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Browse by Lexile: 700L - 790L
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Dicey's Song
by Cynthia VoigtThe Newbery-winning novel in Cynthia Voigt’s timeless Tillerman cycle.When Momma abandoned Dicey Tillerman and her three siblings in a mall parking lot and was later traced to an asylum where she lay unrecognizing, unknowing, she left her four children no choice but to get on by themselves. They set off alone on foot over hundreds of miles until they finally found someone to take them in. Gram’s rundown farm isn’t perfect, but they can stay together as a family—which is all Dicey really wanted.But after watching over the others for so long, it’s hard for Dicey to know what to do now. Her own identity has been so wrapped up in being the caretaker, navigator, penny counter, and decision maker that she’s not sure how to let go of some responsibilities while still keeping a sense of herself. But when the past comes back with devastating force, Dicey sees just how necessary—and painful—letting go can be.
A City Tossed and Broken
by Judy BlundellFrom National Book Award-winning author Judy Blundell, a thrilling account of the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906. When Minnie Bonner's father disappears after losing the Bonners' Philadelphia tavern, the wealthy gentleman Edward Sump, led by his avaricious wife, offers Minnie a chance to work as a lady's maid to support her family. The Sumps have grand plans, grander than the city of Philadelphia can offer, however, and decide to move to San Francisco -- the greatest city in the west. But when a powerful earthquake strikes, Minnie finds herself the sole survivor among them. After the dust settles, Minnie discovers a bag belonging to the Sumps filled with cash and papers that could drastically change her fortune. With no one else to claim it, Minnie has turned into an heiress overnight. Wealth comes at a price, though, and she is soon wrapped up in a deception that leads her down a dangerous path. As the aftermath of the earthquake ravages the city, Minnie continues to maintain her new identity. That is, until a mysterious but familiar stranger appears.
Christmas after All
by Kathryn LaskyTwelve-year-old Minnie Swift recounts living through one of the toughest times in American history, the Great Depression, through her diary that spans over one Christmas month. Reflecting both sadness and optimism that characterized the time, this is an intimate portrait of a Midwestern family's triumphs and losses. Photos.
Christmas After All
by Kathryn LaskyNewbery Honor author Kathryn Lasky's CHRISTMAS AFTER ALL is back in print with a gorgeous new package! To twelve-year-old Minnie Swift, Christmas is not going to be the time of bounty she's used to. It is 1932 -- the middle of the Great Depression -- and jobs are scarce and Papa seems more worried each day. But when their orphaned cousin comes to live with them, the Swifts are quick to rearrange the beds and make room for her. Minnie, thrilled to have another youngster in the home, is resolved to make this Christmas memorable in spite of the hard times. Through her diary entries, Minnie captures the darkness of the Great Depression, the optimism of a small Midwestern family, the fortitude of the American spirit, and the magic of Christmas.
Who Ordered This Baby? Definitely Not Me!
by Henry Winkler and Lin OliverOne afternoon, Hank overhears his mom and Frankie's mom talking about having a baby. Having a baby!? It must be Frankie's mom that they're talking about! Frankie will go crazy when he hears about this! Hank worries about how to break the news to his best friend' until he finds out that it's his own mother who is pregnant! How could she do this to him? One annoying sibling is enough. Hank definitely did not order this baby!
Lights! Camera! Hammerhead!
by Aaron Blecha and Davy OceanHarry has hopes of hammerhead stardom in this second book of a fin-tastic chapter book series.
When humans show up at Shark Point to film an underwater documentary, Harry Hammer is thrilled. He's sure he's meant for the spotlight, but will he end up with the starring role of his dreams, or stay in deep-sea oblivion?
The Borrowers Avenged
by Joe Krush and Beth Krush and Mary NortonPod, Homily, and Arrietty escape from the Platters' attic and set off to an old rectory to begin life anew.
Sammy Keyes and the Night of Skulls
by Wendelin Van DraanenIn her newest adventure, junior high detective Sammy Keyes and her friends take a detour through a graveyard on Halloween night and find themselves in the middle of a mystery.
Sammy must figure out how three missing people, two human skulls, and one ghoulish embalmer add up before she winds up six feet under herself!
And school presents its own set of tricks and treats. Sammy knows that a classmate is guilty of beating up a man on Halloween night. Should she obey the law and tell Officer Borsch? Or should she obey the junior high code and keep quiet?
Life and death and truth and justice have never been so tangled up...
3 Below
by Patrick CarmanCharlie had his chocolate factory. Stanley Yelnats had his holes. Leo has the wacky, amazing Whippet Hotel.
Now that Leo has uncovered a few secrets behind the wacky Whippet Hotel, he'll have to save it!
Leo has explored the zany, wonderful Whippet Hotel from basement to top floor, with trains, flying goats, and mazes (among other things) in between. But even Leo doesn't know every secret of the Whippet - and when he discovers that there's more beneath the hotel than he'd thought, it doesn't take long for more adventures to unfold!
The Land
by Mildred D. TaylorThe son of a prosperous landowner and a former slave, Paul-Edward Logan is unlike any other boy he knows. His white father has acknowledged him and raised him openly-something unusual in post-Civil War Georgia. But as he grows into a man he learns that life for someone like him is not easy. Black people distrust him because he looks white. White people discriminate against him when they learn of his black heritage. Even within his own family he faces betrayal and degradation. So at the age of fourteen, he sets out toward the only dream he has ever had: to find land every bit as good as his father's, and make it his own.
Once again inspired by her own history, Ms. Taylor brings truth and power to the newest addition to the award-winning Logan family stories.
Winner of the Coretta Scott King Medal
Hoot
by Carl HiaasenUnfortunately, Roy’s first acquaintance in Florida is Dana Matherson, a well-known bully. Then again, if Dana hadn’t been sinking his thumbs into Roy’s temples and mashing his face against the school-bus window, Roy might never have spotted the running boy. And the running boy is intriguing: he was running away from the school bus, carried no books, and–here’s the odd part–wore no shoes.
Sensing a mystery, Roy sets himself on the boy’s trail. The chase introduces him to potty-trained alligators, a fake-fart champion, some burrowing owls, a renegade eco-avenger, and several extremely poisonous snakes with unnaturally sparkling tails.
Roy has most definitely arrived in Carl Hiaasen’s Florida.
Newbery Honor Book
The Giver
by Lois LowryThis haunting story centers on twelve-year-old Jonas, who lives in a seemingly ideal, if colorless, world of conformity and contentment. Not until he is given his life assignment as the Receiver of Memory does he begin to understand the dark, complex secrets behind his fragile community.
Lois Lowry has written three companion novels to The Giver, including Gathering Blue, Messenger, and Son.
Newbery Medal Winner
Winner of Pacific Northwest Library Association’s Young Reader’s Choice Senior Award
Belle Prater's Boy
by Ruth WhiteWhen Belle Prater disappears, Belle’s boy, Woodrow, comes to live with his grandparents in Coal Station, Virginia. Woodrow’s cousin Gypsy is the town beauty, but she has hidden sorrows and secrets of her own. She wonders how Woodrow can accept his mother’s disappearance when she’s never gotten over her father’s death. That’s when Woodrow tells Gypsy the secret about his mother.
Newbery Medal Honor book
Heart of a Samurai
by Margi PreusIn 1841, a Japanese fishing vessel sinks. Its crew is forced to swim to a small, unknown island, where they are rescued by a passing American ship. Japan’s borders remain closed to all Western nations, so the crew sets off to America, learning English on the way.
Manjiro, a fourteen-year-old boy, is curious and eager to learn everything he can about this new culture. Eventually the captain adopts Manjiro and takes him to his home in New England. The boy lives for some time in New England, and then heads to San Francisco to pan for gold. After many years, he makes it back to Japan, only to be imprisoned as an outsider. With his hard-won knowledge of the West, Manjiro is in a unique position to persuade the shogun to ease open the boundaries around Japan; he may even achieve his unlikely dream of becoming a samurai.
2011 Newbery Honor Book
New York Times Bestseller
NPR Backseat Book Club pick
Color Me Dark
by Patricia C. MckissackLike many other African-Americans, Nellie and her family move North for a better life and hopefully, to escape racism. Instead, they are faced with a more sinister form of prejudice--hatred within their own race.
Summer School! What Genius Thought That Up?
by Lin Oliver and Tim Heitz and Henry WinklerSummer school are two words in the English language that Hank Zipzer doesn't want to learn. But there's no getting out of this one for Hank-summer school, here he comes!
Will Hank have to spend the summer bored to death inside a sweltering classroom, or will he actually learn a cool lesson or two?
Lexile Level: 760L
The Curtain Went Up, My Pants Fell Down
by Henry Winkler and Lin OliverHank Zipzer is failing math, so he has to work with Heather Payne, resident class brain, to help get his grades up. At the same time, Hank’s school is putting on a production of The King and I. As coincidence would have it, Hank is cast as the King, and Heather as Anna. But when Hank’s dad tells him he can only appear in the play if he gets a B on his next math test, Hank knows he has to hit the books. Can Hank pull through in time for the show?
Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief
by Wendelin Van DraanenAlthough she's a girl detective starring in a new series, Sammy is not Nancy Drew. She's smart-mouthed & hard-hitting, unpopular at school & on the outs with the law.
Readers follow the sleuth through her saucy first-person narrative as she tries to find a burglar who's made a number of hits in her neighborhood, one of which she witnessed while spying on her neighbors with binoculars.
Captain Underpants and the Preposterous Plight of the Purple Potty People
by Dav PilkeyTra-la-laaa!! The NEW YORK TIMES and USA TODAY bestselling Captain Underpants series is now available in ebook edition, featuring Flip-E-Rama, bonus content, and more!
Have George and Harold completely lost their minds? Their time-traveling Purple Potty has landed them in a crazy place where the teachers are always nice, the cafeteria serves delicious food, and the school principal, Mr. Krupp, actually thinks they're funny. Something is very, very wrong -- and it gets even WRONGER when the boys' pet pterodactyl, Crackers, and Sulu the Bionic Hamster are kidnapped by George and Harold's evil-twin look-alikes. Now George and Harold must face their cleverest enemies yet: THEMSELVES! Could this be another job for the amazing Captain Underpants?
The Prophet of Yonwood
by Jeanne DuprauA prequel to the modern-day classic The City of Ember. This highly acclaimed adventure series has captivated kids and teachers alike for almost fifteen years and has sold over 3.5 MILLION copies! Nickie will grow up to be one of the first citizens of the city of Ember. But for now, she's an eleven-year-old girl whose father was sent away on some mysterious government project. So when the opportunity to move presents itself, Nickie seizes it. But her new town of Yonwood, North Carolina, isn't what she'd anticipated. It's a place full of suspicion and mistrust, where one person's visions of fire and destruction have turned the town's citizens against each other. Nickie explores the oddities around her--her great-grandfather's peculiar journals, a reclusive neighbor who studies the heavens, a strange boy who is fascinated with snakes--all while keeping an eye out for ways to help the world. Or is it already too late to avoid a devastating war?
The People of Sparks
by Jeanne DuprauThe People of Sparks picks up where The City of Ember leaves off. Lina and Doon have emerged from the underground city to the exciting new world above, and it isn't long before they are followed by the other inhabitants of Ember. The Emberites soon come across a town where they are welcomed, fed, and given places to sleep. But the town's resources are limited and it isn't long before resentment begins to grow between the two groups. When anonymous acts of vandalism push them toward violence, it's up to Lina and Doon to discover who's behind the vandalism and why, before it's too late.From the Hardcover edition.
Sea Star
by Marguerite HenryAn orphaned Chincoteague colt restores happiness to his new owners in this beloved horse story from Newbery Award–winning author Marguerite Henry.Movie men have come to Chincoteague to film the annual Pony Penning, and Paul and Maureen are thrilled—until they learn that the producers want to buy their beloved Misty. Reluctantly, they agree to sell in order to send their uncle to college. But how will they ever fill the lonely place that Misty leaves behind?Finding an orphaned colt helps Paul and Maureen deal with their loss, and they soon discover that little Sea Star needs them just as much as they need him.
Stormy, Misty's Foal
by Marguerite HenryA raging storm slashes across Assateague and Chincoteague islands. Water is everywhere! The wild ponies and the people must battle for their lives. In the midst of the storm, Misty--the famous mare of Chincoteague is about to give birth. Paul and Maureen are frantic with worry as the storm rages. Will Misty and her colt survive?
This is the thrilling story of the hurricane that destroyed the wild herds of Assateague, and how they were rebuilt.
The story is a true one, and Marguerite Henry fills it with understanding. Here, side by side, are humor and pathos, elation and despair, and victory arising from defeat.
Taking Sides
by Gary SotoFourteen-year-old Lincoln Mendoza, an aspiring basketball player, must come to terms with his divided loyalties when he moves from the Hispanic inner city to a white suburban neighborhood.
Talking Leaves
by Joseph BruchacA new work of historical fiction about Sequoyah and the creation of the Cherokee alphabet, from the acclaimed author of Code Talker Thirteen-year-old Uwohali has not seen his father, Sequoyah, for many years. So when Sequoyah returns to the village, Uwohali is eager to reconnect. But Sequoyah's new obsession with making strange markings causes friends and neighbors in their tribe to wonder whether he is crazy, or worse--practicing witchcraft. What they don't know, and what Uwohali discovers, is that Sequoyah is a genius and his strange markings are actually an alphabet representing the sounds of the Cherokee language. The story of one of the most important figures in Native American history is brought to life for middle grade readers.