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. |
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: 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 Saves the Wedding by Valerie Tripp F TRI | |
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's Surprise: a Christmas Story |
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 |
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 Saves the Day title: Kirsten's Surprise: a Christmas Story |
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: Changes for Felicity: a Winter Story title: Felicity Learns a Lesson: a School Story title: Felicity Saves the Day: a Summer Story title: Felicity's Surprise: a Christmas Story title: Happy Birthday, Felicity!: a Springtime Story |
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: Meet Addy: an American Girl title: Addy Learns a Lesson: a School Story title: Addy Saves the Day: a Summer Story title: Addy's Little Brother title: Addy's Surprise: a Christmas Story title: Changes for Addy: a Winter Story title: Happy Birthday, Addy!: a Springtime Story |
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: Josefina Learns a Lesson: a School Story title: Josefina Saves the Day: a Summer Story title: Josefina's Surprise: a Christmas Story |
AVI |
Don't You Know There's a War On?
(age 8-11) by Avi growing up ... school ... historical ... war ... humor Publisher comments: World War II is on everyone's mind and in every headline, and Howie Crispers has a hunch that his school principal is a spy. With a little snooping around, Howie finds out something even more alarming. Principal Lomister may not be a spy, but he is plotting to get rid of Howie's favorite teacher. Howie's dad is fighting Nazis overseas, and his mom is working hard to support the war effort, so Miss Gossim is the only person Howie can depend on. With the help of his friends, and a plan worthy of radio show superhero Captain Midnight, Howie intends to save Miss Gossim! |
GOW |
Amelia Rules! Series (age 8-11) by Jimmy Gownley family ... growing up ... friendship A collection of comic stories featuring Amelia, who has moved from Manhattan to a small town in the wake of her parent's divorce. Fortunately, Amelia has her fourth-grade friends, the Gathering of Awesome Super Pals, otherwise known as G.A.S.P. title: The Whole World's Crazy title: Superheroes |
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 |
BUC |
The Big Wave
(age 8-11) by Pearl S. Buck survival ... growing up ... family ... illness/loss Kino lives on a farm on the side of a mountain in Japan. His friend, Jiya, lives in a fishing village below. Everyone, including Kino and Jiya, has heard of the big wave. No one suspects it will wipe out the whole village and Jiya's family, too. As Jiya struggles to overcome his sorrow, he understands it is in the presence of danger that one learns to be brave, and to appreciate how wonderful life can be. |
BRO |
Tangles
(age 8-11) by Errol Broome growing up ... friendship When she takes money from her neighbor's wallet in order to buy a kitten, Sophie finds that she cannot live with the guilt. |
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. |
SPI |
Summerhouse Time
(age 8-11) by Eileen Spinelli family ... growing up Every year a rented pink cottage full of family, swapping stories, and riding waves mean Summerhouse Time for Sophie. Best of all is sharing a room with her favorite cousin and laughing and trading secrets like two happy peas in a cousin pod. Sophie can't wait! But when she asks the now-a-teenager Colleen if she's looking forward to their time together, Colleen just says "I guess so." What? It's the best time of the year, the time they both love. In just a little bit, they will all be together in the cottage on the beach. Will this year be just as wonderful, just like always? |
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 and the Eagles title: Julie tells her story title: Julie's Journey |
American Girl Today Series (age 8-11) enterprise ... growing up Stories of modern girls who make things happen. title: Kailey by Amy Goldman Koss F KOS title: Marisol by Gary Soto F SOT | |
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. |
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. |
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. |
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. |
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. |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 Bites the Bullet title: Angel Spreads Her Wings title: Angel's Mother's Baby title: Angel's Mother's Boyfriend title: Angel's Mother's Wedding |
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. |
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. |
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: Busy Like You Can't Believe title: Lucy Rose: Working Myself to Pieces and Bits |
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 |
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. |
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's Notebook title: Amelia's Boredom Survival Guide: First Aid for Rainy Days, Boring Errands, Waiting Rooms, Whatever! |
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. |
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... |
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. |
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: Amber Brown Wants Extra Credit title: Forever Amber Brown title: I, Amber Brown title: You Can't Eat Your Chicken Pox, Amber Brown |