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Spaceheadz
Francesco Sedita, Shane Prigmore, Jon Scieszka
Synopsis: The perfect combination of the age old experience of holding and pouring over a physical book with newest media technology that kids love!

Michael K. just started fifth grade at a new school. As if that wasn't hard enough, the kids he seems to have made friends with apparently aren't kids at all. They are aliens. Real aliens who have invaded our planet in the form of school children and a hamster. They have a mission to complete: to convince 3,140,001 kids to BE SPHDZ.

But with a hamster as their leader, "kids" who talk like walking advertisements, and Michael K as their first convert, will the SPHDZ be able to keep their cover and pull off their assignment?
Publication Date: 03/08/11
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
The Case of the Haunted Cabin
Synopsis: Boy detective Brooks Berry is at it again in this second book in the series. This time he travels with his sister, Ally, to visit his Grandparents in Arizona. While on their visit, their Grandpa takes them to stay at a friend's cabin with the ulterior motive of having Brooks solve the mystery of who is haunting it.
Publication Date: 01/29/11
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Kickers: Book 4 Game-Day Jitters
Jimmy Holder, Rich Wallace
Synopsis: Filled with on-the-field soccer scenes, black-and-white artwork, and sports statistics throughout, this short novel—ideal for newly independent readers, athletes, and all sports fans—follows nine-year-old Ben and his fourth-grade team, the Bobcats, as they race to the Kickers League playoffs. Ben knows he's one of the team's strongest players, but he's been struggling with the jitters. He's just freezing up on the field. Can he pull through for his teammates now that they really need him?
Publication Date: 01/11/11
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Kickers
Jimmy Holder, Rich Wallace
Synopsis: KICKERS: a young middle grade soccer series
Book 3
 
It’s a race to the Kickers soccer league play-offs. Nine-year-old Ben is pretty sure that if the Bobcats win two of their last three games, they’ll earn a tournament spot. But in their game against the Tigers, the Bobcats are a mess on the field—they’re not passing well at all—and Ben decides to take control. Someone has to win this thing, and his teammates just aren’t measuring up.

Then the whistle blasts, the red card waves, and Ben is out—benched for dangerous moves. Not only that, he’s barred from the next game, too—a key bout against the Rabbits. How can he possibly help his team to the play-offs from the sidelines?
The Kickers series, from award-winning sports novelist Rich Wallace, features nonstop soccer action, black-and-white art, and league statistics and soccer tips throughout.

Also available:
KICKERS #1: THE BALL HOGS
KICKERS #2: FAKE OUT
KICKERS #4: GAME-DAY JITTERS
Publication Date: 10/12/10
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
The Witch On Oak Street
Major L. Mitchell
Synopsis: Nine year-old Debbie Folino believes she can do most anything, but when she takes a dare to trick-or-treat the old witch living in the spooky house at the end of Oak Street, she discovers eighty-year-old Sara Baker, who will change her life forever. Sara becomes the mentor who opens a new world for her young friend. She guides her through the trials of growing, loving, sharing, and even death. Most of all, Sara introduces Debbie and her family to someone who will become an even more important person in their lives, Jesus Christ.
Publication Date: 10/08/10
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
The Fabled Fifth Graders of Aesop Elementary
Synopsis: Here's a chapter book with all the kid appeal and absurd mayhem of Louis Sachar's classic Sideways Stories from Wayside School! These hilarious fables, complete with morals, will make you wish you went to Aesop Elementary.

Welcome back to Mr. Jupiter's inimitable class in this companion to The Fabled Fourth Graders of Aesop Elementary School. His rambunctious, special students are fifth graders now . . . and they rule the school! Bernadette Braggadoccio stirs things up when her probing investigative reporting for the school's TV station reveals some scandalous stuff. But . . . don't believe everything you hear. Is that new art teacher really a crazy lady with zillions of cats, or could there be more to this story?

So whether readers knew Mr. Jupiter's class back in fourth grade or are new to Aesop Elementary, they'll be chomping at the bit to join these fabled fifth graders for the zaniest school year ever.
Publication Date: 08/10/10
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Treasure Lost
R. G. Cordiner
Synopsis: What do you treasure and how far would you go to find it? Peter and Farren are two brothers who think adventure is sneaking into a pub or going rabbit hunting. Little do they know! Soon the youths are on a whirlwind trip of betrayal, daggers, self-discovery and a giant reticulated python! Somehow they have to find a way to stop fighting with each other, avoid a sadistic Navy Admiral and a mysterious pirate captain whilst remembering to tap the biscuits on the side of the ship - maggots are never good for breakfast! "If you came for treasure it lies within, if you did not, what you treasure lies beyond your grasp." TREASURE LOST is suitable for all readers aged 8 years and above.
Publication Date: 08/03/10
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
The Prophecy of the Shalforen: Hangman's Hole
Synopsis: "I know you are not so brave, Anna Spencerford. You will do as I say."-The savage voice haunted Anna's mind. Crammed in their old red ford escort, the five Spencerfords, Alfred, Penelope, Anna, Dick & Alex, set out for the South of England to a very quirky wedding and to visit their elderly relatives. There they will meet the Jojoes, a cheeky pair of twins that will help them escape the boring household and introduce them to the wonders of their woods, camp and hidey holes and a ruined cottage. In the midst of a family drama, Anna finds that the discovery of the cottage will lead to much more than a simple game, as the ghostly figure of the Hangman will creep slowly into her life.
Publication Date: 07/23/10
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Soujon's Journey
Marlee Morgan
Synopsis: Set in the mystical village of Sky Mountain and the city of Cyane, SOUJON'S JOURNEY is the tale of a young girl growing up and discovering life. Finding her gifts and the inner strength that allows her to stand up to adversity and overcome obstacles in her life.In the mystical city there are four basic laws--(1) if harm it does none, do as you will, (2) be kind in spirit, (3) be in harmony with your surroundings, (4) be clean in body, mind and spirit. Soujon embraces the new world around her and finds joy in life beyond her wildest dreams. This is a magical growing up, coming of age tale that will grab the reader from the very beginning.
Publication Date: 06/15/10
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Adventures of a Cat-Whiskered Girl
Daniel Manus Pinkwater
Synopsis:

Big Audrey is a girl . . .
with cat’s whiskers . . .
and sort of cat’s eyes.
But, is there an other cat-whiskered, sort of cat-eyed girl?

Big Audrey waves goodbye to her friends Iggy and Neddie, Seamus, and Crazy Wig, in Los Angeles and hitches a ride with bongo-playing-while-driving Marlon Brando across the country to Poughkeepsie, New York, city of mystery. She finds she has questions needing answers—and a bit of inter-plane-of-existence traveling to do.

Big Audrey and her telepathic friend Molly zigzag off on an incredibly strange and kooky adventure, and solve the mystery of the cat-whiskered doppelganger.

Publication Date: 06/07/10
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Melonhead
Gillian Johnson, Katy Kelly
Synopsis: Melonhead, the first book in author Katy Kelly's laugh-out-loud chapter book series, is now in paperback!
 
Adam Melon's friend Lucy Rose gave him a nickname—Melonhead—and it caught on fast. Melonhead is a self-proclaimed inventor. All his life, which is ten years and counting, great ideas have been popping in and out of his melon head. And sometimes they work! This year Melonhead's class is entering an inventing fair, so he and his friend Sam are dreaming up plans. And Capitol Hill has a ton of places to find invention parts. But they have to be sure they find what they need and get home on time with no excuses. That might be hard, because Melonhead and Sam have a way of forgetting. But their work will all pay off if they win first place—they'll be headed to even bigger and better things!
Publication Date: 05/11/10
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
The Python Problem
Sally Odgers, Darrel Odgers
Synopsis: Working as an Animal Liaison Officer at a veterinary clinic where he helps communicate with a variety of interesting patients, Jack Russell terrier Trump struggles to calm the panicked animals of Jeandabah when Diamond the python escapes from a moving van. Original.
Publication Date: 03/01/10
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
The Strange Case of Origami Yoda
Synopsis: Summary:
In this funny, uncannily wise portrait of the dynamics of a sixth-grade class and of the greatness that sometimes comes in unlikely packages, Dwight, a loser, talks to his classmates via an origami finger puppet of Yoda. If that weren't strange enough, the puppet is uncannily wise and prescient. Origami Yoda predicts the date of a pop quiz, guesses who stole the classroom Shakespeare bust, and saves a classmate from popularity-crushing embarrassment with some well-timed advice. Dwight's classmate Tommy wonders how Yoda can be so smart when Dwight himself is so clueless. With contributions from his puzzled classmates, he assembles the case file that forms this novel.

 F&P Level: T
F&P Genre: RF

About the Author:

•Applying for a job as a newspaper artist, Tom Angleberger was mistakenly assigned to cover local government meetings. Fifteen years and countless town council meetings later, he is still writing instead of drawing, currently as a columnist for the Roanoke Times in Roanoke, Virginia. He began work on his first book while in middle school. Tom is married to author-illustrator Cece Bell. They live in Christianburg, Virginia.
Author: Tom Angleberger
Illustrator:0
Publisher:Amulet Books
Published Date:03/01/2010
Format:Hardcover
0810984253

Publication Date: 03/01/10
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
The Girl Who Could Fly
Victoria Forester
Synopsis:

You just can't keep a good girl down . . . unless you use the proper methods.

Piper McCloud can fly. Just like that. Easy as pie.

Sure, she hasn't mastered reverse propulsion and her turns are kind of sloppy, but she's real good at loop-the-loops.

Problem is, the good folk of Lowland County are afraid of Piper. And her ma's at her wit's end. So it seems only fitting that she leave her parents' farm to attend a top-secret, maximum-security school for kids with exceptional abilities.

School is great at first with a bunch of new friends whose skills range from super-strength to super-genius. (Plus all the homemade apple pie she can eat!) But Piper is special, even among the special. And there are consequences.

Consequences too dire to talk about. Too crazy to consider. And too dangerous to ignore.

At turns exhilarating and terrifying, Victoria Forester's debut novel has been praised by Stephenie Meyer, author of the Twilight saga, as "the oddest/sweetest mix of Little House on the Prairie and X-Men...Prepare to have your heart warmed." The Girl Who Could Fly is an unforgettable story of defiance and courage about an irrepressible heroine who can, who will, who must . . . fly.

This title has Common Core connections.

Praise for Victoria Forester and The Girl Who Could Fly:

"It's the oddest/sweetest mix of Little House on the Prairie and X-Men. I was smiling the whole time (except for the part where I cried). I gave it to my mom, and I'm reading it to my kids―it's absolutely multigenerational. Prepare to have your heart warmed." Stephenie Meyer, author of the Twilight saga

"In this terrific debut novel, readers meet Piper McCloud, the late-in-life daughter of farmers...The story soars, just like Piper, with enough loop-de-loops to keep kids uncertain about what will come next....Best of all are the book's strong, lightly wrapped messages about friendship and authenticity and the difference between doing well and doing good."--Booklist, Starred Review
"Forester's disparate settings (down-home farm and futuristic ice-bunker institute) are unified by the rock-solid point of view and unpretentious diction… any child who has felt different will take strength from Piper's fight to be herself against the tide of family, church, and society."--The Horn Book Review

The Girl Who Could Fly is a 2009 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.

Publication Date: 02/02/10
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Leprechaun in Late Winter
Sal Murdocca, Mary Pope Osborne
Synopsis: Jack and Annie are on a mission to find (and inspire!) creative people. This time, Jack and Annie meet an Irish girl and go on a magical adventure that changes the girl’s life—she grows up to be Lady Gregory, who helped bring back the Irish legends, started a theater, and helped the Irish people regain both their heritage and their pride.

Did you know that there’s a Magic Tree House book for every kid?

Magic Tree House: Adventures with Jack and Annie, perfect for readers who are just beginning chapter books
Merlin Missions: More challenging adventures for the experienced reader
Super Edition: A longer and more dangerous adventure
Fact Trackers: Nonfiction companions to your favorite Magic Tree House adventures

Have more fun with Jack and Annie at MagicTreeHouse.com!
Publication Date: 01/12/10
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Inspector Jacques
Sally Odgers, Darrel Odgers
Synopsis: Unimpressed by the pretentious Inspector Jacques, a fellow canine detective who considers himself Jack's superior, Jack Russell initially steers clear of Jacques' investigations into human crimes but is forced to solve the mystery when Jacques and his human are accused of an art theft. Original.
Publication Date: 01/01/10
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Juvenile Fiction

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