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The Long Haul: Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Synopsis: Greg Heffley and his family hit the road in author-illustrator Jeff Kinney's latest installment of the phenomenal bestselling Diary of a Wimpy Kid series.
Publication Date: 11/04/14
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Series
The Watcher
Joan Hiatt Harlow
Synopsis: After Wendy is kidnapped by her own mother, the only way she can survive wartime Germany is with the help of a special dog and the family she never knew she had in this historically accurate, standalone companion to Shadows on the Sea.

1942. Berlin, Germany. How did Wendy end up in such a place? Just a few months ago, she was enjoying her time in Maine, supporting the American war effort.

But she was kidnapped, then betrayed by her own mother, who is actually a Nazi spy. As a new Berliner—and now a German—Wendy is expected to speak in a language she’s never known and support a cause she doesn’t believe in.

There are allies, though, among the Germans. Allies who have been watching over Wendy since she arrived. And Wendy, along with her new German shepherd puppy, must confront them. If only she can find them.

Her life depends on it.
Publication Date: 11/04/14
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Historical Fiction
Lowriders in Space
Raul the Third, Cathy Camper
Synopsis: Lupe Impala, El Chavo Flapjack, and Elirio Malaria love working with cars. You name it, they can fix it. But the team's favorite cars of all are lowriders—cars that hip and hop, dip and drop, go low and slow, bajito y suavecito. The stars align when a contest for the best car around offers a prize of a trunkful of cash—just what the team needs to open their own shop! ¡Ay chihuahua! What will it take to transform a junker into the best car in the universe? Striking, unparalleled art from debut illustrator Raul the Third recalls ballpoint-pen-and-Sharpie desk-drawn doodles, while the story is sketched with Spanish, inked with science facts, and colored with true friendship. With a glossary at the back to provide definitions for Spanish and science terms, this delightful book will educate and entertain in equal measure.
Publication Date: 11/04/14
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Manga/Graphic Novel
Lowriders in Space
Cathy Camper, Raul the Third Raul the Third
Synopsis: Lupe Impala, El Chavo Flapjack, and Elirio Malaria love working with cars. You name it, they can fix it. But the team's favorite cars of all are lowriders—cars that hip and hop, dip and drop, go low and slow, bajito y suavecito. The stars align when a contest for the best car around offers a prize of a trunkful of cash—just what the team needs to open their own shop! ¡Ay chihuahua! What will it take to transform a junker into the best car in the universe? Striking, unparalleled art from debut illustrator Raul the Third recalls ballpoint-pen-and-Sharpie desk-drawn doodles, while the story is sketched with Spanish, inked with science facts, and colored with true friendship. With a glossary at the back to provide definitions for Spanish and science terms, this delightful book will educate and entertain in equal measure.
Publication Date: 11/04/14
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Humor
Amy's Choice
Marcia Strykowski
Synopsis: Sequel to the critically acclaimed Call Me Amy.

Amy Henderson's freshman year starts with a new best friend, Cat, and a newfound confidence. But she misses her crush, Craig, who has gone to live with his aunt in Boston. Craig has promised to write, and Amy checks the mail on a daily basis, but to no avail. There are plenty of distractions, however. Cat's brother, Ricky, seems interested in Amy, but is she interested in him? And a new friendship with Finn, the lighthouse keeper, who Amy discovers is a talented artist, keeps Amy and Cat busy as they arrange for him to exhibit his work. But things get complicated when Craig returns from Boston and Finn is accused of arson. There are more questions than answers for Amy as life becomes as turbulent as the cold and stormy ocean of her coastal Maine town. Ideal for preteens, this novel is the sequel to the critically acclaimed Call Me Amy and touches upon issues of friendship, boyfriend troubles, and the power of believing in oneself.MAINE / SEAL PUPS / 1973 / COMING-OF-AGE / ADVENTURE / ROMANCE / MIDDLE-GRADE           
Publication Date: 11/03/14
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Fiction
Amy's Choice
Marcia Strykowski
Synopsis: Sequel to the critically acclaimed Call Me Amy.

Amy Henderson's freshman year starts with a new best friend, Cat, and a newfound confidence. But she misses her crush, Craig, who has gone to live with his aunt in Boston. Craig has promised to write, and Amy checks the mail on a daily basis, but to no avail. There are plenty of distractions, however. Cat's brother, Ricky, seems interested in Amy, but is she interested in him? And a new friendship with Finn, the lighthouse keeper, who Amy discovers is a talented artist, keeps Amy and Cat busy as they arrange for him to exhibit his work. But things get complicated when Craig returns from Boston and Finn is accused of arson. There are more questions than answers for Amy as life becomes as turbulent as the cold and stormy ocean of her coastal Maine town. Ideal for preteens, this novel is the sequel to the critically acclaimed Call Me Amy and touches upon issues of friendship, boyfriend troubles, and the power of believing in oneself.MAINE / SEAL PUPS / 1973 / COMING-OF-AGE / ADVENTURE / ROMANCE / MIDDLE-GRADE           
Publication Date: 11/03/14
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Fiction
Talon
Julie Kagawa
Synopsis: In a world in which near-extinct dragons pass as humans to grow their numbers secretly, siblings Ember and Dante Hill prepare for destined positions in the world of Talon only to be hunted by a dragon-slaying soldier.
Publication Date: 10/28/14
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Adventure
Bumbling Bea
H Russ Brown, Deborah Baldwin
Synopsis: Beatrice thinks she has no acting talent but that doesn't stop her from auditioning for the annual middle school play. Easy! Except Michiko, a new girl from Japan, shows up and ruins everything! So begins Beatrice's diabolical plan to scare away Michiko. But Michiko has goals of her own with no plans to leave soon. Beatrice is sometimes sarcastic, sometimes very funny and always honest. A great book for those who love theater and every part of it--the good, the bad and the crazy.
Publication Date: 10/23/14
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
No Place for Kids
Alison Lohans
Synopsis: Sisters Jennifer and Sarah were once part of a happy, stable family, but their idyllic life comes to an abrupt end when their mother dies and their father, overcome with grief, loses his grip on his family.

With nothing left to lose, the two sisters, aged ten and twelve, decide run away to their mother’s sister in Vancouver, setting out with very little money and no clear plan. Along the way, they must overcome fear, loneliness, illness, and the conflict inherent in their sibling relationship. This emotional story deals with mature themes, but is ultimately about the enduring bonds of family.
Publication Date: 10/17/14
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Prairie Pictures
Shirlee Smith Matheson
Synopsis: For twelve-year-old Sherri, moving is a way of life. Her family has lived in seven different places in as many years, three in the last year alone. But no place has ever been as strange as the ranching community of Gardin, where the Old West meets new industry and the community is divided between longtime residents and recent arrivals. Initially aligning herself with another outsider, Sherri realizes that she would rather look for friendships based on more than the arbitrary divisions that exist among her peers. But just as she starts to feel at home in Gardin, her parents announce plans to uproot the family once again.
Publication Date: 10/17/14
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Anybody Shining
Frances O'Roark Dowell
Synopsis: Can one mistake destroy the chance of a lifetime? A girl discovers there are many ways of being true in this magnificent ode to handwritten letters and the shining power of friendship from the author of Dovey Coe, set in the Appalachian mountains of 1920s North Carolina.

One true friend. Someone shining. That’s all twelve-year-old Arie Mae wants. But shining true friends are hard to come by deep in the mountains of western North Carolina, so she sets her sights on a cousin unseen, someone who lives all the way away in the big city of Baltimore, Maryland. Three unanswered letters later, Arie Mae learns that a group of kids from Baltimore are coming to spend a summer on the mountain.

Arie Mae loves her smudge of a town—she knows there’s nothing finer than Pa’s fiddling and Mama’s apple cake, but she also knows Big City folk might feel differently. How else to explain the song catcher ladies who have descended upon the village in search of “traditional tunes” and their intention to help “save” the townspeople? But when the group from Baltimore arrives, it seems there just might be a gem among them, one shining boy who doesn’t seem to notice Arie Mae wears the same dress every day and prefers to go barefoot. So what if he has a bit of a limp and a rumored heart problem—he also is keen about everything Arie Mae is keen about, and has all the makings of a true friend.

And so what if the boy’s mother warns him not to exert himself? He and Arie Mae have adventures to go on! In between writing letters to her cousin, Arie Mae leads her one shining friend on ghost hunts and bear chases. But it turns out those warnings were for a reason…
Publication Date: 10/07/14
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Fiction
The Castle Park Kids
Laura Smith
Synopsis: Jamie and her family have just moved into their new house on a horseshoe-shaped street surrounding a playground. There is a lot to get used to at first. Her brother, Luke, has nightmares. Her sister, Becky, acts like a baby, and all three of them miss their grandparents whose house they had lived in until now. While Jamie’s dad is at work and her mom works from home, Jamie is in charge of her brother and sister for the summer. At the playground, they are introduced to all of the neighborhood kids. Together, they teach each other their favorite games, make up new ones, go on many adventures, and end up having the best summer ever.
Publication Date: 10/03/14
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Fat & Bones
Adam S. Doyle, Larissa Theule
Synopsis: Welcome to Bald's farm. Well, perhaps it's not Bald's farm anymore. The old man has kicked the bucket, setting off a wave of conflict from the flooded farmhouse kitchen to the muddy pig pen to the tall wheat fields. In this darkly funny, slightly supernatural chain of tales, no creature is safe. Not Leonard Grey, a spider with sophisticated tastes. Not Esmeralda, a resentful one-legged pig. Not Tulip, a plant with a mean streak. And as for Bones, the old man's son, and Fat, his winged rival? They'll learn that danger lurks in the strangest of places...
Publication Date: 10/01/14
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Anthology
The Baffling Case of the Battered Brain
Synopsis:

With time travel and mysteries that need solving, the Galactic Academy of Science (G.A.S.) series instructs readers on how to think like scientists. Under the guidance of a Dude or Dudette from the future, the middle school characters are faced with treacherous, present-day crimes that require a historical knowledge of science in order to be solved. From investigating problems to analyzing data and constructing explanations and solutions, this series blends elements of sci-fi with educational methods that distill the key thinking habits of scientists and engineers.

 

Medical science combines with mystery in this G.A.S. adventure about concussions

 

Is the awkward stranger taking bribes to throw games? When Clinton hits his head in the championship soccer game, the stranger gets him benched, and Clinton’s team loses. Determined to nail the bribe-taker, Clinton and Mae take on a new G.A.S. mission—a journey across three continents and 4,000 years to learn about concussion and the brain.

Publication Date: 10/01/14
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Science Fiction
The Perilous Case of the Zombie Potion
Synopsis:

With time travel and mysteries that need solving, the Galactic Academy of Science (G.A.S.) series instructs readers on how to think like scientists. Under the guidance of a Dude or Dudette from the future, the middle school characters are faced with treacherous, present-day crimes that require a historical knowledge of science in order to be solved. From investigating problems to analyzing data and constructing explanations and solutions, this series blends elements of sci-fi with educational methods that distill the key thinking habits of scientists and engineers.

 

Only the G.A.S. kids can stop an evil scientist who wants to enslave humans of the future

 

When a corrupt Dude from the future threatens to harm Sam’s mother unless he steals a zombie potion from his scientist father, Clinton and Mae know they have to help. This time-traveling journey on the science and history of death takes the G.A.S. crew to China, Italy, Belgium, Haiti, New Guinea, Arizona, and Indonesia. Along the way, Sam faces his greatest fears and grows braver, but when disaster threatens his father’s research camp, can he figure out how to save his father, outwit the evil Dr. G, and turn the tables on the bullies who have been tormenting him?

Publication Date: 10/01/14
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Science
The Cryptic Case of the Coded Fair
Pendred Noyce, Robert Tinker, Barbara Tinker
Synopsis:

With time travel and mysteries that need solving, the Galactic Academy of Science (G.A.S.) series instructs readers on how to think like scientists. Under the guidance of a Dude or Dudette from the future, the middle school characters are faced with treacherous, present-day crimes that require a historical knowledge of science in order to be solved. From investigating problems to analyzing data and constructing explanations and solutions, this series blends elements of sci-fi with educational methods that distill the key thinking habits of scientists and engineers.

 

Learn to create and crack codes in this latest G.A.S. installment

 

Dr. G and his companions are using coded messages in a plot to corrupt the International Science Fair. Quarkum Phonon, a Dude from the future, calls on four middle school students for help. Benson and Anita work on their computers while two new G.A.S. recruits, Ella and Shomari, travel through time, facing kidnappers, thieves, and spies in their scramble to learn about codes and ciphers. Across two millennia and five countries, they meet Julius Caesar, Thomas Jefferson, Alan Turing, and others, while learning about substitution ciphers, frequency analysis, wheels, cylinders, book codes, the Verginère Table, the Enigma, and public and private keys. But will they break Dr. G’s code in time to save the science fair? A computer-based online extension that allows readers to create and decode their own secret messages is also included.

Publication Date: 10/01/14
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Mystery

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