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KOR
Schooled (age 10+)
by Gordon Korman
realistic ... humor ... adventure ... brilliant protagonist ... school
Publisher comments: Capricorn "Cap" Anderson has never watched television. He's never tasted a pizza. Never even heard of a wedgie. Since he was little, his only experience has been living on a farm commune and being home schooled by his hippie grandmother, Rain. But when Rain falls out of a tree while picking plums, and has to stay in the hospital, Cap is forced to move in with a guidance counselor and her cranky teen daughter and attend the local middle school. While Cap knows a lot about tie-dyeing and Zen Buddhism, no education could prepare him for the politics of public school.
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JOH
Alex Rider Graphic Novels (age 10+)
by Antony Johnston
brilliant protagonist ... math/science/technology ... mystery ... action ... adventure
Presents a graphic novel adaptation of Anthony Horowitz's novels in which fourteen-year-old Alex Rider is coerced to continue his deceased uncle's dangerous work for Britain's intelligence agency, M16.
title: Stormbreaker
title: Point Blank
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HOR
Alex Rider: the Gadgets (age 10+)
by Anthony Horowitz
brilliant protagonist ... math/science/technology ... mystery ... action ... adventure
As fans of teen spy Alex Rider know, nothing is more fun or mind-boggling than the gadgets that time and again help free him from tight spots. Such as the Game Boy that doubled as a Geiger counter in Skeleton Key. Or the CD player with the fast-spinning saw blade in Point Blank that helped free Alex from a steel-barred window. Now, for the first time, readers everywhere can glimpse the secret files and blueprints that detail each gadget. It's almost as much fun as actually owning these techno-toys...
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HOR
The Alex Rider Series (age 10+)
by Anthony Horowitz
brilliant protagonist ... math/science/technology ... mystery ... action ... adventure
They told him his uncle died in a car accident. Fourteen-year-old Alex knows that's a lie, and the bullet holes in his uncle's windshield confirm his suspicions. But nothing prepares him for the news that the uncle he always thought he knew was really a spy for MI6 ... Britain's top secret intelligence agency. Recruited to find his uncle's killers and complete his final mission, Alex suddenly finds himself caught in a deadly game of cat and mouse.
title: Stormbreaker
title: Point Blank: An Alex Rider Adventure
title: Point Blank
title: Skeleton Key
title: Eagle Strike
title: Scorpia
title: Ark Angel
title: Snakehead
title: Crocodile Tears
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KON
The Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place (age 10+)
by E. L. Konigsburg
realistic ... brilliant protagonist ... humor ... the arts ... identity
Publisher comments: "I Prefer Not To...." That's Margaret Rose Kane's response to every activity she's asked to participate in at the summer camp to which she's been exiled while her parents are in Peru. So Margaret Rose is delighted when her beloved uncles rescue her from Camp Talequa, with its uptight camp director and cruel cabinmates, and bring her to stay with them at their wonderful house at 19 Schuyler Place. But Margaret Rose soon discovers that something is terribly wrong at 19 Schuyler Place. People in their newly gentrified neighborhood want to get rid of the three magnificent towers the uncles have spent forty-five years lovingly constructing of scrap metal and shards of glass and porcelain. Margaret Rose is outraged, and determined to strike a blow for art, for history, and for individuality...and no one is more surprised than Margaret Rose at the allies she finds for her mission.
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WAL
H.I.V.E. Series (age 10+)
by Mark Walden
adventure ... action ... science fiction ... brilliant protagonist ... school
Publisher comments: Otto Malpense may only be thirteen years old, but so far he has managed to run the orphanage where he lives, and he has come up with a plan clever enough to trick the most powerful man in the country. He is the perfect candidate to become the world's next supervillain. That is why he ends up at H.I.V.E., hand picked to become a member of the incoming class. The students have been kidnapped and brought to a secluded island inside a seemingly active volcano, where the school has resided for decades. All the kids are elite; they are the most athletic, the most technically advanced, and the smartest in the country. Inside the cavernous marble rooms, floodlit hangars, and steel doors, the students are enrolled in Villainy Studies and Stealth and Evasion 101. But what Otto soon comes to realize is that this is a six-year program, and leaving is not an option. With the help of his new friends: an athletic martial-arts expert; aworld-famous, beautiful diamond thief; and a spunky computer genius (the only other people who seem to want to leave) can Otto achieve what has never been done before and break out of H.I.V.E.?
title: H.I.V.E.: The Higher Institute of Villainous Education
title: H.I.V.E.: The Overlord Protocol
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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.
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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
title: The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey
title: The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner's Dilemma
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PRA
The Wee Free Men (age 10+)
by Terry Pratchett
growing up ... brilliant protagonist ... humor ... adventure ... fantasy ... magic
Tiffany, a young witch-to-be in the land of Discworld, teams up with the Wee Free Men, a clan of six-inch-high blue toughs, to rescue her baby brother and ward off a sinister invasion from Fairyland.
sequel: A Hat Full of Sky
sequel: Wintersmith
sequel: I Shall Wear Midnight
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BLU
Here's to You, Rachel Robinson (age 10+)
by Judy Blume
brilliant protagonist ... school ... family ... friendship
It's the end of seventh grade, and the stress of trying to be perfect is getting to Rachel. She's tired of being the straight-A student on every teacher's wish list. Plus she's busy dealing with her sister's junior prom mishaps, and harboring a secret crush on her brother's tutor. But most importantly, she's working to keep her friendship with Stephanie and Alison strong. Could it be that real life is much more interesting than perfect life? If you're equipped with a good sense of humor, it is!
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LAT
Carry On, Mr. Bowditch (age 10+)
by Jean Lee Latham
brilliant protagonist ... voyages/journeys ... math/science/technology ... historical
Readers today are still fascinated by "Nat," an eighteenth-century nautical wonder and mathematical wizard. Nathaniel Bowditch grew up in a sailor's world ... Salem in the early days, when tall-masted ships from foreign ports crowded the wharves. But Nat didn't promise to have the makings of a sailor; he was too physically small. Nat may have been slight of build, but no one guessed that he had the persistence and determination to master sea navigation in the days when men sailed only by "log, lead, and lookout." Nat's long hours of study and observation, collected in his famous work, The American Practical Navigator (also known as the "Sailors' Bible"), stunned the sailing community and made him a New England hero.

Sat Aug 25 11:55:25 2012
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