F CRA	Malu's Wolf (age 9-12) by Ruth Craig survival ... animals ... historical Publisher comments: Malu is permitted to raise a wolf pup which eventually is instrumental in bringing about significant changes to the lives and traditions of the young girl's Stone Age clan.
F SKU	Trapped in the Slickrock Canyon (age 9-12) by Gloria Skurzynski adventure ... family ... survival Usually antagonistic, Gina and Justin, twelve-year-old cousins, come to a better understanding of each other during a night trying to survive a flash flood and other dangers in the western mountains.
F SIN	It Can't Hurt Forever (age 9-12) by Marilyn Singer illness/loss ... survival Catalog: Eleven-year-old Ellie describes her experiences during twelve days of hospitalization for heart surgery.
F MAT	Daniel's Story (age 9-12) by Carol Matas bigotry ... war ... survival ... historical Publisher comments: A young Jewish boy recalls life in Hitler's Germany. First his family is forced out of their home in Frankfurt and sent on a long journey to the Lodz ghetto in Poland, and then to Auschwitz--the Nazi death camp. Although Daniel is a fictitious character, his story was inspired by the real experiences of many of the more than one million children who died in the Holocaust. This book was written in conjunction with an exhibit called "Daniel's Story: Remember the Children" at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.
F LIS	Highway Cats (age 9-12) by Janet Taylor Lisle humor ... adventure ... survival Catalog: A hard-bitten group of mangy highway cats is changed forever after the mysterious arrival of three kittens.
F BUR	The Incredible Journey (age 9-12) by Sheila Every Burnford nature ... animals ... adventure ... survival Publisher comments: Instinct told them that the way home lay to the west. And so the doughty young Labrador retriever, the roguish bull terrier and the indomitable Siamese set out through the Canadian wilderness. Separately, they would soon have died. But, together, the three house pets faced starvation, exposure, and wild forest animals to make their way home to the family they love.
F HOO	This Time of Darkness (age 9-12) by H. M. Hoover adventure ... survival ... science fiction Although both know it is forbidden, Amy and Axel hope that by following the countless ramps leading upward they can escape from their filthy subterranean world.
F KEH	Earthquake Terror (age 9-12) by Peg Kehret action ... family ... survival When an earthquake hits the isolated island in northern California where his family had been camping, twelve-year-old Jonathan Palmer must find a way to keep himself, his partially paralyzed younger sister, and their dog alive until help arrives.
F WIL	Leepike Ridge (age 9-12) by Nathan Wilson survival ... action ... adventure Eleven-year-old Thomas Hammond is in for the ride of his life when he's swept downstream and underground aboard a crumbling raft of Styrofoam. Washing up on a dark subterranean "beach," his only companions are an impulsive dog named Argus and a corpse, from which he takes a flashlight and an all-too-limited supply of batteries. What Tom finds under Leepike Ridge (a castaway, four graves, a tomb, and buried treasure) will answer questions he hadn't known to ask and change his life forever. Now, if he can only find his way home again.
F TOL	Listen! (age 9-12) by Stephanie Tolan friendship ... animals ... illness/loss ... survival Charley knows a lot about pain. She endures it when she walks on her newly shattered leg, she sees it when her father buries himself in an eighty-hour work week, and she runs from it when she sees photographs her mother took before her death. Then one day, Charley meets a wild, abused dog that knows as much about pain as she does, and, despite herself, she feels an immediate connection and vows to help him. But how will one heartbroken girl help mend the battered spirit of an untamable dog?
F SAL	Night of the Howling Dogs (age 9-12) by Graham Salisbury folklore ... action ... adventure ... friendship ... survival ... nature Dylan's scout troop goes camping in Halape, a remote spot below the volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii. The only thing wrong with the weekend on a beautiful, peaceful beach is Louie, a tough older boy. Louie and Dylan just can't get along. That night an earthquake rocks the camp, and then a wave rushes in, sweeping everyone and everything before it. Dylan and Louie must team up on a dangerous rescue mission. The next hours are an amazing story of survival and the true meaning of leadership.
F MOR	The Mozart Question (age 9-12) by Michael Morpurgo survival ... historical ... family ... the arts ... war A boy's passion for music unlocks a painful secret, and draws his family together, in a multilayered tale. Like any young boy, Paolo becomes obsessed with what he can't have: in his case, a violin. Hidden away in his parents' room, it beckons the boy to release the music inside it. The music leads Paolo to a family secret, a story of World War II that changed the course of his parents' lives. But once the truth is told, the family is reunited in a way no one had thought possible. this is a story about sharing the joy of music from one generation to the next and about music's power to transform and heal.
F GUT	Getting Air (age 9-12) by Dan Gutman action ... adventure ... survival They can rule the half-pipe, but can they survive this? Jimmy, David, and Henry are psyched. It's summer, school's out, and they are on their way to California, where they will be able to do some major skating. But on the plane, the unthinkable happens: They are hijacked by terrorists. As frightened as they may be, they take action and they succeed. Sort of. They may have beaten the terrorists, but now their plane has crashed in the middle of nowhere and all of a sudden, their summer vacation is about finding food, shelter , and a rescue. Can three normal twelve-year-old boys find a way to get by without fast food and skate parks?
F WYS	The Swiss Family Robinson (age 9-12) by Johann Wyss family ... adventure ... survival For six days and nights, a storm tosses the Robinson family's ship around on the sea, before dashing it on the rocks off a deserted island. All the sailors are gone. The family is alone! But nothing can keep the cheerful Swiss family Robinson down for long. The family quickly settles into their new home--mining the shipwreck for supplies, discovering valuable resources on the island and animal friends, and even turning the treetops into their own lofty aerie. Life is a nonstop adventure with the Swiss Family Robinson!
F KJE	Snow Dog (age 9-12) by Jim Kjelgaard survival ... adventure ... animals The steel-gray Husky Chiri was just a puppy when he watched the black wolf kill his mother and two brothers. Left alone inthe snow-covered land of the coyote, caribou, and gizzly, Chiri learned to fend for himself, to hunt and survive by his keen instinct and natural intelligence. Now full-grown and full of courage and cunning, Chiri forms a tentative bond with trapper Link Stevens, the only human he's ever learned to trust. But the Husky knows that one day soon he will have to face the black wolf again--and this time only one of them will survive.
F HES	Letters from Rifka (age 9-12) by Karen Hesse survival ... historical ... letters/journal In letters to her cousin, a young Jewish girl chronicles her family's flight from Russia in 1919 and her own experiences when she must be left in Belgium for a while when the others emigrate to America.
F DIC	Oliver Twist (age 9-12) by Charles Dickens survival ... historical An adaptation of Dicken's story of the orphan forced to practice thievery and live a life of crime in nineteenth-century London.
F EAS	I Am the Ice Worm (age 9-12) by MaryAnn Easley growing up ... adventure ... survival While traveling to visit her mother in the Arctic a California girl learns the meaning of hardship and survival when she is taken in by an Inupiat family.
F KAR	The Cave (age 9-12) by Kathleen Karr nature ... survival ... historical As drought and the Depression threaten to destroy her family's South Dakota farm, twelve-year-old Christine discovers a wondrous cave, which becomes both her own private delight and a possible salvation for the family.
F MAR	A Dog's Life: the Autobiography of a Stray (age 9-12) by Ann Matthews Martin adventure ... survival ... animals Squirrel and her brother Bone begin their lives in a toolshed behind a summer house. Their mother nurtures them and teaches them the many skills they will need to survive as stray dogs. But when their mother is suddenly taken from them, the puppies are forced to make their own way in the world, facing humans both gentle and brutal, busy highways, other animals, and the changing seasons. When Bone and Squirrel become separated, Squirrel must fend for herself, and in the process makes two friends who in very different ways define her fate.
F PAT	The Hard Pan Trilogy (age 9-12) by Susan Patron humor ... growing up ... survival ... illness/loss ... friendship ... family Publisher comments: Lucky, age ten, can't wait another day. The meanness gland in her heart and the crevices full of questions in her brain make running away from Hard Pan, California (population 43), the rock-bottom only choice she has. It's all Brigitte's fault ... for wanting to go back to France. Guardians are supposed to stay put and look after girls in their care! Instead Lucky is sure that she'll be abandoned to some orphanage in Los Angeles. She'll have to lose her friends Miles and Lincoln. Just as bad, she'll have to give up eavesdropping on twelve-step anonymous programs where the interesting talk is all about Higher Powers. Lucky needs her own ... and quick. But she hadn't planned on a dust storm. Or needing to lug the world's heaviest survival-kit backpack into the desert. title: The Higher Power of Lucky title: Lucky Breaks title: Lucky for Good
F LAU	Patty Reeds Doll: the Story of the Donner Party (age 9-12) by Rachel Laurgaard voyages/journeys ... historical ... survival A wooden doll recalls the hope with which a group of pioneers begins their journey and the ordeals they face as they travel from Springfield, Illinois, to California.
F FAR	The Black Stallion Series (age 9-12) by Walter Farley survival ... adventure ... animals A shipwreck leaves young Alec stranded on a deserted island with a wild stallion. Dependent on each other for survival, boy and horse learn to trust and love each other as they establish an amazing friendship that lasts a lifetime. title: The Black Stallion title: The Black Stallion Returns title: The Island Stallion title: The Black Stallion Mystery title: The Black Stallion and Flame title: The Black Stallion Challenged title: The Black Stallion's Blook Bay Colt title: The Black Stallion's Ghost title: The Young Black Stallion title: Son of the Black Stallion
F COT	Quake! : Novel (age 9-12) by Joe Cottonwood historical ... friendship ... survival With their parents away at the 1989 World Series, fourteen-year-old Franny, her younger brother, and their cousin try to cope with the frightening events following an earthquake that destroys their home on Loma Prieta mountain.
F TAN	On Board the Titanic: What it Was Like When the Great Liner Sank (age 9-12) by Shelley Tanaka survival ... adventure ... historical Seventeen-year-old Jack Thayer explores the Titanic and forms a brief friendship with another passenger before experiencing the wreck of the giant ocean liner.
F STE	On the Long Trail Home (age 9-12) by Elisabeth Jane Stewart survival ... voyages/journeys ... historical Meli and her brother Tahlikwa escape from the Cherokee people being herded westward, determined to return to their beloved mountain home.
F SPE	Call It Courage (age 9-12) by Armstrong Sperry adventure ... survival ... folklore Relates how Mafatu, a young Polynesian boy whose name means Stout Heart, overcomes his terrible fear of the sea and proves his courage to himself and his people.
F ORL	The Island on Bird Street (age 9-12) by Uri Orlev war ... survival ... historical During World War II a Jewish boy is left on his own for months in a ruined house in the Warsaw Ghetto, where he must learn all the tricks of survival under constantly life-threatening conditions.
F ORL	The Man From the Other Side (age 9-12) by Uri Orlev war ... survival ... historical Living on the outskirts of the Warsaw Ghetto during World War II, fourteen-year-old Marek and his grandparents shelter a Jewish man in the days before the Jewish uprising.
F O'D	Island of the Blue Dolphins (age 9-12) by Scott O'Dell survival ... adventure ... historical In the Pacific, there is an island that looks like a big fish sunning itself in the sea. Around it blue dolphins swim, otters play, and sea birds abound. Karana is the Indian girl who lived alone for years on the Island of the Blue Dolphins. Hers is not only an unusual adventure of survival, but also a tale of natural beauty and personal discovery.
F TAY	Ice Drift (age 9-12) by Theodore Taylor adventure ... historical ... survival The year is 1868, and fourteen-year-old Alika and his younger brother, Sulu, are hunting for seals on an ice floe attached to their island in the Arctic. Suddenly they hear the terrible sound of the floe breaking free from land. The boys watch with horror as they start drifting south--away from their home, their family, and everything they've ever known. Throughout their six-month-long journey down the Greenland Strait, the boys face bitter cold, starvation, and vicious polar bears. And yet, in this moving testament to the bond between brothers, Alika and Sulu remain hopeful that one day they'll be rescued.
F NAP	The King of Mulberry Street (age 9-12) by Donna Jo Napoli adventure ... enterprise ... survival ... historical In 1892, nine-year-old Dom's mother puts him on a ship leaving Italy, bound for America. He is a stowaway, traveling alone and with nothing of value except for a new pair of shoes from his mother. In the turbulent world of homeless children in Manhattan's Five Points, Dom learns street smarts, and not only survives, but thrives by starting his own business. A vivid, fascinating story of an exceptional boy, based in part on the author's grandfather.
F SPE	The Sign of the Beaver (age 9-12) by Elizabeth George Speare survival ... adventure Until the day his father returns to their cabin in the Maine wilderness, twelve-year-old Matt must try to survive on his own. Although Matt is brave, he's not prepared for an attack by swarming bees, and he's astonished when he's rescued by an Indian chief and his grandson, Attean. As the boys come to know each other Attean learns to speak English while Matt becomes a skilled hunter. Though many months have passed, there's no sign of Matt's family. Then Attean asks Matt to join the Beaver tribe and move north. Should Matt abandon his hopes of ever seeing his family again and move on to a new life?
F SAC	A Pocket Full of Seeds (age 9-12) by Marilyn Sachs survival ... identity ... historical Nicole Nieman has never really thought about being Jewish. Now, with the Nazis occupying France, it is the only thing on her mind. An almost endless stream of refugees comes to stay at their house, and her parents wonder if they too ought to escape over the border to Switzerland or take the chance and wait it out. Then one awful day Nicole comes home from school to find her parents and her sister gone. The Nazis who have taken them are still looking for her. Where can Nicole hide? And will she ever see her family again?
F GEO	My Side of the Mountain (age 9-12) by Jean Craighead George survival ... animals ... nature ... adventure Runaway Sam Gribley is surviving in the Catskill Mountains with only a penknife, a ball of cord, 40 dollars, and some flint and steel. Along the way, he learns about courage, danger, and independence during his year in the wilderness, a year that will change his life forever. sequel: On the Far Side of the Mountain sequel: Frightful's Mountain
F STE	Abel's Island (age 9-12) by William Steig voyages/journeys ... survival ... adventure Cast away on an uninhabited island, Abel, a very civilized mouse, finds his resourcefulness and endurance tested to the limit as he struggles to survive and return to his home.
F CLE	A Week in the Woods (age 9-12) by Andrew Clements identity ... survival ... adventure ... school The fifth-grade Week in the Woods is a beloved tradition of Hardy Elementary, where Mark Chelmsley (the Fourth) is pretty much killing time before his parents send him off to an exclusive prep school. But then Mark realizes the Week might be a chance to prove to Mr. Maxwell that he's not just another of the slacker kids the teacher can't stand.

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