Title

Author

Genre

*Summary

Availability

Crash

Spinelli, Jerry

Fic

Seventh-grader John "Crash" Coogan has always been comfortable with his tough, aggressive behavior, until his relationship with an unusual Quaker boy and his grandfather's stroke make him consider the meaning of friendship and the importance of family.

NH, P, M, CW

Ella Enchanted

Levine, Gail Carson

Fic

In this novel based on the story of Cinderella, Ella struggles against the childhood curse that forces her to obey any order given to her.

NH, P, CF, CW

Phantom Tollbooth, The

Juster, Norton

Fic

A journey through a land where Milo learns the importance of words and numbers provides a cure for his boredom.

NH

Park’s Quest

Patterson, Katherine

Fic

Eleven-year-old Park makes some startling discoveries when he travels to his grandfather's farm in Virginia to learn about his father who died in the Vietnam War.

NH, CW

Out of Darkness: The Story of Louis Braille

Freedman, Russell

NF

A biography of the nineteenth-century Frenchman, who, having been blinded himself at the age of three, went on to develop a system of raised dots on paper that enabled blind people to read and write.

NH

Truth About Unicorns, The

Giblin, James

NF

Describes the origins of the unicorn, including the real-life animals that inspired it and the various myths told about unicorns throughout the world.

NH

Because of Winn Dixie

DiCamillo, Kate

Fic

The summer ten-year-old Opal and her father move to Naomi, Florida, is the same summer Opal adopts Winn-Dixie, the scrappy dog abandoned in the town grocery store.

NH, P, J, CF, CW, M

Teacher’s Funeral, The: A Comedy in Three Parts

Peck, Richard

Fic

In rural Indiana in 1904, fifteen-year-old Russell's dreams of quitting school and joining a wheat threshing crew are disrupted when his older sister takes over the teaching at his one-room schoolhouse after mean, old Myrt Arbuckle "hauls off and dies."

NH, P, J, CF, M

Maniac Magee

Spinelli, Jerry

Fic

After his parents die, Jeffrey Lionel Magee's life becomes legendary, as he accomplishes athletic and other feats which awe his contemporaries.

NH, CF, CW

No More Dead Dogs

Korman, Gordon

Fic

Eighth-grade football hero Wallace Wallace is sentenced to detention attending rehearsals of the school play where he becomes wrapped up in the production and begins to suggest changes that improve not only the play but his life as well.

NH

Holes

Sachar, Louis

Fic

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 boys' juvenile detention center in the Texas desert.

NS, P. J, M, CW, CF

Westing Game, The

Raskin, Ellen

Fic

The mysterious death of an eccentric millionaire brings together an unlikely assortment of heirs who must uncover the circumstances of his death before they can claim their inheritance.

NH, P, J, CF, CW

Esperanza Rising

Ryan, Pam Munoz

Fic

Esperanza and her mother are forced to leave their life of wealth and privilege in Mexico to go work in the labor camps of Southern California, where they must adapt to the harsh circumstances facing Mexican farm workers on the eve of the Great Depression.

NH

Watership Down

Adams, Richard

Fic

Fleeing the intrusion of man and the certain destruction of their ancestral home, a band of rabbits encounters harrowing trials posed by predators and hostile warrens — driven only by their vision to create a perfect society in a mysterious promised land known to them as Watership Down.

NH, P, CW

Stargirl

Spinelli, Jerry

Fic

In a moving and highly engaging tale about the vagaries of adolescent peer pressure, Jerry Spinelli tells the story of Stargirl, a high school student who is startlingly different from everyone else.

NH, P, J, CW

Exploring the Titanic

Ballard, Robert

NF

Describes the large luxury liner which sank in 1912 and the discovery and exploration of its underwater wreckage.

NH, P, CW

Caddie Woodlawn

Brink, Carol Ryrie

Fic

The adventures of an eleven-year-old tomboy growing up on the Wisconsin frontier in the mid-nineteenth century.

J, M, CF, CW

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

Carroll, Lewis

Fic

When Alice tumbles down, down, down a rabbit-hole one hot summer's afternoon in pursuit of a White Rabbit she finds herself in Wonderland.

NH, P, J,

Aliens Ate My Homework

Coville, Bruce

Fic

Rod is surprised when a miniature spaceship lands in his school science project and reveals five tiny aliens, who ask his help in apprehending an interstellar criminal.

NH

Old Yeller

Gipson, Fred

Fic

The stray dog was ugly, and a thieving rascal, too. But he sure was clever, and a smart dog could be a big help on the wild Texas frontier, especially with Papa away on a long cattle drive up to Abilene.

NH, P, J, M, CW, CF

Wind in the Willows, The

Grahame, Kenneth

Fic

Ratty, Mole, Badger and the irrepressible but conceited Toad of Toad Hall — whose passion for motor cars lands him in many scrapes

NH, P, J, CF

Stepping on the Cracks

Hahn, Mary Downing

Fic

In 1944, while her brother is overseas fighting in World War II, eleven-year-old Margaret gets a new view of the school bully Gordy when she finds him hiding his own brother, an army deserter, and decides to help him.

P, J, CW

Time for Andrew

Hahn, Mary Downing

Fic

Aunt Blythe's house gives Andrew the creeps — full of dark rooms, creaky noises, and the sound of a woman sobbing somewhere in the shadows. Then, in the middle of the night, Andrew awakens to find a boy standing in his room...

NH

Bunnicula

Howe, Deborah and James

Fic

Though scoffed at by Harold the dog, Chester the cat tries to warn his human family that their foundling baby bunny must be a vampire.

NH, P, M, CF, CW

Ben and Me

Lawson, Robert

Fic

The true story of Ben Franklin, as told by his closest friend and advisor, Amos the mouse. According to Amos, it was really he who was responsible for Ben Franklin's inventions and discoveries. Illustrations.

NH, P, M, CW

Sarah Plain and Tall

MacLachlan, Patricia

Fic

When their father invites a mail-order bride to come live with them in their prairie home, Caleb and Anna are captivated by their new mother and hope that she will stay.

P, J, CF, CW

Anne of Green Gables

Montgomery, L. M.

Fic

Anne, an eleven-year-old orphan, is sent by mistake to live with a lonely, middle-aged brother and sister on a Prince Edward Island farm and proceeds to make an indelible impression on everyone around her.

NH, P, CF, CW

Borrowers, The

Norton, Mary

Fic

Miniature people who live in an old country house by borrowing things from the humans are forced to emigrate from their home under the clock. Includes a letter and a sketch of Homily and Arrietty by the author.

CF

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH

O’Brien, Robert C.

Fic

Having no one to help her with her problems, a widowed mouse visits the rats whose former imprisonment in a laboratory made them wise and long lived.

P, J, M, CF, CW

Skinnybones

Park, Barbara

Fic

NH

Sign of the Beaver

Speare, Elizabeth George

Fic

Left alone to guard the family's wilderness home in eighteenth-century Maine, a boy is hard-pressed to survive until local Indians teach him their skills.

P, J, CW

Abel’s Island

Steig, William

Fic

Accustomed to a life of leisure, gentlemanly Abel must be resourceful to survive after he finds himself stranded on a remote island.

NH, M

Stuart Little

White, E. B.

Fic

The adventures of the debonair mouse Stuart Little as he sets out in the world to seek out his dearest friend, a little bird that stayed for a few days in his family's garden.

M, CF, CW

Little Women

Alcott, Louisa May

Fic

Meet the March sisters: the talented and tomboyish Jo, the beautiful Meg, the frail Beth, and the spoiled Amy, as they pass through the years between girlhood and womanhood. A lively portrait of growing up in the 19th century with lasting vitality and enduring charm.

NH, P, J, M, CF, CW

Little Men

Alcott, Louisa May

Fic

Follows the adventures of Jo March and her husband Professor Bhaer as they try to make their school for boys a happy, comfortable, and stimulating place.

NH, CF, CW

My Side of the Mountain

George, Jean Craighead

Fic

A young boy relates his adventures during the year he spends living alone in the Catskill Mountains including his struggle for survival, his dependence on nature, his animal friends, and his ultimate realization that he needs human companionship.

NH, P, CF, M, CW

Story of My Life, The

Keller, Helen

NF

The Story of My Life is Helen Keller's own account of how she miraculously triumphed over blindness and deafness-and became one of the most inspiring and intriguing figures of our time.

NH, P, J, CF, CW

Wrinkle in Time, A

L’Engle, Madeline

Fic

Meg Murry and her friends become involved with unearthly strangers and a search for Meg's father, who disappeared while engaged in secret work for the government.

NH, P, J, CF, M, CW

Hoops

Myers, Walter Dean

Fic

A teenage basketball player from Harlem is befriended by a former professional player who, after being forced to quit because of a point shaving scandal, hopes to prevent other young athletes from repeating his mistake.

NH, CF

Slam!

Myers, Walter Dean

Fic

Sixteen-year-old "Slam" Harris is counting on his noteworthy basketball talents to get him out of the inner city and give him a chance to succeed in life, but his coach sees things differently.

NH

Eragon

Paolini, Christopher

Fic

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.

NH, P, CF, CW

Swiss Family Robinson

Wyss, Johann

Fic

Relates the fortunes of a shipwrecked family as they imaginatively adapt to life on an island with abundant animal and plant life.

NH, J, CW, M

Series

Author

Genre

Summary

Availability

Nancy Drew Mysteries

Keene, Carolyn

Fic

Female teen detectives  solve mysteries

NH, P, J, M, CF, CW

Hardy Boys Mysteries

Dixon, Franklin W.

Fic

Frank and Joe Hardy solve mysteries and puzzles in this series

NH, P, J, M, CF, CW

Series of Unfortunate Events

Snicket, Lemony

Fic

Warning: Do not read these books if you want a happy ending

NH, P, J, M, CF, CW

Harry Potter books

Rowling, J. K.

Fic

Classic good vs. evil in the form of a teen wizard who battles and wins against the dark forces of magic

NH, P, J, M, CF, CW

Little House on the Prairie books

Wilder, Laura Ingalls

Fic

Explores life on the prairies of the Midwest during the 1800’s

NH, P, J, M, CF, CW

Lord of the Rings  trilogy  plus The Hobbit

Tolkien, J. R. R.

Fic

Through the urgings of the enigmatic wizard Gandalf, young hobbit Frodo Baggins embarks on an urgent, incredibly treacherous journey to destroy the One Ring.

NH, P, J, M, CF, CW

Black Stallion books

Farley, Walter

Fic

Young Alec Ramsay is shipwrecked on a desert island with a horse destined to play an important part in his life. Following their rescue their adventure continues in America.

NH, CF

Ramona Quimby books

Cleary, Beverly

Fic

All the Quimbys have their ups and downs, but none feels them more intensely than Ramona.

NH, P

Artemis Fowl books

Colfer, Eion

Fic

The main character, a boy named Artemis, is the greatest criminal mastermind that has ever lived. Now the Fowls have been criminals for centuries -- pirates, forgers, gunrunners, robbers, con men, etc. -- but Artemis is something special.

NH, P, CF, CW

Among the….   (series)

Haddix, Margaret P.

Fic

In a future where the Population Police enforce the law limiting a family to only two children, Luke has lived all his twelve years in isolation and fear on his family's farm, until another "third" convinces him that the government is wrong—Among the Hidden

NH, P, CF, CW