Special Collections

Read Your Way Across the U. S. of A.

Description: Buckle up and hit the road with this collection of middle grade novels. Visit your home state or explore one you've never been to with these novels set all over America. Ages 8 to 13. #kids


Showing 51 through 75 of 102 results
 

Hattie Big Sky

by Kirby Larson

Alone in the world, teen-aged Hattie is driven to prove up on her uncle's homesteading claim.

For years, sixteen-year-old Hattie's been shuttled between relatives. Tired of being Hattie Here-and-There, she courageously leaves Iowa to prove up on her late uncle's homestead claim near Vida, Montana. With a stubborn stick-to-itiveness, Hattie faces frost, drought and blizzards. Despite many hardships, Hattie forges ahead, sharing her adventures with her friends--especially Charlie, fighting in France--through letters and articles for her hometown paper.

Her backbreaking quest for a home is lightened by her neighbors, the Muellers. But she feels threatened by pressure to be a "Loyal" American, forbidding friendships with folks of German descent. Despite everything, Hattie's determined to stay until a tragedy causes her to discover the true meaning of home.

Newbery Honor book

Date Added: 05/09/2018


Category: Montana

Max the Mighty

by Rodman Philbrick

This is the dramatic, heart-wrenching tale of Max (from Freak the Mighty) and Worm, two outsiders who turn to each other for survival.

Date Added: 05/09/2018


Category: Montana

Worth

by A. Lafaye

After breaking his leg, eleven-year-old Nate feels useless because he cannot work on the family farm in nineteenth-century Nebraska, so when his father brings home an orphan boy to help with the chores, Nate feels even worse.

Winner of the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction

Date Added: 05/09/2018


Category: Nebraska

All Rise for the Honorable Perry T. Cook

by Leslie Connor

From Leslie Connor, award-winning author of Waiting for Normal and Crunch, comes a soaring and heartfelt story about love, forgiveness, and how innocence makes us all rise up.

All Rise for the Honorable Perry T. Cook is a powerful story, perfect for fans of Wonder and When You Reach Me.

Eleven-year-old Perry was born and raised by his mom at the Blue River Co-ed Correctional Facility in tiny Surprise, Nebraska. His mom is a resident on Cell Block C, and so far Warden Daugherty has made it possible for them to be together. That is, until a new district attorney discovers the truth--and Perry is removed from the facility and forced into a foster home.

When Perry moves to the "outside" world, he feels trapped. Desperate to be reunited with his mom, Perry goes on a quest for answers about her past crime. As he gets closer to the truth, he will discover that love makes people resilient no matter where they come from . . . but can he find a way to tell everyone what home truly means?

Date Added: 05/09/2018


Category: Nebraska

P.K. Pinkerton and the Petrified Man

by Caroline Lawrence

Author Caroline Lawrence returns to the Wild West with another action-packed mystery starring Master-of-Disguise, P. K. Pinkerton.

After vanquishing three notorious Desperados, twelve-year-old P. K. Pinkerton opens a private-eye business in Virginia City. P. K. 's skills are quickly put to the test: When a maid named Martha witnesses a murder, she hires the young detective to track the killer before he finds her too.

P. K. enlists a trusted ally, Poker Face Jace, to help crack the case-but collecting clues and keeping Martha safe will not be easy. Cunning liars, rogue gunslingers and deadly foes lurk at every turn, and time is running out to bring the murderer to justice.

Sharp, thrilling and vividly imagined, P. K. Pinkerton's second action-packed adventure will keep your heart racing through the very last page. .

Date Added: 05/09/2018


Category: Nevada

Moon Shadow

by Chris Platt

In the rough-and-tumble Nevada landscape, where every day brings a new threat to the wild mustangs&’ natural way of life, can Callie save her dream horse when disaster strikes?Plucky thirteen-year-old Callie McLean loves nothing more than to watch the herd of wild mustangs frolic near her farm in the rocky desert of Northern Nevada. School&’s out for the summer, which means three months of hanging out with horses and her best friend, Billie—and three months of freedom from classmates teasing her about her hippie clothes, two-dollar words, and organic-farmer parents. Callie gets to study with their equine veterinarian all summer too.When Callie learns her favorite wild palomino mare, Moonbeam, is in foal, she&’s ecstatic. And Cloud Dancer, the golden buckskin stallion, is going to be a father. Callie can&’t imagine a more beautiful pairing. But her summer idyll is broken when the Bureau of Land Management rounds up the mustangs for penning and adoption. Callie is heartbroken that the majestic horses will no longer live in the wild. Maybe she can adopt Moonbeam herself. But when the trauma of the round-up leaves Moonbeam and her new foal, Moon Shadow, in trouble, it seems Callie might lose her dream horse and the new foal forever.

Date Added: 05/09/2018


Category: Nevada

Absolutely Truly

by Heather Vogel Frederick

An unsent letter in a first edition copy of Charlotte’s Web leads to a hunt for treasure in this heartwarming middle grade mystery from the author of The Mother-Daughter Book Club.Now that Truly Lovejoy’s father has been injured by an IED in Afghanistan and is having trouble finding work back home, the family moves from Texas to tiny Pumpkin Falls, New Hampshire, to take over Lovejoy’s Books, a struggling bookstore that’s been in the family for one hundred years. With two older brothers and two younger sisters clamoring for attention, her mother back in school, and everyone up to their eyebrows trying to keep Lovejoy’s Books afloat, Truly feels more overlooked than usual. So she pours herself into uncovering the mystery of an undelivered letter she finds stuck in a valuable autographed first edition of Charlotte’s Web, which subsequently goes missing from the bookshop. What’s inside the envelope leads Truly and her new Pumpkin Falls friends on a madcap treasure hunt around town, chasing clues that could spell danger. Fans of Heather Vogel Frederick’s Mother-Daughter Book Club series “will rejoice for a new series with a similarly cozy New England setting, great characters, and literary references to beloved classics” (School Library Journal).

Date Added: 05/09/2018


Category: New Hampshire

Half a Chance

by Cynthia Lord

A moving new middle-grade novel from the Newbery Honor author of RULES.

When Lucy's family moves to an old house on a lake, Lucy tries to see her new home through her camera's lens, as her father has taught her -- he's a famous photographer, away on a shoot. Will her photos ever meet his high standards? When she discovers that he's judging a photo contest, Lucy decides to enter anonymously. She wants to find out if her eye for photography is really special -- or only good enough.

As she seeks out subjects for her photos, Lucy gets to know Nate, the boy next door. But slowly the camera reveals what Nate doesn't want to see: his grandmother's memory is slipping away, and with it much of what he cherishes about his summers on the lake. This summer, Nate will learn about the power of art to show truth. And Lucy will learn how beauty can change lives . . . including her own.

Date Added: 05/09/2018


Category: New Hampshire

Me, Mop, and the Moondance Kid

by Walter Dean Myers

Three orphans try to make their greatest wishes come true with a little luck and a lot of teamwork in this warm-hearted, funny story by Newbery Honor-winning author Walter Dean Myers.

Date Added: 05/09/2018


Category: New Jersey

Penny from Heaven

by Jennifer L. Holm

Jennifer Holm's New York Times bestselling, Newbery Honor Winner is the story of a summer of adventures and secrets that will change everything, at a time in America’s history, just after World War II, when being Italian-American meant confronting prejudice because you'd been the enemy not that long ago .

It’s 1953 and 11-year-old Penny dreams of a summer of butter pecan ice cream, swimming, and baseball. But nothing’s that easy in Penny’s family. For starters, she can’t go swimming because her mother’s afraid she’ll catch polio at the pool. To make matters worse, her dog, Scarlett O'Hara, is sick. Her favorite uncle is living in a car. Her best friend is turning into a criminal. And no one will tell Penny the truth about how her father died.

Inspired by three time Newbery Honor winner Jennifer Holm’s own Italian American family, Penny from Heaven is a story about families—about the things that tear them apart and the things that bring them back together.

Newbery Honor book

Date Added: 05/09/2018


Category: New Jersey

Tortilla Sun

by Jennifer Cervantes

When twelve-year-old Izzy discovers a beat-up baseball marked with the words "Because magic" while unpacking in yet another new apartment, she is determined to figure out what it means. What secrets does this old ball have to tell?

Her mom certainly isn't sharing any, especially when it comes to Izzy's father, who died before Izzy was born. But when she spends the summer in her Nana's remote New Mexico village, Izzy discovers long-buried secrets that come alive in an enchanted landscape of watermelon mountains, whispering winds, and tortilla suns.

Infused with the flavor of the southwest and sprinkled with just a pinch of magic, this heartfelt middle grade debut is as rich and satisfying as Nana's homemade enchiladas.

Date Added: 05/09/2018


Category: New Mexico

Hour of the Bees

by Lindsay Eagar

What does it mean to be fully alive? Magic blends with reality in a stunning coming-of-age novel about a girl, a grandfather, wanderlust, and reclaiming your roots.

Things are only impossible if you stop to think about them. . . .

While her friends are spending their summers having pool parties and sleepovers, twelve-year-old Carolina -- Carol -- is spending hers in the middle of the New Mexico desert, helping her parents move the grandfather she's never met into a home for people with dementia.

At first, Carol avoids prickly Grandpa Serge. But as the summer wears on and the heat bears down, Carol finds herself drawn to him, fascinated by the crazy stories he tells her about a healing tree, a green-glass lake, and the bees that will bring back the rain and end a hundred years of drought.

As the thin line between magic and reality starts to blur, Carol must decide for herself what is possible -- and what it means to be true to her roots.

Readers who dream that there's something more out there will be enchanted by this captivating novel of family, renewal, and discovering the wonder of the world.

Date Added: 05/09/2018


Category: New Mexico

When Friendship Followed Me Home

by Paul Griffin

A boy's chance encounter with a scruffy dog leads to an unforgettable friendship in this deeply moving story about life, loss, and the meaning of family

Ben Coffin has never been one for making friends. As a former foster kid, he knows people can up and leave without so much as a goodbye.

Ben prefers to spend his time with the characters in his favorite sci-fi books...until he rescues an abandoned mutt from the ally next-door to the Coney Island Library.

Scruffy little Flip leads Ben to befriend a fellow book-lover named Halley--yes, like the comet--a girl unlike anyone he has ever met.

Ben begins thinking of her as "Rainbow Girl" because of her crazy-colored clothes and her laugh, pure magic, the kind that makes you smile away the stormiest day.

Rainbow Girl convinces Ben to write a novel with her. But as their story unfolds Ben's life begins to unravel, and Ben must discover for himself the truth about friendship and the meaning of home.

Paul Griffin's breathtaking middle-grade debut will warm your heart as much as it breaks it with a story about two unforgettable kids standing at the crossroads of happiness and loss.

Date Added: 05/09/2018


Category: New York

Neil Armstrong Is My Uncle and Other Lies Muscle Man McGinty Told Me

by Nan Marino

In the entire town of Massapequa Park, only I can see Muscle Man McGinty for what he really is.

A phony.

It's the summer of 1969, and things are not only changing in Tamara's little Long Island town, but in the world.

Perhaps Tamara could stand to take one small step toward a bit of compassion and understanding?

A terrific debut novel with truly vivid characters and a wonderful voice.

Date Added: 05/09/2018


Category: New York

Stella by Starlight

by Sharon M. Draper

When the Ku Klux Klan's unwelcome reappearance rattles Stella's segregated southern town, bravery battles prejudice in this Depression-era tour de force from Sharon Draper, the New York Times bestselling author of Out of My Mind.

Stella lives in the segregated South--in Bumblebee, North Carolina, to be exact about it. Some stores she can go into. Some stores she can't. Some folks are right pleasant. Others are a lot less so. To Stella, it sort of evens out, and heck, the Klan hasn't bothered them for years.

But one late night, later than she should ever be up, much less wandering around outside, Stella and her little brother see something they're never supposed to see, something that is the first flicker of change to come, unwelcome change by any stretch of the imagination.

As Stella's community--her world--is upended, she decides to fight fire with fire. And she learns that ashes don't necessarily signify an end.

Date Added: 05/09/2018


Category: North Carolina

Greetings From Nowhere

by Barbara O’connor

Aggie isn't expecting visitors at the Sleepy Time Motel in the Great Smoky Mountains. Since her husband died, she is all alone with her cat, Ugly, and keeping up with the bills has become impossible.

When she places a For Sale ad in the newspaper, Aggie doesn't know that Kirby and his mom will need a room when their car breaks down on the way to Kirby's new reform school.

Or that Loretta and her parents will arrive in her dad's plumbing company van on a trip meant to honor the memory of Loretta's birth mother.

Or that Clyde Dover will answer the For Sale ad and move in with his daughter, Willow, looking for a brand-new life after Willow's mom left.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of all is that Aggie and her guests find just the friends they need at the shabby motel in the middle of nowhere.

From an author long recognized for her true Southern voice and heartfelt characters, Greetings from Nowhere, with its four intertwining stories, brings Barbara O'Connor's work to a new level of sophistication.

This title has Common Core connections.

Date Added: 05/09/2018


Category: North Carolina

Wild Life

by Cynthia Defelice

Erik is preparing for his first-ever hunting trip when he learns that his parents are being deployed to Iraq.

A few days later, Erik is shipped off to North Dakota to live with Big Darrell and Oma, grandparents he barely knows. When Erik rescues a dog that’s been stuck by a porcupine, Big Darrell says Erik can’t keep him. But Erik has already named her Quill and can’t bear to give her up.

He decides to run away, taking the dog and a shotgun, certain that they can make it on their own out on the prairie. In this story of adventure and survival, Erik learns about the challenges and satisfactions of living off the land, the power of family secrets, and the pain of losing what you love.

Date Added: 05/09/2018


Category: North Dakota

King of the Mound

by Wes Tooke

Baseball legend Satchel Paige changes a boy's life in this coming-of-age tale from the author of Lucky.

Nick was going to be a star baseball player, no doubt about it. People for miles around talked about the twelve-year-old boy with the golden arm.

And then Nick is diagnosed with polio--a life-threatening disease in the 1930s. Everyone is devastated, especially Nick's father, who copes by closing off from his son.

When Nick finally leaves the hospital he wants nothing more than to get back in the game, but he seems to be the only one who thinks it's possible.

But after he begins working for Mr. Churchill, the owner of a minor league team, Nick meets Satchel Paige, arguably the best player in baseball.

Satchel faces obstacles of his own--his skin color prevents him from joining the major leagues--and he encourages Nick to overcome the odds and step out of the dugout.

Date Added: 05/09/2018


Category: North Dakota

Lost and Found

by Andrew Clements

As two clever boys exploit a clerical oversight, each one discovers new perspectives on selfhood, friendship, and honesty.Identical twins Ray and Jay Grayson are moving to a new town. Again. But at least they’ll have each other’s company at their new school. Except, on the first day of sixth grade, Ray stays home sick, and Jay quickly discovers a major mistake: No one knows about his brother. Ray’s not on the attendance lists and doesn’t have a locker, or even a student folder. Jay decides that this lost information could be very…useful. And fun. Maybe even a little dangerous.

Date Added: 05/09/2018


Category: Ohio

The Book That Proves Time Travel Happens

by Henry Clark

This never-before-seen twist on time travel adventure explores the theme of accepting those who are different--and having the courage to join them.

The moment Ambrose Brody steps into a fortune-teller's tent, he is whisked into a quest that spans millennia with his best friend, an enigmatic carnival girl, and an unusual family heirloom that drops them into the middle of the nineteenth century!

The year 1852 is a dangerous time for three non-white children, and they must work together to dodge slave-catchers and save ancestors from certain death--all while figuring out how to get back to the future.

Fortunately, they have a guide in the helpful hints embedded in an ancient Chinese text called the I-Ching, which they interpret using Morse Code. But how can a three-thousand-year-old book be sending messages into the future through a code developed in the 1830s?

Find out in this mind-bending, time-bending adventure!

Date Added: 05/09/2018


Category: Ohio

Out of the Dust

by Karen Hesse

This gripping story, written in sparse first-person, free-verse poems, is the compelling tale of Billie Jo's struggle to survive during the dust bowl years of the Depression. With stoic courage, she learns to cope with the loss of her mother and her grieving father's slow deterioration. There is hope at the end when Billie Jo's badly burned hands are healed, and she is able to play her beloved piano again.

The 1998 Newbery Medal winner.

Winner of the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction

Date Added: 04/26/2018


Category: Oklahoma

Stop the Train

by Geraldine Mccaughrean

In 1893 Oklahoma's northwest is opened up to settlers by government decree, and Cissy Sissney and her family rush to join the tens of thousands of land runners intent on staking a new claim to their future. The Sissneys and two dozen other folk are the first settlers to arrive at the map-born town of Florence -- nothing but a double plot of sun-baked land, an empty space waiting to be filled.

Night has scarcely fallen when the trouble begins. A slick, oily-haired man drifts from campfire to campfire, offering -- on behalf of the Red Rock Railroad Company -- to buy out claims for $50 dollars apiece. Several weeks later, after all settlers but one refuse to sell, the president of the railroad lowers the boom. There'll be no more trains stopping at Florence. And without the railroad the town can't survive. So it's up to Cissy and her friends, family, and neighbors to come up with ways -- fair or foul -- to stop the train before they are all forced to abandon their homes forever.

From the incredibly versatile Carnegie medalist Geraldine McCaughrean comes a rollicking, beguiling tale of clever shenanigans and heartwarming faith in the promise of a new land.

Date Added: 04/26/2018


Category: Oklahoma

The Double Life of Zoe Flynn

by Janet Lee Carey

Zoe Flynn has a secret. She used to live in California, in a big old house -- the best house in the world really -- at 18 Hawk Road. It rambled and creaked and was full of good hiding places.

She used to have a best friend named Kellen who lived right down the road, and a dog named Merlin who loved to play with her.

But now she lives in a little town in Oregon, and everything has changed. Now, Zoe has to be careful. Careful that she doesn't tell anyone, not her friends or her teacher or anyone else ...

Date Added: 05/09/2018


Category: Oregon

The Summer of Riley

by Eve Bunting

Enjoy best-selling author Eve Bunting’s moving story about the bond between a boy and his dog. "Maybe that's one of the reasons people get dogs, to kind of close up the empty places inside them."Eleven-year-old William never needed a friend more than now. After his parents' separation, his father's new engagement, and his grandfather's dying without any warning—adopting big, beautiful Riley is the first thing in a long time that has made him feel better. That is, until Riley innocently chases a horse.Local law states that any animal that chases livestock must be put to sleep. Suddenly William stands to lose another thing close to him. Together with his friend Grace, William begins a campaign to reverse the county commissioners' decision. But with a community divided on the issue, and the bully Ellis Porter trying to stop them at every turn, will they be able to save Riley's life?Celebrated author Eve Bunting shows William's determined struggle to fight for what he believes in. The Summer of Riley is an inspiring novel about learning to accept life's changes, the healing power of friendship, and the unending desire to protect those we love.

Date Added: 05/09/2018


Category: Oregon

Wolf Hollow

by Lauren Wolk

A young girl's kindness, compassion, and honesty overcome bullying.

Growing up in the shadows cast by two world wars, Annabelle has lived a mostly quiet, steady life in her small Pennsylvania town. Until the day new student Betty Glengarry walks into her class. Betty quickly reveals herself to be cruel and manipulative, and while her bullying seems isolated at first, things quickly escalate, and reclusive World War I veteran Toby becomes a target of her attacks. While others have always seen Toby’s strangeness, Annabelle knows only kindness. She will soon need to find the courage to stand as a lone voice of justice as tensions mount.

Brilliantly crafted, Wolf Hollow is a haunting tale of America at a crossroads and a time when one girl’s resilience, strength, and compassion help to illuminate the darkest corners of our history.

Winner of Newbery Honor

A New York Times Bestseller

Date Added: 05/09/2018


Category: Pennsylvania


Showing 51 through 75 of 102 results