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
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The Summer of Riley
by Eve BuntingEnjoy 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.
Lost and Found
by Andrew ClementsAs 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.
The Book That Proves Time Travel Happens
by Henry ClarkThis 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!
Wild Life
by Cynthia DefeliceErik 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.
King of the Mound
by Wes TookeBaseball 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.
Stella by Starlight
by Sharon M. DraperWhen 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.
Greetings From Nowhere
by Barbara O’connorAggie 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.
When Friendship Followed Me Home
by Paul GriffinA 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.
Neil Armstrong Is My Uncle and Other Lies Muscle Man McGinty Told Me
by Nan MarinoIn 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.
Me, Mop, and the Moondance Kid
by Walter Dean MyersThree 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.
Penny from Heaven
by Jennifer L. HolmJennifer 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
Tortilla Sun
by Jennifer CervantesWhen 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.
Hour of the Bees
by Lindsay EagarWhat 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.
Absolutely Truly
by Heather Vogel FrederickAn 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 edtion 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.
Half a Chance
by Cynthia LordA 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.
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. .
Moon Shadow
by Chris PlattIn 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.
Worth
by A. LafayeAfter 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
All Rise for the Honorable Perry T. Cook
by Leslie ConnorFrom 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?
Hattie Big Sky
by Kirby LarsonAlone 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
Max the Mighty
by Rodman PhilbrickThis is the dramatic, heart-wrenching tale of Max (from Freak the Mighty) and Worm, two outsiders who turn to each other for survival.
The Boneshaker
by Kate MilfordSet in 1914 and brimming with magical and steampunk elements, "The Boneshaker" is a gripping, richly textured novel about family, community, courage, and looking evil directly in the face in order to conquer it.
I Survived the Joplin Tornado, 2011
by Lauren TarshisThe next book in the New York Times bestselling I Survived series will place readers right in the middle of the deadly Joplin Tornado of 2011.
The 2011 Joplin tornado was a catastrophic tornado that struck Joplin, Missouri in 2011. It was part of a larger tornado outbreak in the spring of that year and reached a maximum width of nearly 1 mile during its path through the southern part of the city, killing 158 people, injuring over 1,000 and caused damages amounting to a total of $2.8 billion, making it the costliest single tornado in U.S. history.
Lauren will bring her signature intensity to this distinctly American natural disaster, placing a young boy in the middle of one of the deadliest tornado to strike the United States since 1947.
Revolution
by Deborah Wiles*A 2014 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST*
It's 1964, and Sunny's town is being invaded. Or at least that's what the adults of Greenwood, Mississippi, are saying. All Sunny knows is that people from up north are coming to help people register to vote. They're calling it Freedom Summer.
Meanwhile, Sunny can't help but feel like her house is being invaded, too. She has a new stepmother, a new brother, and a new sister crowding her life, giving her little room to breathe. And things get even trickier when Sunny and her brother are caught sneaking into the local swimming pool -- where they bump into a mystery boy whose life is going to become tangled up in theirs.
As she did in her groundbreaking documentary novel COUNTDOWN, award-winning author Deborah Wiles uses stories and images to tell the riveting story of a certain time and place -- and of kids who, in a world where everyone is choosing sides, must figure out how to stand up for themselves and fight for what's right.
Things Too Huge to Fix by Saying Sorry
by Susan VaughtA mysterious note takes Dani Beans into the secrets of Ole Miss and its dark past in this compelling new middle grade novel from the author of Footer Davis Probably Is Crazy.
"Sooner or later, we're all gonna be okay."
That's what Dani's Grandma Beans used to say. But that was before she got Alzheimer's. Lately, Dani isn't so sure Grandma Beans was right. In fact, she isn't sure of a lot of things, like why Mac Richardson suddenly doesn't want to be her friend, and why Grandma Beans and Avadelle Richardson haven't spoken in decades. Lately, Grandma Beans doesn't make a lot of sense.
But when she tells Dani to find a secret key and envelope that she's hidden, Dani can't ignore her. So she investigates, with the help of her friend, Indri, and her not-friend, Mac. Their investigation takes them deep into the history of Oxford, Mississippi, and the riots surrounding the desegregation of Ole Miss.
The deeper they dig, the more secrets they uncover. Were Grandma Beans and Avadelle at Ole Miss the night of the Meredith Riot? And why would they keep it a secret? The more Dani learns about her grandma's past, the more she learns about herself and her own friendships--and it's not all good news. History and present day collide in this mystery that explores how echoes of the past can have profound consequences.