Abrahams, Peter
Down the Rabbit Hole
Laura Geringer, 2005
384 pages
4.3, MG
Ingrid, 13, an aspiring actress, gets involved in solving a murder in Echo Falls. She lands the lead role in Alice in Wonderland in the Prescott Players, the town theater group, which the victim was associated with. But Ingrid gets so involved in the solving of the murder that she falls into the rabbit hole of the mystery surrounding it and its victim, an eccentric woman.
Armstrong, Jennifer
Kindling
HarperCollins, 2002
224 pages
5.0, UG
In the future a group of children wonder if they are earth's only survivors after a virus kills all the adults around them. They form a society of their own and must undergo exposure to horrific sights as they travel outward to find out if there are any other survivors.
Barry, Dave
Peter and the Starcatchers
Hyperion, 2004
452 pages
5.2, MG
The prequel to Peter Pan, this is the story of how Peter, who is from an orphanage, boards a ship, meets Molly who is guarding a magical treasure chest on the ship. There is a shipwreck right after pirates gain control of the ship and the magical treasure falls into the wrong hands. They wash up onto a not-so-deserted deserted island with the treasure.
Byng, Georgia
Molly Moon's Incredible Book of Hypnotism
HarperCollins, 2003
384 pages
5.5, MG
Molly and friend Rocky, who are living in a bleak orphanage, find a book on how to hypnotize which helps them solve their problems and takes them on a great adventure.
Byng, Georgia
Molly Moon Stops the World
HarperCollins, 2003
375 pages
5.3, MG
Molly and Rocky go to Los Angeles to stop the evil hypnotist Primo Cell who is trying to control the world by hypnotizing famous stars and having them sell his products. Then he wants to becom president of the U.S.
Cooney, Caroline
Code Orange
Delacorte, 2005
208 pages
6.2, MG
Mitty Blake finds a smallpox scab in an old medical textbook while doing research for a homework assignment. He is afraid that he has been exposed to the disease which no longer is a vaccination requirement. He begins to do research on the internet about the symptoms of the disease and his messages are intercepted by terrorists who wish to use the live spores for their own sinister purposes.
Cummings, Priscilla
Red Kayak
Dutton, 2004
208 pages
Brady is having serious problem with his conscience. He and his friends see a Red Kayak going towards dangerous tides and do nothing to warn it because they know that it belongs to a rich man who has recently thrown them off of his property. Then they find out that the man's wife and young son were in the kayak and were capsized because they didn't warn them. Brady is consumed with guilt.
Deuker, Carl
Runner
Houghton Mifflin, 2005
224 pages
4.3, MG
Chance's father is an alcoholic and the two of them live on a boat in Shilshoal Bay near Seattle. He goes to a school where all the kids except him are wealthy, even the girl he would like to date. When he is offered a job running packages from one place to another for lots of money, he takes it, even though he knows it is probably illegal.
DiCamillo, Kate
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane
Candlewick, 2006
200 pages
4.4, MG
Edward is the three-foot china rabbit owned by ten year old Abilene Tulane. She adores him, but he cannot seem to return this emotion. As they are on a ship with Abilene's parents, Edward is pitched overboard and begins a series of adventures which lead him to a softening of his heart.
Duprau, Jeanne
City of Ember
Random House, 2003
288 pages
5.0, MG
Two 12 year olds help their people out of an underground city which was built when a nuclear holocaust was threatening two hundred years before the story opens.
Funke, Cornelia
Thief Lord
Chicken House, 2002
352 pages
Prosper and Bo flee from Hamburg to Venice because they don't want to be separated and an aunt wants to adopt only Bo. They live with a group of homeless boys led by Thief Lord who robs rich homes. A rich man hires Thief Lord to steal a part of an old merry-go-round which has magical qualities.
Hiaasen, Carl
Flush
Knopf, 2005
272 pages
5.0, MG
A brother and sister expose an environmental disaster in Florida when a gambling boat dumps sewage into the waters near their town. They decide to take action.
Hiaasen, Carl
Hoot
Knopf, 2002
304 pages
5.2, MG
Someone is sabotaging the construction site where a new pancake house is supposed to be built by spray painting, uprooting stakes, and filling the potty with alligators. It is an attempt to save an endangered species of owl that lives in the field and the kids, led by a homeless boy, are trying to protect the owls.
Hobbs, Will
Leaving Protection
HarperCollins, 2004
192 pages
5.2 MG
Sixteen year old Robbie gets his dream job in Alaska working on a fishing boat for Tor, a captain. But Tor has more on his mind than salmon. He is hunting buried treasure and Robbie thinks that he may know to much to ensure his own survival.
Horowitz, Anthony
Raven's Gate
Scholastic, 2005
256 pages
4.4, MG
Matt is serving a sentence near Raven's Gate, the portal to evil. After being present at a theft and assault, he chose Mrs. Deverill and Lesser Malling in the countryside rather than go to jail, but he is sorry. Strange things happen there. The dark forces are gathering and Matt is going to be the blood sacrifice.
Horowitz, Anthony
Scorpia
Philomel, 2005
336 pages
5.0, MG
Alex Rider is back again, this time dealing with a top criminal organization called Scorpia. M16 sends him into the organization as a spy to stop the threat they have made to kill hundreds of thousands of British children.
Ibbotson, Eva
The Star of Kazan
Pre-World War I Vienna
Dutton, 2004
416 pages
6.1, MG
Annika was a baby found in a basket, raised by two servants and three professors, and loved by all who knew her in this pre-World War I story of Vienna. When she was 12, her mother showed up to claim her and take her north to a palace in Germany. What she had always hoped for turned out to be the beginning of her troubles.
Mikaelsen, Ben
A Dog's Life: The Autobiography of a Stray
Scholastic, 2005
192 pages
5.1, MG
Told from the point of view of a stray dog, this engaging book has more to say about human nature than it does about the canine world. The narrator dog is born a stray and stays one, observing humans with a non-judgmental eye until finally finding in her old age an old woman with whom she settles in as a companion.
Mikaelsen, Ben
Red Midnight
Rayo, 2002
224 pages
4.3, MG
When guerrilla soldiers strike Santiago's village, they shoot at everyone in their path. ""Take the cayuco and sail to the United States of America."" Santiago's uncle Ramos tells him, and Santiago, twelve, and his four-year-old sister, Angelina, flee. With a map, a machete, and very little food, Santiago and Angelina set sail in their uncle Ramos's sea kayak. Santiago heads for the United States on a voyage that will take them through narrow channels guarded by soldiers, shark, infested waters, and days of painful heat and raging storms. Santiago knows that he and Angelina probably will die trying to make the voyage, but it is their only chance.
Morpurgo, Michael
Kensuke's Kingdom
Scholastic, 2003
176 pages
4.7 MG
Michael, his parents, and his dog, Stella, are sailing around the world. In a fierce storm, Michael and his dog are washed overboard and end up on a beach on an island. The gibbons howl, the mosquitos are fierce, and the sun is unbearable. He soon comes to realize he is not alone on the island; he meets Kensuke, an elderly Japanese man who has been providing him with food and water.
Mourlevat, Jean-Claude (Translated from the French by Y. Maudet)
The Pull of the Ocean
Delacorte, 2006
190 pages
4.4, MG
Yann and his six brothers (three sets of twins) leave an abusive home heading west for the ocean. Along the way they meet many kind (and some not so kind) people. This book is based on the fable of Tom Thumb by Charles Perrault.
Patneaude, David
Someone Was Watching
Albert Whitman, 1993
220 pages
4.5, UG
Chris does not believe his 3 year old sister drowned as everyone else does. When the psychiatrist tells him to watch the videotape he made of that day to confront his fears, he sees things on it which make him believe she was abducted. He goes in search of her as his parents are still mourning her.
Pearsall, Shelley
All of the Above
Little, Brown, 2006
256 pages
5.3 MG
Four inner city kids and their math teacher attempt to build a tetrahedron big enough to get them into the Guinness Book of World Records. As they work on the project, they learn about themselves, goals, team work, and perseverance.
Philbrick, Rodman
The Young Man and the Sea
Blue Sky, 2004
192 pages
4.5 MG
Skiff's dad has been lying on the couch drinking since his mom died. All he wants is to go fishing on their boat off the Maine coast. But then the boat sinks from lack of repair. Can Skiff repair the boat and land the big one that will save his family?
Robert, Willo Davis
Hostage
Atheneum, 2000
144 pages
5.4, UG
Kaci comes home from school to get medicine and is kidnapped by robbers. Lucky for her, the snoopy old lady next door drops by to see what's going on and gets taken hostage too. Between the two of them, they are able to figure out more ways to get out of the predicament they are in.
Sage, Angie
Magyk (Septimus Heap, Book One)
Kathryn Tegen, 2005
576 pages
6.0, MG
On the eve of Septimus Heap's birth, his father Silas goes out of the village to run an errand. Near the gates on the way back he spies a bundle and hears a noise. It is an abandoned baby girl which he takes home to his wife Sarah. The midwife tells Silas that his own seventh son, Septimus, has died while he was gone, and she takes him away in a bundle. Sarah and Silas raise the girl and their six sons. When Jenna, the girl is 12, strange things begin to happen. Who is Jenna? Did Septimus really die?
Schmidt, Gary
First Boy
Henry Holt, 2005
208 pages
5.5, MG
When Cooper Jewett's grandfather, who has raised him, dies, he is very alone. Suddenly strange things start to happen on his New Hampshire dairy farm which he loves so much. Strange men start to show up, things catch on fire, and the farm is ransacked. Soon he is whisked away to see the president of the United States and the first gentleman (the president is a woman).
Smith, Roland
Elephant Run
World War II/Burma
Hyperion, 2007
318 pages
Nick is sent to lives with his father on a teak plantation in Burma because his mother feels it is too dangerous in London with the Blitz. However, the Japanese invade Burma and Nick and his father find themselves in a struggle for survival.
Smith, Roland
Peak
Harcourt, 2007
246 pages
5.0 MG
Peak is in trouble for climbing skyscrapers in New York City. Then his father, whom he hardly knows, shows up to make a deal with the judge and take custody for a period. Peak goes to Thailand with his dad where it is revealed that dad wants him on a climb of Everest.
Smith, Roland
Zach's Lie
Hyperion, 2001
212 pages
4.3, MG
Jack's father was arrested for drug trafficing. In order to stay out of jail, he testified against the drug lords and he and his family had to go into the witness protection program. Jack had to move away from his friends to a small town in Nevada and become Zach.
Stewart, Trenton Lee
The Mysterious Benedict Society
Little, Brown, 2007,
486 pages
5.6 MG
Four highly intelligent but lonely children pass tests which lead them into quest designed by Mr. Benedict. He sends them on a mysterious mission to save the world from a man who is trying to control the world through mind messages sent out through the media. They learn teamwork and also belief in themselves.
Tolan, Stephanie
Surviving the Applewhites
HarperCollins, 2002
224 pages
Jake Semple is thirteen and has been thrown out of school in Rhode Island. He is in the care of his grandfather because his parents are in prison for selling marijuana to an undercover agent. After being thrown out of school in South Carolina, the only place that will take him is Wit's End, the farm run by the Applewhites who are sure there is good inside him somewhere.
Wilson, N.D.
Leepike Ridge
Random House 2007
224 pages
Tom runs away from home, drifting down a creek on a big piece of styrofoam. He gets more than he bargained for when he runs into rapids and then gets lost in underground caves deep within the bowels of a mountain.
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