MYR |
Eleven
(age 9-12) by Lauren Myracle realistic ... humor ... friendship ... growing up Publisher comments: Eleven-year-old Winnie knows that change isn't all it's cracked up to be, especially when it means her best friend might be dropping her for someone else and her crush may have a nasty case of pinkeye. |
GIF |
Eleven
(age 9-12) by Patricia Reilly Giff realistic ... growing up ... family ... mystery ... identity Publisher comments: Sam is almost 11 when he discovers a locked box in the attic above his grandfather Mack’s room, and a piece of paper that says he was kidnapped. There are lots of other words, but Sam has always had trouble reading. He’s desperate to find out who he is, and if his beloved Mack is really his grandfather. At night he’s haunted by dreams of a big castle and a terrifying escape on a boat. Who can he trust to help him read the documents that could unravel the mystery? Then he and the new girl, Caroline, are paired up to work on a school project, building a castle in Mack’s woodworking shop. Caroline loves to read, and she can help. But she’s moving soon, and the two must hurry to discover the truth about Sam. |
GRE |
This Island Isn't Big Enough for the Four of Us!
(age 9-12) by Gery Greer realistic ... friendship ... humor Peter and Scott excitedly plan a camping trip to a deserted island, only to arrive and discover that two girls with zany senses of humor are already in residence. |
PAR |
Liza, Bill and Jed Mysteries (age 9-12) by Peggy Parish action ... adventure ... realistic ... mystery Who or what is taking the kitchen scraps from the garbage every night? What starts out as a puzzle becomes a mystery. Every night Grandma leaves table scraps in a wrapped plastic bag in the garbage can where, according to plan, the McNellis children pick them up to feed their kittens. But the plan changes when the bag is gone in the morning. The twins, Liza and Bill, and brother Jed decide to investigate the matter. First the children discover Liza's missing red sweater in a part of the woods she hadn't been to before, next they read about runaway children in the newspaper, and then their new puppy is lost. Finally they find a teepee in the woods with what seems to be Indians in warpaint dancing and shooting arrows! The young detectives must put all the clues together and solve the mystery. title: Haunted House |
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 |
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 |
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. |
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. |
LOW |
Anastasia Series (age 9-12) by Lois Lowry growing up ... realistic ... humor ... family To Anastasia Krupnik, being ten is very confusing. For one thing, she has this awful teacher who can't understand why Anastasia doesn't capitalize or punctuate her poems. Then, there's Washburn Cummings, a very interesting sixth-grade boy who doesn't even know she is alive. Even her parents have become difficult. On top of that, they're going to have a baby, at their age! It's enough to make a kid want to do something terrible. Anastasia knows that if she didn't have her secret green notebook to write in, she would never make it to her eleventh birthday. Fans of Anastasia will enjoy this author's books about her little brother Sam as well. title: Anastasia Krupnik title: Anastasia Again! title: Anastasia, Absolutely title: Anastasia at This Address title: Anastasia at Your Service title: Anastasia, Ask Your Analyst |
KON |
From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
(age 9-12) by E. L. Konigsburg realistic ... the arts ... mystery ... adventure Claudia knew that she could never pull off the old-fashioned kind of running away...so she decided not to run FROM somewhere, but TO somewhere. And so, after some careful planning, she and her younger brother, Jamie, escaped right into a mystery that made headlines! |
ROB |
Henry Reed Adventures (age 9-12) by Keith Robertson realistic ... adventure ... humor ... enterprise Henry Reed has a talent for making things happen, and with his neighbor Midge in on the action, there's nothing they can't do. title: Henry Reed, Inc. title: Henry Reed's Baby-sitting Service title: Henry Reed's Think Tank |
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 Start the War and The Girls Get Even title: The Girls Get Even title: The Boys Return title: The Girls' Revenge title: A Traitor Among the Boys title: A Spy Among the Girls title: Boys In Control title: The Girls Take Over title: Boys Against Girls |
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. |
BLU |
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing
(age 9-12) by Judy Blume realistic ... humor ... family Living with his little brother, Fudge, makes Peter feel like a fourth grade nothing. Fudge is never far from trouble. He's a two-year-old terror who gets away with everything, and Peter's had enough. sequel: Superfudge sequel: Double Fudge sequel: Fudge-a-mania |