A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

You know Scrooge and Marley, Bob Cratchit and Tiny Tim, and the ghosts of Past, Present, and Future - but do you know them in their original tale?

A Christmas Carol was written over a century ago, in 1843, and it still lives on in plays and movies, with real live actors or with cartoon characters. But I think that its true spirit is in reading the original words as Charles Dickens wrote them. As beautiful as the movie banquets and balls are, it's hard to take in all the details of the wonder shown there, the way you can with the rich descriptions Dickens provides of tables piled high with treats or of the people who move in and out of Scrooge's life.

As author Karen Hesse writes in the foreword of the 1999 paperback edition, A Christmas Carol is "as funny and optimistic as it is frightening. It brims with the sounds, smells, and sights of nineteenth-century England; it crackles with characters as fresh and alive today as they were when Dickens first created them."

This Christmas season, curl up with a copy of A Christmas Carol and transport yourself into another time, another place... shiver with Scrooge in the presence of the ghosts, laugh with Mr. Fezziwig, and echo with Tiny Tim, "God bless us, every one."

Mostly Monty by Johanna Hurwitz

Monty has asthma. That means that sometimes it's hard for him to breathe, especially if there is a lot of dust or if there is a dog or a cat in the room. It also means that he can't go camping, or join Little League, or run around as much as the other kids in his neighborhood.

But there are a lot of things Monty can do. He's a terrific reader - he's only in first grade, but his teacher says he reads as well as a fourth grader. He's also very observant; he finds a lot of lost things at school and makes sure that they get to the Lost and Found lady. Now, that doesn't mean that Monty doesn't make mistakes sometimes, but at least he always tries his best - and has fun along the way!

For young readers who are looking for something adventuresome and challenging to read, Monty is here to lend a hand!

Agent Boo by Alex de Campi and Edo Fuijkschot

Move over, Kim Possible! There's a new agent in town!

Fourth-grader Boo is more surprised than anyone when Agent's companion Pumpkin chooses her instead of any of the graduating seniors to replace a fallen Agent. Every kid in Space City has grown up on the stories of the Agents - how they built Space City, how they protect the Multiverse from the evils of Queen Misery, all of their heroes. The Agents are smart, strong, and brave - all the things Boo isn't!

But when one of Queen Misery's tricks leaves the Agents' Aerie empty, Boo has to figure out a way to save the day without help from anyone but herself!

This chapter book is chock-full of illustrations and comic-style pages which bring the story to full and exciting life!

Two Bear Cubs: A Miwok Legend from California's Yosemite Valley by Robert San Souci

Once upon a time, before the world was what it is today, two bear cubs wandered away from Oo-hoo'-mah-tee, Mother Grizzly Bear, and fell asleep on a sun-warmed rock. They were so tired from playing and splashing in the river that they slept for many days and many nights, not realizing that the rock they were sleeping on was growing taller, and bigger, and taller...

When Mother Grizzly Bear goes in search of her two small cubs, it will take the effort of several of her friends - and one unusual hero - to get Older Brother and Little Brother back down on solid earth.

This origin tale of the El Capitan landmark in Yosemite Valley is full of beautiful paintings by Daniel San Souci and details of Miwok life from many years ago.

The Funeral Director's Son by Coleen Murtagh Paratore

I hear dead people.

No, seriously! You probably think I'm like the kid in that movie, what was it, something about the senses... but I'm not. I just hear dead people, sometimes.

Sometimes. Not all the time. Just... sometimes there's something someone needs to say, or have done, or something like that, before they're ready to catch the big ship in the sky. It's like an anchor, you know, something heavy tying them to the world.

Okay, yeah, I sound crazy. But I'm not. This is just one of my jobs.

Yup, Christopher "Kip" Campbell, messenger for the dead. Also, Christopher "Kip" Campbell, Outdoor Guy for Campbell and Sons Funeral Home. You're welcome anytime. Any day that ends in y. Morning, noon, or night. It's a family business, serving you and your family.

And sometimes I just want to get far away from it all.

Boxes for Katje by Candace Fleming

I had another book I was going to talk about this week - a chapter book that I've been holding onto for more than a week itself and am looking forward to reviewing. But I picked this one up by happenstance and it touched me so much that I had to write about it right now right now right now.

Boxes for Katje is a story of two little girls - one in Olst, Holland, and the other in Mayfield, Indiana, USofA. It is 1945, and World War II has just ended. Everyone in Europe is making do and going without after the ravages of the great war: they patch and repatch old clothing, save worn shoes for the cold months, and go without soap, milk, meat, or sugar.

And then one day Katje Van Stegeran recieves a box in the mail - a box from a girl named Rosie in America! Inside is a bar of soap, a thick pair of wool socks, and a treasure - a chocolate bar!

When Katje writes Rosie to thank her for the gifts, she begins an exchange that becomes the support the village of Olst needs to survive the horrible, harsh winter in store. And at the end of winter, Katje is able to send Rosie a beautiful gift of her own.

One of the very best things about this story is that it is based on a true one: the author's mother did send a box of useful things to a little girl named Katje in Holland, and that small box became many large ones of coats and food and shoes from her whole community by the time the winter ended. This is the kind of story that makes you cry a little because of the good in the world, and is an excellent resource for discussions of volunteering, the world wars, and the ways we can help each other out in difficult times. Stacey Dressen-McQueen's pictures are vibrant, charming, and folksy, and will have you lingering over each page even as the story draws you on.

The Snake Scientist by Sy Montgomery and Nic Bishop

In the Narcisse Snake Dens, 130 kilometers north of Winnipeg, Canada, approximately 60,000 garter snakes gather every year to sleep out the cold winter months.

And in spring, snake scientist Bob Mason and his team of scientists and volunteers gather to study these thousands of amazing and interesting creatures. They measure them, weigh them, check their temperature, and ask them to do experiments so that maybe, one fact at a time, we can learn the answers to questions like: How do snakes hibernate? How do snakes recognize each other? How do they travel from the dens to the marshes and back every year? Where do baby snakes spend the winters?

Nic Bishop's vibrant photographs bring you face-to-face and nose-to-tongue with these fascinating critters: snakes!

The Hockey Sweater by Roch Carrier

Here in Michigan, home of Hockeytown, we take our hockey seriously. That is why we can relate so well to The Hockey Sweater. Roch, a schoolboy in Quebec, idolizes and wears the same red, white, and blue hockey sweater as his hero, Montreal Canadiens star player Maurice “The Rocket” Richard, as do all the other boys in the village. When he outgrows his beloved Montreal Canadiens sweater and his mother orders a new one, he is horrified when he receives a blue and white sweater of the despised Toronto Maple Leafs. Feeling left out and snubbed by everyone in the village, he loses his temper and is advised to go to church and ask for forgiveness. Read The Hockey Sweater and find out what Roch asks for at church. You are guaranteed to smile.

Surviving Brick Johnson by Laurie Myers

It was a perfectly innocent mistake. In fact, Alex didn't realize it was a mistake until after he'd made it.

See, the guys at the lunch table were doing impressions - Bugs Bunny, Road Runner, that kind of thing. Alex was never quite sure what made him do it, but he did an impression of Brick Johnson, the new transfer student in his class. And everybody laughed.

Everybody except Brick Johnson, that is. Big and mean looking (bigger than skinny Alex, that's for sure!), Brick leaned over the table and said, "At my other school a boy did an imitation of me and..."

And what?!? Alex doesn't know, because a teacher interrupted them right then. And I punched him? And they never saw him again? And I gave him a big hug and a lollipop? (Alex is pretty sure it's not that last one.)

Whatever it might be, Alex is making sure to stay well out of Brick's way - which is tough when it seems that every time he turns around, Brick's in the area. Great! Not even two weeks into his fifth grade year and Alex is already starting to worry that he won't live to be one hundred.

But even while he's running away from Brick, Alex is learning some things about himself and about the other guy that could change the way he thinks about a few things...

Encyclopedia Brown Keeps the Peace by Donald J. Sobol

Criminals young and old, experienced or not, know to stay out of Idaville. You can't pull off a crime large or small without getting caught. And nobody knows why.

Well... a few people know. Like Bugs Meany - he keeps getting caught whenever he pulls something sneaky. Sally Kimball knows; she's a ten-year-old girl who's quick with her fists and her wits. And so does Police Chief Brown - and a select handful of his son's friends!

Yes, ten-year-old Encylopedia Brown (only his parents call him Leroy) is the best crimebuster Idaville has ever known. No case is too small - or too big - for Encyclopedia's keen eye and encyclopedic knowledge. It's the smallest clues that often turn a case, and Encyclopedia is a wiz at discovering them.

And you can too! There are ten cases per book, with the answers listed at the end of the book. See how many you can solve before Encyclopedia Brown does!

Green Boy by Susan Cooper

Long Pond Cay has always been a special spot for twelve-year-old Trey and his brother Lou. Its white sand beaches are always changing, with some new treasure to discover every visit, and there's even a small cave that the brothers have claimed as their own. Lou, who has never spoken in all his seven years, seems to have an affinity with the ospreys - large white birds - who live on the cay.

But the cay is threatened by a group of foreign businessmen who want to build a large hotel and resort there. They're planning to reshape the sea floor and the surrounding cays to create space for tennis courts, restaurants, and even a golf course! They've promised to bring in work and money for the local people, but they're only going to end up destroying the ecosystem of plants and animals that live in the shallow warm waters around the cays.

Trey and Lou's grandfather works hard to fight to save the cay, but the boys have their own fight ahead of them, spurred by a discovery they make on Long Pond Cay. In the time between the changing tides, a doorway opens to a strange land - one full of concrete and noise, fast vehicles and strange rules. And a prophecy that Lou is meant to bring about destruction and rebirth - a prophecy the Government wants to stop and the Underworlders work to make happen...

Cages by Peg Kehret

It was so easy. Kit had already been examining the bracelet for several minutes, and everyone else was focused on Marcia - braggy, annoying Marcia, who had gotten the lead in the class play when Kit wanted it, who had a father who was willing to buy her expensive jewelry, who had everything Kit wanted in the world.

Kit slipped the bracelet into her pocket, turned away... and her life changed forever.

She had come to the mall to escape her alcoholic step-father and her too-forgiving mother, to escape her disappointment at not getting a role in the play - but when a heavy hand falls on her shoulder, Kit discovers that she's locked herself into a worse cage.

The police are called, and so is her mother. She has to pay a fine and appear before a court committee. It's the most frightening thing that has ever happened to Kit. Now she's lying to her best friend and to everyone else she knows, scared silly that someone is going to find out what happened, and sure that she's lost every chance at the scholarship she needs to go to college.

But there is a bright side as well - like the hours she spends at the Humane Society petting and playing with the dogs, and the friend she makes there, who teaches her that cages aren't always made of chain links and metal poles... and that sometimes you are the one with the key.

Strudel Stories by Joanne Rocklin

Mix the dough and spread it thin over the tablecloth, thin enough to see the cloth through it. Then add walnuts and honey, thin sliced apples and warm melted butter, and roll it up carefully. Put it in the oven and let it bake until it is golden and crispy...

...and the whole time, tell stories. Tell about the boy who danced with ghosts and lived. Tell about the girl who found her courage at Ellis Island. Tell about apples that turn to gold, and the greatest moment in baseball. Tell the stories of your family, because as long as you tell them, they will always be a part of you.

When Lori's favorite grandfather dies, it seems like Lori will never smile again. But then her older sister starts making strudel from the recipe Grandpa Willy taught them, and telling the stories just like Grandpa Willy did. And Lori remembers what else Grandpa Willy always told them while he baked: it's the stories that make the strudel sweet, and as long as you tell those stories, your loved ones will never leave you.

Includes two recipes for yummy apple strudel.

Mercy Watson to the Rescue by Kate Dicamillo

Mr. Watson is dreaming about driving a really fast car.

Mrs. Watson is dreaming about buttering toast, lots and lots of toast.

And Mercy Watson is dreaming about eating lots and lots of buttered toast.

Which means that when they wake up to a loud Boom! and a loud Crack! - none of them know what is going on.

Mr. Watson thinks they should call the fire department.

Mrs. Watson thinks it's an earthquake.

Mercy Watson thinks she should go check the kitchen for hot buttered toast. And if she can't find any there, maybe she'll go check with the Lincoln sisters next door...

In a series of silly coincidences, Mercy Watson, the darling of her parents' eye, rousts out the firemen, saves the day, and gets to eat a great deal of hot buttered toast. A fun set of simple stories for those just beginning to read chapter books.

Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson

First off, I should point out that I am indeed a librarian.

But I’m not one of those evil ones Alcatraz is fighting.

At least I don’t think I am.

Maybe I just haven’t been inducted yet?

…

Okay, enough with the self-identity philosophy stuff. Back to the point then, yes?

In an effort to prove to you that I am not one of those evil Librarians, I would like to introduce you to this book, Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians.

Of course, if I were one of those evil Librarians, I might be handing you this book in order to see how you reacted to it. Then if you seemed interested, I might have to… Cough, cough, ahem. Sorry. Was I saying something?

Back to the point. (Again.) The first thing you should know is: Everything you think you know is wrong.

Okay. Not everything. But most of it is.

For instance, there are three continents out there that you never knew existed, one of them quite large and smack-dab in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. How’s that, eh? Guns and elevators are actually quite primitive – swords and stairs are much more advanced inventions. Glass is the most important substance in the world – you can use it to shoot fire, track people, and even create expanding houses. Special things like Talents and Ocular abilities might seem like magic, but are really quite commonplace and can be very powerful if used correctly.

Oh, and dinosaurs are still alive. They’re British, and quite a bit smaller than the museums make them out to be. Librarian trickery, you know.

Oh, that’s right, you don’t know. Well, Librarians rule the world. (At least the evil ones do; I don’t have anything to do with that, unfortunately.) They have all the power, because they control all the information. At least they do in the Hushlands, which is where you and I live. That’s why Alcatraz Smedry is publishing his autobiography under the pseudonym Brandon Sanderson. It’s so people like you will read it and understand how the world truly is, while the Librarians will think you’re simply reading Fantasy.

Oh, are you going to read it? Oh good, I’m glad to hear that. Hmm? What am I doing? Oh, just pulling out my horn-rimmed glasses, that’s all…

((Highly recommended for older readers, due to the high volume of Truths in this story.))

Stinky and Successful: The Riot Brothers Never Stop by Mary Amato

Riot Brothers Rule #1 is: Make something exciting happen every day. That rule is #1 because it is the most important - and third-graders Wilbur and Orville Riot make sure never to break it.

They have a Secret Riot Brother Mission Book where they write down their daily missions (that’s rule #16: You have to write down your mission of the day, because of rule #5: You can’t change your mission in the middle of the day). From rescuing a damsel, to winning the yearly April Fool’s Day contest with their mom, to becoming mad scientists, the Riot Brothers never stop finding creative ways to add laughter and fun to the most ordinary situations.

Remember: The world would be a better place if all children had a roof over their head, food in their stomach, a smile in their heart, and a fake rat in their pocket. –Wilbur and Orville Riot

The Five Lost Aunts of Harriet Bean by Alexander McCall Smith

Harriet Bean has always known her father was a little absent-minded. Okay, a lot absent-minded. But that seems to just go with the territory when your father is an inventor, doesn't it? And over the years, Harriet Bean has found ways to deal with her father's cloudy thoughts.

But despite all of her experience, Harriet Bean still finds it hard to believe that her father can have forgotten to tell her about her aunts - her father's five sisters!

It takes some coaxing, several days, and an entire plate of scones, but Harriet eventually learns about Veronica, who was incredibly strong; Japonica and Thessalonika, the twins who could read minds; Majolica, who was alway very bossy; and Harmonica, who sang as sweetly as a nightingale and was a ventriloquist to boot.

Now as you can probably imagine, such exciting descriptions made Harriet Bean determined to meet her aunts (finally!). There's just one problem - her father doesn't know where any of them are! He only has the address for Veronica, and that's 10 years old.

But Harriet Bean isn't going to let that stop her - well, would you?

Vampire Island by Adele Griffin

Lexie, Hudson, and Maddy all have the same kind of troubles that you and I do.

Lexie has a deep and near-hopeless crush on Dylan Easterby, the cutest boy in her seventh-grade class. But with her too-long fingers and her love of poetry, she's afraid he'll never like her back.

Nine-year-old Hudson cares about the environment. He cares a lot about the environment. But his attempts to educate his fourth-grade class backfire in a way that gets them all recycling but but doesn't make them very friendly.

And eleven-year-old Maddy is convinced that there is something very strange going on in the house across the street. She's sure the von Kriks are up to something shady; she just hasn't figured out how to prove it yet.

But the three siblings are also different from you and I. Lexie is extremely strong, fast, and agile. Hudson understands what animals are saying, and he can transform into a bat at night. And Maddy is having a hard time sticking to the all-fruit, all-veggie diet her family has been on for the past four years...

Jack and the Night Visitors by Pat Schories

An absolutely delightful book, Jack and the Night Visitors is a wordless picture book by Pat Schories. In it, a dog named Jack and his young master receive a visit from some of the friendliest looking aliens you can imagine. Jack’s master is so taken by one of the little aliens he’d like to keep him. Luckily Jack inadvertently frees the little alien and he is able to join the rest of his group to get away in their spaceship.

If you find this book as charming as I did, you will also want to check out Jack wants a Snack, Jack and the Missing Piece, and Breakfast for Jack.

Ms. Schories also illustrates Alyssa Capucilli's easy reader book series featuring the dog Biscuit.

Honus & Me by Dan Gutman

For a long while, Joe Stoshack has known there was something special about baseball cards. There's a sort of tingle in his fingers whenever he touches one. It doesn't happen with football cards or basketball cards, or plain old pieces of cardboard - he's checked. Nope, there's something special about baseball cards.

And he just found out what it is.

When old Miss Young - she's over a hundred, but she lives all alone in the house next to Joe and his mom - hires Joe to clean out her attic for $5, she tells him to just throw everything out. He tries not to groan about how much stuff there is as he lugs it all out to the curb - until suddenly one of the boxes breaks and Joe comes face to face with one of the most priceless baseball cards in history - that of Honus "Hans" Wagner.

Suddenly, Joe's got a big dilemma on his hands. He could give the card back to Miss Young - who did tell him to throw everything out and who did say she had no use for money... Or he could keep it, sell it, get $500,000 for it, and bring his family back together. If his parents don't have to fight about money anymore, they don't have to be divorced anymore, do they?

Things only get more complicated when Joe wakes up to find Honus sitting beside his bed, ready to tell him about honesty, being the only ballplayer in 1909 who refused to have his card printed because he thought smoking was bad for kids, and most importantly, baseball.

A Dog on His Own by Mary Jane Auch

Humans can't be trusted.

They just can't. They'll let you down every time.

Like this morning, when K-10 is just minding his own business and two guys trick him, trap him, and take him to the animal shelter.

Which, okay. Isn't entirely all that bad. When you're in, you get two squares a day and a comfy place to sleep where no one can sneak up on you. And K-10 has his own patented technique for getting adopted right quick - he's never spent more than one night at a shelter in his life.

But there's something different about this shelter stay. It all starts with Tucker, the old dog in the cage next to K-10. Now, K-10 himself would rather spend as little time as possible with humans, but some dogs aren't like that. Some dogs actually like living with people. Tucker's one of those kind of dogs - and his time at the shelter is nearly up. K-10 might not have any use for humans, but dogs have got to stick together, so he helps Tucker get adopted by, even K-10 has to admit, a pretty nice old guy.

And then there's Pearl, a tough old lady of a black Lab with an escape plan and a sharp tongue. And Peppy, a high-pitched, high-energy Chihuahua who thinks he's bigger than he is. K-10's a loner, a tough guy, a need-nobody, but... he can't leave those two on their own. They'll get eaten alive out there in the world!

Zucchini Out West by Barbara Dana

Zucchini loves living with Billy.

Billy is a quiet, shy boy who loves animals. He has a list next to his bed of all of the endangered and threatened animal species in the world. He told Zucchini he wants to help shorten that list, to help save the lives of all of those animals, but he isn't sure yet how to do it.

Right now, Billy has two problems. One is his shyness. He never quite gets the courage to ask people questions, and sometimes he'll talk himself out of doing things because he thinks he'll be stupid.

The other problem is Zucchini. Now, Zucchini is Billy's best friend, but he's also a ferret. He's a small tan ferret with a cold nose, a black mask, and black feet, which is where the problem really starts. There are three different kinds of ferrets in the world, and one of them is endangered: the black-footed ferret. It's one of the rarest mammals in the world, and it's illegal to own one. So if Zucchini really is a black-footed ferret, he and Billy won't be able to stay together anymore.

The only way to know for certain is to ask one of the experts on ferrets. Billy has the chance, on a family vacation, to talk to the scientists who study ferrets and ask them questions about saving endangered animals, about ferrets, and about Zucchini in particular. If only he can pull his courage together...

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

At 4 o'clock in the afternoon on the day after Halloween, sixteen people gather to hear the reading of the following will. Can you solve the mystery before they do?

I, Samuel W. Westing, resident of Westing County in the fair state of Wisconsin in the great and glorious United States of America, being of sound mind and memory, do hereby declare this to be my last will and testament.

First - I returned to live among my friends and my enemies. I came home to seek my heir, aware that in doing so I faced death. And so I did.
Today I have gathered together my nearest and dearest, my sixteen nieces and nephews (Sit down, Grace Windsor Wexler!) to view the body of your Uncle Sam for the last time.
Tomorrow its ashes will be scattered to the four winds.

Second - I, Samuel W. Westing, hereby swear that I did not die of natural causes. My life was taken from me - by one of you! The police are helpless. The culprit is far too cunning to be apprehended for this dastardly deed. I, alone, know the name. Now it is up to you. Cast out the sinner, let the guilty rise and confess.

Third - Who among you is worthy to be the Westing heir? Help me. My soul shall roam restlessly until that one is found.
The estate is at the crossroads. The heir who wins the windfall will be the one who finds the ...

Fourth - Hail to thee, O land of opportunity! You have made me, the son of poor immigrants, rich, powerful, and respected.
So take stock in America, my heirs, and sing in praise of this generous land. You, too, may strike it rich who dares to play the Westing game.

Fifth - Sit down, Your Honor, and read the letter this brilliant young attorney will now hand over to you.

Sixth - Before you proceed to the game room there will be one minute of silent prayer for your good old Uncle Sam.

Seventh - And now, dear friends, relatives, and enemies, the Westing game begins.
The rules are simple:

• Number of players: 16, divided into 8 pairs.


• Each pair will receive $10,000.


• Each pair will receive one set of clues.


• Forfeits: If any player drops out, the partner must leave the game. The pair must return the money. Absent pairs forfeit the $10,000; their clues will be held until the next session.


• Players will be given two days' notice of the next session. Each pair may then give one answer.


• Object of the game: to win.

Eighth - The heirs will now be paired. When called, go to the assigned table. Your name and position will be read as signed on the receipt.
It will be up to the other players to discover who you really are.

1. MADAME SUN LIN HOO, cook
   JAKE WEXLER, standing or sitting when not lying down


2. TURTLE WEXLER, witch
   FLORA BAUMBACH, dressmaker


3. CHRISTOS THEODORAKIS, birdwatcher
   D. DENTON DEERE, intern, St. Joseph's Hospital, Department of Plastic Surgery


4. ALEXANDER MCSOUTHERS, doorman
   J. J. FORD, judge, Appellate Division of the State Supreme Court


5. GRACE WINDSOR WEXLER, heiress
   JAMES SHIN HOO, restaurateur


6. BERTHE ERICA CROW, Good Salvation Soup Kitchen
   OTIS AMBER, deliverer


7. THEO THEODORAKIS, brother
   DOUG HOO, first in all-state high-school mile run


8. SYDELLE PULASKI, secretary to the president
   ANGELA WEXLER, none

Ninth - Money! Each pair in attendance will now receive a check for the sum of $10,000. The check cannot be cashed without the signatures of both partners. Spend it wisely or go for broke. May God thy gold refine.

Tenth - Each pair in attendance will now receive an envelope containing a set of clues. No two sets of clues are alike. It is not what you have, it's what you don't have that counts.

Eleventh - Senseless, you say? Death is senseless yet makes way for the living. Life, too, is senseless unless you know who you are, what you want, and which way the wind blows.
So on with the game. The solution is simple if you know whom you are looking for. But heirs, beware! Be aware!
Some are not who they say they are, and some are not who they seem to be. Whoever you are, it's time to go home.
God bless you all and remember this:
Buy Westing Paper Products!

Escape to West Berlin by Maurine Dahlberg

It’s July of 1961, and Heidi Klenk is about to have the worst summer of her life. To start things off, she just found out that her family won’t be going to visit Opa and Oma, her grandparents, on their farm this August like they do every year. Her mom is about to have a baby, so she doesn’t want to travel, and Heidi’s parents won’t let her go alone; they say she’s too young.

Even worse, Heidi’s father is being called a traitor. You see, Heidi and her family live in Berlin, which after World War II was split into two parts – the East, which is Soviet, and the West, which is not. Heidi’s family lives in East Berlin, but her father works in the West, and has since long before the division of the city. Some people in the East think that border-crossers like Heidi’s dad are betraying the East by working in the higher-paying West but receiving the health care and other benefits of the East, and recently the tension has been getting worse and worse.

Now even Heidi’s best friend Petra won’t play with her, and Heidi’s father has been told he must get a job in the East. Their landlord is threatening to evict them, and Heidi’s parents have begun whispering behind closed doors.

And that is worst of all, because above all else, Heidi wants to be treated like the responsible teen she is and not like a child. She wants to be able to ride the train out to Opa and Oma’s on her own, she wants to be able to choose her friends, and she wants to be able to help make the decisions about her family’s life.

But when everything goes wrong all at once, will Heidi be as level-headed and responsible as she thinks she is?

Cat Running by Zilpha Keatley Snyder

Fast Cat Kinsley, the fastest runner at Brownwood School. She took first in the Play Day races last year, even though she was only a short skinny fifth-grader then. But she beat out all the boys, even the sixth-grade ones, from Lincoln and Elmwood too.

Cat loves running. It makes her feel free, the way her legs burn and her lungs ache and everything seems to kind of fade away. She can forget about bossy Ellen and teasing Cliff, about frail Mama and stern Father, about the fact that she won't be running in the Play Day races this year...

And that's all Father's fault, and he'd better know it. Every other girl at school will be wearing slacks for Play Day, but Cat will be stuck in a dress, because Father is too old-fashioned and too stubborn and won't pay a dime for anything Cat wants. Won't he feel guilty when Brownwood loses the games and don't get the prize money to buy new gloves and bats for the kids to play with.

But Browntown School does win, and all because of That Zane Perkins. He's a newcomer to school, one of the Okies who set up camp down by Mr. Otis' farm looking for work after the great dust storms out in Oklahoma and Texas chased them out of their homes. He wears shirts and overalls that are patched and worn and too big or too small, and he runs the Play Day races barefoot! Cat's refusing to run because she'd have to wear a dress instead of slacks, and that Zane Perkins runs it barefoot, like he doesn't know any better!

Cat hates that Zane Perkins. She'll hate him 'til the day she dies.

But she doesn't hate little Sammy Perkins. And when Sammy needs them, Cat just might have to team up with that Zane Perkins in a race against time itself...

Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry

Have you ever wanted anything so badly that you knew your heart would break if you didn't have it?

That's the way Paul and Maureen feel about the Phantom, one of the wild ponies on Assateague Island. She's a beautiful copper and silver pony with a white map of the United States over her shoulders. Every year, the people of Chincoteague Island hold a Pony Penning Day, rounding up the wild ponies, but every year the Phantom has escaped the round up.

This year, though, it's going to be different. Paul's old enough to help with the round up, and he's determined to bring the Phantom in. And when he does, the brother and sister are going to buy the Phantom and give her a good home - her and her little silver-gold colt, Misty.

The siblings have hard work and a lot to learn along the way: they have to save up the Phantom's hundred-dollar price, deal with the highs and lows of the Pony Penning Day, and then, if they're very lucky, win the trust and cooperation of an independent, tough, thoroughly untamed pony.

Ellie McDoodle: New Kid in School by Ruth McNally Barshaw

This is the end. At least that's what Ellie thinks. Goodbye familiar house. Goodbye familiar school. Goodbye friends. Goodbye life. Ellie's family is moving for her dad's job, and even worse than being "the new kid" she now has to share a room with her sister Risa.

But then she finds the library, and woods to explore. School is still not so great. Teachers get her name wrong, and some of the students play "new kid bingo." How will Ellie make it change?

All fans of Diary of a Wimpy Kid should definitely give Ellie McDoodle a try. Its illustrated journal format is fun to read. This book is the second in a series. See also Ellie McDoodle: Have Pen, Will Travel.

Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery

Just imagine...

You are a girl, an orphan your whole life, who has gone from family to family and finally to an orphanage, helping and living, but never been part of your own family. You have red hair and freckles and are awfully thin, all of which you are sadly aware of and wish could be changed.

Just imagine...

You are taken from the orphanage on a train to a tiny little village in the countryside and told that Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert want to adopt you. But when you arrive at their house, a beautiful spot called Green Gables that just feels like home... you find out they wanted a boy, not a girl.

Just imagine...

For some reason, just for some reason, though you're never quite sure why in particular, Matthew and Marilla decide you will stay with them, in this lovely house with its white-flowered cherry trees, and its cheerful little brook, and the shining lake beneath the bridge.

Just imagine...

You make a perfect friend in Diana Barry, who lives just on the other side of the Haunted Wood, and a perfect enemy in Gilbert Blythe - which is all his fault because he pulled your hair and called you "carrots." And maybe you aren't Lady Cordelia Fitzgerald of Idlewild, but you are Anne Shirley of Green Gables, and that indeed is so ever much better than being Anne Shirley of nowhere-at-all!

Just imagine...

Rosa, Sola by Carmela Martino

Rosa is very excited: her mother is going to have a little bambino, a little baby! Rosa has been an only child all her life, and she's a little jealous of her best friend AnnaMaria, who has a baby brother and two little sisters. But it's okay now, because Rosa is going to be a big sister herself now, with a baby brother or sister of her own to take care of!

On Rosa's tenth birthday, Papa and Uncle Sal rush Ma to the hospital while Rosa and Aunt Ida stay home, praying for Ma and for the baby. The next day at school seems to drag on, until Rosa comes home to find Aunt Ida crying. The baby died, Aunt Ida tells Rosa, and suddenly everything is wrong.

Ma is sick, Papa is angry, and Rosa feels guilty, because she was the one who prayed so hard for a little brother. With her family all in pieces, Rosa feels even more sola - even more alone - than she did before. There has to be something she can do to bring her family back together!

The Cricket in Times Square by George Selden

Chester, meet New York City.

New York City, meet Chester.

Wow.

When a small black cricket hops into a picnic basket for a taste of liverwurst, he never imagines he'll end up in New York City. Let alone that he'll end up in the Times Square subway station, surrounded by more noise and movement and general danger than any poor country cricket has ever dealt with before.

Thank goodness for Mario Bellini, the newsstand boy who finds Chester the cricket and gives him a home in the Bellini family newspaper and magazine stand. Thank goodness too for Tucker Mouse and Harry Cat, a pair of unlikely friends who teach Chester everything he needs to know about living in the big city.

Of course there are rough spots to life, even with wonderful friends like these. Mama Bellini, for example, doesn't trust Chester and isn't sure she wants him to stay at the newsstand. And Chester does get himself into trouble all on his own with perfectly honest mistakes. But overall, it's an incredible adventure, especially when Chester takes New York City by storm with a talent all his own.

What do you think that talent could be?

Clementine by Sara Pennypacker

Clementine is having a not-so-good week. She tries to help her best friend and ends up making a big mess - okay, make that two big messes. She keeps getting sent to the principal's office for things that really were great ideas, even if they didn't work quite right. And to top it all off, she just knows that her parents are planning to get rid of her and just keep Spinach (Also known as Radish, Pea Pod, Zucchini - Well, if Clementine is named for a fruit, shouldn't her brother be named for a vegetable? It's only fair!) because he's the "easy one."

Clementine knows she really is the "hard one." Her room is never clean, her best friend is mad at her, and she talks too much and too fast and too loud. In fact, Clementine's not sure that even winning the Great Pigeon War is going to save her from being sent away. To top it all off, her parents have been having some really mysterious conversations lately...

A warm, funny story in the tradition of Amber Brown and Junie B. Jones.

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

The sole survivor of an attack against his family, 18 month old Nobody Owens toddles his way to the graveyard at the top of a hill and finds sanctuary with the kindhearted souls who reside there. As Bod grows up, he learns many lessons from the living, the dead, and a mysterious mentor who is neither.

The Graveyard Book is part adventure, part coming of age, and all creepy fun. Recommended for ages 10 and up.

Lyddie by Katherine Paterson

In 1843, thirteen-year-old Lyddie is determined to keep her family's farm together until her father returns from out West. But then her mother goes to live with her aunt, taking the two babies, Agnes and Rachel, with her. Lyddie and Charles manage to eke out a winter at the farm, and have great plans for the coming year, when a letter arrives from their mother telling them that there is a debt on the farm and that she's found them jobs - Lyddie at the inn and Charles at the mill.

Actually, she's "hired them out" - their employers will feed, clothe, and house Lydia and Charles in exchange for their work and 50 cents sent to their mother each week. It's a hard, lonely life, but the money can help with the farm, so Lyddie makes friends with the cook and just concentrates on working hard.

But a misunderstanding with the mistress of the inn leaves Lyddie without a job - and free to pursue a dream she's had since she first saw a young lady in a pink silk dress travelling on the stagecoach. She's off to Lowell, Massachusetts, where working at one of the weaving mills she'll earn two whole dollars a week and even have time to study.

Even life in the weaving town isn't perfect, though. The work is hard and fast-paced, but Lyddie knew it would be. The workdays keep getting longer, though, and the pace even faster, until some of the girls are talking about petitioning for better working conditions. Lydia agrees that it would be nice to have a bit more light, and it really does get hard to breathe in the weaving rooms, with all the cloth-dust flying everywhere - some of her friends have come down sick from breathing the thick air all day - but she is afraid to lose her job. There have been threats made to the girls who talk about the petition, that they are making trouble and would lose their jobs if they keep on like that.

It's hard for Lyddie to choose - the health of herself and her friends, or her farm?

The Secret History of Tom Trueheart by Ian Beck

Tom Trueheart’s whole family are adventurers. Ever hear of Jack the Giant-Killer? That’s his dad. Jack and the Beanstalk? His brother, also named Jack. The Frog Prince? Prince Charming? All Tom’s brothers. Oh, the names have been changed a bit, to make things more exciting, but all of the great stories you’ve ever heard come from the adventures of the Trueheart family, recorded and passed on by the Story Bureau.

The Story Bureau, you see, is responsible for the creation, writing, and publishing of all of the best stories one finds on one's bookshelves: Cinderella, Hansel and Gretel, Rapunzel, the list goes on and on. The creative minds at the Story Bureau come up with ideas for stories and then someone - usually a member of the Trueheart family - lives out the adventure, solving problems, rescuing princesses, and killing monsters. Then that person tells his story, and the writers and artists at the Bureau create a book out of it to be published and sent out for everyone in the world to read.

At least... that's the way it's supposed to happen. But when all six of Tom's older brothers leave for adventures and don't come back in time for his twelfth birthday, it's up to Tom to find them and set things right.

But it’s not all his brothers’ fault, you see; there’s an evil mastermind hiding in the wings. Who is he? And what is he trying to do?

Call It Courage by Armstrong Sperry

"It happened many years ago, before the traders and missionaries first came to the South Seas, while the Polynesians were still great in numbers and fierce of heart. But even today the people of Hikueru sing this story in their chants and tell it over the evening fires. It is the story of Mafatu, the Boy Who Was Afraid."

Mafatu, whose mother was killed by the sea when he was only three years old and who nearly died at the same time. Mafatu, who ever since has been afraid of the ocean, though the sea surrounds and supports the life of his people. He is the son of the Chief, but how is he to earn his place as a man and one day his people's leader if he sits on the land and does women's work instead of going out onto the sea and fishing?

When he can no longer stand the teasing of the other boys, Mafatu goes out in one of the canoes late one night with only his dog, Uri, and the albatross Kivi for companionship. He is determined to sail out to another island and return with proof of his courage and of his conquering of the sea.

But a wild storm sees Mafatu thrown up on the shores of an uninhabited island with no canoe, no supplies, and no weapons. If he is ever to get home, he will have to find ways to create all of these things from the island and the surrounding ocean. And - is the island truly uninhabited?

Lawn Boy by Gary Paulsen

Day one: Your birthday. Money's a little tight in the family right now, and you're trying to figure out how to get the money so you can replace the wheel on your bike. Then your grandmother gives you your grandfather's old mower for a birthday present. While you're fiddling with it, someone asks you if you mow lawns, and offers you forty dollars to do theirs.

Day two: Somebody else asks you to mow their lawn. Then somebody else. Then somebody else. Then you meet Arnold. He'd like you to mow his lawn, but he can't pay you. He's a stockbroker, and he'll put the forty dollars into stocks for you instead. Is that okay? Sure, you say; why not?

Day four: You're doing three lawns a day, seven days a week, and you've still got people asking you to come and mow theirs. Enter Pasqual and Louis, who help out with the work, Louis mowing and Pasqual doing the edging and other finishing touches.

Day fourteen: You are now employing fifteen people to mow lawns all around the neighborhood. You're not even doing the mowing yourself anymore, you're so busy keeping track of the lawns mowed and the money paid. Oh, and Arthur just said, hey, remember that forty dollars I invested for you, you know, in the stocks? Well, a lot of stuff happened and... you now own fifty thousand dollars.

Fifty. Thousand. Dollars.

You can buy a whole lot of bike tires with that.

But what about all those people you're employing to mow lawns? And what about Rock and his buddies, who are threatening to take over your business? For that matter, what are you going to do about Joey Pow?

Oh, yeah. And how about this big question:

How are you going to tell your parents?

The Letter, the Witch, and the Ring by John Bellairs

Rose Rita Pottinger is about to have a horrible summer.

Her best friend, Lewis, is going away to boy scout camp, leaving Rose Rita (a girl, and thus not allowed to go along) alone all summer with nothing to do and no one to play with. Rose Rita feels betrayed and angry, but there's nothing she can do about it.

Then a friend offers an alternative to a boring summer: Mrs. Zimmerman has just gotten a letter informing her that her cousin has left her a farm up near Petoskey, and she invites Rose Rita to come with her to look over the farm, sign some papers, and then spend a few weeks driving around the Upper Peninsula.

But there's more to it than just a road trip, you see, for Mrs. Zimmerman is an honest-to-goodness witch, and her cousin has left her not only the farm but also a magic ring he discovered. Unfortunately, when Rose Rita and Mrs. Zimmerman arrive at the farm, they find that it has been ransacked, practically torn to pieces, and the ring is gone.

And then strange things start happening... strange sounds, faces appearing, shadows in the night... and Mrs. Zimmerman begins to act oddly. Very oddly indeed...

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P.S. There are actually two books that take place before this one which you might want to read first: The House with a Clock in Its Walls and The Figure in the Shadows.

The Liberation of Gabriel King by K. L. Going

Gabriel is scared of many things, but mostly he is scared of starting fifth grade. Fifth and sixth graders share the same cafeteria and recess time and that will not bode well for Gabriel.

When he misses his fourth grade class graduation because some fifth grade bullies tie him up, he decides he isn’t going to move up to fifth grade. What he doesn’t count on is his best friend Frita’s determination that he will start fifth grade with her in the fall.

She decides Gabriel needs to be liberated from his fears. In order for him to be liberated, he must face and overcome each of his fears. To start with, she decides he should have a pet spider in order to overcome his fear of them.

Against the backdrop of a small Georgia town in the summer of 1976, the children find out that some things, like spiders, aren’t really that scary, while some things like grown-ups can be very frightening.

The Case of the Missing Marquess by Nancy Springer

More slowly I wrote another note, one that would soon wing for miles via wire to be printed out by a teletype machine as:

LADY EUDORIA VERNET HOLMES MISSING SINCE YESTERDAY STOP PLEASE ADVISE STOP ENOLA HOLMES

I directed this wire to Mycroft Holmes, of Pall Mall, in London.

And also, the same message, to Sherlock Holmes, of Baker Street, also in London.

My brothers.

On Enola's fourteenth birthday, her mother leaves without a word or a note, only three gifts: a fully-supplied drawing kit; a book on the meanings of flowers and other things; and a small book of ciphers.

Ciphers are word puzzles; for example, Enola's name is a very simple cipher. When spelled backward, it spells 'alone,' as Enola has often found herself, quite content. Or, for another example, ALO NEK OOL NIY MSM UME HTN ASY RHC is the first cipher Enola solves to find the message: Enola, look in my chrysanthemums.

Armed with the information left in these gifts, Enola sets out to find her mother, ignoring the plans Mycroft has set out for her (a boarding school? Not on her life) and hopefully outsmarting the great detective Sherlock Holmes.

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C O'Brien

When widowed Mrs. Frisby's youngest son Timothy comes down with pneumonia, she goes to the area herbalist, Mr. Ages, for medicine which he says will cure the sickness in three or four days. But, he adds, it will be several weeks before Timothy can go out into cold or cool air safely without falling sick again and dying.

This doesn't seem like much of a problem, does it? And it wouldn't be, for you or I. We'd be a little bored, of course, stuck in the house, bundled in blankets, a little tired and weak, but it wouldn't be that big of a thing.

But you see, Mrs. Frisby, Timothy, and the rest of her children are field mice, and even Mr. Ages is a small white mouse. They live in houses they've created on Mr. Fitzgibbon's farm. Mr. Ages lives in a hollowed-out space of a brick wall, and Mrs. Frisby lives with her four children in a concrete block - you know, one of those ones with two holes through the middle, just right to make two cozy rooms for a mouse family? - against a boulder in the middle of Mr. Fitzgibbon's big field.

Which is the biggest problem of all, for you see, every spring when Mr. Fitzgibbon begins to plow his field, Mrs. Frisby and her family have to move to a safe place in the woods. But with Timothy sick, they can't move - and the spring thaw is coming soon. Mr. Fitzgibbon has the tractor ready, with the sharp shiny plow already attached to the back.

They can't go and they can't stay, and perhaps there's only one direction Mrs. Frisby can look for help, if she can find the courage: the mysterious rats of NIMH.