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ALE |
The Marvelous Misadventures of Sebastian; Grand Extravaganza, Including a Performance by the Entire Cast of the Gallimaufry-Theatricus
(age 10+) by Lloyd Alexander adventure ... voyages/journeys ... humor ... the arts When he loses his place as fourth fiddler in a noble household, Sebastian sets out into the world to seek his fortune. |
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KON |
The Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place
(age 10+) by E. L. Konigsburg realistic ... brilliant protagonist ... humor ... the arts ... identity Publisher comments: "I Prefer Not To...." That's Margaret Rose Kane's response to every activity she's asked to participate in at the summer camp to which she's been exiled while her parents are in Peru. So Margaret Rose is delighted when her beloved uncles rescue her from Camp Talequa, with its uptight camp director and cruel cabinmates, and bring her to stay with them at their wonderful house at 19 Schuyler Place. But Margaret Rose soon discovers that something is terribly wrong at 19 Schuyler Place. People in their newly gentrified neighborhood want to get rid of the three magnificent towers the uncles have spent forty-five years lovingly constructing of scrap metal and shards of glass and porcelain. Margaret Rose is outraged, and determined to strike a blow for art, for history, and for individuality...and no one is more surprised than Margaret Rose at the allies she finds for her mission. |
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TOL |
Surviving the Applewhites
(age 10+) by Stephanie S. Tolan humor ... growing up ... school ... friendship Publisher comments: Will anyone take on Jake Semple? Jake Semple is notorious. Rumor has it he burned down his old school and got kicked out of every school in his home state. Only one place will take him now, and that's a home school run by the Applewhites, a chaotic and hilarious family of artists. The only one who doesn't fit the Applewhite mold is E.D., a smart, sensible girl who immediately clashes with the unruly Jake. Jake thinks surviving this one will be a breeze, but is he really as tough or as bad as he seems? |
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BAU |
Hope Was Here
(age 10+) by Joan Bauer growing up ... family ... humor Catalog: When sixteen-year-old Hope and the aunt who has raised her move from Brooklyn to Mulhoney, Wisconsin, to work as waitress and cook in the Welcome Stairways diner, they become involved with the diner owner's political campaign to oust the town's corrupt mayor. |
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KOR |
No More Dead Dogs
(age 10+) by Gordon Korman the arts ... school ... humor Eighth-grade football hero Wallace Wallace is sentenced to detention attending rehearsals of the school play where, in spite of himself, he becomes wrapped up in the production and begins to suggest changes that improve not only the play but his life as well. |
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PEC |
Fair Weather: a Novel
(age 10+) by Richard Peck family ... humor ... historical In 1893, thirteen-year-old Rosie and members of her family travel from their Illinois farm to Chicago to visit Aunt Euterpe and attend the World's Columbian Exposition which, along with an encounter with Buffalo Bill and Lillian Russell, turns out to be a life-changing experience for everyone. |
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VAN |
Flipped
(age 10+) by Wendelin Van Draanen humor ... friendship ... growing up The first time she saw him, she flipped. The first time he saw her, he ran. That was the second grade, but not much has changed by the seventh. She says: "My Bryce. Still walking around with my first kiss." He says: "It's been six years of strategic avoidance and social discomfort." But in the eighth grade everything gets turned upside down. And just as he's thinking there's more to her than meets the eye, she's thinking that he's not quite all he seemed. This is a classic romantic comedy of errors told in alternating chapters by two fresh, funny new voices. Wendelin Van Draanen is at her best here with a knockout cast of quirky characters and a hilarious series of misunderstandings and missed opportunities. But underlying the humor are two teens in transition. They are each learning to look beyond the surface of people, both figuring out who they are, who they want to be, and who they want to be with. |
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STR |
The Bartimaeus Trilogy (age 10+) by Jonathan Stroud humor ... adventure ... action ... fantasy ... magic Nathaniel is a young magician's apprentice, taking his first lessons in the arts of magic. But when a devious hotshot wizard named Simon Lovelace ruthlessly humiliates Nathaniel in front of everyone he knows, Nathaniel decides to kick up his education a few notches and show Lovelace who's boss. With revenge in his mind, he masters one of the toughest spells of all: summoning the all-powerful djinni, Bartimaeus. But summoning Bartimaeus and controlling him are two different things entirely, and when Nathaniel sends the djinni out to steal the powerful Amulet of Samarkand, Nathaniel finds himself caught up in a whirlwind of magical espionage, murder, blackmail, and revolt. title: The Amulet of Samarkand |
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SCH |
The Wednesday Wars
(age 10+) by Gary Schmidt school ... humor ... growing up ... historical Meet Holling Hoodhood, a seventh-grader at Camillo Junior High, who must spend Wednesday afternoons with his teacher, Mrs. Baker, while the rest of the class has religious instruction. Mrs. Baker doesn't like Holling, he's sure of it. Why else would she make him read the plays of William Shakespeare outside class? But everyone has bigger things to worry about, like Vietnam. His father wants Holling and his sister to be on their best behavior: the success of his business depends on it. But how can Holling stay out of trouble when he has so much to contend with? A bully demanding cream puffs; angry rats; and a baseball hero signing autographs the very same night Holling has to appear in a play in yellow tights! As fate sneaks up on him again and again, Holling finds Motivation...the Big M...in the most unexpected places and musters up the courage to embrace his destiny, in spite of himself. |
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KRE |
Alex and the Ironic Gentleman: a Novel
(age 10+) by Adrienne Kress humor ... fantasy ... adventure This smart, funny mixture of fantasy and high adventure is the story of Alex Morningside, an inquisitive girl who is often mistaken for a boy because of her bowl haircut. A student at the prestigious Wigpowder-Steele Academy, Alex discovers one of her teachers has a mysterious family secret which leads her to a pirate ship called "The Ironic Gentleman." |
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SWI |
Gulliver's Travels
(age 10+) by Jonathan Swift fantasy ... humor The unusual voyages of Englishman Lemuel Gulliver carry him to such strange locales as Lilliput, where the inhabitants are six inches tall; Brobdingnag, a land of giants; an island of sorcerers; and a nation ruled by horses. |
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TWA |
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
(age 10+) by Mark Twain adventure ... humor While floating down the Mississippi River in the nineteenth century, a boy and a runaway slave experience many adventures, involving a feuding family, two scoundrels pretending to be royalty, and Tom Sawyer's aunt, who mistakes him for Tom. Sequel to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. |
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GLI |
Pure Dead Series (age 10+) by Debi Gliori fantasy ... humor ... spooky ... magic Things are not right at the Strega-Borgia castle. Signor Luciano Strega-Borgia has been kidnapped. Signora Baci Strega-Borgia is struggling with her spells at the Advanced Witchcraft Institute. Titus and Pandora don't like their suspiciously cheerful and fearless new nanny. Baby Damp has been accidentally shrunk, e-mailed, and lost on the World Wide Web. And to top it off, there's a gangster in a bunny suit lurking about. . . . This seriously over-the-top, gothic romp is sure to have readers clamoring for the next Strega-Borgia adventure. title: Pure Dead Magic title: Pure Dead Brilliant title: Pure Dead Wicked title: Pure Dead Trouble |
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HIA |
Flush
(age 10+) by Carl Hiaasen humor ... adventure ... nature Noahs dad is sure that the owner of a casino boat is flushing raw sewage into the harbor. Now Noah is determined to succeed where his dad had failed, and do whatever it takes to prove that the boat owner is dumping illegally. |
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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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PRA |
The Johnny Maxwell Trilogy (age 10+) by Terry Pratchett action ... war ... science fiction ... humor ... adventure The alien spaceship is in his sights. His finger is on the Fire button. Johnny Maxwell is about to set the new high score on the computer game Only You Can Save Mankind. Suddenly: ``We wish to talk.'' Huh? ``We surrender.'' The aliens aren't supposed to surrender. Now what is Johnny going to do with a fleet of alien prisoners who know their rights under the international rules of war and are demanding safe-conduct? It's hard enough trying to save Mankind from the Galactic Hordes. It's even harder trying to save the Galactic Hordes from Mankind. But it's just a game, isn't it? Isn't it? title: Only You Can Save Mankind |
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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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HOR |
Everything on a Waffle
(age 10+) by Polly Horvath growing up ... family ... humor Eleven-year-old Primrose, living in a small fishing village in British Columbia, recounts with surprising humor her experiences and all she learns about human nature and the unpredictability of life after her parents are lost at sea. |
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BLO |
Tangerine
(age 10+) by Edward Bloor adventure ... humor ... family ... sports Paul Fisher plays soccer despite the thick glasses he wears because of a mysterious eye injury. When his family moves to Tangerine, Florida, strange things start to happen, but nothing is stranger than the secrets Paul finds out about his older brother, his new friends, and his own dangerous past. |
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WRE |
The Enchanted Forest Chronicles (age 10+) by Patricia C. Wrede princesses ... knights/castles/dragons ... fantasy ... humor This series begins with Dealing With Dragons. Bored with traditional palace life, a princess goes off to live with a group of dragons and soon becomes involved with fighting against some disreputable wizards who want to steal away the dragons' kingdom. title: Dealing With Dragons title: Searching For Dragons title: Calling on Dragons title: Talking to Dragons |
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SPI |
Maniac Magee : a Novel
(age 10+) by Jerry Spinelli folklore ... humor ... bigotry ... realistic ... friendship ... sports After his parents die, Jeffrey Lionel Magee's life becomes legendary, as he accomplishes athletic and other feats which awe his contemporaries. |
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JAC |
The Redwall Series (age 10+) by Brian Jacques fantasy ... humor ... adventure Each dazzling story in the Redwall series is packed with wit, wisdom, humor, and blood-curdling adventure. title: Redwall title: Mariel of Redwall title: Martin the Warrior title: The Bellmaker title: Outcast of Redwall title: The Long Patrol: a Tale from Redwall title: Taggerung: a Tale From Redwall |
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HON |
Don't Pat the Wombat!
(age 10+) by Elizabeth Honey school ... humor Mark Ryder gives us the good, the bad, and the messy in this antic account of his friends' misadventures during a week of school-camp in the Australian Outback. Camp is everything the boys expect and more...there are caves to explore, mud fights, bad showers, great food, hidden candy, wombats, and leeches. Then disaster strikes: Mr. Cromwell (a.k.a. Crom the Bomb) arrives as a substitute chaperon. |
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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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ALE |
The Prydain Chronicles (age 10+) by Lloyd Alexander folklore ... humor ... fantasy ... adventure In the first book of the Prydain Chronicles, Taran, Assistant Pig-Keeper to a famous oracular sow, sets out on a hazardous mission to save Prydain from the forces of evil. title: The Black Cauldron title: The Castle of Llyr title: Taran Wanderer title: The High King |