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HOR
The Alex Rider Series (age 10+)
by Anthony Horowitz
brilliant protagonist ... math/science/technology ... mystery ... action ... adventure
They told him his uncle died in a car accident. Fourteen-year-old Alex knows that's a lie, and the bullet holes in his uncle's windshield confirm his suspicions. But nothing prepares him for the news that the uncle he always thought he knew was really a spy for MI6 ... Britain's top secret intelligence agency. Recruited to find his uncle's killers and complete his final mission, Alex suddenly finds himself caught in a deadly game of cat and mouse.
title: Stormbreaker
title: Point Blank: An Alex Rider Adventure
title: Skeleton Key
title: Eagle Strike
title: Scorpia
title: Ark Angel
title: Snakehead
title: Crocodile Tears
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PIE
The Circle Opens Series (age 10+)
by Tamora Pierce
action ... adventure ... mystery ... magic ... fantasy
Publisher comments: While caring for her uncle in Summersea, Lady Sandrilene Fa Toren witnesses a boy working a most unusual spell. Pasco can dance magic, but he wants nothing to do with his powers. It's up to Sandry to teach him about his magic, and to convince him he can use it to get to the bottom of a series of gruesome murders.
title: Street Magic
title: Cold Fire
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AVI
Something Upstairs: A Tale of Ghosts (age 10+)
by Avi
mystery ... spooky
Publisher comments: The room was shabby and dirty, heavy with heat. None of the things which Kenny called his own remained. Even the painted walls and skylight were gone. Baffled, he wondered if other things, even outside, had changed. Kenny went to one of the windows and looked down. On a stoop across the dark street a man was standing, gazing straight at Kenny's window. He was wearing what appeared to be a long black cape which reached his knees, and a hat, triangular in shape. Its brim obscured his face. As if suddenly realizing he was being observed, the man moved quickly into the shadows. Keeping his face averted, he fled up the street.
The Anybodies Series (age 10+)
magic ... identity ... mystery ... fantasy
Publisher comments: What if I were to tell you that this is an all-true story, every word? You see, once there was a very real girl named Fern who found out that she'd been swapped at birth. This might disturb some people, but it made Fern happy because she'd never felt at home with her tragically dull parents, the Drudgers. Fern finds out about the mix-up when the Bone (er, her father) and his "son," Howard, show up at Fern's front door. Now both families decide to UNSWAP the kids for the summer, and Fern heads off with the Bone on a wild adventure into a world inhabited by the Miser, a sinister fellow; and the Great Realdo, a true hero, to name just two. This book promises suspense! Intrigue! Mystery! Fairies fall out of books! Birds turn into dogs! Nuns turn into lampposts! So I have no idea why you're still lingering here... Start reading!
title: The Anybodies by N. E. Bode F BOD
title: The Nobodies by N. E. Bode F BOD
title: The Somebodies by N. E. Bode F BOD
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BAR
Science Fair: A Story of Mystery, Danger, International Suspense, and a Very Nervous Frog (age 10+)
by Dave Barry
mystery ... school ... adventure ... humor
Publisher comments: Grdankl the Strong, president of Kprshtskan, is plotting to take over the American government. His plan is to infiltrate the science fair at Hubble Middle School, located in a Maryland suburb just outside Washington. The rich kids at Hubble cheat by buying their projects every year, and Grdankl's cronies should have no problem selling them his government-corrupting software. But this year, Toby Harbinger, a regular kid with Discount Warehouse shoes, is determined to win the $5,000 prize-even if he has to go up against terrorists to do it. With the help of his best friends, Tamara and Micah, Toby takes on Assistant Principal Paul Parmit, aka The Armpit, a laser-eyed stuffed owl, and two eBay buyers named Darth and the Wookiee who seem to think that the Harrison-Ford-signed BlasTech DL-44 blaster Toby sold them is a counterfeit. What transpires is a hilarious adventure filled with mystery, suspense, and levitating frogs.
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BRU
Skeleton Man (age 10+)
by Joseph Bruchac
spooky ... mystery
Publisher comments: Ever since the morning Molly woke up to find that her parents had vanished, her life has become filled with terrible questions. Where have her parents gone? Who is this spooky old man who's taken her to live with him, claiming to be her great-uncle? Why does he never eat, and why does he lock her in her room at night? What are her dreams of the Skeleton Man trying to tell her? There's one thing Molly does know. She needs to find some answers before it's too late.
sequel: The Return of Skeleton Man
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DOW
The London Eye Mystery (age 10+)
by Siobhan Dowd
family ... mystery
Publisher comments: Ted and Kat watched their cousin Salim board the London Eye, but after half an hour it landed and everyone trooped off, except Salim. Where could he have gone? How on earth could he have disappeared into thin air? Ted and his older sister, Kat, become sleuthing partners, since the police are having no luck. Despite their prickly relationship, they overcome their differences to follow a trail of clues across London in a desperate bid to find their cousin. And ultimately it comes down to Ted, whose brain works in its own unique way, to find the key to the mystery.
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SHE
Canned (age 10+)
by Alex Shearer
mystery ... realistic ... adventure
Fergal Bamfield doesn't collect stamps like normal kids. He's an oddball (his mother prefers to call him "clever"), and his collection is as strange as everything else about him. Fergal Bamfield collects tin cans. Then one day he finds a can without a label. What could be in it? Peaches, soup, perhaps revolting spam? But instead it's something gruesome: a human finger. Then Fergal finds another can, this time containing a one-word message, HELP! Now Fergal and his friend Charlotte are knee-deep in an adventure, and they're about to learn something horrible: Everybody has an expiration date.
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FAR
The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm: a novel (age 10+)
by Nancy Farmer
growing up ... mystery ... adventure ... science fiction
General Matsika's children steal out of the house on a forbidden adventure--and disappear. In Zimbabwe, in the year 2194, the children's parents call in Africa's most unusual detectives--the Ear, the Eye and the Arm--who have powers far beyond those of other human beings. The children must avoid the evils of the past, the technology of the future, and a motley assortment of criminals in order to return home safely.
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SKU
Mysteries in Our National Parks Series (age 10+)
by Gloria Skurzynski
math/science/technology ... survival ... action ... nature ... mystery
In the first of these fast-paced adventures, the Landons trail a wounded wolf in Yellowstone National Park. The park is abuzz with rumors of a wolf attack. Meanwhile, a killer stalks the woods. Unaware of the danger, Jack and Ashley are more concerned about rebellious teenage foster child, Troy Haverson. From the opening moments at Old Faithful through 48 action-packed hours, the tension builds: What is lodged in the wolf's radio collar? And what is the meaning of the Native American story of Sin-a-Wavi? A heady mix of suspense, adventure, and moments of tenderness lure readers into this story of kids discovering the natural world.
title: Wolf Stalker
title: Cliff-Hanger
title: Deadly Waters
title: Rage of Fire
title: The Hunted
title: Ghost Horses
title: Over the Edge
title: Valley of Death
title: Escape From Fear
title: Out of the Deep
title: Running Scared
title: Buried Alive
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SAC
Holes (age 10+)
by Louis Sachar
humor ... mystery ... friendship
Stanley Yelnats is under a curse. A curse that began with his no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather and has since followed generations of Yelnats. Now Stanley has been unjustly sent to a boys' detention center, Camp Green Lake, where the warden makes the boys ``build character'' by spending all day, every day, digging holes: five feet wide and five feet deep. It doesn't take long for Stanley to realize there's more than character improvement going on at Camp Green Lake. The boys are digging holes because the warden is looking for something. Stanley tries to dig up the truth in this inventive and darkly humorous tale of crime and punishment, and redemption.
sequel: Small Steps
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BEL
The Mansion in the Mist (age 10+)
by John Bellairs
science fiction ... fantasy ... mystery ... spooky
While spending the summer in an old house on a desolate Canadian island, Anthony Monday and Miss Eells discover a chest that can transport them to another world and a maniacal group who are plotting the destruction of people on Earth.
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VAN
Sammy Keyes Series (age 10+)
by Wendelin VanDraanen
mystery
Sammy is a smart and spunky seventh grader, and she's an irrepressible sleuth. In the first book of this mystery/detective series, Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief, Sammy witnesses a robbery, and then sets out to prove it.
title: Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief
title: Sammy Keyes and the Art of Deception
title: Sammy Keyes and the Sisters of Mercy
title: Sammy Keyes and the Skeleton Man
title: Sammy Keyes and the Search for Snake Eyes
title: Sammy Keyes and the Hollywood Mummy
title: Sammy Keyes and the Wedding Crasher
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RAS
The Westing Game (age 10+)
by Ellen Raskin
humor ... mystery
When an eccentric millionaire dies mysteriously, sixteen very unlikely people are gathered together for the reading of the will...and what a will it is!
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HAM
The House of Dies Drear (age 10+)
by Virginia Hamilton
spooky ... historical ... mystery
The house held secrets, Thomas knew, even before he first saw it looming gray and massive on its ledge of rock. It had a century-old legend - two fugitive slaves had been killed by bounty hunters after leaving its passageways, and Dies Drear himself, the abolitionist who has made the house into a station on the Underground Railroad, had been murdered there. The ghosts of the three were said to walk its rooms...
sequel: The Mystery of Drear House
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HOL
Following Fake Man (age 10+)
by Barbara Ware Holmes
identity ... illness/loss ... mystery ... family
Homer Aldrich Winthrop was a neurologist who died of a neurological illness. That's all Homer Jr.'s mother will say about his father, who died when he was two. On an unexpected trip to Maine, 12-year-old Homer realizes there may be a reason his father is such a secret.
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HIA
Hoot (age 10+)
by Carl Hiaasen
mystery ... nature ... humor
If Dana hadn't been sinking his thumbs into Roy's temples and mashing his face against the school-bus window, Roy might never have spotted the running boy. And the running boy is intriguing: he was running away from the school bus, carried no books, and...here's the odd part...wore no shoes. Sensing a mystery, Roy sets himself on the boy's trail. The chase introduces him to potty-trained alligators, a fake-fart champion, some burrowing owls, a renegade eco-avenger, and several extremely poisonous snakes with unnaturally sparkling tails.
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BYN
Molly Moon Series (age 10+)
by Georgia Byng
identity ... mystery ... magic ... adventure ... friendship ... family
Molly Moon is no ordinary orphan. When she finds a mysterious old book on hypnotism, she discovers she can make people do whatever she wants. But a sinister stranger is watching her every move, and he'll do anything to steal her hypnotic secret...
title: Molly Moon's Incredible Book of Hypnotism
title: Molly Moon Stops the World
title: Molly Moon's Hypnotic Time Travel Adventure
title: Molly Moon, Micky Minus, and the Mind Machine

Addison Elementary School, Sat Aug 25 11:55:24 2012
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