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.