799 |
Montague Mad-Rat lives a solitary existence in the sewers of New York City. His only delights are scavenging through Central Park for feathers and berries for his mother, and painting the seashells his aunt brings him. One day, he rescues the beautiful Isabel Moberly-Rat, and upon escorting her home...
| Author | Phyllis Reynolds Naylor |
| ISBN | 0689874073 |
It's a scary world out there.
If only Marco hadn't read a newspaper article about a ranch and become determined to see one. If only Polo hadn't found himself longing for the mother he barely remembered as a soft-warm-wiggle-purr-milk-tongue. Then the two tabbies might have been content to remain...
| Author | Joanne Rocklin |
| ISBN | 0810997193 |
When a mysterious man arrives one day on Orange Street, the children who live on the block try to find out who he is and why he’s there. Little do they know that his story—and the story of a very old orange tree—connects to each of their personal worries in ways they never could have imagined. From impressing...
| Author | Susan Patron |
| ISBN | 1416939989 |
"Eleven is much more intrepid than only ten."
On the eve of her eleventh birthday, Lucky wants to let loose and become intrepid; she's ready for life to change. But Hard Pan (population 43) drones on like it always has: Lincoln all tied up in knotty matters, Miles newly diagnosed as a genius but...
| Author | Betsy Byars |
| ISBN | 0440407613 |
The Blossom family has an especially eventful weekend during which Junior Blossom loses the school hamster and Pap's dog Mud is put on trial for the hamster's murder!"Byars captures the conflict and tension of courtroom drama, the ups and downs of personal relationships, and the rewards of lasting...
| Author | Scott Monk |
| ISBN | 1741660122 |
Brett Dalton is filled with hate and not afraid of a fight, but when he is sent to The Farm, his only opponent is himself. Brett Dalton is a tough guy—hardened, angry, uncaring, and always ready to use his fists. When the world hates you, you might as well hate it back. But when Brett is busted by the...
The Breadwinner: A Graphic Novel
| Author | Deborah Ellis |
| ISBN | 1773061186 |
This beautiful graphic-novel adaptation of The Breadwinner animated film tells the story of eleven-year-old Parvana who must disguise herself as a boy to support her family during the Taliban’s rule in Afghanistan.
Parvana lives with her family in one room of a bombed-out apartment building...
Romeo and Juliet--Together (and Alive!) at Last
Pete Saltz, the pudgy poet from S.O.R. Losers, has fallen hard for Anabell Stackpoole, and she likes him, too. But both are much too shy to do anything about it.
It's Pete's friend Ed Sitrow to the rescue, as he and other eighth-graders at South Orange River School cook up a scheme to give the budding...
| Author | Louis Sachar |
| ISBN | 0747555249 |
'Why did the guy eat two dead skunks for breakfast?' 'Because dead ones squeal when you stick the fork in.' Gary W. Boone knows he was born to be a stand-up comedian. It is the rest of the kids in the class who think he is a fool. Then the Floyd Hicks Junior High School Talent Show is announced, and he starts practising...
The Kid in the Red Jacket
| Author | Barbara Park |
| ISBN | 0394805712 |
If you thought Junie B. Jones was FUNNY—catch more laughs from New York Times bestselling author Barbara Park with her hilarious middle-grade novels—just right for fans of Diary of a Wimpy Kid and I Funny!
Can Howard SURVIVE life without friends?
Howard Jeeter’s parents have...
Easygoing, thoughtless, and direct, Tex at fifteen likes everyone and everything, especially his horse, Negrito, and Johnny Collins's blue-eyed sister, Jamie. He thinks life with his seventeen-year-old brother, Mason, in their ramshackle house would be just about perfect if only Mace would stop...
| Author | Beverly Cleary |
| ISBN | 8427934637 |
A silly, but amusing little book about a third-grade girl's battle to learn cursive. I'm reviewing it only because it really sticks out in my memory, because this book influenced my own handwriting. So, in the book, Maggie's mother is telling her how when she was in college, all the girls she knew dotted...
