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ANG |
A Home is to Share... and Share... and Share
(age 9-12) by Judie Angell family ... enterprise ... animals When the Muchmore children start taking in stray animals, their parents are at first good-humored, but then the town animal shelter closes, business booms, their parents become impatient, and the children operate their haven in secret. |
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KIE |
Hocus Pocus: A Tale of Magnificent Magicians and Their Amazing Feats
(age 9-12) by Paul Kieve historical ... enterprise ... magic Catalog: A young Englishman, just starting his career as a magician, is helped by some of the greatest magicians in history as they step out of posters of themselves to help him master the tricks and techniques of the trade. |
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URB |
A Crooked Kind of Perfect
(age 9-12) by Linda Urban enterprise ... humor ... the arts ... family Ten-year-old Zoe Elias has perfect piano dreams. She can practically feel the keys under her flying fingers; she can hear the audience's applause. All she needs is a baby grand so she can start her lessons, and then she'll be well on her way to Carnegie Hall. But when Dad ventures to the music store and ends up with a wheezy organ instead of a piano, Zoe's dreams hit a sour note. Learning the organ versions of old TV theme songs just isn't the same as mastering Beethoven on the piano. And the organ isn't the only part of Zoe's life that's off-kilter, what with Mom constantly at work, Dad afraid to leave the house, and that odd boy, Wheeler Diggs, following her home from school every day. Yet when Zoe enters the annual Perform-O-Rama organ competition, she finds that life is full of surprises, and that perfection may be even better when it's just a little off center. |
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PAU |
Lawn Boy
(age 9-12) by Gary Paulsen humor ... enterprise One day I was 12 years old and broke. Then Grandma gave me Grandpa's old riding lawnmower. I set out to mow some lawns. More people wanted me to mow their lawns. And more and more. . . . One client was Arnold the stockbroker, who offered to teach me about "the beauty of capitalism. Supply and Demand. Diversify labor. Distribute the wealth." "Wealth?" I said. "It's groovy, man," said Arnold. If I'd known what was coming, I might have climbed on my mower and putted all the way home to hide in my room. But the lawn business grew and grew. So did my profits, which Arnold invested in many things. And one of them was Joey Pow the prizefighter. That's when my 12th summer got really interesting. |
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DEF |
The Apprenticeship of Lucas Whitaker
(age 9-12) by Cynthia C. DeFelice historical ... illness/loss ... enterprise It's 1849, and twelve-year-old, Lucas Whitaker is all alone after his whole family dies of a disease called consumption which has swept through the community. Lucas is grief-stricken and filled with guilt. He might have saved his mother, who was the last to die, if only he had listened to news of a strange cure for this deadly disease. Unable to manage the family farm by himself, Lucas finds work as an apprentice to Doc Beecher, doctor, dentist, barber and undertaker. Doc amputates a leg as easily as he pulls a tooth, yet when it comes to consumption, he remains powerless, unwilling to try the cure he calls nonsense. Lucas can't accept Doc's disbelief, and he joins others in the dark ritual they believe is their only hope. The startling results teach Lucas a great deal about fear, desperation, and the scientific reasoning that offers hope for a true cure. |
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KAR |
The Great Turkey Walk
(age 9-12) by Kathleen Karr enterprise ... humor ... historical Big, brawny Simon Green, who's just completed third grade (for the fourth time), may not be book smart, but he's nobody's fool. When it's time to be done with school and make his way in the world, Simon hatches a plan that could earn him a bundle. He intends to herd a huge flock of bronze turkeys all the way from his home in eastern Missouri to the boomtown of Denver, where they'll fetch a mighty price. In the year 1860, the hazards of such a trek are many - how does one shepherd the birds across a river, for instance? - but Simon is undaunted. Accompanied by a faithful drover, and eventually to be joined by two boon companions, he undertakes the biggest journey of his young life, in this high-spirited Wild Wild West adventure. |
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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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IBB |
Dial-a-Ghost
(age 9-12) by Eva Ibbotson humor ... enterprise ... spooky The Dial-a-Ghost Agency finds good homes for ghosts. And Fulton and Frieda Snodde-Brittle are looking for a few frightening ghosts to accidentally scare their young cousin and heir, Oliver, to death. The ladies at the Dial-a-Ghost Agency have the perfect match: the Shriekers, two bloodstained and bickering horrors. But thanks to a mix-up at the agency, the Wilkinsons, a kind family of ghosts, arrive instead. Can they put a stop to the Snodde-Brittles' schemes before it's too late? |
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CLI |
Gopher, Tanker, and the Admiral
(age 9-12) by Shirley Climo enterprise ... mystery Catalog: When other money-making efforts fail, a boy and his dog accept a summer job as companions to an old man, only to become involved in solving some neighborhood burglaries. |
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CLE |
Emily's Runaway Imagination
(age 9-12) by Beverly Cleary historical ... family ... humor ... enterprise Catalog: Emily's imagination helps bring a library to her town of Pitchfork, Oregon. |
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BUT |
The Enormous Egg
(age 9-12) by Oliver Butterworth humor ... enterprise Catalog: Twelve-year-old Nate Twitchell never had much excitement in his life, until one of his hens laid an egg the size of a melon, and the creature that hatched made world news. |
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BRI |
The Wish Giver: Three Tales of Coven Tree
(age 9-12) by Bill Brittain enterprise ... fantasy ... magic When a strange little man comes to the Coven Tree Church Social promising he can give people exactly what they ask for, three young believers-in-magic each make a wish that comes true in the most unexpected way. sequel: Dr. Dredd's Wagon of Wonders |
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NIX |
Young Americans Series (age 9-12) by Joan Lowery Nixon enterprise ... historical Each volume tells a personal story about life and work in Colonial Williamsburg. title: Ann's Story, 1747 title: Caesar's Story, 1759 |
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SLO |
The Trading Game
(age 9-12) by Alfred Slote family ... enterprise ... sports Andy loves to collect baseball cards, but most of all, he loves his grandfather, an ex-Major League baseball player who thinks that baseball card collecting is a useless hobby. When Andy must choose to either play by his grandfather's rules or do whatever it takes to trade for his grandfather's baseball card, he learns a valuable lesson on hero worship. |
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NAY |
Beetles, Lightly Toasted
(age 9-12) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor humor ... enterprise ... authorship Andy's entering the fifth-grade essay contest stirs his imagination to creative heights as he competes with his know-it-all cousin by making recipes with some unusual food sources and testing them on unaware friends and family. |
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NAM |
Yang the Eldest and His Odd Jobs
(age 9-12) by Lensey Namioka family ... the arts ... enterprise Third Sister and her siblings try to help Eldest Brother, the most talented musician in the Yang family, find work to pay for a new violin |
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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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RIT |
The Boy Who Saved Baseball
(age 9-12) by John Ritter enterprise ... humor ... sports Tom Gallagher finds himself in a tight spot. The fate of Dillontown rests on the outcome of one baseball game, winner take all. Maybe Tom has one hope: Cruz de la Cruz, the mysterious boy who has just ridden into town on horseback claiming to know the secret of hitting. |
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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's Think Tank title: Henry Reed's Big Show |
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GUT |
The Kid Who Ran for President
(age 9-12) by Dan Gutman enterprise ... humor With his friend as campaign manager and his former babysitter as running mate, twelve-year-old Judson Moon sets out to become President of the United States. sequel: The Kid Who Became President |
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FLE |
By the Great Horn Spoon!
(age 9-12) by Sid Fleischman historical ... adventure ... enterprise A gentleman's gentleman from Boston flees to the wilds of California during the Gold Rush and becomes a hero. |
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DEJ |
The Wheel on the School
(age 9-12) by Meindert DeJong school ... nature ... animals ... enterprise Why do the storks no longer come to the little Dutch fishing village of Shora to nest? It was Lina, one of the six schoolchildren who first asked the question, and she set the others to wondering. And sometimes when you begin to wonder, you begin to make things happen. So the children set out to bring the storks back to Shora. The force of their vision put the whole village to work until at last the dream began to come true. |