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GER |
Little Women
(age 8-11) by Jane Gerver historical ... growing up ... family This retelling of Louisa May Alcott's classic novel chronicles the joys and sorrows of the four March sisters as they grow into young ladies in nineteenth-century New England. |
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Samantha: an American Girl Series (age 8-11) growing up ... family ... historical Stories of Samantha, an orphan living with her grandmother in 1904. title: Meet Samantha: an American Girl by Susan S. Adler F ADL title: Samantha Learns a Lesson: a School Story by Susan S. Adler F ADL title: Changes for Samantha: a Winter Story by Valerie Tripp F TRI title: Happy Birthday, Samantha!: a Springtime Story by Valerie Tripp F TRI title: Samantha Saves the Day: a Summer Story by Valerie Tripp F TRI title: Samantha's Surprise: a Christmas Story by Maxine Rose Schur F SCH | |
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TRI |
Molly: an American Girl Series (age 8-11) by Valerie Tripp growing up ... family ... historical Stories of Molly and her family during World War II. title: Meet Molly: an American Girl title: Changes for Molly: a Winter Story title: Happy Birthday, Molly!: a Springtime Story title: Molly Learns a Lesson: a School Story title: Molly Saves the Day: a Summer Story title: Molly's Surprise: a Christmas Story |
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SHA |
Kirsten: an American Girl Series (age 8-11) by Janet Shaw growing up ... family ... historical Stories about Kirsten and her family, settling the frontier in Minnesota. title: Meet Kirsten: an American Girl title: Changes for Kirsten: a Winter Story title: Happy Birthday, Kirsten!: a Springtime Story title: Kirsten Learns a Lesson: a School Story title: Kirsten Saves the Day title: Kirsten's Surprise: a Christmas Story |
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TRI |
Felicity: an American Girl Series (age 8-11) by Valerie Tripp growing up ... family ... historical Stories about Felicity and her family, living in Williamsburg during the revolutionary war. title: Meet Felicity: an American Girl title: Changes for Felicity: a Winter Story title: Felicity Learns a Lesson: a School Story title: Felicity Saves the Day: a Summer Story title: Felicity's Surprise: a Christmas Story title: Happy Birthday, Felicity!: a Springtime Story |
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POR |
Addy: an American Girl Series (age 8-11) by Connie Porter growing up ... family ... historical Stories about Addy and her mother, freed slaves living in Philadelphia during the Civil War. title: Meet Addy: an American Girl title: Addy Learns a Lesson: a School Story title: Addy Saves the Day: a Summer Story title: Addy's Surprise: a Christmas Story title: Changes for Addy: a Winter Story title: Happy Birthday, Addy!: a Springtime Story |
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TRI |
Josefina: an American Girl Series (age 8-11) by Valerie Tripp growing up ... family ... historical Stories about Josefina and her sisters, in New Mexico before the Mexicn-American War. title: Meet Josefina: an American Girl title: Changes for Josefina: a Winter Story title: Happy Birthday, Josefina!: a Springtime Story title: Josefina Learns a Lesson: a School Story title: Josefina Saves the Day: a Summer Story title: Josefina's Surprise: a Christmas Story |
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LOO |
Alvin Ho Series (age 8-11) by Lenore Look friendship ... growing up ... school Publisher comments: Alvin Ho is an Asian American second grader who is afraid of everything--elevators, tunnels, girls, and, most of all, school. He's so afraid of school that, while he's there, he never, ever, says a word. But at home he's a very loud superhero named Firecracker Man, a brother to Calvin and Anibelly, and a gentleman-in-training, so he can be just like his dad. title: Alvin Ho: Allergic to Girls, School, and Other Scary Things |
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YEE |
Good Luck, Ivy
(age 8-11) by Lisa Yee growing up ... sports ... family Ivy Ling feels invisible. The middle child in a busy Chinese-American household, Ivy's mother has gone back to school to become a lawyer and her father has two jobs to keep the family afloat. And if that's not enough, Ivy's best friend Julie Albright has moved to another part of San Francisco. The only place Ivy feels at home is at gymnastics. But when she learns that the big gymnastics tournament is scheduled for the same day as the annual Ling family reunion, Ivy wrestles with a difficult choice. Gradually, with her brother Andrew's help, Ivy realizes that she can take charge of her life--and make her own luck. |
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FIS |
Understood Betsy
(age 8-11) by Dorothy Canfield Fisher growing up ... family Thanks to her loving but over-protective guardian aunts, Betsy is a fearful, self-absorbed, nine-year-old hypochondriac. One of the most terrible items on her long list of fears is the horrid cousins her aunts never mention without shuddering. When her aunts are suddenly no longer able to care for her, Betsy is, incredibly, sent to live with those very relatives. Arriving in Vermont alone and full of trepidation, Betsy is immediately invited by her Uncle Henry to drive the carriage. Steering the fearful horses is just the beginning of her adventures in New England ... and independence. By the novel's end, Betsy has become very fond of the rough but affectionate relatives who eat in the kitchen and expect her to wash her own dishes. When she gets a letter from the aunts inviting her to come home, Betsy must make a difficult choice. |
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GRA |
The Ugly Princess and the Wise Fool
(age 8-11) by Margaret Gray princesses ... growing up ... magic ... humor ... folklore Can a seafaring fairy godmother, a wise fool, and an enchanted hairstyle keep Princess Rose out of trouble? "A very long time ago, when all the countries you've ever heard of were in different places on the map, a princess was born who was not beautiful. She wasn't even remotely pretty, and the whole kingdom was in deep shock about it." Princess Rose doesn't get any prettier as she grows up, but the kingdom does get over its shock. Everyone adores the skinny, buck-toothed princess, and she doesn't mind her appearance-until the handsomest prince in the world comes looking for a bride. Despite warnings from her seafaring fairy godmother and a wise fool named Jasper, reckless Rose wishes for beauty. She gets her wish, and the prince, but finds neither is as nice as she had expected. |
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HUR |
A Llama in the Library
(age 8-11) by Johanna Hurwitz growing up ... humor Fifth-grader Adam Fine thinks that his two llamas will be a hit at the grand reopening of the town's library. |
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WIL |
Elsa, Star of the Shelter!
(age 8-11) by Jacqueline Wilson growing up ... family Noisy, brash, and a troublemaker, ten-year-old Elsa uses her loud voice to warn of a fire at the homeless shelter where she lives with her family. |
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O'C |
How to Steal a Dog
(age 8-11) by Barbara O'Connor growing up ... family ... enterprise Georgina Hayes is desperate. Ever since her father left and they were evicted from their apartment, her family has been living in their car. With her mama juggling two jobs and trying to make enough money to find a place to live, Georgina is stuck looking after her younger brother, Toby. And she has her heart set on improving their situation. When Georgina spots a missing-dog poster with a reward of five hundred dollars, the solution to all her problems suddenly seems within reach. All she has to do is ``borrow'' the right dog and its owners are sure to offer a reward. What happens next is the last thing she expected. |
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GOI |
The Liberation of Gabriel King
(age 8-11) by K. L. Going growing up ... friendship ... bigotry Gabriel King was a born chicken. Hes afraid of spiders, corpses, loose cows, and just about everything related to the fifth grade. Gabes best friend, Frita Wilson, thinks Gabe needs some liberating from his fears. Frita knows something about being brave she's the only black kid in school in a town with an active Ku Klux Klan. Together Gabe and Frita are going to spend the summer of 1976 facing down the fears on Gabes list. But it turns out that Frita has her own list, and while shes helping Gabe confront his fears, shes avoiding the thing that scares her the most. |
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FLE |
The Whipping Boy
(age 8-11) by Sid Fleischman folklore ... humor ... adventure ... growing up A Prince and a Pauper. Jemmy, once a poor boy living on the streets, now lives in a castle. As the whipping boy, he bears the punishment when Prince Brat misbehaves, for it is forbidden to spank, thrash, or whack the heir to the throne. The two boys have nothing in common and even less reason to like one another. But when they find themselves taken hostage after running away, they are left with no choice but to trust each other. |
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GIF |
Rat Teeth
(age 8-11) by Patricia Reilly Giff illness/loss ... growing up ... family It's bad enough that his parents are divorced and his two front teeth stick out a mile, but when he loses a baseball game to the fourth graders, even a "toughie" like Cliffie feels he has no choice but to run away. |
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MEA |
Junebug
(age 8-11) by Alice Mead family ... growing up An inquisitive young boy who lives with his mother and younger sister in a rough housing project in New Haven, Connecticut, approaches his tenth birthday with a mixture of anticipation and worry. |
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YOL |
The Young Merlin Trilogy (age 8-11) by Jane Yolen magic ... growing up ... fantasy ... folklore A boy is abandoned in the woods of medieval England. A year passes--a year of terror and hunger, of sleeping in trees and foraging for food, of outrunning packs of wild dogs--until one day a falconer captures and tames the boy as he would any passager, a young bird caught in the wild and trained. The falconer adopts the boy and teaches him all of the things he's forgotten, including the boy's true name--and the legacy of magic that will be his when he comes of age. title: Passager: the Young Merlin Trilogy, Book One title: Hobby: the Young Merlin Trilogy title: Merlin: the Young Merlin Trilogy, Book Three |
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TRA |
Mary Poppins Series (age 8-11) by P. L. Travers growing up ... magic ... humor ... fantasy An extraordinary English nanny blows in on the East Wind with her parrot-headed umbrella and magic carpetbag and introduces her charges, Jane and Michael, to some delightful people and experiences. title: Mary Poppins |
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BAL |
Bristle Face
(age 8-11) by Zachary Ball growing up ... family ... friendship ... animals Half-dog, half porcupine in appearance, Bristle Face becomes an outstanding hunting dog and a good friend of the fourteen-year-old orphan boy who adopts him. |
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BAN |
A Prairie Year
(age 8-11) by Jo Bannatyne-Cugnet short stories ... identity ... growing up The year begins with hockey, icefishing, and a snowmobile race. Spring brings renewal: the arrival of piglets, baby chicks in the farm kitchen; and outside, the fields are seeded. In summer, there's a dinosaur park to be visited; a calf is groomed for the fair and wheat tested between grandfather's fingers. In fall, a farm auction becomes a party, trick-or-treating is done by pick-up truck, and Clydesdales are driven by teams competing at the world's great farm fair. The glorious year ends with the arrival of Santa on the main street at night in a pickup truck, while beyond in the dark is the infinite mystery of the prairies. |
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WHI |
The Trumpet of the Swan
(age 8-11) by E. B. White friendship ... growing up ... the arts A voiceless trumpeter swan named Louis, attempting to win the love of a beautiful swan named Serena, learns to play a trumpet stolen for him by his father, and then finds himself far from his wilderness home when he sets out to become a trumpeter and pay his father back. |
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WAL |
Justin and the Best Biscuits in the World
(age 8-11) by Mildred Pitts Walter identity ... family ... growing up Suffering in a family full of females, ten-year-old Justin feels that cleaning and keeping house are women's work until he spends time on his beloved grandfather's ranch. |
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VAN |
How I Survived Being a Girl
(age 8-11) by Wendelin Van Draanen humor ... growing up ... family Twelve-year-old Carolyn, who has always wished she were a boy, begins to see things in a new light when her sister is born. |
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SIE |
Doing Time Online
(age 8-11) by Jan Siebold growing up ... friendship ... math/science/technology After he is involved in a prank that led to an elderly woman's injury, twelve-year-old Mitchell must make amends by participating in a police program in which he chats online with a nursing home resident. |
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HER |
Nothing But Trouble, Trouble, Trouble
(age 8-11) by Patricia Hermes enterprise ... growing up To prove to her parents that she is grown up enough to babysit, Alex tries to stay out of trouble for two weeks. |
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GRA |
Falcon's Egg
(age 8-11) by Luli Gray growing up ... family ... magic ... knights/castles/dragons Eleven-year-old Falcon has just found a mysterious egg in Central Park--a dragon's egg, though she doesn't know it yet. And when the egg hatches, magic will hatch with it. Falcon will begin to see her hectic life and eccentric family in a different and altogether more joyous way. After all, when magic comes into someone's life, it comes for a reason. |
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AHL |
The Bear Nobody Wanted
(age 8-11) by Janet Ahlberg adventure ... friendship ... growing up Tells the story of a teddy bear who is too proud and self-centred to be loved. It traces his life and his story of rejection, disaster, friends gained and lost, hurt and love, until eventually, transformed by a remarkable life, he becomes a bear truly deserving of a loving owner. |
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STA |
Harry Sue
(age 8-11) by Sue Stauffacher growing up ... friendship ... family Harry Sue Clotkin is tough. Her mom's in the slammer and she wants to get there too, as fast as possible, so they can be together. But it's not so easy to become a juvenile delinquent when you've got a tender heart. Harry Sue's got her hands full caring for the crumb-snatchers who take up her afternoons at the day care center, and spending time with her best friend Homer, a quadriplegic who sees life from a skylight in the roof of his tree house. When Harry Sue finds an unlikely confidante in her new art teacher, her ambitions toward a life of crime are sidelined as she comes to a deeper understanding about her past--and future. |
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KON |
Altogether, One at a Time
(age 8-11) by E. L. Konigsburg realistic ... growing up ... short stories What do you do when your mother makes you invite the most obnoxious kid in your class to your birthday party? Or when you have to wait another thirty-three and a third years to see a shower of stars? Or your parents ship you off to fat camp? Or you have to share your private lunch hour with a girl who's mean to you just because of the color of your skin? In E. L. Konigsburg's funny and perceptive short stories, four young people cope with difficult situations and, in doing so, learn something that changes their lives. |
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COD |
Sahara Special
(age 8-11) by Esme Raji Codell growing up ... humor ... authorship ... school Struggling with school and her feelings since her father left, Sahara gets a fresh start with a new and unique teacher who supports her writing talents and the individuality of each of her classmates. |
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BYA |
The Summer of the Swans
(age 8-11) by Betsy Cromer Byars growing up ... family A teen-age girl gains new insight into herself and her family when her mentally handicapped brother gets lost. |
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AVI |
Tom, Babette, and Simon
(age 8-11) by Avi princesses ... identity ... growing up ... short stories Three original stories in which a boy and a cat change places, a young man learns the price of selfishness, and an invisible princess finds herself. |
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KEL |
Lucy Rose Series (age 8-11) by Katy Kelly growing up ... friendship ... family ... school ... letters/journal Here's the thing about Lucy Rose: she has an extremely interesting take on life, and has an extremely lot to do to keep things together. This series is a good friend to have. title: Lucy Rose: Here's the Thing About Me title: Lucy Rose: Big on Plans |
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LOW |
Sam Krupnik Series (age 8-11) by Lois Lowry growing up ... realistic ... humor ... family Sam Krupnik enters school with some very strong ideas about what he wants to be and how. Fans of this series will enjoy the same author's books about Anastasia, his big sister, as well. title: All About Sam title: Attaboy, Sam! title: See You Around, Sam! title: Zooman Sam |
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DOR |
Sees Behind Trees
(age 8-11) by Michael Dorris growing up ... historical By turns lyrical, wise, and funny, this compelling novel, set in 16th-century America, tells the story of how one Native American boy turns handicap into an advantage as he crosses the often blurred boundaries between being a child and becoming a man. |
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SPI |
Wringer
(age 8-11) by Jerry Spinelli identity ... friendship ... nature ... growing up For as long as he can remember, Palmer LaRue has dreaded the day he turns ten, the day he'll take his place beside all the other ten-year-old boys in town, the day he'll be a wringer. But Palmer doesn't want to be a wringer. It's one of the first things he learned about himself and it's one of the biggest things he has to hide. |
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NAB |
The Enchanted Horse
(age 8-11) by Magdalen Nabb growing up ... animals ... fantasy A lonely young girl living on a remote farm with her work-obsessed parents cares for an old and battered wooden horse with such devotion that it comes to life. |
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MOS |
The Amelia Series (age 8-11) by Marissa Moss realistic ... humor ... letters/journal ... growing up Like spending recess with your best friend, Marissa Moss keeps us up to date with everything that's going on in Amelia's life. title: The All-New Amelia title: Amelia Hits the Road title: Amelia Lends a Hand title: Amelia Takes Command title: Amelia Works it Out title: Amelia Writes Again title: Amelia's Family Ties title: Amelia's Notebook title: Amelia's Boredom Survival Guide: First Aid for Rainy Days, Boring Errands, Waiting Rooms, Whatever! title: Amelia's Bully Survival Guide title: Madame Amelia Tells All title: Oh Boy, Amelia! |
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LOT |
Wings to Fly
(age 8-11) by Celia Barker Lottridge identity ... adventure ... historical ... growing up The Ferrier family moved from the United States to Curlew, Alberta, and built a homestead in the middle of the vast prairie. Now 11-year-old Josie has settled into her new home and she dreams about the future. Will Josie be a teacher like Miss Barnett? Will she be like her new friend Margaret's sad mother, who can't bear to unpack her fine English china in the crude sod house that is her prairie home? Or could she learn to fly airplanes like her heroine, Katherine Stinson? As Josie searches for answers, she learns, all too frighteningly, how brutal a prairie winter can be. See also the prequel, Ticket to Canada. |
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LOT |
Ticket to Canada
(age 8-11) by Celia Barker Lottridge identity ... adventure ... historical ... growing up It is 1915. Endless stretches of grassland against a boundless sky are all Sam Ferrier sees when he and his father arrive in Curlew, Alberta, to build a new house for their family. He wonders why his restless father would move them to this lonely, barren place, so different from Iowa. But after the house gets built and the family joins them, Sam gradually discovers that there is much more to the prairie than he realized. The tall grasses hide a mysterious collection of gleaming white skulls. Torrential thunderstorms appear with startling swiftness out of a clear-blue sky. And when one day he finds that his little brother has suddenly disappeared, Sam discovers that this new land can be both awesome and terrifying. Also published as Ticket to Curlew. See also the sequel, Wings to Fly. |
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JAR |
Slump
(age 8-11) by Dave Jarzyna growing up ... realistic ... family ... school When thirteen-year-old Mitch finds himself at odds with everyone in his life: brother, sister, friends, teachers, and coach, he worries that the situation will never change. |
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DIC |
Because of Winn-Dixie
(age 8-11) by Kate Dicamillo growing up ... family ... friendship ... animals Publisher comments: Opal spends all one sweet summer collecting stories about her new friends and thinking about her mother. But because of her dog, Winn-Dixie, or perhaps because she has grown, Opal learns to let go, just a little, and that friendship and forgiveness can sneak up on you like a sudden summer storm. |
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DAN |
Amber Brown Series (age 8-11) by Paula Danziger realistic ... family ... friendship ... growing up Amber Brown faces complications at school, with her friends, and with her family. title: Amber Brown Goes Fourth title: Amber Brown Is Feeling Blue title: Amber Brown Is Not a Crayon title: Amber Brown Sees Red title: Amber Brown Wants Extra Credit title: Forever Amber Brown title: I, Amber Brown title: You Can't Eat Your Chicken Pox, Amber Brown |