Poison Ivy by Amy Goldman Koss

When three popular girls go on trial in Government class for their ruthless bullying of a girl named Ivy, it seems like the misfit will finally get her revenge. Eight first-person narrators give different versions of the event: Ivy―this victim doesn't want revenge, she just wants to be left alone; Ann―she's the beautiful, but infamously cruel, leader of the bullies; Marco―he may be the only person involved who has any morals, but he's also the target of Ann's persuasive affections; Daria―Ivy's painfully shy lawyer doesn't stand a chance; Bryce―the goofy court reporter knows all the real dirt, even if he doesn't care; Cameron―he sleeps through the proceedings but might wake up just in time to make a difference; Wayne―a true devotee of the legal process, too bad he's on the sidelines; and Faith―as the only witness for the prosecution, it all comes down to her. But where do her loyalties lie?

Reasistic Fiction

166 pages

Lexile 840

The Nest by Kenneth Oppel

For some kids summer is a sun-soaked season of fun. But for Steve, it’s just another season of worries. Worries about his sick newborn baby brother who is fighting to survive, worries about his parents who are struggling to cope, even worries about the wasp’s nest looming ominously from the eaves. So when a mysterious wasp queen invades his dreams, offering to “fix” the baby, Steve thinks his prayers have been answered.

All he has to do is say “Yes.” But “yes” is a powerful word. It is also a dangerous one. And once it is uttered, can it be taken back?

244 pages
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Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls by Meg Cabot

When nine-year-old Allie Finkle's parents announce that they are moving her and her brothers from their suburban split-level into an ancient Victorian in town, Allie's sure her life is over. She's not at all happy about having to give up her pretty pink wall-to-wall carpeting for creaky floorboards and creepy secret passageways-not to mention leaving her modern, state-of-the-art suburban school for a rundown, old-fashioned school just two blocks from her new house.

lexile 850
228 pages

Check out some of her rules at the back of the book.
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Fort by Cynthia DeFelice

Eleven-year-old Wyatt and his friend Augie aren't looking for a fight. They're having the best summer of their lives hanging out in the fort they built in the woods, fishing and hunting, cooking over a campfire, and sleeping out. But when two older boys mess with the fort--and with another kid who can't fight back--the friends are forced to launch Operation Doom.

Author Website

200 pages

Lexile 700

The Dark Side of Nowhere by Neal Shusterman

This is what the copy of this book looks like in our library.

But perhaps we should have gotten this cover....

Which one grabs your attention?? Regardless of your answer you should grab this book. 

It is a quick read, because it sucks you right in. 

Jason is having a bad day. The kind of day when you just don’t feel like yourself. Only for Jason, it’s not just a feeling. He really isn’t himself. Not anymore. Who is he? That’s the problem. Jason isn’t sure. And it’s not just him. Everyone in town is acting weird. His friends. His parents. Everyone. Billington is usually such a normal town. As Jason is about to discover, nothing will ever be normal again… 

A classic science fiction novel from bestselling author Neal Shusterman is back in print. -

230 pages

Lexile 850

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Footer Davis Probably is Crazy by Susan Vaught

Footer Davis is on the case when two kids go missing after a fire in this humorously honest novel that is full of Southern style. 

“Bless your heart” is a saying in the South that sounds nice but really isn’t. It means, “You’re beyond help.” That’s what folks say about fifth grader Footer Davis’s mom, who “ain’t right” because of her bipolar disorder. She just shot a snake in Footer’s yard with an elephant gun, and now she’s been shipped off to a mental hospital, and Footer is missing her fiercely yet again. 

“Bless their hearts” is also what folks say about Cissy and Doc Abrams, two kids who went missing after a house fire. Footer wants to be a journalist and her friend Peavine wants to be a detective, so the two decide to help with the mystery of the missing kids. But when visiting the crime scene makes Footer begin to have “episodes” of her own, she wonders if maybe she’s getting sick like her mom, and that’s a mystery that she’s not at all sure she wants to solve.

Author Website 

229 pages
800 Lexile

The Cottage in the Woods by Katherine Coville

Once upon a time, there was a girl with golden locks. But that’s just the beginning of this tale. The real story begins with a bear.

Ursula is a young she-bear who has come to work as a governess at the Vaughn estate. Although she is eager to instruct her young charge, Teddy, she is also frightened, especially when inexplicable things happen in the huge house after dark. Ursula is sure she has heard footsteps in the hallways at night, and that something is following her during her walks in the Enchanted Forest. Then there is Mr. Bentley, a young bear also employed by Mr. Vaughn, whose superior disposition is enough to drive Ursula to tears . . . and yet why does he also make her heart race? As Ursula works to unravel the mysteries of the Vaughn manor, she will have to be very, very careful. After all, true love, justice, and a girl with golden locks are at stake. And in the Enchanted Forest, not every fairy tale is destined for a happily ever after.

389 pages

Zane and the Hurricane: A Story of Katrina by Rodman Philbrick

Zane Dupree is a charismatic 12-year-old boy of mixed race visiting a relative in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina hits. Unexpectedly separated from all family, Zane and his dog experience the terror of Katrina's wind, rain, and horrific flooding. Facing death, they are rescued from an attic air vent by a kind, elderly musician and a scrappy young girl--both African American. The chaos that ensues as storm water drowns the city, shelter and food vanish, and police contribute to a dangerous, frightening atmosphere, creates a page-turning tale that completely engrosses the reader. Based on the facts of the worst hurricane disaster in U.S. history, Philbrick includes the lawlessness and lack of government support during the disaster as well as the generosity and courage of those who risked their lives and safety to help others. Here is an unforgettable novel of heroism in the face of truly challenging circumstances.

Video Book Talk 
192 pages

Lexile- 860L

Also Known as Elvis by James Howe

 Seventh grade is over. While his friends scatter on family vacations, Skeezie looks after his clingy, younger sisters. His father’s never paid child support, his mom works two jobs, and now Skeezie needs one too. He’s kept the stress and fighting at home a secret from the gang. Joe, out and proud, and Addie, smart and determined, have intact, supportive families; Bobby and his widowed father live in a trailer park, but they’re doing fine, too. Addie’s sometime friend Becca has a crush on Skeezie—or does she? Skeezie enjoys the job he’s landed at the Candy Kitchen, working with pretty Steffi, who calls him Elvis and has family and boyfriend problems herself. When his dad shows up out of the blue, Skeezie’s life changes again, and he’s torn between the possibility of a new life and loyalty for the one he knows. 

Part 4 of the Misfit's Series-The series that inspired No Name CallingWeek

1. The Misfits
2. Totally Joe
3. Addie on the Inside
4. Also Known as Elvis

288 pages
No Name Calling Week

Author Interview

The Lion Who Stole My Arm by Nicola Davies

On his way home from a fishing trip Pedru is attacked by a lion who takes his arm. As Pedru gradually adapts to his altered circumstances, at home and at school, he vows to get his revenge. So when his father, the finest hunter in the village, agrees to hunt the lion with him, Pedru is thrilled. But father and son track and kill the wrong lion – and find it's wearing a collar. Pedru's feelings change when he returns the collar to the Madune Carnivore Research Unit and the scientists there help him see his lion in a different light. With this new understanding he devotes himself to the study of lion behaviour, inspired by the animals' resilience and the possibilities their careful management opens up for his country's future in the form of tourism.

Stranded by Jeff Probst

It was supposed to be a vacation, and a chance to get to know each other better. 
But when a massive storm sets in without warning, four kids are shipwrecked alone on a rocky jungle island in the middle of the South Pacific. 
No adults.
No instructions. 
Nobody to rely on but themselves. 
A week ago, the biggest challenge Vanessa, Buzz, Carter, and Jane had was learning to live as a new blended family. Now the four siblings must find a way to work together if they're going to make it off the island. But first they have to learn to survive one another.

Be sure to read the rest of the story:
Stranded 2: Trial by Fire
Stranded 3: Survivors

Trivia: How good would you be at surviving?
Shelter
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My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George

Fifteen-year-old Sam Gribley has decided to run away from his crowded apartment home, but unlike most kids who rarely get beyond their block, Sam goes from New York City all the way to the ruined farm of Great-grandfather Gribley in the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York. There are no buildings or people on the old Gribley farm, so Sam sets up residence by hollowing out the trunk of an ancient Hemlock tree. He has brought only a few tools of survival with him: a penknife, a ball of cord, an ax, 40 dollars, and some flint and steel to help him make fire. Using these simple tools and his wits, Sam learns to live off the land, and in the course of a year, discovers just how much he values freedom, independence, and adventure when faced with the challenges of blizzards, loneliness and fear.

177 pages
Lexile 810
Jean Craighead George's Website

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Also try On the Far Side of the Mountain and Frightful's Mountain- sequels to My Side of the Mountain.
  

Middle School: My Brother is a Big, Fat Liar by James Patterson and Lisa Papademetriou

My name is Georgia Khatchadorian, and I know what my brother, Rafe, told you:  LIES, All LIES!

He says I'm annoying and a tattletale and a pudding cup thief. (Well, okay, maybe that last part is true.)
But that's not the whole story.
I'm also

• smarter than him (who isn't)
• more popular than him (who isn't)
• and way, WAY funnier (it's really not that hard).

So if you're ready for the truth about how the life of a totally innocent girl (that would be ME) and her first year of middle school were ruined by her horrible brother (RAFE) and his superbad reputation...

It's time to set the record straight!

Book Commercial

277 pages
Lexile 520

Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos

 Dead End in Norvelt is a novel about an incredible two months for a kid named Jack Gantos, whose plans for vacation excitement are shot down when he is “grounded for life” by his feuding parents, and whose nose spews bad blood at every little shock he gets. But plenty of excitement (and shocks) are coming Jack’s way once his mom loans him out to help a feisty old neighbor with a most unusual chore—typewriting obituaries filled with stories about the people who founded his utopian town. As one obituary leads to another, Jack is launched on a strange adventure involving molten wax, Eleanor Roosevelt, twisted promises, a homemade airplane, Girl Scout cookies, a man on a trike, a dancing plague, voices from the past, Hells Angels . . . and possibly murder.

Video Booktalk

341 pages
Lexile 920

Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen

The first time she saw him, she flipped. The first time he saw her, he ran. That was the second grade, but not much has changed by the seventh.


Juli Baker devoutly believes in three things: the sanctity of trees (especially her beloved sycamore), the wholesomeness of the eggs she collects from her backyard flock of chickens, and that someday she will kiss Bryce Loski. Ever since she saw Bryce's baby blues back in second grade, Juli has been smitten.

Unfortunately, Bryce has never felt the same. Frankly, he thinks Juli Baker is a little weird--after all, what kind of freak raises chickens and sits in trees for fun?

Then, in eighth grade, everything changes. Bryce begins to see that Juli's unusual interests and pride in her family are, well, kind of cool. And Juli starts to think that maybe Bryce's brilliant blue eyes are as empty as the rest of Bryce seems to be. After all, what kind of jerk doesn't care about other people's feelings about chickens and trees?

This is a classic romantic comedy of errors told in alternating chapters by two fresh, funny new voices.

Video Book Talk

Lexile 720
212 pages

Here Lies the Librarian By Richard Peck

The book opens with a tornado wrecking havoc on a small Indiana town. When fourteen-year-old Peewee (whose real name is Eleanor), her big brother Jake, and their relatives Colonel and Aunt Hat Hazelrig and Sparks, their garage dog, take shelter in the basement of the family auto repair facility, they don’t know what to expect when they emerge. When they do, they find that their property has suffered very little damage, but the twister has made its way through the graveyard that lies between their property and the town, exposed caskets in its wake. One of them was the not-much-loved town librarian; the library has been closed since the librarian died. The library had been damaged by the tornado as well.

Peewee helps out her brother at his repair shop until four young ladies stop to have a tire mended and realize with a start that when Peewee takes off her cap, she reveals herself to be a girl. The four young women are library students from Indiana University and are shocked that the small town’s library is closed, and that no funds exist for its revival. As they are all from wealthy families, they appear at the town board meeting with plans and funds to refurbish the library. The town board accepts.

In the meantime, Jake is putting the finishing touches on a car he’s built to enter the ten-lap Hendricks County Fair against the Kirby brothers’ auto business. One morning, Jake finds his beloved car missing from its garage and immediately assumes that the Kirbys have stolen it only to have Grace, a librarian and the heiress of the Stutz Bearcat fortune offer up her car for Jake to drive. Jake takes her up on her offer only to injure himself in the first few rounds. Grace and Irene talk Eleanor into finishing the race, and not only does she finish, she wins.

Lexile: 780
145 pages

The Teacher's Funeral: A Comedy in Three Parts by Richard Peck

"If your teacher has to die, August isn't a bad time of year for it," says Russell. Russell Culver is fifteen in 1904, and he's raring to leave his tiny Indiana farm town for the endless sky of the Dakotas. To him, school has been nothing but a chain holding him back from his dreams. Maybe now that his teacher has passed on, they'll shut the school down entirely and leave him free to roam.

No such luck. Russell has a particularly eventful year of schooling ahead of him, led by a teacher he never could have predicted-perhaps the only teacher equipped to control the likes of him-his sister Tansy.
Despite stolen supplies, a privy fire, and more than any classroom's share of snakes, Tansy will manage to keep the school alive and maybe, just maybe, set her brother on a new, wiser course.

Video Book Talk
Lexile: 750
190 pages

Shooting the Moon by Frances O'Roark Dowell

JAMIE THINKS HER FATHER CAN DO ANYTHING…. UNTIL THE ONE TIME HE CAN DO NOTHING.

When twelve-year-old Jamie Dexter’s brother joins the Army and is sent to Vietnam, Jamie is plum thrilled. She can’t wait to get letters from the front lines describing the excitement of real-life combat: the sound of helicopters, the smell of gunpowder, the exhilaration of being right in the thick of it. After all, they’ve both dreamed of following in the footsteps of their father, the Colonel.

But TJ’s first letter isn’t a letter at all. It’s a roll of undeveloped film, the first of many. What Jamie sees when she develops TJ’s photographs reveals a whole new side of the war. Slowly the shine begins to fade off of Army life – and the Colonel. How can someone she’s worshipped her entire life be just as helpless to save her brother as she is?
Video Book Talk

Lexile 890L
163 pages

The Giver and its Companions by Lois Lowry

   

Remember when you had to read The Giver for class? Some of you liked it, others did not.I think you should give it and it's companion books another try.  I recently reread it and think it was a very interesting book. It makes you think a lot about life and how we treat each other. Lois Lowry did not stop with The Giver, she wrote other books that are similar, but different. Get caught up in a different world. Which is better? Ours or theirs?
Author Talk about the books

The Giver Video Book Talk

Gathering Blue- A Companion to The Giver

Left orphaned and physically flawed in a civilization that shuns and discards the weak, Kira faces a frighteningly uncertain future. Her neighbors are hostile and no one but a small boy offers to help. When she is summoned to judgement by The Council of Guardians, Kira prepares to fight for her life. But the Council, to her surprise, has plans for her. Blessed with an almost magical talent that keeps her alive, the young girl faces new responsibilities and a set of mysteries deep within the only world she has ever known. On her quest for truth, Kira discovers things that will change her life and world forever.

Gathering Video Book Talk

Messenger- A Companion to The Giver

For the past six years, Matty has lived in Village and flourished under the guidance of Seer, a blind man, known for his special sight. Village was a place that welcomed newcomers, but something sinister has seeped into Village and the people have voted to close it to outsiders. Matty has been invaluable as a messenger. Now he must make one last journey through the treacherous forest with his only weapon, a power he unexpectedly discovers within himself.

Messenger Video Book Talk

Son- The Thrilling Conclusion

Fifteen-year-old Claire has never questioned life within her calm, predictable Community. Her family unit — a mother, a father, and a brother — was kind and supportive while she was growing up. And then, when she turned 12, the Committee of Elders gave her the assignment of Birthmother, and she left her family unit to join the other Vessels who were given the job of birthing young. But something goes wrong the day Claire gives birth. Surgery is required and Claire is decertified as Birthmother. Even after she's reassigned to the Community's fish hatchery, Claire can't stop thinking about the son she birthed…and never saw. What are these emotions? And could the yearnings she feels destroy her?

Son Video Book Talk

Try them out this summer-
They are available from the Wonewoc Public Library.

Body of Water by Sarah Dooley

Twelve-year-old Ember’s trailer home has been burned in a fire set most likely by her best friend, a boy whose father believes Ember’s family are witches. Yes, Ember’s mom reads Tarot cards as a business. Ember’s friend set the fire to warn the family before his dad did something worse to them. The friend never intended to do so much damage.

Now the family is homeless, and living in a campground. They have no money. Ember’s beloved dog is missing. School is going to start, and Ember and her sister have no clean clothes, no notebooks. The only place Ember feels at peace is floating in the middle of the lake at the campground. She has to make a fresh start. Can she?

A great book to check out this summer-

Available from the Wonewoc Public Library.