2. Framed! A T.O.A.S.T
So you’re only halfway through your homework and the Director of
the FBI keeps texting you for help…What do you do? Save your
grade? Or save the country?
If you’re Florian Bates, you figure out a way to do both.
Florian is twelve years old and has just moved to Washington. He’s
learning his way around using TOAST, which stands for the Theory
of All Small Things. It’s a technique he invented to solve life’s little
mysteries such as: where to sit on the on the first day of school, or
which Chinese restaurant has the best eggrolls.
But when he teaches it to his new friend Margaret, they uncover a
mystery that isn’t little. In fact, it’s HUGE, and it involves the
National Gallery, the FBI, and a notorious crime syndicate known
as EEL.
Can Florian decipher the clues and finish his homework in time to
help the FBI solve the case?
3. The Seventh Wish
Charlie feels like she's always coming in last. From
her Mom's new job to her sister's life at college,
everything seems more important than Charlie.
Then one day while ice fishing, Charlie makes a
discovery that will change everything . . . in the
form of a floppy fish offering to grant a wish in
exchange for freedom. Charlie can't believe her
luck but soon realizes that this fish has a very odd
way of granting wishes as even her best intentions
go awry. But when her family faces a challenge
bigger than any they've ever experienced, Charlie
wonders if some things might be too important to
risk on a wish fish.
4. Moo
When Reena, her little brother, Luke,
and their parents first move to Maine,
Reena doesn’t know what to expect.
She’s ready for beaches, blueberries,
and all the lobster she can eat.
Instead, her parents “volunteer”
Reena and Luke to work for an
eccentric neighbor named Mrs.
Falala, who has a pig named Paulie, a
cat named China, a snake named
Edna—and that stubborn cow, Zora.
5. Counting Thyme
When eleven-year-old Thyme Owens’ little brother, Val,
is accepted into a new cancer drug trial, it’s just the
second chance that he needs. But it also means the Owens
family has to move to New York, thousands of miles away
from Thyme’s best friend and everything she knows and
loves. The island of Manhattan doesn’t exactly inspire
new beginnings, but Thyme tries to embrace the change
for what it is: temporary.
After Val’s treatment shows real promise and Mr. Owens
accepts a full-time position in the city, Thyme has to face
the frightening possibility that the move to New York is
permanent. Thyme loves her brother, and knows the trial
could save his life—she’d give anything for him to be
well—but she still wants to go home, although the guilt of
not wanting to stay is agonizing. She finds herself even
more mixed up when her heart feels the tug of new
friends, a first crush, and even a crotchety neighbor and
his sweet whistling bird. All Thyme can do is count the
minutes, the hours, and days, and hope time can bring
both a miracle for Val and a way back home.
6. Maxi’s Secrets
Timminy knows that moving to a new town just in time to
start middle school when you are perfect bully bait is
less than ideal. But he gets a great consolation prize in
Maxi—a gentle giant of a dog who the family quickly
discovers is deaf. Timminy is determined to do all he
can to help Maxi—after all, his parents didn't return him
because he was a runt. But when the going gets rough
for Timminy, who spends a little too much time getting
shoved into lockers at school, Maxi ends up being the
one to help him—along with their neighbor, Abby, who
doesn’t let her blindness define her and bristles at
Timminy’s “poor-me” attitude. It turns out there’s more to
everyone than what’s on the surface, whether it comes
to Abby, Maxi, or even Timminy himself.
7. When Friendship Followed Me Home
Ben Coffin has never been one for making friends. As a
former foster kid, he knows people can up and leave
without so much as a goodbye. Ben prefers to spend
his time with the characters in his favorite sci-fi
books…until he rescues an abandoned mutt from the
alley next-door to the Coney Island Library. Scruffy little
Flip leads Ben to befriend a fellow book-lover named
Halley—yes, like the comet—a girl unlike anyone he
has ever met. Ben begins thinking of her as “Rainbow
Girl” because of her crazy-colored clothes and her
laugh, pure magic, the kind that makes you smile away
the stormiest day. Rainbow Girl convinces Ben to write
a novel with her. But as their story unfolds Ben’s life
begins to unravel, and Ben must discover for himself
the truth about friendship and the meaning of home.
8. Soar
Jeremiah is not one to let anything keep him down.
Starting with his adoption by computer genius Walt,
Jeremiah has looked on his life as a series of lucky
breaks. When a weak heart keeps him from playing
his beloved baseball, Jeremiah appoints himself the
team coach. When Walt has to move for another new
assignment, Jeremiah sees it as a great chance to
explore a new town. But no sooner do they arrive than
a doping scandal is revealed and the town feels
betrayed and disgraced. Jeremiah takes it as his
personal mission to restore the town's morale and
help the teams bounce back and remember how to
soar. Full of humor, heart, and baseball lore, Soar is
Joan Bauer at her best.
9. Ghosts
Catrina and her family are moving to the coast
of Northern California because her little sister,
Maya, is sick. Cat isn't happy about leaving her
friends for Bahía de la Luna, but Maya has
cystic fibrosis and will benefit from the cool, salty
air that blows in from the sea. As the girls
explore their new home, a neighbor lets them in
on a secret: There are ghosts in Bahía de la
Luna. Maya is determined to meet one, but Cat
wants nothing to do with them. As the time of
year when ghosts reunite with their loved ones
approaches, Cat must figure out how to put
aside her fears for her sister's sake -- and her
own.
10. Save Me a Seat
Joe and Ravi might be from very different places, but
they're both stuck in the same place: SCHOOL.
Joe's lived in the same town all his life, and was doing just
fine until his best friends moved away and left him on his
own.
Ravi's family just moved to America from India, and he's
finding it pretty hard to figure out where he fits in.
Joe and Ravi don't think they have anything in common --
but soon enough they have a common enemy (the biggest
bully in their class) and a common mission: to take control
of their lives over the course of a single crazy week.
11. Unbound
The day Grace is called from the slave cabins to work in the
Big House, Mama makes her promise to keep her eyes down.
Uncle Jim warns her to keep her thoughts tucked private in her
mind or they could bring a whole lot of trouble and pain.
But the more Grace sees of the heartless Master and hateful
Missus, the more a rightiness voice clamors in her head-asking
how come white folks can own other people, sell them on the
auction block, and separate families forever. When that voice
escapes without warning, it sets off a terrible chain of events
that prove Uncle Jim's words true. Suddenly, Grace and her
family must flee deep into the woods, where they brave deadly
animals, slave patrollers, and the uncertainty of ever finding
freedom.
With candor and compassion, Ann E. Burg sheds light on a
startling chapter of American history--the remarkable story of
runaways who sought sanctuary in the Great Dismal Swamp--
and creates a powerful testament to the right of every human
to be free.
12. Ghost Ghost. Lu. Patina. Sunny. Four kids from wildly different
backgrounds with personalities that are explosive when they clash.
But they are also four kids chosen for an elite middle school track
team—a team that could qualify them for the Junior Olympics if they
can get their acts together. They all have a lot to lose, but they also
have a lot to prove, not only to each other, but to themselves.
Running. That’s all Ghost (real name Castle Cranshaw) has ever
known. But Ghost has been running for the wrong reasons—it all
started with running away from his father, who, when Ghost was a
very little boy, chased him and his mother through their apartment,
then down the street, with a loaded gun, aiming to kill. Since then,
Ghost has been the one causing problems—and running away from
them—until he meets Coach, an ex-Olympic Medalist who sees
something in Ghost: crazy natural talent. If Ghost can stay on track,
literally and figuratively, he could be the best sprinter in the city. Can
Ghost harness his raw talent for speed, or will his past finally catch
up to him?
13. Nine,Ten: A September 11th Story
Ask anyone: September 11, 2001, was serene and lovely, a perfect
day—until a plane struck the World Trade Center.
But right now it is a few days earlier, and four kids in different parts
of the country are going about their lives. Sergio, who lives in
Brooklyn, is struggling to come to terms with the absentee father
he hates and the grandmother he loves. Will’s father is gone, too,
killed in a car accident that has left the family reeling. Naheed has
never before felt uncomfortable about being Muslim, but at her new
school she’s getting funny looks because of the headscarf she
wears. Aimee is starting a new school in a new city and missing
her mom, who has to fly to New York on business.
These four don’t know one another, but their lives are about to
intersect in ways they never could have imagined. Award-winning
author Nora Raleigh Baskin weaves together their stories into an
unforgettable novel about that seemingly perfect September day—
the day our world changed forever.
