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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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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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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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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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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.
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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
title: Nancy's Story, 1765
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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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BYA
McMummy (age 9-12)
by Betsy Cromer Byars
spooky ... humor ... science fiction ... enterprise
Looking after an eccentric scientist's greenhouse does not seem any stranger than the other odd jobs taken by Mozie and his partner Battie--until Mozie discovers a large, mummy-shaped pod on one of the plants.
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WOO
The Christmas Doll (age 9-12)
by Elvira Woodruff
traditions ... magic ... enterprise ... historical
Lucy and her sister Glory have only each other to lean on as they labor day after day in the workhouse. When they flee to escape a deadly fever, they find an old, discarded doll...but this is no ordinary toy. This story of love, hope, and redemption finds magic in the least likely places.
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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.

LM Nixon Elementary School, Sat Aug 25 11:55:32 2012
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