Summer Reading List Recommendation: REmember to Check out my Favoritve Series page and Authors for more great titles.
Avi. The Seer of Shadows. HarperCollins, 2008. In this intriguing historical ghost story set in New York City in 1872, Horace Carpetine becomes an apprentice to a local society photographer and learns more about deception, ghosts, and photography than he could ever have imagined.
Bauer, Joan. Close to Famous. Viking, 2011. Twelve-year-old Foster dreams of growing up to become a celebrity chef despite her reading disability. Can the quirky townsfolk of tiny Culpepper help Foster succeed?
Birdsall, Jeanne. The Penderwicks at Point Mouette. Alfred A. Knopf, 2011. When the three younger Penderwick sisters go to Maine with Aunt Claire and are separated from oldest sister Rosalind for the first time in their lives, an uncertain Skye is left in charge as the OAP – oldest available Penderwick. Series
Bowen, Fred. Throwing Heat. Peachtree, 2010. Eighth-grader Jack Lerner relies on pitching fast balls until a young college coach teaches him that throwing the heat may not be the best way to win games.
Burg, Shana. A Thousand Never Evers. Delacorte, 2008. Addie Ann Pickett, an African American girl in 1963 Kuckachoo, Mississippi, journals about her family, the racial injustices they face, and her fears for her older brother Elias when he goes missing due to her own carelessness.
Calkhoven, Laurie. Will at the Battle of Gettysburg, 1863. Dutton, 2011. In 1863, twelve-year-old Will, who longs to be a drummer in the Union army, is stuck in his sleepy hometown of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. However, when the Union and Confederate armies meet right there in his town, he and his family are caught up in the fight, and Will learns about the horrors of war. Series
Cody, Matthew. Powerless. Alfred A. Knopf, 2009. Soon after moving to Noble's Green, Pennsylvania, twelve-year-old Daniel learns that his new friends have super powers that they will lose when they turn thirteen, unless he can use his brain power to protect them.
Compestine, Ying Chang. Revolution is Not a Dinner Party: A Novel. Holt, 2007. During the Cultural Revolution in China, Ling struggles to make sense of injustice and severe losses of freedom that both she and her well-educated family must endure.
Connor, Leslie. Waiting for Normal. Katherine Tegen, 2008. Addie would like a normal life. Not only does she live in a trailer in Schenectady, New York, with her mother, who is not at all responsible or parental, but also she is separated from her kind and loving stepfather and younger half-sisters. Schneider Family Book Award, 2009
Crilley, Paul. Rise of the Darklings. Egmont USA, 2010. Twelve-year-old Emily Snow, who sells watercress on the streets of London to support herself and her younger brother, takes the fate of humanity into her hands when she unknowingly involves herself in a war between two factions of piskies -- small, sarcastic fey creatures fighting for control over England -- by rescuing one. Series
DeFelice, Cynthia. Wild Life. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011. A gripping adventure story about a boy named Erik and a rescued dog living in the Middle of Nowhere, North Dakota, with grandparents he hardly knows, while his parents have been deployed to Iraq.
Dowd, Siobhan. The London Eye Mystery. David Fickling Books, 2007. When Ted and Kat's cousin Salim disappears from the London Eye ferris wheel, the two siblings must work together--Ted with his brain that is "wired differently" and impatient Kat--to try to solve the mystery of what happened to Salim.
Draper, Sharon. Out of My Mind. Atheneum, 2010. Considered by many to be mentally retarded, a brilliant, impatient, young girl with cerebral palsy discovers a way for her to speak for the first time.
Dubosarsky, Ursula. The Word Snoop. Dial Books, 2009. Brimming with humor, puzzles, and more, this book offers an entertaining look at the English language, from the origins of the alphabet to texting.
Engle, Margarita. Tropical Secrets: Holocaust Refugees in Cuba. Holt, 2009. Escaping from Nazi Germany to Cuba in 1939, a young Jewish refugee dreams of finding his parents again, befriends a local girl with painful secrets of her own, and discovers that the Nazi darkness is never far away.
Erskine, Kathryn. Mockingbird: (Mok’ing-burd). Philomel, 2010. Ten-year-old Caitlin, who has Asperger’s Syndrome, struggles to understand emotions, show empathy, and make friends at school, while at home she seeks closure by working on a project with her father.
Flanagan, John. The Emperor of Nihon-Ja. Philomel, 2011. The tenth and final volume of the Ranger’s Apprentice series brings Will, Halt, Horace, Alyss, and Evanlyn together to help defend the wise yet vulnerable emperor of Nihon-Ja from the renegade Senshi (samurai) force that threatens to overthrow his rule. Series
Fleischman, Sid. Escape! The Story of the Great Houdini. Greenwillow, 2006. Born Ehrich Weiss into a poor and struggling family, Harry Houdini sought out fame and went on to perform some of the world’s most astonishing magic tricks. Houdini’s story is a classic rags-to-riches story with plenty of personality to spare.
Fleming, Candace. The Great and Only Barnum: The Tremendous, Stupendous Life of Showman P.T. Barnum. Schwartz & Wade, 2009. Filled with reproductions of old photographs, circus posters, and museum flyers, this fascinating biography of the life of showman Phineas Taylor Barnum will both engage and entertain readers.
George, Jessica Day. Dragon Slippers. Bloomsbury, 2007. Creel, a poor but brave and clever orphan, befriends a dragon and selects a pair of remarkable slippers that lead her into the center of a struggle between longtime rivals.
Grant, Katy. Hide & Seek. Peachtree, 2010. A survival story set in the isolated Arizona mountains involving a boy, geocaching, and a puzzling message.
Hahn, Mary Downing. Deep and Dark and Dangerous: A Ghost Story. Clarion, 2007. When thirteen-year-old Ali spends the summer with her aunt and cousin at the family's vacation home, she stumbles upon a secret that her mother and aunt have been hiding for over thirty years.
Hiaasen, Carl. Scat. Alfred A. Knopf, 2009. Nick and Marta are determined to find what happened to the biology teacher after she disappears on a school field trip to Black Vine Swamp. The result is a fast paced ecological mystery involving the Florida Panther and a cast of unique characters.
Holm, Jennifer L. The Trouble with May Amelia. Atheneum, 2011. Set on a farm in Washington State in the year 1900, May Amelia is the only girl in a Finnish family with seven brothers, so she is often the one in trouble and is looking to gain her Papa’s respect, despite his feeling that girls are useless.
Jackson, Ellen. The Mysterious Universe: Supernovae, Dark Energy, and Black Holes. Houghton Mifflin, 2008. A fascinating and mysterious look at the universe with beautiful photographs, this book discusses various space phenomena.
Kelly, Jacqueline. The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate. Holt, 2009. Calpurnia struggles with growing up as she spends more of her free time with her grandfather, an avid naturalist, examining the beauty of nature, while at the same time her mother wants to teach her the responsibilities of a young woman during the turn of the century in Central Texas. Newbery Honor, 2010
Kimmel, Elizabeth Cody. The Reinvention of Moxie Roosevelt. Dial Books, 2010. Tired of her ordinary self, Moxie complicates her life and runs into trouble when she decides to take on a variety of personas at her new boarding school.
Mass, Wendy. The Candymakers. Little, Brown, 2010. Four gifted twelve-year-olds, including Logan, the candymaker's son, are set to be contestants in the Confectionary Association's national competition to determine the nation's tastiest sweet, but nobody anticipates that a friendship will form between the children.
Miller, Sarah. Miss Spitfire: Reaching Helen Keller. Atheneum, 2007. This is Annie Sullivan’s story of challenge and determination as she tries to become a teacher of the child Helen Keller, who is blind, deaf, and overindulged by her desperate parents.
Napoli, Donna Jo. Bound. Atheneum, 2004. In a novel based on Chinese Cinderella tales, fourteen-year-old stepchild Xing-Xing endures a life of neglect and servitude as her stepmother cruelly mutilates her own child’s feet so that she alone might marry well.
O’Connor, George. Athena: Grey-Eyed Goddess. First Second, 2010. Action and adventure are in store for the Greek goddess Athena in this graphic portrayal that is told through five myths. Series
Olson, Tod. How to Get Rich in the California Gold Rush: An Adventurer’s Guide to the Fabulous Riches Discovered in 1848. National Geographic, 2008. A fictional account of the adventures and experiences of young Thomas Hartley as he and his two companions set off in 1850 for the California gold fields.
Prineas, Sarah. The Magic Thief. HarperCollins, 2008. Conn's life is forever changed when he tries to pick the pocket of the wizard Nevery and gets a strong jolt of magic. Instead of punishing the boy, Nevery takes Conn under his wing, teaches him magic, and enlists his help in finding the person responsible for stealing the city's dwindling magic supply. Series
Rex, Adam. The True Meaning of Smekday. Disney-Hyperion, 2007. Aliens called "The Boov" abduct Gratuity "Tip" Tucci’s mother, leading Tip to begin a wild adventure to rescue her mother with the help of her cat named Pig and a friendly Boov named J.Lo.
Ryan, Pam Muñoz. The Dreamer. Scholastic, 2010. A fictionalized biography of the Nobel Prize-winning Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, who grew up a painfully shy child, ridiculed by his overbearing father, but still became one of the most widely-read poets in the world.
Selznick, Brian. Wonderstruck: A Novel in Words and Pictures. Scholastic, 2011. Rose and Ben are deaf children living fifty years and worlds apart, yet both marvel and connect with the world around them. The American Museum of Natural History links their separate stories – one narrated in text and the other through cinematic illustrations.
Shearer, Alex. Canned. Scholastic, 2006. Fergal Bamfield has a unique hobby: collecting tin cans without labels. He meets Charlotte, a fellow can collector, and they find some gruesome things inside the cans, like an ear and a human finger! Together, Fergal and Charlotte set out to learn the origins of these mysterious cans. Despite the macabre subject matter, Canned is a funny, quirky read.
Smith, Roland. Tentacles. Scholastic, 2009. After the mysterious disappearance of their parents, Marty and Grace go to live with their scientist uncle and accompany him on what soon becomes an increasingly dangerous expedition to New Zealand to track a giant squid.
Stanley, Diane. The Mysterious Case of the Allbright Academy. HarperCollins, 2008. Zoe and her twin brother J.D. and big sister Franny are all accepted to Allbright Academy, an elite boarding school training the country’s future leaders. While everything appears perfect, Franny uncovers a mystery involving the students’ perfection.
Stephens, John. The Emerald Atlas. Alfred A. Knopf, 2011. Using an enchanted atlas, Kate, Michael, and Emma battle evil as they seek to be reunited with their parents in a magical world. Series 5
Stone, Tanya Lee. Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream. Candlewick, 2009. A chronicle of the thirteen women who tried to become NASA's first women astronaut trainees in the early 1960s. All were pilots; each earned high scores in preliminary tests; one had more hours in the air than John Glenn or Scott Carpenter. They were not accepted into the program, but their story is riveting.
Tanner, Lian. The Museum of Thieves. Delacorte, 2010. Goldie, an impulsive and bold twelve-year-old, escapes the oppressive city of Jewel, where children are required to wear guardchains for their protection. She finds refuge in the extraordinary Museum of Dunt, an ever-shifting world where she discovers a useful talent for thievery as well as mysterious secrets that threaten her city and everyone she loves. Series
Thor, Annika. A Faraway Island. Delacorte, 2009. Living with two separate host families on a small island off the coast of Sweden in order to escape the Nazis, two German Jewish sisters, Nellie and Stephanie, face daily life without their parents. Each sister adapts differently to their challenges, not knowing if they will see their parents as planned or when the war will end.
Tubb, Kristin O’Donnell. Selling Hope. Feiwel and Friends, 2010. This story, set in 1905, is about a smart, savvy girl named Hope who travels the vaudeville circuit with her magician dad and a cast of quirky characters (including Buster Keaton and his family) and invents anti-comet pills in an effort to make money and to save people from Haley’s Comet which some people believe is about to hit the earth.
Wiles, Deborah. Countdown. Scholastic, 2010. As eleven-year-old Franny Chapman deals with drama at home and with her best friend in 1962, she tries to understand the larger problems in the world after President Kennedy announces that Russia is sending nuclear missiles to Cuba.
Winthrop, Elizabeth. Counting on Grace. Wendy Lamb, 2006. After twelve-year-old Grace is forced to leave school to work in a textile mill, she and her friend Arthur work with their teacher to have child labor laws enacted.
Bauer, Joan. Close to Famous. Viking, 2011. Twelve-year-old Foster dreams of growing up to become a celebrity chef despite her reading disability. Can the quirky townsfolk of tiny Culpepper help Foster succeed?
Birdsall, Jeanne. The Penderwicks at Point Mouette. Alfred A. Knopf, 2011. When the three younger Penderwick sisters go to Maine with Aunt Claire and are separated from oldest sister Rosalind for the first time in their lives, an uncertain Skye is left in charge as the OAP – oldest available Penderwick. Series
Bowen, Fred. Throwing Heat. Peachtree, 2010. Eighth-grader Jack Lerner relies on pitching fast balls until a young college coach teaches him that throwing the heat may not be the best way to win games.
Burg, Shana. A Thousand Never Evers. Delacorte, 2008. Addie Ann Pickett, an African American girl in 1963 Kuckachoo, Mississippi, journals about her family, the racial injustices they face, and her fears for her older brother Elias when he goes missing due to her own carelessness.
Calkhoven, Laurie. Will at the Battle of Gettysburg, 1863. Dutton, 2011. In 1863, twelve-year-old Will, who longs to be a drummer in the Union army, is stuck in his sleepy hometown of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. However, when the Union and Confederate armies meet right there in his town, he and his family are caught up in the fight, and Will learns about the horrors of war. Series
Cody, Matthew. Powerless. Alfred A. Knopf, 2009. Soon after moving to Noble's Green, Pennsylvania, twelve-year-old Daniel learns that his new friends have super powers that they will lose when they turn thirteen, unless he can use his brain power to protect them.
Compestine, Ying Chang. Revolution is Not a Dinner Party: A Novel. Holt, 2007. During the Cultural Revolution in China, Ling struggles to make sense of injustice and severe losses of freedom that both she and her well-educated family must endure.
Connor, Leslie. Waiting for Normal. Katherine Tegen, 2008. Addie would like a normal life. Not only does she live in a trailer in Schenectady, New York, with her mother, who is not at all responsible or parental, but also she is separated from her kind and loving stepfather and younger half-sisters. Schneider Family Book Award, 2009
Crilley, Paul. Rise of the Darklings. Egmont USA, 2010. Twelve-year-old Emily Snow, who sells watercress on the streets of London to support herself and her younger brother, takes the fate of humanity into her hands when she unknowingly involves herself in a war between two factions of piskies -- small, sarcastic fey creatures fighting for control over England -- by rescuing one. Series
DeFelice, Cynthia. Wild Life. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011. A gripping adventure story about a boy named Erik and a rescued dog living in the Middle of Nowhere, North Dakota, with grandparents he hardly knows, while his parents have been deployed to Iraq.
Dowd, Siobhan. The London Eye Mystery. David Fickling Books, 2007. When Ted and Kat's cousin Salim disappears from the London Eye ferris wheel, the two siblings must work together--Ted with his brain that is "wired differently" and impatient Kat--to try to solve the mystery of what happened to Salim.
Draper, Sharon. Out of My Mind. Atheneum, 2010. Considered by many to be mentally retarded, a brilliant, impatient, young girl with cerebral palsy discovers a way for her to speak for the first time.
Dubosarsky, Ursula. The Word Snoop. Dial Books, 2009. Brimming with humor, puzzles, and more, this book offers an entertaining look at the English language, from the origins of the alphabet to texting.
Engle, Margarita. Tropical Secrets: Holocaust Refugees in Cuba. Holt, 2009. Escaping from Nazi Germany to Cuba in 1939, a young Jewish refugee dreams of finding his parents again, befriends a local girl with painful secrets of her own, and discovers that the Nazi darkness is never far away.
Erskine, Kathryn. Mockingbird: (Mok’ing-burd). Philomel, 2010. Ten-year-old Caitlin, who has Asperger’s Syndrome, struggles to understand emotions, show empathy, and make friends at school, while at home she seeks closure by working on a project with her father.
Flanagan, John. The Emperor of Nihon-Ja. Philomel, 2011. The tenth and final volume of the Ranger’s Apprentice series brings Will, Halt, Horace, Alyss, and Evanlyn together to help defend the wise yet vulnerable emperor of Nihon-Ja from the renegade Senshi (samurai) force that threatens to overthrow his rule. Series
Fleischman, Sid. Escape! The Story of the Great Houdini. Greenwillow, 2006. Born Ehrich Weiss into a poor and struggling family, Harry Houdini sought out fame and went on to perform some of the world’s most astonishing magic tricks. Houdini’s story is a classic rags-to-riches story with plenty of personality to spare.
Fleming, Candace. The Great and Only Barnum: The Tremendous, Stupendous Life of Showman P.T. Barnum. Schwartz & Wade, 2009. Filled with reproductions of old photographs, circus posters, and museum flyers, this fascinating biography of the life of showman Phineas Taylor Barnum will both engage and entertain readers.
George, Jessica Day. Dragon Slippers. Bloomsbury, 2007. Creel, a poor but brave and clever orphan, befriends a dragon and selects a pair of remarkable slippers that lead her into the center of a struggle between longtime rivals.
Grant, Katy. Hide & Seek. Peachtree, 2010. A survival story set in the isolated Arizona mountains involving a boy, geocaching, and a puzzling message.
Hahn, Mary Downing. Deep and Dark and Dangerous: A Ghost Story. Clarion, 2007. When thirteen-year-old Ali spends the summer with her aunt and cousin at the family's vacation home, she stumbles upon a secret that her mother and aunt have been hiding for over thirty years.
Hiaasen, Carl. Scat. Alfred A. Knopf, 2009. Nick and Marta are determined to find what happened to the biology teacher after she disappears on a school field trip to Black Vine Swamp. The result is a fast paced ecological mystery involving the Florida Panther and a cast of unique characters.
Holm, Jennifer L. The Trouble with May Amelia. Atheneum, 2011. Set on a farm in Washington State in the year 1900, May Amelia is the only girl in a Finnish family with seven brothers, so she is often the one in trouble and is looking to gain her Papa’s respect, despite his feeling that girls are useless.
Jackson, Ellen. The Mysterious Universe: Supernovae, Dark Energy, and Black Holes. Houghton Mifflin, 2008. A fascinating and mysterious look at the universe with beautiful photographs, this book discusses various space phenomena.
Kelly, Jacqueline. The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate. Holt, 2009. Calpurnia struggles with growing up as she spends more of her free time with her grandfather, an avid naturalist, examining the beauty of nature, while at the same time her mother wants to teach her the responsibilities of a young woman during the turn of the century in Central Texas. Newbery Honor, 2010
Kimmel, Elizabeth Cody. The Reinvention of Moxie Roosevelt. Dial Books, 2010. Tired of her ordinary self, Moxie complicates her life and runs into trouble when she decides to take on a variety of personas at her new boarding school.
Mass, Wendy. The Candymakers. Little, Brown, 2010. Four gifted twelve-year-olds, including Logan, the candymaker's son, are set to be contestants in the Confectionary Association's national competition to determine the nation's tastiest sweet, but nobody anticipates that a friendship will form between the children.
Miller, Sarah. Miss Spitfire: Reaching Helen Keller. Atheneum, 2007. This is Annie Sullivan’s story of challenge and determination as she tries to become a teacher of the child Helen Keller, who is blind, deaf, and overindulged by her desperate parents.
Napoli, Donna Jo. Bound. Atheneum, 2004. In a novel based on Chinese Cinderella tales, fourteen-year-old stepchild Xing-Xing endures a life of neglect and servitude as her stepmother cruelly mutilates her own child’s feet so that she alone might marry well.
O’Connor, George. Athena: Grey-Eyed Goddess. First Second, 2010. Action and adventure are in store for the Greek goddess Athena in this graphic portrayal that is told through five myths. Series
Olson, Tod. How to Get Rich in the California Gold Rush: An Adventurer’s Guide to the Fabulous Riches Discovered in 1848. National Geographic, 2008. A fictional account of the adventures and experiences of young Thomas Hartley as he and his two companions set off in 1850 for the California gold fields.
Prineas, Sarah. The Magic Thief. HarperCollins, 2008. Conn's life is forever changed when he tries to pick the pocket of the wizard Nevery and gets a strong jolt of magic. Instead of punishing the boy, Nevery takes Conn under his wing, teaches him magic, and enlists his help in finding the person responsible for stealing the city's dwindling magic supply. Series
Rex, Adam. The True Meaning of Smekday. Disney-Hyperion, 2007. Aliens called "The Boov" abduct Gratuity "Tip" Tucci’s mother, leading Tip to begin a wild adventure to rescue her mother with the help of her cat named Pig and a friendly Boov named J.Lo.
Ryan, Pam Muñoz. The Dreamer. Scholastic, 2010. A fictionalized biography of the Nobel Prize-winning Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, who grew up a painfully shy child, ridiculed by his overbearing father, but still became one of the most widely-read poets in the world.
Selznick, Brian. Wonderstruck: A Novel in Words and Pictures. Scholastic, 2011. Rose and Ben are deaf children living fifty years and worlds apart, yet both marvel and connect with the world around them. The American Museum of Natural History links their separate stories – one narrated in text and the other through cinematic illustrations.
Shearer, Alex. Canned. Scholastic, 2006. Fergal Bamfield has a unique hobby: collecting tin cans without labels. He meets Charlotte, a fellow can collector, and they find some gruesome things inside the cans, like an ear and a human finger! Together, Fergal and Charlotte set out to learn the origins of these mysterious cans. Despite the macabre subject matter, Canned is a funny, quirky read.
Smith, Roland. Tentacles. Scholastic, 2009. After the mysterious disappearance of their parents, Marty and Grace go to live with their scientist uncle and accompany him on what soon becomes an increasingly dangerous expedition to New Zealand to track a giant squid.
Stanley, Diane. The Mysterious Case of the Allbright Academy. HarperCollins, 2008. Zoe and her twin brother J.D. and big sister Franny are all accepted to Allbright Academy, an elite boarding school training the country’s future leaders. While everything appears perfect, Franny uncovers a mystery involving the students’ perfection.
Stephens, John. The Emerald Atlas. Alfred A. Knopf, 2011. Using an enchanted atlas, Kate, Michael, and Emma battle evil as they seek to be reunited with their parents in a magical world. Series 5
Stone, Tanya Lee. Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream. Candlewick, 2009. A chronicle of the thirteen women who tried to become NASA's first women astronaut trainees in the early 1960s. All were pilots; each earned high scores in preliminary tests; one had more hours in the air than John Glenn or Scott Carpenter. They were not accepted into the program, but their story is riveting.
Tanner, Lian. The Museum of Thieves. Delacorte, 2010. Goldie, an impulsive and bold twelve-year-old, escapes the oppressive city of Jewel, where children are required to wear guardchains for their protection. She finds refuge in the extraordinary Museum of Dunt, an ever-shifting world where she discovers a useful talent for thievery as well as mysterious secrets that threaten her city and everyone she loves. Series
Thor, Annika. A Faraway Island. Delacorte, 2009. Living with two separate host families on a small island off the coast of Sweden in order to escape the Nazis, two German Jewish sisters, Nellie and Stephanie, face daily life without their parents. Each sister adapts differently to their challenges, not knowing if they will see their parents as planned or when the war will end.
Tubb, Kristin O’Donnell. Selling Hope. Feiwel and Friends, 2010. This story, set in 1905, is about a smart, savvy girl named Hope who travels the vaudeville circuit with her magician dad and a cast of quirky characters (including Buster Keaton and his family) and invents anti-comet pills in an effort to make money and to save people from Haley’s Comet which some people believe is about to hit the earth.
Wiles, Deborah. Countdown. Scholastic, 2010. As eleven-year-old Franny Chapman deals with drama at home and with her best friend in 1962, she tries to understand the larger problems in the world after President Kennedy announces that Russia is sending nuclear missiles to Cuba.
Winthrop, Elizabeth. Counting on Grace. Wendy Lamb, 2006. After twelve-year-old Grace is forced to leave school to work in a textile mill, she and her friend Arthur work with their teacher to have child labor laws enacted.