by Dave Barry (4th+)
Peter, the Starcatchers, and the Lost Boys are on another adventure. They believed Lord Ombra to be dead but are now thinking maybe he did not die at Stonehenge as they believed. Something is about to happen. No one is sure what but they all know that it must be stopped, whatever it is. Peter’s adventure begins when a group called the Scorpions, so called for using scorpion poison on their weapons when they fight, attacks the Mollusk village. Meanwhile, Molly has found out that over the years the Starcatchers had been warned when the next Starstuff would fall, but not this last time when it fell in Scotland. The Starcatchers were just lucky enough to get it before the Others did. But why were they not warned?After digging around, Molly finds that it has something to do with Peter and his lost family as well as the city of Rundoon where Peter was headed on the ship in Peter and the Starcatchers. Read Peter and the Secret of Rundoon, the third book in this trilogy to find out what happens to Peter, the Starcatchers and the Lost Boys, as well as the starstuff.
by Cornelia Funke (4th+)
Meggie and her father Mo were inseparable. Then one night a stranger shows up at their door and yet her father seems to know who he is. Suddenly, he becomes very secretive and this stranger is calling him Silvertongue. Meggie finds herself swept into a world of fictional characters who have come to life and who require her father for some strange reason. It seems that several years ago Mo, or Silvertongue as he is called by these characters, read aloud from a book called Inkheart and the characters from the story came to life in his living room. These characters that came forth however were not good people. He does not have the ability to send them back and so they have been living in his world, terrorizing people. Now they are after Mo and his daughter Meggie, trying to get him to read from more books to bring them riches and continue with their evil ways. Will they get what they want from Silvertongue or will Maggie be able to help her father get free of them. Read Inkheart by Cornelia Funke to find out.
by Patricia Reilly Giff (5th +)
Hollis Woods is: the place a baby was abandoned, the baby’s name, an artist, a mountain of trouble, now a 12-year-old girl who’s been in so many foster homes, she can hardly remember them all. Hollis even ran away from the Regans, the one family that offered her a home. But Hollis now has Josie, an elderly artistic woman, who makes Hollis feel wanted and needed. Josie, however, is becoming more and more forgetful every day. Hollis is afraid someone will find out and take her away, and who knows what they’ll do with Josie. Well, Hollis isn’t about to let that happen. She’ll run away again, only this time with Josie. But as Hollis plans their escape, she thinks about her summer with the Regan family, a summer so special it almost hurts to remember it. Hollis can run away, but she can’t escape her memories. What will happen when her memories catch up with her?
by Lois Lowry (5th +)
Ten-year old Annemarie Johansen and her best friend Ellen Rosen often think about life before the war. But it’s now 1943 and their life in Copenhagen is filled with school, food shortages, and the Nazi soldiers marching in their town. The Nazis won’t stop. The Jews of Denmark are being “relocated,” so Ellen moves in with the Johansens and pretends to be party of the family. Then Annemarie is asked to go on a dangerous mission. Somehow she must find the strength and courage to save her best friend’s life. There’s no turning back now.
My Name is America (5th +)
May 13, 1805
I can’t quite believe I am all here because it’s just short of a miracle that parts of me aren’t floating around in the gut of a grizzly bear….It was the biggest grizzly ever! Least, biggest I’d see….it was me who was right in that bear’s sights, directly between him and the water….I almost made it into the canoe but fell into the water….I took a huge gulp of air and dove. It wasn’t that deep and I swear I felt that bear’s claw on my moccasin. I scraped my chin on the rocky bottom but I just kept swimming. Go deep! Go deep! The words pounded in my head. Maybe that bear won’t smell me if I’m deep.
by Scott O’Dell (5th +)
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 elephants and sea birds abound. Once, Indians also lived on the island. And when they left and sailed to the east, one young girl was left behind. This is the story of Karana, the Indian girl who lived alone for years on the Island of the Blue Dolphins. Year after year: she watched one season pass into another and waited for a ship to take her away. But while she waited, she kept herself alive by building shelter: making weapons, finding food, and fighting her enemies, the wild dogs. It is not only an unusual adventure of survival, but also a tale of natural beauty and personal discovery.
by Joan Bauer (5th +)
When 16-year-old Hope, waitress extraordinaire, moves cross-country to Wisconsin with her aunt Addie to run the Welcome Stairways Diner, Hope isn’t sure she’ll fit in. But she quickly finds herself involved in the small town’s mayoral race, as G.T., owner of the diner, surprises everyone with his entry into the race. After all, G.T. has leukemia. And his opponent is the previously undefeated longtime mayor. Some think G.T. is crazy, but Hope sees the goodness and power in him. Will everyone else see it too?
by Dave Barry (4th+)
