F DUE	Silence and Lily: 1773 (age 10+) by Kathleen Duey adventure ... animals ... historical Publisher comments: The year is 1773, and in Boston, the tensions between the colonists and the British are heating up. For twelve-year-old Silence, the tensions at home are running high as well. All she wants is a chance to call Lily—a beautiful snow-white mare—her own. But Silence's mother does not think it fitting for a young girl to spend so much time out riding and being reckless. Then, in the days leading up to the dramatic Boston Tea Party, Silence learns that someone has been taking Lily out under the cover of darkness. When the whole family is threatened by the events, Silence begins to worry that if she doesn't do something drastic, she may lose Lily forever.
F ADL	That Horse Whiskey (age 10+) by Carole S. Adler friendship ... animals Disappointed when her father cannot fulfill his promise of buying her a horse for her thirteenth birthday, Lainey throws her energy into training a neighbor's cantankerous horse, with whom she soon falls in love.
F AIK	Nightbirds on Nantucket (age 10+) by Joan Aiken animals ... humor ... fantasy ... adventure Having had enough of life on board the ship that saved her from a watery grave, Dido Twite wants nothing more than to sail home to England. Instead, Captain Casket's ship lands in Nantucket, where Dido and the captain's daughter, Dutiful Penitence, are left in the care of Dutiful's sinister Aunt Tribulation. In Tribulation's farmhouse, life is unbearable. When mysterious men lurk about in the evening fog, the resourceful Dido rallies against their shenanigans with help from Dutiful, a cabinboy named Nate, and a pink whale.
F KAD	Cracker! The Best Dog in Vietnam (age 10+) by Cynthia Kadohata historical ... adventure ... friendship ... animals ... war CRACKER IS ONE OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY'S MOST VALUABLE WEAPONS: a German shepherd trained to sniff out bombs, traps, and the enemy. The fate of entire platoons rests on her keen sense of smell. She's a Big Deal, and she likes it that way. Sometimes Cracker remembers when she was younger, and her previous owner would feed her hot dogs and let her sleep in his bed. That was nice, too. Rick Hanski is headed to Vietnam. There, he's going to whip the world and prove to his family and his sergeant (and everyone else who didn't think he was cut out for war) wrong. But sometimes Rick can't help but wonder that maybe everyone else is right. Maybe he should have just stayed at home and worked in his dad's hardware store. When Cracker is paired with Rick, she isn't so sure about this new owner. He's going to have to prove himself to her before she's going to prove herself to him. They need to be friends before they can be a team, and they have to be a team if they want to get home alive.
F GEO	Charlie's Raven (age 10+) by Jean Craighead George family ... nature ... animals Charlie, having heard from his Teton Sioux Indian friend that ravens can cure people, brings home a baby raven in hopes of helping his ailing grandfather, and sets the stage for a learning experience that brings new life to everyone in his family.
F GAN	Aldabra, or, The Tortoise Who Loved Shakespeare (age 10+) by Silvana Gandolfi fantasy ... animals In Venice, Italy, ten-year-old Elisa finds she must deal with all the unexpected consequences of her beloved eccentric grandmother's transformation into a giant Aldabra tortoise, native to a small group of coral islands in the Seychelles.
F AHL	The Improbable Cat (age 10+) by Allan Ahlberg animals ... spooky It all begins when David's family takes in a stray kitten. At least that's what the creature appears to be. But David and his faithful dog, Billy, immediately sense something terribly amiss. Then indeed "something crazy--impossible--horrific" happens. . . .
F FOX	One-Eyed Cat: a Novel (age 10+) by Paula Fox growing up ... animals ... historical Ned fired the forbidden rifle just once, at a flickering shadow in the autumn moonlight. But someone ... a face, fleetingly seen staring at him from an attic window ... was watching. And when a one-eyed cat turns up at an elderly neighbor's woodshed, Ned is caught in a web of guilt, fear, and shame that he cannot escape ... until another moonlit night, come spring, brings redemption and surprising revelations.
F MAR	The Fledglings (age 10+) by Sandra Markle nature ... family ... illness/loss ... animals Orphaned after the death of her mother, fourteen-year-old Kate runs away to live with her grandfather, a Cherokee Indian who is fighting the poaching of predator birds.
F WIS	Mustang Flats (age 10+) by G. Clifton Wisler war ... animals ... historical ... adventure ... family When his father returns from the war in 1865, fourteen-year-old Alby finds his beloved Pa a changed man and can only hope that they will be friends again.
F ECK	Incident at Hawk's Hill (age 10+) by Allan W. Eckert animals ... survival ... adventure Six-year-old Ben is very small for his age, and gets along better with animals than people. One June day in 1870, Ben wanders away from his home on Hawk's Hill and disappears into the waving prairie grass. This is the story of how a shy, lonely boy survives for months in the wilds and forges a bond with a female badger.
F GEO	Vulpes, the Red Fox (age 10+) by Jean Craighead George adventure ... nature ... animals Vulpes is the smartest pup of the litter and he grows into a fast, quick-witted fox whose abilities become legend among the forest's hunters. He leads them on hopeless chases, slipping away at the last moment--then he comes face to face with the hunter who is his greatest enemy.
F GEO	Dipper of Copper Creek (age 10+) by Jean Craighead George growing up ... adventure ... nature ... animals Doug is spending the summer in the Colorado Rockies, prospecting for gold with his grandfather. One day, he comes across the strangest bird he has ever seen--the water ouzel, who nests behind waterfalls. Soon Doug is fascinated with the Dipper of Copper Creek and, after an avalance, finds himself raising an ouzel of his own.
F MOW	Owls in the Family (age 10+) by Farley Mowat humor ... family ... realistic ... animals ... nature A young boy's life gets considerably more interesting when he adopts a pair of owlets as pets.

Sat Aug 25 11:55:25 2012 Other themes and genres