2007-2008 Master Lists
Master List: Grades 3-5
Birdsall, Jeanne. The Penderwicks; a summer tale of four sisters, two rabbits, and a very interesting boy. New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 2005.
Hardback ISBN: 0375831436 (trade) 0375931430 (lib. bdg.)
Paperback: 2007
Other formats: Braille; Cassette; CD; Ebook; Large Print
Subject areas: Sisters; Single-parent families; Vacations
Synopsis: While vacationing with their widowed father in the Berkshire Mountains, four lovable sisters, ages four through twelve, share adventures with a local boy, much to the dismay of his snobbish mother.
Birney, Betty G. The seven wonders of Sassafras Springs. New York, Atheneum, 2005.
Hardback ISBN: 0689871368
Paperback: February, 2007
Other formats: Cassette; CD; Large Print
Subject areas: Wonder; Country Life; Family Life; Neighbors
Synopsis: Eben McAllister searches his small town to see if he can find anything comparable to the real Seven Wonders of the World.
Borden, Louise. The journey that saved Curious George; the true wartime escape of Margret and H. A. Rey. Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 2005.
Hardback ISBN: 0618339248 9780618339242
Paperback: No
Other formats: No
Subject areas: World War II – Biography; Rey, Margret; Rey, H. A.; Authors, American – 20 th century – Biography; Refugees, Jewish – United States – Biography; Jewish authors – United States – Biography; Curious George (Fictitious character); Immigration
Synopsis: Biography of Margret and H. A. Rey, authors of the Curious George books. Both German born Jews, they must flee France in advance of the Nazi takeover. They take only the manuscripts for Curious George and other books as they make their perious way to the U. S.
Cheng, Andrea. Shanghai messenger. New York, Lee and Low Books, 2005.
Hardback ISBN: 1584302380 (reinforced)
Paperback: No
Other formats: No
Subject areas: Chinese Americans; Voyages and travels; Family life – China; Racially mixed people; China
Synopsis: A free-verse novel about eleven year old Xiao Mei’s visit with her extended family in China, where the Chinese-American girl finds many differences but also the similarities that bind a family together.
DeFelice, Cynthia. The missing manatee. New York, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2005.
Hardback ISBN: 0374312575 9780374312572
Paperback: No
Other formats: Large print
Subject areas: Boats and boating; Fishing; Family problems; Manatees; Florida; Mystery and detective stories
Synopsis: While coping with his parents’ separation, eleven year old Skeet spends most of spring break in his skiff on a Florida river, where he finds a manatee shot to death and begins looking for the killer.
Fleming, Candace. Lowji discovers America. New York, Atheneum, 2005.
Hardback ISBN: 0689862997 9780689862991
Paperback: No
Other formats: No
Subject areas: Moving, Household; Landladies; East Indian Americans
Synopsis: A nine year old East Indian boy tries to adjust to his new life in suburban America.
Marsden, Carolyn. Moon runner. Cambridge, MA, Candlewick Press, 2005.
Hardback ISBN: 076362117X (alk. paper) 9780763621179
Paperback ISBN: July 2007 9780763633042
Other formats: No
Subject areas: Friendship; Running; Racing
Synopsis: When Mina discovers that she can run faster than her athletic friend, Ruth, she thinks she must choose between running and friendship.
Martin, Ann M. A dog’s life; the autobiography of a stray. New York, Scholastic Press, 2005.
Hardback ISBN: 0439715598 (hardcover : alk. paper) 9780439715591
Paperback: No
Other formats: Cassette; CD; Ebook
Subject areas: Dogs; Orphaned animals
Synopsis: Squirrel, a stray puppy, tells her life story, from her nuturing mother and brother to making her own way in the world, facing busy highways, changing seasons, and humans both gentle and brutal.
Raven, Margot Theis. Let them play. Chelsea, MI, Sleeping Bear Press, 2005.
Hardback ISBN: 1585362603 (lib. bdg.) 9781585362608
Paperback: No
Other formats: No
Subject areas: Little league baseball – South Carolina – Charleston – History; Discrimination in sports – United States – History; Baseball; African Americans; Little League World Series (Baseball) (1955)
Synopsis: Recounts the true story of spirit and determination from America’s early civil rights history and the Cannon Street all-stars who were not allowed to play in the World Series game.
Rubin, Susan Goldman. The flag with fifty-six stars; a gift from the survivors of Mauthausen. New York, Holiday House, 2005.
Hardback ISBN: 0823416534 (hardcover)
Paperback ISBN: 9780823416530
Other formats: No
Subject areas: Mauthausen (Concentration Camp); World War II, 1939-1945 – Concentration camps – Liberation – Germany; Flags – United States
Synopsis: On May 6, 1945, when members of the 11th Armored Division of the U.S. Army marched into the Mauthausen concentration camp, they were presented with an extraordinary gift. A group of prisoners, had surreptitiously pieced together a U.S. flag with an extra row of stars. Colonel Richard Seibel had the flag proudly flown over the camp as a symbol of freedom. This inspiring account of the liberation of one of the Third Reich's most infamous camps is a tribute to the humanity and hope preserved by the survivors. The paintings by Bill Farnsworth depict the events. Source notes, a bibliography, further resources, an index, and a reproduction of the actual flag are included.
Wiles, Deborah. Each little bird that sings. Orlando, FL, Gulliver Books, 2005.
Hardback ISBN: 0152051139
Paperback ISBN: 0152056572
Other formats: Braille; Cassette; CD; Ebook
Subject areas: Funeral homes; Death; Grief; Family life – Southern States; Southern States
Synopsis: Comfort Snowberger is well acquainted with death since her family runs the funeral parlor in their small southern town, but even so the ten-year-old is unprepared for the series of heart-wrenching events that begins on the first day of Easter vacation with the sudden death of her beloved great-uncle Edisto.
Yoo, Paula. Sixteen years in sixteen seconds; the Sammy Lee story. New York, Lee and Low Books, 2005.
Hardback ISBN: 158430247X
Paperback: No
Other formats: No
Subject areas: Lee, Sammy, 1920- ; Divers – United States – Biography; Springboard diving; Discrimination in sports
Synopsis: "A biography of Korean American diving champion Sammy Lee, focusing on how his childhood determination and his father's dreams set the stage for a medical career as well as his athletic achievements which earned him Olympic gold medals in 1948 and 1952"
Master List: Grades 6-8
Amato, Mary. The naked mole rat letters. New York, Holiday House, 2005.
Hardback ISBN: 0823419274 (hardcover)
Paperback: 0439865913 (pbk.)
Other formats: No
Subject areas: Honesty; Fathers and daughters; Family relationships; Email; Diaries
Synopsis: When her father begins a long-distance romance with a Washington, D.C. zookeeper, twelve-year-old Frankie sends fabricated email letters to the zookeeper in an attempt to end the relationship.
Auch, Mary Jane. Wing nut. New York, Henry Holt & Co., 2005.
Hardback ISBN: 0805075313 (hc : alk. paper)
Paperback: No
Other formats: No
Subject areas: Moving, Household; Mothers and sons; Home; Old age; Family relationships; Transients
Synopsis: When twelve-year-old Grady and his mother relocate yet again, they find work taking care of an elderly man, who teaches Grady about cars, birds, and what it means to have a home.
Barrett, Tracy. On Etruscan time. New York, Henry Holt & Co., 2005.
Hardback ISBN: 0805075690 (hc : alk. paper)
Paperback: No
Other formats: No
Subject areas: Archaeology; Etruscans; Time travel; Mothers and sons; Human sacrifice; Italy
Synopsis: While spending the summer on an archaeological dig near Florence, Italy, with his mother, eleven-year-old Hector meets an Etruscan boy who needs help to foil his treacherous uncle's plan to make him a human sacrifice--1,000 years in the past.
Broach, Elise. Shakespeare’s secret. New York, Henry Holt & Co., 2005.
Hardback ISBN: 0805073876 (hc : alk. paper)
Paperback: 2007
Other formats: Cassette, CD, Ebook, Large print
Subject areas: Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 – Authorship; Great Britain – History – Henry VIII, 1509-1547; Great Britain – History – Elizabeth I, 1558-1603; Mystery and detective stories; Neighbors; Maryland
Synopsis: Named after a character in a Shakespeare play, misfit sixth-grader Hero becomes interested in exploring this unusual connection because of a valuable diamond supposedly hidden in her new house, an intriguing neighbor, and the unexpected attention of the most popular boy in school.
Couloumbis, Audrey. The misadventures of Maude March; or trouble rides a fast horse. New York, Random House, 2005.
Hardback ISBN: 0375932453 (lib. bdg.) 0375832459 (trade) 9780375832451
Paperback: 0375832475 (pbk.)
Other formats: Cassette, CD
Subject areas: Frontier and pioneer life; Orphans; Adventure and adventurers
Synopsis: After the death of the stern aunt who raised them since they were orphaned, eleven-year-old Sallie and her fifteen-year-old sister escape their self-serving guardians and begin an adventure resembling those in the dime novels Sallie loves to read.
Duble, Kathleen Benner. The sacrifice. New York, Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2005.
Hardback ISBN: 0689876505 (hardcover)
Paperback: August, 2007
Other formats: No
Subject areas: Witchcraft – History; Massachusetts – History – Colonial Period, ca. 1600-1775; Mothers and daughters; Sisters; Puritans; Family life – Massachusetts
Synopsis: Two sisters, aged ten and twelve, are accused of witchcraft in Andover, Massachusetts, in 1692 and await trial in a miserable prison while their mother desperately searches for some way to obtain their freedom.
Hale, Shannon. Princess academy. New York, Bloomsbury Children’s Books, 2005.
Hardback ISBN: 1582349932 9781582349930
Paperback: 0439888190 (pbk.)
Other formats: Large print
Subject areas: Princesses; Self-confidence; Telepathy; Mountains; Schools
Synopsis: While attending a strict academy for potential princesses with the other girls from her mountain village, fourteen-year-old Miri discovers unexpected talents and connections to her homeland.
Harkrader, L. D. Airball; my life in briefs. New Milford, CT, Roaring Brook Press, 2005.
Hardback ISBN: 1596430605
Paperback: Fall 2007
Other formats: No
Subject areas: Basketball; Fathers; Coaches (Athletics); Coaching (Athletics); Kansas; Great Plains
Synopsis: Uncoordinated Kansas seventh-grader Kirby Nickel braves his coach's ire and becomes captain of the basketball team in order to help him prove that NBA star Brett McGrew is the father he has never known.
Hicks, Betty. Out of order. New Milford, CT, Roaring Brook Press, 2005.
Hardback ISBN: 1596430613
Paperback: Fall 2007
Other formats: No
Subject areas: Stepfamilies; Remarriage; Brothers and sisters; Grief; Loss
Synopsis: Four youngsters, ages nine to fifteen, narrate one side of the story of their newly blended family's adjustment, interwoven with grief and loss.
Hobbs, Valerie. Defiance. New York, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2005.
Hardback ISBN: 0374308470 (hardcover)
Paperback: No
Other formats: Large print
Subject areas: Death; Hope; Cancer; Poets; Cows; Country life
Synopsis: While vacationing in the country, eleven-year-old Toby, a cancer patient, learns some important lessons about living and dying from an elderly poet and her cow.
Park, Linda Sue. Project Mulberry. New York, Clarion, 2005.
Hardback ISBN: 0618477861 9780618477869
Paperback: No
Other formats: Cassette, CD
Subject areas: Korean-Americans; Silkworms; Prejudices; Friendship; Illinois; Family life – Illinois; Science fair; Authorship
Synopsis: While working on a project for an after-school club, Julia, a Korean American girl, and her friend Patrick learn not just about silkworms, but also about tolerance, prejudice, friendship, patience, and more. Between the chapters are short dialogues between the author and main character about the writing of the book.
Wilson, Diane Lee. Black storm comin’. New York, Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2005.
Hardback ISBN: 0689871376
Paperback: 0689871384 (pbk.) 1415689008 (BWI bdg.)
Other formats: No
Subject areas: Pony Express; Slavery; Identity; Racially mixed people; Self-acceptance; Frontier and frontier life; West ( U. S.) – History – 19 th Century; United States – History – 1815-1861; Pre-Civil War
Synopsis: Twelve-year-old Colton, son of a black mother and a white father, takes a job with the Pony Express in 1860 after his father abandons the family on their California-bound wagon train, and risks his life to deliver an important letter that may affect the growing conflict between the North and South.
Winerip, Michael. Adam Canfield of the Slash. Cambridge, MA, Candlewick, 2005.
Hardback ISBN: 0763623407 (alk. paper) 9780763623401
Paperback: May, 2007 9780763627942
Other formats: CD; Ebook
Subject areas: Newspapers; Journalists; Fraud; Schools
Synopsis: While serving as co-editors of their school newspaper, middle-schoolers Adam and Jennifer uncover fraud and corruption in their school and in the city's government. Late for math club, late for jazz band, late for soccer-Adam Canfield has to be the most overprogrammed middle-school student in America. So when super-organized Jennifer coaxes him to be coeditor of the Slash-Harris Elementary/Middle School's student newspaper-he wonders if he's made a big mistake. Not only do editors get stuck with assigning stories (like an investigative report on the edibility of cafeteria food), but they also have to deal with annoying third graders like Phoebe, always pushing for a front-page slot. But when Phoebe's article on Eddie the janitor leads to a much bigger scoop-an eccentric woman's mysterious gift to the school-Adam and Jennifer rise to the challenge, risking their principal's wrath to uncover some shocking secrets. Along with a charming cast of characters and plenty of kid-friendly humor, New York Times education columnist Michael Winerip sneaks in some lessons about truth and cover-ups, personal integrity, and the rush that comes from breaking a really great story.