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Al Capone Does My Shirts (Tales from Alcatraz)
Al Capone Does My Shirts
Gennifer Choldenko
Moose Flannagan moves with his family to Alcatraz so his dad can work as a prison guard and his sister, Natalie, can attend a special school.  But Natalie has autism, and when she's denied admittance to the school, the stark setting of Alcatraz begins to unravel the tenuous coping mechanisms Moose's family has used for dealing with her disorder.When Moose meets Piper, the cute daughter of the Warden, he knows right off she's trouble.  But she's also strangely irresistible.  All Moose wants to do is protect Natalie, live up to his parents' expectations, and stay out of trouble.  But on Alcatraz, trouble is never very far away.Set in 1935, when guards actually lived on Alcatraz Island with their families.  Choldenko's second novel brings humor to the complexities of family dynamics and illuminates the real struggle of a kid trying to free himself from the "good boy" stance he's taken his whole life.

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Alias
Alias
Mary Elizabeth Ryan
No one lives the way Toby and his mother live. No One. As soon as they start to get settled in a new town, his mother always insists they pack up and move on. She changes her name, her hairstyle, and her identity. Does his mother work for the CIA? Was Toby kidnapped? Does he have a father who is alive somewhere? Over the years, Toby has learned not to ask these questions. But when they move to rural Idaho, things seem different. Until the day Toby discovers an old news item that shatters any chance he and his mother have of living a normal life. Will they ever be able to leave the past behind?

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Inspector Jacques (Jack Russell: Dog Detective)
Inspector Jacques
Sally Odgers, Darrel Odgers
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.

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Calendar Mysteries #4: April Adventure
Calendar Mysteries: April Adventure
John Steven Gurney, Ron Roy
From the author of A to Z Mysteries comes a springtime egg hunt mystery featuring the younger siblings of the A to Z Mysteries kids!It's a mystery every month from popular A to Z Mysteries author Ron Roy! With the younger siblings of the A to Z Mysteries kids!April is for Adventure...In the fourth book of the Calendar Mysteries—an early chapter book mystery series—it's springtime in Green Lawn, and Bradley, Brian, Lucy, and Nate are on an Easter egg hunt. They search high and law and find lots of eggs. But soon it's clear that some of the eggs aren't just well hidden. They're gone! Who would steal Easter eggs? It's up to the four kids to crack this eggs-cellent case. Parents, teachers, and librarians agree that these highly collectible chapter books are perfect for emerging readers and any kid who loves mysteries!

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A Boy's Will
A Boy's Will
Troy Howell, Erik C. Haugaard
Patrick defies his unloving grandfather, a smuggler from the Irish island of Valentia, by warning John Paul Jones and the American fleet about an English ambush.

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Calendar Mysteries #3: March Mischief
Calendar Mysteries: March Mischief
John Steven Gurney, Ron Roy
It's a mystery every month from popular A to Z Mysteries author Ron Roy! With the younger siblings of the A to Z Mysteries kids!March is for Madness...In the third book of the Calendar Mysteries - an early chapter book mystery series - it's St. Patrick's Day in Green Lawn. Bradley, Brian, Nate, and Lucy dress up a leprechaun statue for the town's yearly contest. They leave it out on the porch overnight, but the next morning, it's missing! And theirs isn't the only one. All over town, leprechauns are disappearing. Who is behind the mischief? It will take four kids and the luck of the Irish to find out. Parents, teachers, and librarians agree that these highly collectible chapter books are perfect for emerging readers and any kid who loves mysteries!

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A Corner Of The Universe (Newbery Honor Book)
A Corner of the Universe
Ann M. Martin
On the heels of her acclaimed novel BELLE TEAL, bestselling and beloved author Ann M. Martin presents a searing story about family ties and how they bind us.The summer Hattie turns 12, her predictable smalltown life is turned on end when her uncle Adam returns home for the first time in over ten years. Hattie has never met him, never known about him. He's been institutionalized; his condition invovles schizophrenia and autism.Hattie, a shy girl who prefers the company of adults, takes immediately to her excitable uncle, even when the rest of the family -- her parents and grandparents -- have trouble dealing with his intense way of seeing the world. And Adam, too, sees that Hattie is special, that her quiet, shy ways are not a disability,

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A Long Way From Chicago: A Novel in Stories (Puffin Modern Classics)
A Long Way From Chicago
Richard Peck
A Newbery Honor BookA summer they'll never forget. Each summer Joey and his sister, Mary Alice—two city slickers from Chicago—visit Grandma Dowdel's seemingly sleepy Illinois town. Soon enough, they find that it's far from sleepy...and Grandma is far from your typical grandmother. From seeing their first corpse (and he isn't resting easy) to helping Grandma trespass, catch the sheriff in his underwear, and feed the hungry—all in one day—Joey and Mary Alice have nine summers they'll never forget! "A rollicking celebration of an eccentric grandmother and childhood memories." —School Library Journal, starred review "Each tale is a small masterpiece of storytelling." —The Horn Book, starred review "Grandma Dowdel embodies not only the heart of a small town but the spirit of an era gone by...Remarkable and fine." —Kirkus Reviews, starred reviewA Newbery Honor BookA National Book Award FinalistAn ALA Notable BookAn ALA Best Book for Young Adults

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A Mango-Shaped Space
A Mango-Shaped Space
Wendy Mass
Offers the story of thirteen-year-old Mia Winchell whose perception of life is truly different due to synethesia, an unusual physiological condition where a person sees sounds, smells colors, and tastes shapes, and tells how she has learned to embrace the condition and cope with it in her daily routine.

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A Picture of Freedom: The Diary of Clotee, a Slave Girl, Belmont Plantation, Virginia 1859 (Dear America Series)
A Picture of Freedom
Patricia C. McKissack
Having secretly taught herself how to read and write, Clotee, a brave twelve-year-old Virginia slave, witnesses the horrors of slavery and eventually becomes a conductor on the Underground Railroad.

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