F HOF	Aquamarine (age 10+) by Alice Hoffman fantasy ... growing up ... friendship Publisher comments: Hailey and Claire are spending their last summer together when they discover something at the bottom of the murky pool at the Capri Beach Club. There in the depths is a mysterious and beautiful creature with a sharp tongue and a broken heart: a mermaid named Aquamarine who has left her six sisters to search for love on land. Now, as this mythological yet very real being starts to fade in the burning August sun, a rescue is begun. On the edge of growing up, during a summer that is the hottest on record, Hailey and Claire are discovering that life can take an unpredictable course, friendship is forever, and magic can be found in the most unexpected places.
F HAD	Just Ella (age 10+) by Margaret Peterson Haddix friendship ... princesses Publisher comments: You've heard the fairytale: a glass slipper, Prince Charming, happily ever after... Welcome to reality: royal genealogy lessons, needlepoint, acting like "a proper lady," and (worst of all) a prince who is not the least bit interesting, and certainly not charming. As soon-to-be princess Ella deals with her newfound status, she comes to realize she is not "your majesty" material. But breaking off a royal engagement is no easy feat, especially when you're crushing on another boy in the palace.... For Ella to escape, it will take intelligence, determination, and spunk...and no ladylike behavior allowed.
F IBB	The Dragonfly Pool (age 10+) by Eva Ibbotson adventure ... friendship ... fantasy Publisher comments: At first Tally doesn't want to go to the boarding school called Delderton. But she soon discovers that it is a wonderful place where freedom and self-expression are valued. Tally organizes a ragtag dance troupe so the school can participate in an international folk dancing festival in Bergania in the summer of 1939. There she befriends Karil, the crown prince, who would love nothing more than to have ordinary friends and attend a school like Delderton. When Karilas father is assassinated, it is up to Tally and her friends to help Karil escape the Nazis and the bleak future he has inherited.
F LUP	The Big Field (age 10+) by Mike Lupica action ... friendship ... sports ... family Publisher comments: For Hutch, shortstop has always been home. It's where his father once played professionally, before injuries relegated him to watching games on TV instead of playing them. And it's where Hutch himself has always played and starred. Until now. The arrival of Darryl "D-Will" Williams, the top shortstop prospect from Florida since A-Rod, means Hutch is displaced, in more ways than one. Second base feels like second fiddle, and when he sees his father giving fielding tips to D-Will...the same father who can't be bothered to show up to watch his son play. Hutch feels betrayed. With the summer league championship on the line, just how far is Hutch willing to bend to be a good teammate?
F 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.
F TAR	Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree (age 10+) by Lauren Tarshis brilliant protagonist ... friendship ... school Emma-Jean Lazarus is the smartest and strangest girl at William Gladstone Middle School. Her classmates don't understand her, but that's okay because Emma-Jean doesn't quite get them either. But one afternoon, all that changes when she sees Colleen Pomerantz crying in the girl's room. It is through Colleen that Emma-Jean gets a glimpse into what it is really like to be a seventh grader. And what she finds will send her tumbling out of a tree and questioning why she ever got involved in the first place.
F STE	The Mysterious Benedict Society Series (age 10+) by Trenton Lee Stewart friendship ... science fiction ... brilliant protagonist ... adventure ... school "Are you a gifted child looking for special opportunities?" When this peculiar ad appears in the newspaper, dozens of children enroll to take a series of mysterious, mind-bending tests. (And you, dear reader, can test your wits right alongside them.) But in the end just four very special children will succeed. Their challenge: to go on a secret mission that only the most intelligent and resourceful children could complete. To accomplish it they will have to go undercover at the Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened, where the only rule is that there are no rules. As our heroes face physical and mental trials beyond their wildest imaginations, they have no choice but to turn to each other for support. But with their newfound friendship at stake, will they be able to pass the most important test of all? title: The Mysterious Benedict Society
F MCK	A Friendship for Today (age 10+) by Pat McKissack bigotry ... friendship ... historical In 1954 Missouri, 12-year-old Rosemary Patterson is about to make history as one of the first African-American students to enter the all-white school in her town. When the girl who has shown her the most cruelty becomes an unlikely confidante, Rosemary learns important truths about the power of friendship to overcome prejudice.
F KAD	Kira-kira (age 10+) by Cynthia Kadohata bigotry ... family ... friendship ... illness/loss kira-kira (kee ra kee ra): glittering; shining. Glittering. That's how Katie Takeshima's sister, Lynn, makes everything seem. The sky is kira-kira because its color is deep but see-through at the same time. The sea is kira-kira for the same reason. And so are people's eyes. When Katie and her family move from a Japanese community in Iowa to the Deep South of Georgia, it's Lynn who explains to her why people stop on the street to stare. And it's Lynn who, with her special way of viewing the world, teaches Katie to look beyond tomorrow. But when Lynn becomes desperately ill, and the whole family begins to fall apart, it is up to Katie to find a way to remind them all that there is always something glittering, kira-kira, in the future.
F FRE	The Mother-Daughter Book Club (age 10+) by Heather Vogel Frederick authorship ... family ... friendship Even if Megan would rather be at the mall, Cassidy is late for hockey practice, Emma's already read every book in existence, and Jess is missing her mother too much to care, the new book club is scheduled to meet every month. But what begins as a mom-imposed ritual of reading Little Women soon helps four unlikely friends navigate the drama of middle school. From stolen journals, to secret crushes, to a fashion-fiasco first dance, the girls are up to their Wellie boots in drama. They can't help but wonder: What would Jo March do?
F DIC	The Tiger Rising (age 10+) by Kate DiCamillo illness/loss ... growing up ... friendship Walking through the misty Florida woods one morning, twelve-year-old Rob Horton is stunned to encounter a tiger ... a real-life, very large tiger ... pacing back and forth in a cage. What's more, on the same extraordinary day, he meets Sistine Bailey, a girl who shows her feelings as readily as Rob hides his. As they learn to trust each other, and ultimately, to be friends, Rob and Sistine prove that some things ... like memories, and heartaches, and tigers ... can't be locked up forever.
F SNY	The Changeling (age 10+) by Zilpha Keatley Snyder growing up ... friendship Ivy Carson belonged to the notorious Carson family, which lived in a run-down house in suburban Rosewood. But Ivy was not a typical Carson. There was something wonderful about her. Ivy explained it by saying that she was a changeling, a child of supernatural parents who had been exchanged for the real Ivy Carson at birth.
F HEI	Precious Gold, Precious Jade (age 10+) by Sharon Heisel friendship ... historical ... bigotry A young woman befriends a Chinese family despite the racism and fear that overwhelm the residents of her small western mining town at the end of the gold rush.
F HOL	The Broadway Ballplayers (age 10+) by Haureen Holohan friendship ... sports Meet the Ballplayers, a fearless five with a passion for sports, hanging with friends, and life on Broadway Avenue. As the new summer basketball league kicks off, these five friends team up to form the Broadway Ballplayers. But Molly and the others run into some serious competition both on and off the court. Can they bring the championship home to Broadway Avenue? title: The Broadway Ballplayers: Friday Nights by Molly
F HAL	Princess Academy (age 10+) by Shannon Hale princesses ... fantasy ... friendship ... school Miri lives on a mountain where, for generations, her ancestors have quarried stone and lived a simple life. Then word comes that the king's priests have divined her small village the home of the future princess. In a year's time, the prince himself will come and choose his bride from among the girls of the village. The king's ministers set up an academy on the mountain, and every teenage girl must attend and learn how to become a princess. Miri soon finds herself confronted with a harsh academy mistress, bitter competition among the girls, and her own conflicting desires to be chosen and win the heart of her childhood best friend. But when bandits seek out the academy to kidnap the future princess, Miri must rally the girls together and use a power unique to the mountain dwellers to save herself and her classmates.
F FLE	Flying Solo (age 10+) by Ralph Fletcher friendship ... school ... illness/loss Rachel, having chosen to be mute following the sudden death of a classmate, shares responsibility with the other sixth-graders who decide not to report that the substitute teacher failed to show up.
F WAU	Space Race (age 10+) by Sylvia Waugh friendship ... family ... science fiction Every night before going to sleep, 11-year-old Thomas Derwent says to his father, "Nallytan, Vateelin mesht." It's the one thing he remembers from the language of The Other Place, and Thomas has never thought much about it. Until now. Now, because his father has told him that they're leaving. Not just the small town in England where they live, but Earth. They're returning to The Other Place, the planet of Ormingat, from which they came five years before. It was so long ago, though, that Thomas can't remember anything about his life there. All he knows is his life on Earth, and he can't imagine leaving the places and people he loves so much. But the only other option is to stay behind. Alone.
F SPI	Crash (age 10+) by Jerry Spinelli family ... friendship ... growing up Seventh-grader John "Crash" Coogan has always been comfortable with his tough, aggressive behavior, until his relationship with an unusual Quaker boy and his grandfather's stroke make him consider the meaning of friendship and the importance of family.
F 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.
F SNY	The Egypt Game (age 10+) by Zilpha Keatley Snyder spooky ... adventure ... friendship The first time Melanie Ross meets April Hall, she's not sure they'll have anything in common. But she soon discovers that they both love anything to do with ancient Egypt. When they stumble upon a deserted storage yard behind the A-Z Antiques and Curio Shop, Melanie and April decide it's the perfect spot for Egypt Game. Before long there are six Egyptians instead of two. Everyone thinks it's just a game, until strange things begin happening to the players. Has the Egypt Game gone too far? sequel: The Gypsy Game
F FIN	Bad Dreams (age 10+) by Anne Fine spooky ... school ... friendship Despite her preference for books over friends, Melanie gradually becomes involved with a new classmate, and realizes that her her friend has a special gift that is also a burden.
F PAT	The Same Stuff as Stars (age 10+) by Katherine Patterson growing up ... friendship ... family When Angel's self-absorbed mother leaves her and her younger brother with their poor great-grandmother, the eleven-year-old girl worries not only about her mother and brother, her imprisoned father, the frail old woman, but also about a mysterious man who begins sharing with her the wonder of the stars.
F TAY	The Cay (age 10+) by Theodore Taylor voyages/journeys ... friendship ... bigotry ... adventure ... historical When the freighter on which they are traveling is torpedoed by a German submarine during World War II, an adolescent white boy, blinded by a blow on the head, and an old black man are stranded on a tiny Caribbean island where the boy acquires a new kind of vision, courage, and love from his old companion. sequel: Timothy of the Cay
F 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.
F PAT	Bridge to Terabithia (age 10+) by Katherine Paterson realistic ... friendship Jess Aaron's greatest ambition is to be the fastest runner in the fifth grade. He's been practicing all summer and can't wait to see his classmates' faces when he beats them all. But on the first day of school, a new kid, a new girl, boldly crosses over to the boys' side of the playground and outruns everyone. That's not a very promising beginning for a friendship, but Jess and Leslie Burke become inseparable. It doesn't matter to Jess that Leslie dresses funny, or that her family has a lot of money, but no TV. Leslie has amazing imagination.
F LOW	Number the Stars (age 10+) by Lois Lowry survival ... bigotry ... friendship ... historical In 1943, during the German occupation of Denmark, ten-year-old Annemarie learns how to be brave and courageous when she helps shelter her Jewish friend from the Nazis.
F HOE	Hermux Tantamoq Adventures (age 10+) by Michael Hoeye the arts ... mystery ... adventure ... friendship Hermux Tantamoq is an average mouse who works in his watch shop by day and spends his evenings at home. Nothing extraordinary has ever happened to him, but that changes when Linka Perflinger, daredevil aviatrix, drops off her watch to be repaired and steals his heart. But when a shady-looking rat tries to claim the repaired watch instead of Linka, Hermux knows something's gone wrong. Before long, Hermux is entangled in the convoluted schemes of an eccentric cosmetics tycoon, a sinister plastic surgeon, and a squad of ruthless lab rats. Hermux is caught up in a deadly race against time. title: Time Stops for No Mouse title: The Sands of Time: a [new] Hermux Tantamoq Adventure title: No Time Like Show Time: a Hermux Tantamoq Adventure
F CRE	Walk Two Moons (age 10+) by Sharon Creech illness/loss ... identity ... growing up ... friendship ... voyages/journeys ... family As Salamanca travels cross-country with her eccentric grandparents, she tells the story of Phoebe Winterbottom, who received mysterious messages, who met a ``potential lunatic,'' and whose mother disappeared--just like Sal's.
F BYN	Molly Moon Series (age 10+) by Georgia Byng identity ... mystery ... magic ... adventure ... friendship ... family Molly Moon is no ordinary orphan. When she finds a mysterious old book on hypnotism, she discovers she can make people do whatever she wants. But a sinister stranger is watching her every move, and he'll do anything to steal her hypnotic secret... title: Molly Moon's Incredible Book of Hypnotism title: Molly Moon Stops the World

LM Nixon Elementary School, Sat Aug 25 11:55:32 2012 Other themes and genres