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BER |
The Puzzling World of Winston Breen
(age 10+) by Eric Berlin mystery ... enterprise ... math/science/technology Winston Breen finds puzzles everywhere, even on pizzas, and solving them is what he does best. But when his sister uncovers mysterious wooden strips with words and letters that even Winston can't figure out, the entire family is obsessed. It turns out the strips are part of a scavenger hunt that a town patriarch set up for his children. If all four sets are put together, they will lead to a ring worth thousands of dollars. Cooperating seems like a no-brainer to Winston, but to solve the puzzle, the group has to overcome mysterious threats, mutual mistrust, 25-year-old clues, and participants who will do anything to keep the treasure for themselves. |
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PEC |
Are You in the House Alone?
(age 10+) by Richard Peck mystery Gail can't escape the feeling that she's being watched. Gail Osburne is living the good life in suburban Connecticut ... until she finds an obscene note in her locker. "Forget it", her friend Alison counsels. But Gail can't forget. Another note appears, and another. Then the phone calls start ... and the horrible feeling that someone, somewhere, is watching her and waiting for the chance to strike. |
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NEU |
Gaps in Stone Walls
(age 10+) by John Neufeld mystery ... historical Twelve-year-old Merry Skiffe, who lives on Martha's Vineyard in the 1880s, runs away from home because she is suspected of having committed a murder. |
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MYE |
The Righteous Revenge of Artemis Bonner
(age 10+) by Walter Dean Myers enterprise ... historical ... mystery ... adventure Artemis Bonner wants to set the record straight. He's just arrived in Tombstone, Arizona, to avenge the murder of his uncle Ugly Ned Bonner. And if he happens to stumble across the gold mine his uncle described on his deathbed, then would be just fine, too. The murderous scalawag Catfish Grimes and his equally odious campaignion Lucy Featherdip are on the loose. They're desperate to find the gold mine and claim it for themselves as Artemis and his sidekick, Frolic, chase the pair from Mexico to the Alaskan Territory and back again. Artemis and Catfish are headed for a showdown in front of the Bird Cage Saloon...the exact spot where Uncle Ugly met his Untimely Demise. Here's the whole story; and the Truth as well. |
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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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HES |
Witness
(age 10+) by Karen Hesse mystery ... bigotry ... historical Leanora Sutter. Esther Hirsh. Merlin Van Tornhout. Johnny Reeves. These characters are among the unforgettable cast inhabiting a small Vermont town in 1924. A town that turns against its own when the Ku Klux Klan moves in. No one is safe, especially the two youngest, twelve-year-old Leanora, an African-American girl, and six-year-old Esther, who is Jewish. In this story of a community on the brink of disaster, told through the haunting and impassioned voices of its inhabitants, Newbery Award winner Karen Hesse takes readers into the hearts and minds of those who bear witness. |
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DUN |
The Third Eye
(age 10+) by Lois Duncan mystery For the first time in her life, Karen is part of the popular crowd at school. Then when one of the neighborhood children disappears, Karen discovers that she can somehow ``see'' the missing child. Will she use her gift in this dangerous game of hide-and-seek? |
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DOY |
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
(age 10+) by Arthur Conan Doyle short stories ... mystery A collection of Sherlock Holmes mystery adventures, including "A Scandal in Bohemia," "The Red-headed League," and "The Adventure of the Speckled Band." |
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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 Curse of Moustache Mary title: Sammy Keyes and the Sisters of Mercy title: Sammy Keyes and the Skeleton Man title: Sammy Keyes and the Runaway Elf |
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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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HOE |
Hermux Tantamoq Adventures (age 10+) by Michael Hoeye the arts ... mystery ... adventure ... friendship Hermux Tantamoq is an average mouse who works in his watch shop by day and spends his evenings at home. Nothing extraordinary has ever happened to him, but that changes when Linka Perflinger, daredevil aviatrix, drops off her watch to be repaired and steals his heart. But when a shady-looking rat tries to claim the repaired watch instead of Linka, Hermux knows something's gone wrong. Before long, Hermux is entangled in the convoluted schemes of an eccentric cosmetics tycoon, a sinister plastic surgeon, and a squad of ruthless lab rats. Hermux is caught up in a deadly race against time. title: Time Stops for No Mouse title: The Sands of Time: a [new] Hermux Tantamoq Adventure title: No Time Like Show Time: a Hermux Tantamoq Adventure |
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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 |