Somebody on This Bus Is Going to Be Famous!

Author	Kimberly Willis Holt
ISBN	0805080228

It's 1948 in Rippling Creek, Louisiana, and Tate P. Ellerbee's new teacher has just given her class an assignment--learning the art of letter-writing. Luckily, Tate has the perfect pen pal in mind: Hank Williams, a country music singer whose star has just begun to rise. Tate and her great-aunt and -uncle...

Author	Jim Averbeck
ISBN	1442494476

An intrepid boy teams up with Alfred Hitchcock himself in this rollicking mystery rife with action, adventure, intrigue, and all the flavor of film noir.

After the mysterious death of his mother, eleven-year-old Jack Fair is whisked away to San Francisco's swanky Fairmont Hotel by his wicked...

Author	Melanie Crowder
ISBN	0547976518

A mesmerizing debut about a girl, a boy, and a dog struggling to survive in a parched and barren land.

Sarel is a girl with secrets. She knows which tree roots reach down deep to pools of precious water. But now she must learn how to keep herself and her dogs alive. Nandi is the leader of those dogs....

Author	Tess Hilmo
ISBN	0374369984

A funny, friendship-filled novel with a cowboy twist

Twelve-year-old Jade’s perfect summers have always been spent reading and watching TV reruns, so she’s not happy when her parents send her off to Wyoming to her aunt’s house. She meets a boy who calls himself Roy Parker—just like...

Author	Candace Fleming
ISBN	0374399085

Clink! Clankety-bang! Thump-whirr!  That's the sound of Papa at work. Although he is an inventor, he has never made anything that works perfectly, and that's because he hasn't yet found a truly fantastic idea. But when he takes his family fishing on Lake Michigan, his daughter Virena asks, "Have you...

Author	Evan Kuhlman
ISBN	1416964614

A pulsing ball of light launches a host of undeadly adventures in this slightly macabre, slightly irreverent, hugely fun look at what two kids will do to make their family whole again, from the author of The Last Invisible Boy.

When twin brother and sister Fenton and Fiona find a ball of light...

Author	Spencer Quinn
ISBN	0545643341

Why would anyone break into 19 Gentilly Lane? That's where the Gaux family lives, and everyone knows they have nothing worth stealing. More important, the house is usually guarded by Birdie Gaux's dog, Bowser, a large and handsome fellow with a big set of sharp teeth.

Now Birdie is looking worried...

Author	Shirley Parenteau
ISBN	0763670030

Can a ship carrying Friendship Dolls to Japan be Lexie’s ticket to see her fun-loving mother again? A heartwarming historical novel inspired by a little-known true event.

It’s 1926, and the one thing eleven-year-old Lexie Lewis wants more than anything is to leave Portland, Oregon,...

Author	Barbara Mariconda
ISBN	0062119931

The thrilling sequel to The Voyage of Lucy P. Simmons, a book that Newbery-winning author Katherine Applegate called “a grand and adventurous tale, as magical and mysterious as the sea itself.”

Ever since Lucy’s parents drowned at sea, she’s been protected by special magic. That’s...

Author	Emily Fairlie
ISBN	0062118900

Emily Fairlie’s clever and imaginative, The Lost Treasure of Tuckernuck, tells the story of sixth grader Laurie Madison. She is one of the students at Tuckernuck and desperately wants to join her best friend Kimmy at another middle school. However, it will have to wait as she is assigned for gerbil...

Author

Jo Whittemore

A mother-daughter duo take part in a bizarre family challenge in hopes of winning a fortune.

Tori Porter is best friends with her mom, and most of the time it's awesome. Not many girls have a mom who'd take them to a graveyard for hide-and-seek or fill the bathtub with ice cream for the world's biggest...

Author	Michelle Chalfoun
ISBN	0374303401

Twelve-year-old Maria lives a lonely, latchkey-kid's life in the Bronx. Her Lebanese mother is working two nursing jobs to keep them afloat, and Maria keeps her worries to herself, not wanting to be a burden. Then something happens one day between home and school that changes everything. Mom whisks...

Author	Ellis Weiner
ISBN	1452111847

With its kid-perfect humor and dynamic illustrations, Book 1 of the hilarious Templeton Twins series left young readers clamoring for more. This time, Abigail and John Templeton find themselves at TAPAS (the Thespian Academy of the Performing Arts and Sciences) where their father, the illustrious...

Author	Art Corriveau
ISBN	1419701592

“Some people won’t believe any of this story. You might be one of them. But every single word is true. Tony DiMarco does catch a murderer, solve a mystery, and find a treasure—all in the first few days after he moves, unexpectedly, to 13 Hangmen’s Court in Boston. The fact that he also turns thirteen...

Author	Hilary McKay
ISBN	1444900544

When she was eight, Binny’s life was perfect: She had her father’s wonderful stories and Max, the best dog ever. But after her father’s sudden death, money is tight, and Aunty Violet decides to give Max away—he is just too big for their cramped new life. Binny knows she can’t get her dad back,...

Author	Jennifer Brown
ISBN	1619632527

Skillfully constructed middle-grade novel unusual in its casting of a boy protagonist with such depth of character and emotion. The planetary motif runs through this story about a constellation of family and friends. Arty, short for Arcterus (a star), lives with his parents and sisters Cassi (short...

Author

Gavin Brown

Video game lover Josh Baxter knows that seventh grade at a new school may be his hardest challenge yet, but he's not afraid to level up and win!

Josh Baxter is sick and tired of hitting the reset button. It's not easy being the new kid for the third time in two years. One mistake and now the middle-school...

Author	Andrea Cheng
ISBN	0544105192

Eleven-year-old Anna heads off to sixth grade, leaving the comfort and familiarity of elementary school behind and entering the larger, more complex world of middle school. Surrounded by classmates who have their roots all in America, Anna begins to feel out of place and wonders where she really belongs. ...

Author	Lenore Look
ISBN	0385369727

Here’s the sixth book in the beloved and hilarious Alvin Ho chapter book series, which has been compared to Diary of a Wimpy Kid and is perfect for both beginning and reluctant readers.

Alvin, an Asian American second grader who’s afraid of everything, is taking his fears to a whole new level—or...

Author	Amber McRee Turner
ISBN	1423176391

Twelve-year-old Circa Monroe has a knack for restoring old photographs. It's a skill she learned from her dad, who loves old pictures and putting fun digital twists on them. His altered "Shopt" photos look so real that they could fool nearly anybody, and Circa treasures the fun stories he makes up to...

Author	Jeff Struecker
ISBN	1433671425

Amelia Lennon no longer wears a uniform or carries a weapon. An Army trained Foreign Affairs Officer, she’s negotiating a dispute with the Kyrgyzstan government that threatens to leave the U.S. without an airbase in that region. She traded her gun for the power of words, but now she needs both.

While...

Author	Liz Garton Scanlon
ISBN	1481411470

Ivy and Paul hatch a secret plan to find Ivy's missing mom and say good-bye to the space shuttle in this evocative, heartfelt novel reminiscent of Each Little Bird that Sings and Because of Winn-Dixie.

Ivy Green's mama has gone off with a charismatic preacher called Hallelujah Dave to The Great...

Author	Gary L. Blackwood
ISBN	0803739249

Intrigue, danger, chess, and a real-life hoax combine in this historical novel from the author of The Shakespeare Stealer

Philadelphia, PA, 1835. Rufus, a twelve-year-old chess prodigy, is recruited by a shady showman named Maelzel to secretly operate a mechanical chess player called...