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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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CRE |
Heartbeat
(age 8-11) by Sharon Creech poetry ... growing up ... identity ... friendship ... family Twelve-year-old Annie ponders the many rhythms of life the year that her mother becomes pregnant, her grandfather begins to falter, and her best friend and running partner grows distant. |
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CRE |
Bloomability
(age 8-11) by Sharon Creech identity ... growing up ... family ... school Thirteen-year-old Domenica Santolina Doone, better known as Dinnie, is accustomed to change. Her family is constantly moving from town to town as her father searches for ``opportunity''. But when her aunt and uncle whisk her far away to an international school in Switzerland, she's not sure she's ready to face this ``opportunity'' alone. |
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SLO |
Matt Gargan's Boy
(age 8-11) by Alfred Slote growing up ... family ... sports Catalog: A major leaguer's son feels threatened when a girl tries out for his baseball team and his divorced mother becomes interested in the girl's father. |
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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 title: Samantha's Winter Party by Valerie Tripp F TRI | |
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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 Takes Flight title: Molly's Surprise: a Christmas Story |
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TRI |
Kit: an American Girl Series (age 8-11) by Valerie Tripp growing up ... family ... historical Stories about Kit and her family, running a boardinghouse during the Great Depression. title: Meet Kit: an American Girl title: Changes for Kit!: a Winter Story, 1934 title: Happy Birthday, Kit!: a Springtime Story, 1934 title: Kit Learns a Lesson: a School Story title: Kit Saves the Day!: a Summer Story, 1934 title: Kit'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 on the Trail 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: Felicity Learns a Lesson: a School Story title: Felicity Saves the Day: a Summer Story title: Felicity's New Sister 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: High Hopes for Addy |
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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 title: A Reward for Josefina |
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BUR |
Queenie Peavy
(age 8-11) by Robert Burch growing up ... school Publisher comments: The biggest troublemaker at school and the best shot in Georgia, Queenie Peavey feels she has a right to be angry when her father is thrown in jail. But what would happen if Queenie tried to behave for just one day? |
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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 title: Alvin Ho: Allergic to Camping, Hiking, and Other Natural Disasters title: Alvin Ho: Allergic to Dead Bodies, Funerals, and other Fatal Circumstances |
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MCG |
Julia Gillian Series (age 8-11) by Alison McGhee growing up ... friendship Publisher comments: Ten-year-old Julia Gillian knows everything about her quirky neighbors, her Minneapolis neighborhood, even the inscrutable "claw machine" in the back of the corner hardware store. The one thing Julia Gillian doesn't know is how the book she's reading is going to end. It doesn't seem as if it's going to have a happy ending, and that scares her. But Julia learns a little something about fear: sometimes you just have to work through it. And though bad things do happen sometimes, having good friends and family around you makes life a bit less scary - and much more fun. title: Julia Gillian (and the Art of Knowing) |
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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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MCD |
Julie, 1974: an American Girl Series (age 8-11) by Megan McDonald growing up ... friendship ... historical Julie Albright doesn't want to move away from her San Francisco neighborhood near Chinatown, even if their new apartment is just a few miles away. Moving means leaving her best friend, Ivy, and her pet rabbit, Nutmeg. Worst of all, it means leaving Dad, now that her parents are divorced. Julie tries to make the best of it by joining the school's basketball team, but the coach won't allow girls to play. She learns that it's up to her to make positive changes in her new school--and her new life. title: Meet Julie title: Changes for Julie title: Happy New Year, Julie title: Julie tells her story title: Julie's Journey |
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LIN |
Dumpling Days
(age 8-11) by Grace Lin realistic ... growing up ... humor ... identity Publisher comments: This summer, Pacy's family is going to Taiwan for an entire month to visit family and prepare for their grandmother's 60th birthday celebration. Pacy's parents have signed her up for a Chinese painting class, and at first she's excited. This is a new way to explore her art talent! But everything about the trip is harder than she thought it would be--she looks like everyone else but can't speak the language, she has trouble following the art teacher's instructions, and it's difficult to make friends in her class. At least the dumplings are delicious. As the month passes by, Pacy eats chicken feet (by accident!), gets blessed by a fortune teller, searches for her true identity, and grows closer to those who matter most. |
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LIN |
The Year of the Dog
(age 8-11) by Grace Lin realistic ... growing up ... humor ... identity This funny and profound novel tells the story of young Pacy who, as she celebrates the Chinese New Year with her family, discovers this is the year she is supposed to "find herself." sequel: The Year of the Rat |
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CAR |
What a Wimp
(age 8-11) by Carol Carrick growing up ... friendship Although his teacher, mother, and older brother are sympathetic, Barney knows he'll have to find his own way to deal with the bully, Lennie. |
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KIN |
Pigs Might Fly: a Novel
(age 8-11) by Dick King-Smith enterprise ... humor ... growing up Daggie Dogfoot, the runt of the litter, is in danger. The pigman, who takes all runts from their pens, is coming for him! But Daggie is a pig of remarkable qualities, and he's not about to let the Pigman get him. Instead, he runs away and decides to learn how to fly. But when he tries leaping off a cliff, he discovers another talent, a talent he'll need to save the entire farm. |
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WEL |
Wingwalker
(age 8-11) by Rosemary Wells growing up ... historical Once upon a time in America, half the people lost every dime they ever had. Then the coming of the Dust Bowl hit as hard as a prairie tornado. Reuben, just completing second grade in Ambler, Oklahoma, has grown up knowing the richness of farm life. Now his father, desperate to make ends meet, takes a job as a wingwalker in a traveling county fair. Uprooted from the life he's loved and afraid of his own shadow, Reuben needs a full measure of love and courage to get by. |
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GIF |
Poopsie Pomerantz, Pick Up Your Feet
(age 8-11) by Patricia Reilly Giff growing up ... sports ... the arts Poopsie Pomerantz is sure that ballet lessons will make her slim and graceful. But her friend Tracy Matson makes fun of Poopsie's efforts, saying there's no hope for chubby Poopsie. Tracy is surprised when Poopsie announces she's getting the starring role in her dance school's ballet. And Poopsie's surprised, too, because it's not true! She didn't mean to say that. Now she has to pray that Tracy doesn't come to the ballet, because guess which part Poopsie really has? |
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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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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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CUT |
Family Dinner
(age 8-11) by Jane Cutler realistic ... growing up ... family Great-Uncle Benson prepares exotic food dishes in order to lure Rachel's family to eat meals together. |
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COW |
How to Train Your Dragon Series (age 8-11) by Cressida Cowell growing up ... humor ... knights/castles/dragons Meet Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, heir of the Viking chiefdom, but a boy with one very big problem: a hero he is not. How to Train Your Dragon is the riotous story of Hiccup's quest to hunt down the fiercest dragon, bring it into submission, and (hopefully) pass his initiation. Instead, he ends up with the smallest, most ornery dragon ... it's even toothless! Thus begins the hijinx of the world's most lovable, unlikely hero and a most reluctant "beast." title: How to Train Your Dragon title: How to Speak Dragonese title: How to Twist a Dragon's Tale title: A Hero's Guide to Deadly Dragons title: How to Cheat a Dragon's Curse: the Heroic Misadventures of Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III |
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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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CON |
Crazy to Fly
(age 8-11) by Martha Orr Conn growing up ... historical Catalog: In 1918, after his first exposure to flying, a young farm boy determines to be a pilot despite his father's bitter opposition. |
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DEL |
Angel Series (age 8-11) by Judy Delton growing up ... family Although Angel loves her little brother, Rags, dearly, the constant responsibility of caring for him weighs heavily on her young shoulders title: Back Yard Angel title: Angel in Charge title: Angel's Mother's Baby title: Angel's Mother's Wedding |
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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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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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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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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 title: Lucy Rose: Working Myself to Pieces and Bits |
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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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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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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: Amelia Hits the Road title: Amelia Takes Command title: Amelia Works it Out title: Amelia Writes Again title: Amelia's Family Ties title: Amelia's Notebook title: Oh Boy, Amelia! |
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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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BLU |
Freckle Juice
(age 8-11) by Judy Blume growing up ... humor If Andrew had an amazing number of freckles like Nicky, his mother would never know if his neck was dirty. One day after school, Andrew works up enough courage to ask Nicky where he got his freckles. When know-it-all Sharon overhears, she offers Andrew her secret freckle juice recipe, for fifty cents. It's a lot of money, but Andrew is desperate. At home he carefully mixes the strange combination of ingredients. Then the unexpected happens... |
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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 Green With Envy title: Amber Brown Is Not a Crayon title: Amber Brown Sees Red title: Forever Amber Brown title: I, Amber Brown title: You Can't Eat Your Chicken Pox, Amber Brown |