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Johnny Tremain
Esther Forbes
Synopsis: This story of a tragically injured young silversmith who ends up hip-deep in the American Revolution is inspiring, exciting, and sad. Winner of the prestigious Newbery Award in 1944, Esther Forbes's story has lasted these 50-plus years by including adventure, loss, courage, and history in a wonderfully written, very dramatic package. It's probably not great for little guys but mature 11-year-olds or older will find it a great adventure.
Publication Date: 04/01/87
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Historical Fiction
All Quiet on the Western Front
A W. Wheen, Erich Maria Remarque
Synopsis: Paul Baumer enlisted with his classmates in the German army of World War I. Youthful, enthusiastic, they become soldiers. But despite what they have learned, they break into pieces under the first bombardment in the trenches. And as horrible war plods on year after year, Paul holds fast to a single vow: to fight against the principles of hate that meaninglessly pits young men of the same generation but different uniforms against each other--if only he can come out of the war alive.
"The world has a great writer in Erich Maria Remarque. He is a craftsman of unquestionably first trank, a man who can bend language to his will. Whether he writes of men or of inanimate nature, his touch is sensitive, firm, and sure."
THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
Publication Date: 03/12/87
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Historical Fiction
The Whipping Boy
Peter Sis, Sid Fleischman
Synopsis: A bratty prince and his whipping boy have many adventures when they inadvertently trade places after becoming involved with dangerous outlaws.
Publication Date: 11/01/87
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Z for Zachariah
Robert C. O'Brien
Synopsis: Seemingly the only person left alive after a nuclear war, a sixteen-year-old girl is relieved to see a man arrive into her valley until she realizes that he is a tyrant and she must somehow escape.
Publication Date: 11/01/87
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Historical Fiction
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
John Seelye, Mark Twain
Synopsis: The classic adventure story of boyhood escapades on the shores of the Mississippi
Publication Date: 10/07/86
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
The Complete Sherlock Holmes
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Synopsis: The complete collection of Sherlock Holmes’s adventures in crime, including all four novels and fifty-six short stories featuring Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic hero

Volume I includes the early novel A Study in Scarlet, which introduced the eccentric genius of Sherlock Holmes to the world. This baffling murder mystery, with the cryptic word Rache written in blood, first brought Holmes together with Dr. John Watson. Next, The Sign of Four presents Holmes’s famous “seven percent solution” and the strange puzzle of Mary Morstan in the quintessential locked-room mystery. Also included are Holmes’s feats of extraordinary detection in such famous cases as “The Adventure of the Speckled Band,” “The Musgrave Ritual,” and “The Five Orange Pips.”

Volume II begins with The Hound of the Baskervilles, a haunting novel of murder on eerie Grimpen Moor, which has rightly earned its reputation as the finest murder mystery ever written. The Valley of Fear matches Holmes against his archenemy, the master of imaginative crime, Professor Moriarty. In addition, the loyal Dr. Watson has faithfully recorded Holmes’s exploits from “The Adventure of the Red Circle” to the twelve baffling enigmas from The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes.

Conan Doyle’s incomparable tales bring to life a Victorian England of horse-drawn cabs, fogs, and the famous lodgings at 221B Baker Street, where for more than forty years Sherlock Holmes earned his undisputed reputation as the greatest fictional detective of all time.
Publication Date: 10/01/86
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Mystery
Twenty-One Balloons
William Pene du Bois
Synopsis: A Newbery Medal Winner

Professor William Waterman Sherman intends to fly across the Pacific Ocean. But through a twist of fate, he lands on Krakatoa, and discovers a world of unimaginable wealth, eccentric inhabitants, and incredible balloon inventions.Winner of the 1948 Newbery Medal, this classic fantasy-adventure is now available in a handsome new edition.


"William Pene du Bois combines his rich imagination, scientific tastes, and brilliant artistry to tell astory that has no age limit."—The Horn Book
Publication Date: 05/06/86
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
The People Could Fly
Diane Dillon Ph.D., Virginia Hamilton, Leo Dillon
Synopsis: "The well-known author retells 24 black American folk tales in sure storytelling voice: animal tales, supernatural tales, fanciful and cautionary tales, and slave tales of freedom. All are beautifully readable. With the added attraction of 40 wonderfully expressive paintings by the Dillons, this collection should be snapped up."--(starred) School Library Journal.  
Publication Date: 10/12/85
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Historical Fiction
The Yearling
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, N. C. Wyeth
Synopsis: Fighting off a pack of starving wolves, wrestling alligators in the swamp, romping with bear cubs, drawing off the venom of a giant rattlesnake bite with the heart of a fresh-killed deer--it's all in a day's work for the Baxter family of the Florida scrublands. But young Jody Baxter is not content with these electrifying escapades, or even with the cozy comfort of home with Pa and Ma. He wants a pet, a friend with whom he can share his quiet cogitations and his corn pone. Jody gets his pet, a frisky fawn he calls Flag, but that's not all. With Flag comes a year of life lessons, frolicking times, and achingly hard decisions. This powerful book is as compelling now as when it was written over 60 years ago. Read simply as a naturalist study of the Florida interior, it fascinates and entices. Add the heart-stopping adventure and heart-wrenching human elements, and this is a classic well worth its Pulitzer Prize. Earthy dialect and homespun wisdom season the story, giving it a unique and unforgettable flavor, and N.C. Wyeth's warm, soft illustrations capture an era of rough subsistence and sweet survival. (Ages 12 and older) --Emilie Coulter
Publication Date: 10/01/85
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver
Synopsis: Eleanor of Aquitaine has every reason to be  upset.



For centuries she's been  patiently waiting for her husband, King Henry II, to  meet her in Heaven. Luckily, she's sharing a cloud  with some old friends who knew her when she and  Henry ruled supreme. As long as they're together, they  might as well gossip about old times--and soon all  of Eleanor's adventures in the Middle Ages spring  to life again.



Finally, just when  they're about to give up on Henry, Eleanor spots  three men floating toward them. After all this  time, could one of them be Henry?
Publication Date: 02/01/85
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
A Separate Peace
John Knowles
Synopsis: Gene was a lonely, introverted intellectual.  Phineas was a handsome, taunting, daredevil athlete.  What happened between them at school one summer  during the early years of World War II is the  subject of A Separate Peace. A  great bestseller for over thirty years--one of the  most starkly moving parables ever written of the  dark forces that brood over the tortured world of  adolescence.
Publication Date: 01/01/85
Age Level: Any Age
Genre: Historical Fiction
Bridges at Toko-Ri
James A. Michener
Synopsis: In one of his beloved early bestsellers, Pulitzer Prize–winning author James A. Michener crafts a tale of the American men who fought the Korean War, detailing their exploits in the air as well as their lives on the ground. Young and innocent, they arrive in a place they have barely ever heard of, on a ship massive enough to carry planes and helicopters. Trained as professionals, they prepare for the rituals of war that countless men before them have endured, and face the same fears. They are American fighter pilots. Together they face an enemy they do not understand, knowing their only hope for survival is to win.
 
Praise for The Bridges at Toko-Ri
 
“A vivid and moving story, as well as an exciting one . . . The humanity of the people is deeply felt.”—Chicago Tribune
 
“The Banshees screaming over Korea, the perilous landings on an aircraft carrier deck ‘bouncing around like a derelict rowboat,’ a helicopter rescue from the freezing waters . . . all are stirringly rendered.”—The Denver Post
 
“Michener’s best . . . a story of action, ideas, and civilization’s responsibilities.”—Saturday Review
Publication Date: 09/12/84
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Historical Fiction
Where The Red Fern Grows
Synopsis:

Where the Red Fern Grows is a beloved classic that captures the powerful bond between man and man’s best friend. This edition also includes a special note to readers from Newbery Medal winner and Printz Honor winner Clare Vanderpool.
 
   Billy has long dreamt of owning not one, but two, dogs. So when he’s finally able to save up enough money for two pups to call his own—Old Dan and Little Ann—he’s ecstatic. It doesn’t matter that times are tough; together they’ll roam the hills of the Ozarks.
   Soon Billy and his hounds become the finest hunting team in the valley. Stories of their great achievements spread throughout the region, and the combination of Old Dan’s brawn, Little Ann’s brains, and Billy’s sheer will seems unbeatable. But tragedy awaits these determined hunters—now friends—and Billy learns that hope can grow out of despair, and that the seeds of the future can come from the scars of the past.
 
Praise for Where the Red Fern Grows
 
A Top 100 Children’s Novel, School Library Journal
A Must-Read for Kids 9 to 14, NPR
A Great American Read's Selection (PBS)
Winner of Multiple State Awards
Over 14 million copies in print!

“A rewarding book . . . [with] careful, precise observation, all of it rightly phrased....Very touching.” —The New York Times Book Review
 
“One of the great classics of children’s literature . . . Any child who doesn’t get to read this beloved and powerfully emotional book has missed out on an important piece of childhood for the last 40-plus years.” —Common Sense Media

“An exciting tale of love and adventure you’ll never forget.” —School Library Journal
 
“A book of unadorned naturalness.” —Kirkus Reviews
 
“Written with so much feeling and sentiment that adults as well as children are drawn [in] with a passion.” —Arizona Daily Star
 
“It’s a story about a young boy and his two hunting dogs and . . . I can’t even go on without getting a little misty.” —The Huffington Post
 
“We tear up just thinking about it.” —Time on the film adaptation

Publication Date: 08/01/84
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
The Sign of the Beaver
Elizabeth George Speare
Synopsis: Twelve-year-old Matt is left on his own in the Maine wilderness while his father leaves to bring the rest of the family to their new settlement. When he befriends Attean, an Indian chief’s grandson, he is invited to join the Beaver tribe and move north. Should Matt abandon his hopes of ever seeing his family again and go on to a new life?
Publication Date: 07/01/84
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Synopsis: In 1862 Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, a shy Oxford mathematician with a stammer, created a story about a little girl tumbling down a rabbit hole. Thus began the immortal adventures of Alice, perhaps the most popular heroine in English literature.

Countless scholars have tried to define the charm of the Alice books—with those wonderfully eccentric characters the Queen of Hearts, Tweedledum, and Tweedledee, the Cheshire Cat, Mock Turtle, the Mad Hatter et al.—by proclaiming that they really comprise a satire on language, a political allegory, a parody of Victorian children’s literature, even a reflection of contemporary ecclesiastical history.

Perhaps, as Dodgson might have said, Alice is no more than a dream, a fairy tale about the trials and tribulations of growing up—or down, or all turned round—as seen through the expert eyes of a child.
Publication Date: 06/01/84
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
The Tombs of Atwar
Ursula K. Le Guin
Synopsis: Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea cycle has become one of the best-loved fantasies of our time.  The windswept world of Earthsea is one of the greatest creations in all fantasy literature, frequently compared with J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth or C.S. Lewis'Narnia.  The magnificent saga begins with A Wizard Of Earthsea,  continues in The Tombs Of Atuan and The Farthest Shore, and concludes with Tehanu --each book a treasure of wisdom, wonder, and literary wizardry.  When she was still a child, Tenar was stripped of her name and family and dedicated as high priestess to the Nameless Ones, dark powers of The Tombs of Atuan.  This is the tale of the young wizard, Ged, who came to the forbidden labyrinth to steal its greatest treasure--the Ring of Erreth-Akbe--and stayed to set Tenar free and lead her out of darkness.
Publication Date: 06/01/84
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction

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