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HAW
Violet Raines Almost got Struck by Lightning (age 9-12)
by Danette Haworth
identity ... friendship
Publisher comments: Spunky, headstrong Violet Raines is happy with things just the way they are in her sleepy backwoods Florida town. She loves going to the fish fry with her best friend, Lottie, and collecting BrainFreeze cups with her good friend Eddie. She loves squeezing into the open trunk of the old cypress tree, looking for alligators in the river, and witnessing lighting storms on a warm summer day. But Violet's world is turned upside down when Melissa moves to town from big city Detroit. All of a sudden Violet's supposed to want to wear makeup, and watch soap operas, and play Truth or Dare! It'll take the help of Violet's friends, her Momma, a few run-ins with lightning, and maybe even Melissa, for Violet to realize that growing up doesn't have to mean changing who you are.
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LOR
In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson (age 9-12)
by Bette Bao Lord
friendship ... humor ... identity ... sports ... school
Shirley Temple Wong sails from China to America with a heart full of dreams. Her new home is Brooklyn, New York. America is indeed a land full of wonders, but Shirley doesn't know any English, so it's hard to make friends. Then a miracle happens...baseball. It is 1947, and Jackie Robinson, star of the Brooklyn Dodgers, is everyone's hero. Jackie Robinson is proving that a black man, the grandson of a slave, can make a difference in America and for Shirley as well, on the ball field and off, America becomes the land of opportunity.
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DEF
The Ghost of Fossil Glen (age 9-12)
by Cynthia C. DeFelice
letters/journal ... mystery ... friendship ... spooky
Allie Nichols knows she's being pursued by a ghost. But her friend Karen calls her a liar and doesn't want to hear stuff like that. It is Allie's old pal Dub who listens eagerly as Allie tells him about a voice that guides her safely down a steep cliff side, the face in her mind's eye of a girl who begs ``Help me,'' and a terrible nightmare in which that girl falls to her death. Who is the girl? Is she the ghost? And what does the ghost want from Allie? As Allie discovers that her role is to avenge a murder, she also learns something about friendship, false and true, in this gripping ghost story and murder mystery.
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CAL
Katie John (age 9-12)
by Mary Calhoun
friendship ... family
Ten-year-old Katie John Tucker did not look forward to the summer she and her parents were to spend in the enormous old house in the small southern town. She hadn't wanted to leave her friends, and she wished that Fall would come quickly. But in spite of all her gloomy predictions, Katie John had a wonderful summer. With her new friend, Sue Halsey, she explored the old house and found it full of exciting surprises.
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BRO
Masterpiece (age 9-12)
by Elise Broach
the arts ... mystery ... friendship
Publisher comments: Marvin lives with his family under the kitchen sink in the Pompadays apartment. He is very much a beetle. James Pompaday lives with his family in New York City. He is very much an eleven-year-old boy. After James gets a pen-and-ink set for his birthday, Marvin surprises him by creating an elaborate miniature drawing. James gets all the credit for the picture and before these unlikely friends know it they are caught up in a staged art heist at the Metropolitan Museum of Art that could help recover a famous drawing by Albrecht Durer. But James can't go through with the plan without Marvin's help. And thats where things get really complicated (and interesting!).
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WAL
Winning Season Series (age 9-12)
by Rich Wallace
friendship ... sports
In the first of this series, The Roar of the Crowd, Manny's made the football team and determined to get into the game. The problem is Manny is not that big. He's got a whole season to prove to his team and himself that he can earn the roar of the crowd.
title: Second-String Center
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SNY
The Bronze Pen (age 9-12)
by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
brilliant protagonist ... humor ... friendship ... magic ... family ... authorship
Twelve-year-old Audrey Abbott dreams of becoming a writer, but with her father's failing health and the family's shaky finances, it seems there is no room for what her overworked mother would surely call a childish fantasy. So Audrey keeps her writing a secret. That is, until she meets a mysterious old woman who seems able to read her mind. Audrey is surprised at how readily she reveals her secret to the woman. One day the old woman gives Audrey a peculiar bronze pen and tells her to "use it wisely and to good purpose." It turns out to be just perfect for writing her stories with. But as Audrey writes, odd things start happening. Did Beowulf, her dog, just speak to her? And what is that bumping under her bed at night? It seems that whatever she writes with the pen comes true. However, things don't always happen in the way that she wants or expects. In fact, it's quite difficult to predict what writing with the pen will do. Could the pen be more of a curse than a gift? Or will Audrey be able to rewrite the future in the way that she wishes---and save her father's life?
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PAR
Keeping Score (age 9-12)
by Linda Sue Park
friendship ... historical ... war ... sports
Both Maggie Fortini and her brother, Joey-Mick, were named for baseball great Joe DiMaggio. Unlike Joey-Mick, Maggie doesn't play baseball, but at almost ten years old, she is a dyed-in-the-wool fan of the Brooklyn Dodgers. Maggie can recite all the players' statistics and understands the subtleties of the game. Unfortunately, Jim Maine is a Giants fan, but it's Jim who teaches Maggie the fine art of scoring a baseball game. Not only can she revisit every play of every inning, but by keeping score she feels she's more than just a fan: she's helping her team. Jim is drafted into the army and sent to Korea, and although Maggie writes to him often, his silence is just one of a string of disappointments: being a Brooklyn Dodgers fan in the early 1950s meant season after season of near misses and year after year of dashed hopes. But Maggie goes on trying to help the Dodgers, and when she finds out that Jim needs help, too, she's determined to provide it. Against a background of major league baseball and the Korean War on the home front, Maggie looks for, and finds, a way to make a difference.
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KIN
Diary of a Wimpy Kid Series (age 9-12)
by Jeff Kinney
letters/journal ... growing up ... humor ... school ... friendship
It's a new school year, and Greg Heffley finds himself thrust into middle school, where undersized weaklings share the hallways with kids who are taller, meaner, and already shaving. The hazards of growing up before you're ready are uniquely revealed through words and drawings as Greg records them in his diary.
title: Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Greg Heffley's Journal
title: Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules
title: Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw
title: Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days
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LIS
Afternoon of the Elves (age 9-12)
by Janet Taylor Lisle
fantasy ... friendship
As Hillary works in the miniature village, allegedly built by elves, in Sara-Kate's backyard, she becomes more and more curious about Sara-Kate's real life inside her big, gloomy house with her mysterious, silent mother.
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GRA
A Boy and His Bear (age 9-12)
by Harriet Graham
action ... historical ... friendship ... animals
Dickon rescues his bear cub friend from certain death at the hands of bear catchers in Medieval England. Told in part from the point of view of the cub.
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MYE
The Young Landlords (age 9-12)
by Walter Dean Myers
friendship ... enterprise
If you were looking for a real dump, you couldn't beat The Stratford Arms. There was Askia Ben Kenobi throwing karate chops upstairs, Petey Darden making booze downstairs, and Mrs. Brown grieving for Jack Johnson, whod died for the third time in a month...and not a rent payer in the bunch. Still, when Paul Williams and the Action Group got the Arms for one dollar, they thought they had it made. But when their friend Chris was arrested for stealing stereos and Dean's dog started biting fire hydrants and Gloria started kissing, being a landlord turned out to be a lot more work than being a kid.
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O'D
Agnes Parker Series (age 9-12)
by Kathleen O'Dell
growing up ... friendship ... school
Agnes Parker isn't the class outcast or its queen bee-which is okay except that sometimes the middle just seems . . . really . . . ordinary. So Agnes sets out to be a different version of the girl she's always been. Someone who won't always get clobbered by bullies, who can some-times be cool and confident-and maybe catch the eye of that new boy in class?
title: Agnes Parker, Girl in Progress
title: Agnes Parker, Happy Camper?
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PAT
Colder Than Ice (age 9-12)
by David Patneaude
school ... action ... friendship
Josh isn't happy to be starting at a new school. But maybe it's a chance to be somebody--not so easy for a kid who's been pretty average and is overweight besides. So when big-shot Corey Kitchens wants Josh to join him and his friends for ice hockey on Poor Rooney's pond, Josh is pumped. He can see himself out there, with the cool seventh graders, a natural success for the first time in his life. He can hardly wait for the ice to get thick. But why is it that Skye, the girl with the warm smile, doesn't trust Corey? And why does Mark, the strange kid who has Asperger syndrome (a form of autism), put up an umbrella to protect himself from the snow?
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GUT
The Homework Machine (age 9-12)
by Dan Gutman
brilliant protagonist ... enterprise ... humor ... friendship ... school
Meet the D Squad, a foursome of fifth graders at the Grand Canyon School made up of a geek, a class clown, a teacher's pet, and a slacker. They are bound together by one very big secret: the homework machine. Because the machine, code-named Belch, is doing their homework for them, they start spending a lot of time together, attracting a lot of attention. And attention is exactly what you don't want when you are keeping a secret. Before long, things start to get out of control, and Belch becomes much more powerful than they ever imagined. Now the kids are in a race against their own creation, and the loser could end up in jail...or worse!
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PAT
The Hard Pan Trilogy (age 9-12)
by Susan Patron
humor ... growing up ... survival ... illness/loss ... friendship ... family
Publisher comments: Lucky, age ten, can't wait another day. The meanness gland in her heart and the crevices full of questions in her brain make running away from Hard Pan, California (population 43), the rock-bottom only choice she has. It's all Brigitte's fault ... for wanting to go back to France. Guardians are supposed to stay put and look after girls in their care! Instead Lucky is sure that she'll be abandoned to some orphanage in Los Angeles. She'll have to lose her friends Miles and Lincoln. Just as bad, she'll have to give up eavesdropping on twelve-step anonymous programs where the interesting talk is all about Higher Powers. Lucky needs her own ... and quick. But she hadn't planned on a dust storm. Or needing to lug the world's heaviest survival-kit backpack into the desert.
title: The Higher Power of Lucky
title: Lucky Breaks
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KLA
The Green Glass Sea (age 9-12)
by Ellen Klages
math/science/technology ... brilliant protagonist ... friendship ... historical
Publisher comments: It is 1943, and 11-year-old Dewey Kerrigan is traveling west on a train to live with her scientist father ... but no one, not her father nor the military guardians who accompany her, will tell her exactly where he is. When she reaches Los Alamos, New Mexico, she learns why: he's working on a top secret government program. Over the next few years, Dewey gets to know eminent scientists, starts tinkering with her own mechanical projects, becomes friends with a budding artist who is as much of a misfit as she is ... and, all the while, has no idea how the Manhattan Project is about to change the world.
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LOR
Rules (age 9-12)
by Cynthia Lord
growing up ... friendship ... family
Twelve-year-old Catherine just wants a normal life. Which is near impossible when you have a brother with autism and a family that revolves around his disability. She's spent years trying to teach David the rules-from "a peach is not a funny-looking apple" to "keep your pants on in public"-in order to stop his embarrassing behaviors. But the summer Catherine meets Jason, a paraplegic boy, and Kristi, the next-door friend she's always wished for, it's her own shocking behavior that turns everything upside down and forces her to ask: What is normal?
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KRU
Onion John (age 9-12)
by Joseph Krumgold
family ... friendship
His friendship with the town odd-jobs man, Onion John, causes a conflict between Andy and his father.
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MOR
Gentle Ben (age 9-12)
by Walt Morey
friendship ... nature ... animals
The Alaskan wilderness is a lonely place for Mark Andersen, especially after the death of his older brother, Jamie. But in time Mark finds someone else to love--Ben, an Alaskan brown bear so huge that no one else dares come near him.
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COL
Weirdo's War (age 9-12)
by Michael Coleman
friendship ... school
Publisher comments: Daniel is known as Weirdo because he enjoys doing things at school that others think strange, like working out mathematical formulas for everything and being on his own. Tosh couldn't be more different - hanging around with his 'friends' who use him as a butt of their jokes and picking on others, such as Daniel. So when they find themselves sharing lodgings on a school trip neither is too happy.
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COH
Thank You, Jackie Robinson (age 9-12)
by Barbara Cohen
illness/loss ... sports ... friendship
Publisher comments: After Sam's father died, he became so wrapped up in the Brooklyn Dodgers that he could describe every game they'd played in the past four years. Nobody was very interested, until Sam met Davy. They came from different races, religions, and generations. But it didn't take long before they had a friendship that went well beyond baseball.
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BUT
Trading Places With Tank Talbott (age 9-12)
by Dori Hillestad Butler
school ... humor ... friendship ... identity
Publisher comments: When dorky Jason Pfeiffer, who hates to swim, and athletic Tank Talbott, who hates ballroom dancing, trade places, the mismatched pair learn some surprising things about friendship and courage. See also, "Tank Talbott's Guide to Girls".
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CUM
Mogul and Me (age 9-12)
by Peter Cumming
friendship ... historical
The story of friendship between a farmboy and a circus elephant.
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COT
Quake! : Novel (age 9-12)
by Joe Cottonwood
historical ... friendship ... survival
With their parents away at the 1989 World Series, fourteen-year-old Franny, her younger brother, and their cousin try to cope with the frightening events following an earthquake that destroys their home on Loma Prieta mountain.
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BEL
Ernestine and Amanda (age 9-12)
by Sandra Belton
friendship ... family
At the beginning of their first adventure, Ernestine and Amanda agree on one thing: they aren't going to be friends. Ernestine thinks wealthy Amanda is stuck-up. Amanda thinks Ernestine is too fat. But as a year goes by and the lives of these ten-year-old piano students become more and more intertwined, the girls are amazed to discover how much they are beginning to need each other.
sequel: Summer Camp-Ready or Not
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NAY
Being Danny's Dog (age 9-12)
by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
realistic ... family ... friendship
Uprooted by his newly divorced mother from Chicago to a suburban development with few trees, fewer kids, and loads of strictly enforced rules, ten-year-old T. R. doesn't know what to do with himself anymore. So he starts trotting after his older brother, Danny, hoping to be included in activities and, at the same time, keeping a close watch over Danny's increasingly worrisome friendship with another boy. It's as if T. R. is becoming his brother's dog!
sequel: Danny's Desert Rats
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WES
With Love From Spain, Melanie Martin (age 9-12)
by Carol Weston
humor ... growing up ... friendship ... family ... voyages/journeys ... letters/journal
On spring break in Spain, fifth-grader Melanie Martin decides to spy on her mother for her father when her mother starts spending a lot of time with her old boyfriend, Antonio, but when she meets Antonio's cute twelve-year-old son, her plans go out the window.
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WAR
Dog Years (age 9-12)
by Sally Warner
authorship ... friendship ... school
After his father is imprisoned, twelve-year-old Case switches to a new school, where he makes some important discoveries about friendship and honesty.
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SYM
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (age 9-12)
by Jimmy Symonds
friendship ... historical
Adapted from Victor Hugo's famous novel. In medieval Paris, Quasimodo, the hunchbacked bellringer of Notre Dame Cathedral, struggles to save the gypsy dancer Esmeralda from being unjustly executed.
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STE
The Bones in the Cliff (age 9-12)
by James Stevenson
adventure ... friendship ... family
Pete, a lonely and timid eleven-year-old who has just made friends with an adventurous girl named Rootie, hides out on Cutlass Island with his alcoholic father, waiting for the gunman his father fears will kill him.
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SNY
The Witches of Worm (age 9-12)
by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
friendship ... magic ... spooky
A lonely twelve-year-old is convinced that the cat she finds is possessed by a witch and is responsible for her own strange behavior.
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SNY
Cat Running (age 9-12)
by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
friendship ... family ... historical
When eleven-year-old Cat Kinsey builds a secret hideout to escape her unhappy homelife, she slowly gets to know a poor family who have come to California after losing their Texas home to the dust storms of the 1930s.
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SIL
The Missing Piece (age 9-12)
by Shel Silverstein
friendship ... poetry ... math/science/technology
A circle has difficulty finding its missing piece, but has a good time looking for it.
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SHA
Getting Something on Maggie Marmelstein (age 9-12)
by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat
school ... realistic ... humor ... friendship
After Thad embarrasses Maggie and she retaliates by embarrassing him even more, he plots revenge.
sequel: Maggie Marmelstein For President
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SAC
Dogs Don't Tell Jokes (age 9-12)
by Louis Sachar
friendship ... humor ... school
Twelve-year-old jokester Gary Boone knows he was born to be a comedian, it's the kids in his class who think he's just a goon. Winning the school talent show would be Gary's dream come true, but on the big night his dream nearly backfires--with hilarious results.
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PEC
Soup (age 9-12)
by Robert Newton Peck
humor ... adventure ... friendship
The adventures and misadventures of two boys growing up in a small Vermont town.
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NAM
Yang the Youngest and His Terrible Ear (age 9-12)
by Lensey Namioka
family ... friendship ... sports ... the arts
Recently arrived in Seattle from China, musically untalented Yingtao is faced with giving a violin performance to attract new students for his father when he would rather be working on friendships and playing baseball.
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NAM
Yang the Third and Her Impossible Family (age 9-12)
by Lensey Namioka
friendship ... identity ... family
Yingmei Yang has changed her name to Mary now that she's learning how to be American. It's hard since her family sticks to their Chinese customs. Still, Mary wants to be best friends with popular Holly Hanson. She sees her chance when she adopts one of Holly's kittens. The trouble is that Mary's family can't afford a cat and it could damage their prized musical instruments. To prove her friendship to Holly, Mary must find a way to keep the kitten a secret from her impossible family. It won't be easy!
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NAM
Yang the Second and Her Secret Admirers (age 9-12)
by Lensey Namioka
identity ... friendship ... family
Yinglan Yang couldn't care less that her brother and sister have adopted all sorts of American customs. She misses China and doesn't want to fit in here. Her siblings decide that Yinglan needs help making friends in America. That's when they join forces and play matchmaker between Yinglan and Paul Eng, a Chinese American baseball player. They're certain Yinglan will never find out. Or will she?
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MYE
Rosie's Tiger (age 9-12)
by Anna Myers
friendship ... historical ... family
In 1952 in Oklahoma, sixth grader Rosie enlists the aid of her new best friend, the flamboyant Cassandra, in trying to get rid of the Korean wife and stepson her older brother has brought back from the war.
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MOR
The Dancing Bear (age 9-12)
by Michael Morpurgo
animals ... friendship
A lonely girl living in a remote mountain community adopts an abandoned bear cub, but their friendship is threatened when a glamorous film crew comes to town.
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MOR
Scrub Dog of Alaska (age 9-12)
by Walt Morey
friendship ... animals
After a runt sled dog is raised by a young boy, the dog's cruel owner demands his return.
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HEL
On Being Sarah (age 9-12)
by Elizabeth S. Helfman
friendship ... family
Even though life with cerebral palsy isn't easy for twelve-year-old Sarah, she manages with the help of her loving family and several new friends.
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GOR
The Miraculous Makeover of Lizard Flanagan (age 9-12)
by Carol Gorman
humor ... school ... friendship ... growing up
As she enters middle school, athletic twelve-year-old Lizard is dismayed to see her friends change into weird strangers and struggles with her own transition from tomboy to "girly-girl."
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GIP
Old Yeller (age 9-12)
by Fred Gipson
adventure ... historical ... growing up ... friendship
In the late 1860s in the Texas hill country, a big yellow dog and a fourteen-year-old boy form a close, loving relationship.
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GLA
Box Top Dreams (age 9-12)
by Miriam Glassman
friendship ... growing up
When her best friend, Danny, moves away, leaving eleven-year-old Ariadne alone on the "brink of adolescence," she discovers that change is a part of growing.
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FLE
Seedfolks (age 9-12)
by Paul Fleischman
enterprise ... nature ... friendship
A vacant lot, rat-infested and filled with garbage, looked like no place for a garden. Especially to a neighborhood of strangers where no one seems to care. Until one day, a young girl clears a small space and digs into the hard-packed soil to plant her precious bean seeds. Suddenly, the soil holds promise: To Curtis, who believes he can win back Lateesha's heart with a harvest of tomatoes; to Virgil's dad, who sees a fortune to be made from growing lettuce; and even to Maricela, sixteen and pregnant, wishing she were dead. Thirteen very different voices, old, young, Haitian, Hispanic, tough, haunted, and hopeful, tell one amazing story about a garden that transforms a neighborhood.
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WAL
The Pick of the Litter (age 9-12)
by Bill Wallace
friendship ... animals
Twelve-year-old Tom learns firsthand about honor, friendship, and puppy love in the summer after sixth grade. First he is wrongly accused of lying on the last day of school. Then, after helping his ill grandfather take care of his kennel, he faces the risk of losing a puppy he has come to love.
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WAL
Ferret in the Bedroom, Lizards in the Fridge (age 9-12)
by Bill Wallace
friendship ... school ... humor ... animals
Liz's house is like a zoo. Thanks to her dad, a zoologist, there are turtles in the kitchen, an ibex in the backyard, a hawk in the shed, a sun porch full of lizards, and Fred the ferret. Liz has had enough! At school, her nickname is Lizard. Her classmates think she's weird and her friends are afraid to go to her house. With problems like those, how is she ever going to win the election for class president? Liz tries her hardest, but she runs into one disaster after another. So she makes the startling decision, the animals must go. Even Fred, her pet ferret. That will make all the difference in the world...won't it?
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SOT
Baseball in April (age 9-12)
by Gary Soto
sports ... friendship ... growing up ... short stories
In this unique collection of short stories, the small events of daily life reveal big themes--love and friendship, youth and growing up, success and failure. Calling on his own experiences of growing up in California's Central Valley, poet Gary Soto brings to life the joys and pains of young people everywhere. The smart, tough, vulnerable kids in these stories are Latino, but their dreams and desires belong to all of us.
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KON
T-backs, T-shirts, Coat, and Suit (age 9-12)
by E. L. Konigsburg
realistic ... humor ... identity ... friendship
Going to Peco, Florida, for the summer to stay with Bernadette is not Chloe's first choice. Or her second or her third. It's her only choice. So it's off to Bernadette's for the summer. Bernadette is Chloe's stepfather's sister. Who gives the unexpected a chance. Just what that means Chloe discovers right away. Everything about Bernadette is unexpected: her dog; her job driving a commissary van that serves sandwiches, hot dogs, hamburgers, and junk food to shipyard and dock workers; her way of teaching Chloe to swim; her ability to skate on Rollerblades; and especially the fact that the unexpected is never unexpected to her, not even the events that follow when some commissary drivers begin wearing T-back swimsuits to work (a way of increasing business) and other groups in Peco decide T-backs should be banned forever.
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HAM
Zeely (age 9-12)
by Virginia Hamilton
identity ... family ... friendship
Geeder's summer at her uncle's farm is made special because of her friendship with a very tall, composed woman who raises hogs and who closely resembles the magazine photograph of a Watutsi queen.
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DAN
P.S. Longer Letter Later (age 9-12)
by Paula Danziger and Ann Martin
growing up ... friendship ... letters/journal
Twelve-year-old best friends Elizabeth and Tara-Starr continue their friendship through letter-writing after Tara-Starr's family moves to another state.
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CRE
Granny Torrelli Makes Soup (age 9-12)
by Sharon Creech
growing up ... family ... friendship
Bailey, who is usually so nice, Bailey, my neighbor, my friend, my buddy, my pal for my whole life, knowing me better than anybody, that Bailey, that Bailey I am so mad at right now, that Bailey, I hate him today. Twelve-year-old Rosie and her best friend, Bailey, don't always get along, that's true. But Granny Torrelli seems to know just how to make things right again with her warm words and family recipes. She understands from experience that life's twists and turns can't rattle the unique bond between two lifelong pals.
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CLE
Strider (age 9-12)
by Beverly Cleary
school ... friendship ... growing up ... letters/journal
Strider has a new habit. Whenever we stop, he places his paw on my foot. It isn't an accident because he always does it. I like to think he doesn't want to leave me. Can a stray dog change the life of a teenage boy? It looks as if Strider can. He's a dog that loves to run; because of Strider, Leigh Botts finds himself running, well enough to join the school track team. Strider changes Leigh on the inside, too, as he finally begins to accept his parents' divorce and gets to know a redheaded girl he's been admiring. With Strider's help, Leigh finds that the future he once hated to be asked about now holds something he never expected: hope.
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BYA
Bingo Brown and the Language of Love (age 9-12)
by Betsy Cromer Byars
family ... friendship ... growing up
As twelve-year-old Bingo Brown strives for the triumphs of today and steels himself against the tribulations of tomorrow, he discovers that he will have to undergo a few more trials and triumphs before growing up.
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BYA
The Not-Just-Anybody Family (age 9-12)
by Betsy Cromer Byars
humor ... realistic ... family ... friendship
When Junior Blossom wakes up in the hospital, his last memory is of crouching on the barn roof with cloth wings tied to his arms, and of Maggie and Vern in the yard below, urging him to fly. That had been just before Junior spotted a police car approaching the farm in a cloud of dust. Meanwhile Pap, the children's grandfather, sits in disgrace in the city jail. He was arrested for disturbing the peace after his pickup truck accidentally dumped 2,147 beer and soda cans (worth $107.35) on Spring Street. With their mother away on the rodeo circuit, it's up to Maggie and Vern to find a way to rescue Pap and Junior. How will they solve their family problems?
sequel: The Blossoms and the Green Phantom
sequel: The Blossoms Meet the Vulture Lady
sequel: A Blossom Promise
sequel: Wanted: Mud Blossom
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BAU
On My Honor (age 9-12)
by Marion Dane Bauer
illness/loss ... growing up ... friendship
On your honor?" Joel's father said. "You won't go anywhere except the park?" "On my honor," Joel repeated. During a bicycle trip to the state park, Joel dares his best fried Tony to a swimming race in the dangerous Vermillion River. The boys have been warned never to go near the river, but Tony can't let Joel think he's scared. Both boys jump in. When Joel reaches the sandbar, he turns and looks for Tony and finds that he has vanished. Joel is stunned. How can he face their parents and the terrible truth?
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WYN
Some of the Kinder Planets (age 9-12)
by Tim Wynne-Jones
friendship ... science fiction ... fantasy ... humor ... short stories
Eight beautifully written short stories about a wide range of topics from contemporary life to ghosts and space aliens.
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FIT
Harriet the Spy (age 9-12)
by Louise Fitzhugh
brilliant protagonist ... growing up ... realistic ... friendship
Harriet M. Welsch is a spy. In her notebook, she writes down everything she knows about everyone, even her classmates and her best friends. Then Harriet loses track of her notebook, and it ends up in the wrong hands. Before she can stop them, her friends have read the always truthful, sometimes awful things she's written about each of them. Will Harriet find a way to put her life and her friendships back together?
sequel: The Long Secret
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YEP
When the Circus Came to Town (age 9-12)
by Laurence Yep
bigotry ... historical ... friendship
Ursula always wanted to see the circus. That is, until she caught smallpox. Now all she wants is to hide her scarred face. But Ah Sam, her parents' Chinese cook, has other ideas. He brings to town a magical circus and finds a way to give Ursula the confidence she needs to face the world. In return, Ursula finds a way to make Ah Sam happy. She creates the biggest, best Chinese New Year celebration that Whistle, Montana, has ever seen!
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WIL
Behind the Bedroom Wall (age 9-12)
by Laura Williams
bigotry ... friendship ... family ... historical
It's 1942. Thirteen-year-old Korinna Rehme is an active member of her local Jungmadel, a Nazi youth group, along with many of her friends. She believes that Hitler is helping Germany by instituting a program to deal with what he calls the ``Jewish problem,'' a program that she witnesses as her Jewish neighbors are attacked and taken from their homes. Korinna's parents, however, are members of a secret underground group providing a means of escape to the Jews of their city. Korinna is shocked to discover that they are hiding a refugee family behind the wall of her bedroom. But as she comes to know the family, her sympathies begin to turn.
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WHI
Belle Prater's Boy (age 9-12)
by Ruth White
illness/loss ... growing up ... friendship ... family
When Woodrow's mother suddenly disappears, he moves to his grandparents' home in a small Virginia town where he befriends his cousin and together they find the strength to face the terrible losses and fears in their lives.
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TUN
Highpockets (age 9-12)
by John Roberts Tunis
illness/loss ... friendship ... sports
Cecil McDade ``Highpockets'' was a good baseball player, but he was all for himself, not a team player. Then, he accidentally ran over a young boy with a car and everything changed.
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STO
The Noonday Friends (age 9-12)
by Mary Stolz
humor ... school ... friendship ... realistic
Eleven-year-old Franny Davis and her best friend share school and family problems in this realistic, often humorous story set in New York's Greenwich Village.
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SNY
The Headless Cupid (age 9-12)
by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
spooky ... mystery ... magic ... friendship
When the four Stanley children meet Amanda, their new stepsister, they're amazed to learn that she studied witchcraft. They're stunned to see her dressed in a strange costume, carrying a pet crow, and surrounded by a pile of books about the supernatural. It's not long before Amanda promises to give witchcraft lessons to David, Janie, and the twins. But that's when strange things start happening in their old house. David suspects Amanda of causing mischief, until they learn that the house really was haunted a long time ago. Legend has it that a ghost cut the head off a wooden cupid on the stairway. Has the ghost returned to strike again?
sequel: The Famous Stanley Kidnapping Case
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SCH
F Is for Freedom (age 9-12)
by Roni Schotter
historical ... friendship
``Reading is freedom,'' Hannah's mother has always told her. ``The thoughts in books are powerful strong, stronger even than chains,'' her father has said. Courageous and determined, Hannah longs to be free in every way she can, including the freedom that comes with literacy. And her headstrong friend Amanda is willing to risk everything to help her. Set a decade before the Civil War, this moving story crackles with suspense and says as much about the power of words as it does about the power of friendship.
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SAC
Someday Angeline (age 9-12)
by Louis Sachar
identity ... friendship ... brilliant protagonist
Nobody understands why Angeline is so smart. But being smart is causing Angeline nothing but trouble. The mean kids in school call her a freak, her teacher finds her troublesome, and even her own father doesn't know what to do with an eight-year-old girl who seems to be a genius. Angeline just wants the chance to be herself and be happy, but it's only when she makes friends who appreciate her that Angeline gets that chance.
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RYL
A Fine White Dust (age 9-12)
by Cynthia Rylant
friendship ... growing up
The visit of the traveling Preacher Man to his small North Carolina town gives new impetus to thirteen-year-old Peter's struggle to reconcile his own deeply felt religious belief with the beliefs and non-beliefs of his family and friends.
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PAU
Harris and Me (age 9-12)
by Gary Paulsen
identity ... adventure ... friendship
This summer will be different. That's for sure. When an eleven-year-old city boy is dropped off to stay on a farm with relatives, he doesn't know what to expect. His cousin Harris soon takes care of that. Harris is rude and crude and finds trouble at every turn. He leads his city cousin into everything from wrestling slippery pigs to catching mice to a daredevil jump out of a barn loft. And that's not all. There are swimming and cowboy movies and enough good food to fill the boys up for days. Farm life is hard but never lonely. Before long, Harris' cousin has found a place where he belongs. If only summer could last forever.
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PAT
The Great Gilly Hopkins (age 9-12)
by Katherine Paterson
identity ... family ... friendship
An eleven-year-old foster child tries to cope with her longings and fears as she schemes against everyone who tries to be friendly.
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MUR
The Slightly True Story of Cedar B. Hartley (age 9-12)
by Martine Murray
humor ... friendship ... realistic
Cedar B. Hartley is exasperating and potentially infamous. She steps on cracks. She plans to live an unusual life. She is the winner of her school's Bat Pole Championship (which she made up). She misses her brother Barnaby, who ran away, and who sends her postcards from all over. And she's definitely a hopeless winker. But Cedar B. Hartley has potential. She knows the long distance between an idea and the real thing. And she has a green thumb for people, which will come in handy as she discovers truths about her friends, her family, and her life.
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JAR
The Bat-Poet (age 9-12)
by Randall Jarrell
brilliant protagonist ... friendship ... poetry
There was once a little brown bat who couldn't sleep days-he kept waking up and looking at the world. Before long he began to see things differently from the other bats, who from dawn to sunset never opened their eyes. The Bat-Poet is the story of how he tried to make the other bats see the world his way.
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DEC
The Pickle Song (age 9-12)
by Barthe DeClements
friendship ... school
Paula would like to befriend Sukey Parsons, the new girl in her class, but Sukey isn't making it easy. Sukey keeps to herself and disappears immediately after school. But Paula discovers that she eats very strange lunches, washes her hair in the creek, sings and plays the guitar, and knows how to get money by pawning her belongings. Eventually, Paula also learns that Sukey and her mother are homeless, waiting for Sukey's father to find work in California and send for them. As Paula looks for ways to help, she learns what real generosity means.
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BAU
The Wizard of Oz Series (age 9-12)
by L. Frank Baum
princesses ... voyages/journeys ... friendship ... fantasy
They're off to read the Wizard--the original, imaginative American tale written by Frank L. Baum just over a century ago. All the beloved characters are here, along with the splendid Emerald City and the shoes with unparalleled power.
title: The Wizard of Oz
title: Ozma of Oz
title: The Road to Oz
title: The Emerald City of Oz
title: The Patchwork Girl of Oz
title: Tik-tok of Oz
title: The Scarecrow of Oz
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MON
Anne of Green Gables Series (age 9-12)
by Lucy Maud Montgomery
family ... friendship
Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert had planned to adopt a boy to help out around Green Gables farm. But waiting for Matthew at the train station is freckle-faced, red-headed Anne Shirley...a talkative eleven-year-old orphan with a heart full of dreams and a desperate longing for a home. From the minute Anne sets foot in Matthew's buggy, Green Gables will never be the same!
title: Anne of Green Gables
title: Anne of Avonlea
title: Anne of Windy Poplars
title: Anne of Ingleside
title: Rilla of Ingleside
title: Rainbow Valley
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GIF
All the Way Home (age 9-12)
by Patricia Reilly Giff
identity ... historical ... sports ... friendship ... family
Brick Tiernan is devastated when fire destroys his family's apple orchard in Windy Hill, New York, in the summer of 1941. His parents are forced to take jobs in different cities, and Brick is sent to Brooklyn to live with Loretta, a family friend, until the family recovers front their financial loss. Brick feels homesick before he even gets to Brooklyn, but when he meets Martel, Loretta's adopted daughter, he discovers that they have things in common. Both are Dodgers fans, and Martel, who wonders about her real mother, has a mysterious connection to Windy Hill. In the final days of summer, Brick and Martel find a way to return to Windy Hill, where a kind elderly couple help them discover what they are each searching for-a sense of belonging and the real meaning of home.
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SAC
There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom (age 9-12)
by Louis Sachar
identity ... friendship ... school ... humor
An unmanageable, but lovable, eleven-year-old misfit learns to believe in himself when he gets to know the new school counselor, who is a sort of misfit too.
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NAY
Shiloh (age 9-12)
by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
friendship ... animals
One summer Sunday, Marty comes across a young beagle on the road just past the old Shiloh schoolhouses and the trouble begins. What do you do when a dog you suspect is being mistreated runs away and comes to you? When it is someone else's dog? Marty puts his courage on the line, and discovers in the process that it is not always easy to separate right from wrong. Sometimes, however, you do almost anything to save a dog.
sequel: Saving Shiloh
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NAY
Boys Versus Girls Series (age 9-12)
by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
war ... realistic ... humor ... friendship
Disgusted that a family with three girls moves into the house across the river, nine-year-old Wally and his three brothers declare a practical joke war on the girls.
title: The Boys Return
title: The Girls' Revenge
title: A Traitor Among the Boys
title: A Spy Among the Girls
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MAZ
The Accidental Witch (age 9-12)
by Anne Mazer
magic ... fantasy ... friendship
Ten-year-old Phoebe is thrilled when she accidentally becomes a novice witch but soon wonders if she will ever develop and control her powers.
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KON
Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William, McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth (age 9-12)
by E. L. Konigsburg
realistic ... identity ... friendship
Elizabeth is an only child, new in town, and the shortest kid in her class. She's also pretty lonely, until she meets Jennifer. Jennifer is...well, different. She's read Macbeth. She never wears jeans or shorts. She never says ``Please'' or ``thank you.'' And she says she is a witch.
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CLE
Dear Mr. Henshaw (age 9-12)
by Beverly Cleary
identity ... friendship ... authorship ... letters/journal
In his letters to his favorite author, ten-year-old Leigh reveals his problems in coping with his parents' divorce, being the new boy in school, and generally finding his own place in the world.
Dinotopia Series (age 9-12)
friendship ... fantasy
In the lush fantastical world of Dinotopia, dinosaurs and humans live harmoniously in a unique society with a culture, philosophy, and written language all its own. A storm at sea washes a young pickpocket and a surgeon's son overboard and they land in Dinotopia, where they learn the real meaning of courage and friendship.
title: Windchaser by Scott Ciencin F CIE
title: River Quest by John Vornholt F VOR
title: Lost City by Scott Ciencin F CIE
title: Dolphin Watch by John Vornholt F VOR
title: The Maze by Peter David F DAV
title: Chomper by Donald Glut F GLU
title: Return to Lost City by Scott Ciencin F CIE
title: Survive! by Brad Strickland F STR
title: The Explorers by Scott Ciencin F CIE
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BUR
The Secret Garden (age 9-12)
by Frances Hodgson Burnett
fantasy ... friendship
When Mary Lennox, lonely and sad, comes to live at her uncle's great house on the Yorkshire moors, she finds it full of secrets. At night, she hears the sound of crying down one of the long corridors. Outside, she meets a magical boy who can charm and talk to animals. Then, one day, Mary discovers the most mysterious wonder of all--a secret garden, walled and locked, which has been completely forgotten for years and years. Is everything in the garden dead, or can Mary bring it back to life?
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BUR
A Little Princess (age 9-12)
by Frances Hodgson Burnett
growing up ... friendship ... fantasy
A Little Princess tells the story of Ann, whose comfortable life as the daughter of a wealthy and loving father is destroyed when he goes missing. Though she faces many challenges, we find that her strength of character makes her special indeed.
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BLU
Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret (age 9-12)
by Judy Blume
identity ... friendship ... growing up
For Margaret, everything is different this year. She's just moved from New York City to the suburbs and is anxious to fit in with her new friends. When the girls form a secret club to talk about private subjects, Margaret is happy to belong. But in Farbrook, everybody joins the Y or the Jewish Community Center. Margaret doesn't have a religion, so what's she supposed to do? Suddenly life is very confusing. Maybe it's all part of growing up, but Margaret could really use some answers.

Barron Park Elementary School, Sat Aug 25 11:55:26 2012
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