List for Students Going into 5

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MYSTERY AND SUSPENSE

AIKEN, JOAN. THE WOLVES OF WILLOUGHBY CHASE. When her parents fail to return from a cruise, Bonnie and her cousin Sylvia try to escape their evil governess, Miss Slighcarp. Traveling to London with their friend Simon, they escape being devoured by the wolves that surround the estate. Finally, they wind up in a terrible boarding school where they carefully plot their revenge against Miss Slighcarp! A very satisfying adventure about kids getting the better of grownups! (Goldberg)

BEIL, MICHAEL . THE RED BLAZER GIRLS. Catholic-schooled seventh-graders Sophie, Margaret, Rebecca, and Leigh Ann help an elderly neighbor solve a puzzle her father left for her estranged daughter twenty years ago. (Goldberg)

BOSCH, PSEUDONYMOUS. THE NAME OF THIS BOOK IS SECRET. (series) Cassandra and Max find a missing magician's notebook and start to investigate the fire which burnt down his house and his mysterious "symphony of smells." (Publisher)

BUCKLEY, MICHAEL. THE FAIRY-TALE DETECTIVES. (Sisters Grimm series) Orphans Sabrina and Daphne Grimm are sent to live with an eccentric grandmother that they have always believed to be dead. (Publisher)

DANISHVARI, GITTY. SCHOOL OF FEAR. Twelve-year-olds Madeleine, Theo, and Lulu, and thirteen-year-old Garrison, are sent to a remote Massachusetts school to overcome their phobias, but tragedy strikes and the quartet must work together--with no adult assistance--to face their fears. (Publisher)

DOWD, SIOBHAN. THE LONDON EYE MYSTERY. Ted and Kat watched their cousin Salim board the London Eye. But after half an hour it landed and everyone trooped off–except Salim. Where could he have gone? How on earth could he have disappeared into thin air? Ted and his older sister, Kat, become sleuthing partners, since the police are having no luck. Despite their prickly relationship, they overcome their differences to follow a trail of clues across London in a desperate bid to find their cousin. And ultimately it comes down to Ted, whose brain works in its own very unique way, to find the key to the mystery. This is an unput-downable spine-tingling thriller–a race against time. (Publisher)

List for Students Going into 5

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MASS, WENDY. THE CANDYMAKERS. Four gifted twelve-year-olds, including Logan, the candymaker's son, are set to be contestants in the Confectionary Association's national competition to determine the nation's tastiest sweet, but nobody anticipates that a friendship will form between them. (Publisher)

RASKIN, ELLEN. THE WESTING GAME. The mysterious death of an eccentric millionaire brings together an unlikely assortment of heirs who must uncover the circumstances of his death before they can claim their inheritance. (Publisher)

SNICKET, LEMONY. THE BAD BEGINNING. (SERIES) After the sudden death of their parents, the three Baudelaire children must depend on each other and their wits when it turns out that the distant relative who is appointed their guardian is determined to use any means necessary to get their fortune. (Publisher)

STEWART, TRENTON LEE. THE MYSTERIOUS BENEDICT SOCIETY. (SERIES) After passing a series of mind-bending tests, four children are selected for a secret mission that requires them to go undercover at the Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened, where the only rule is that there are no rules. (Publisher)

STEAD, REBECCA. WHEN YOU REACH ME. As her mother prepares to be a contestant on the 1980s television game show, "The $20,000 Pyramid," a twelve-year-old New York City girl tries to make sense of a series of mysterious notes received from an anonymous source that seems to defy the laws of time and space. (Publisher)

SCIENCE FICTION

BUCKLEY-ARCHER, LINDA. THE TIME TRAVELERS. (SERIES) Peter Schock and Kate Dyer have fallen straight from the twenty-first century [into 1763], thanks to an experiment with an antigravity machine. Before the children have a chance to gather their wits, the Tar Man takes off with the machine—and Kate and Peter’s only chance of getting home. (Publisher)

List for Students Going into 5

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DUPRAU, JEANNE. CITY OF EMBER. In the city of Ember, twelve-year-old Lina trades jobs on Assignment Day to be a Messenger to run to new places in her decaying but beloved city, perhaps even to glimpse Unknown Regions. (Publisher)

HADDIX, MARGARET PETERSON. FOUND. (SERIES) When thirteen-year-olds Jonah and Chip, who are both adopted, learn they were discovered on a plane that appeared out of nowhere, full of babies with no adults on board, they realize that they have uncovered a mystery involving time travel and two opposing forces, each trying to repair the fabric of time. (Publisher)

L’ENGLE, MADELEINE. A WRINKLE IN TIME. (SERIES) It was a dark and stormy night; Meg Murry, her small brother Charles Wallace, and her mother had come down to the kitchen for a midnight snack when they were upset by the arrival of a most disturbing stranger. “Wild nights are my glory,” the unearthly stranger told them. “I just got caught in a downdraft and blown off course. Let me sit down for a moment, and then I’ll be on my way. Speaking of ways, by the way, there is such a thing as a tesseract.” A tesseract (in case the reader doesn’t know) is a wrinkle in time. To tell more would rob the reader of the enjoyment of the…adventures in space and time of Meg, Charles Wallace, and Calvin O’Keefe (athlete, student, and one of the most popular boys in high school). They are in search of Meg’s father, a scientist who disappeared while engaged in secret work for the government on the tesseract problem. (Publisher)

FANTASY

BAUM, FRANK. THE WIZARD OF OZ. (SERIES) They're off to read the [unabridged!] Wizard--the original, imaginative American tale written by Frank L. Baum just over a century ago. All the beloved characters are here, along with the splendid Emerald City and the heartwarming motto: "There's no place like home." (Publisher)

COLLINS, SUZANNE. GREGOR THE OVERLANDER. (SERIES) When eleven-year-old Gregor follows his little sister through a grate in the laundry room of their New York apartment, he hurtles into the dark Underland beneath the city. There, humans live uneasily beside giant spiders, bats, cockroaches, and rats--but the fragile peace is about to fall apart. Gregor wants no part of a conflict between these creepy creatures. He just wants to find his way home. But when he discovers that a strange prophecy foretells a role for him in the Underland's uncertain future, he realizes it might be the only way to solve the biggest mystery of his life. (Publisher)

List for Students Going into 5

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COOPER, SUSAN. OVER SEA, UNDER STONE. (SERIES) Simon, Jane, and Barney find an ancient map in their uncle’s attic with the secret to summon forces of Light in order to defeat the Darkness. There’s a problem, though. As they try to figure out the map’s secrets, will they be able to keep one another safe from the evil forces in their town that constantly trail them and invade their uncle’s house? The first in the Dark is Rising series. (Goldberg)

DiCAMILLO, KATE. THE MAGICIAN’S ELEPHANT. When ten-year-old orphan Peter Augustus Duchene encounters a fortune teller in the marketplace one day and she tells him that his sister, who is presumed dead, is in fact alive, he embarks on a remarkable series of adventures as he desperately tries to find her. (Publisher)

FUNKE, CORNELIA. THE THIEF LORD. Two brothers, having run away from the aunt who plans to adopt the younger one, are sought by a detective hired by their aunt, but they have found shelter with--and protection from--Venice's "Thief Lord." (Publisher)

GAIMAN, NEIL. THE GRAVEYARD BOOK. Nobody Owens, known to his friends as Bod, is a normal boy. He would be completely normal if he didn't live in a sprawling graveyard, being raised and educated by ghosts, with a solitary guardian who belongs to neither the world of the living nor of the dead. (Publisher)

GIDWITZ, ADAM. A TALE DARK AND GRIMM. Follows Hansel and Gretel as they walk out of their own story and into eight more tales, encountering such wicked creatures as witches, along with kindly strangers and other helpful folk. Based in part on the Grimms' fairy tales Faithful Johannes, Hansel and Gretel, The seven ravens, Brother and sister, The robber bridegroom, and The devil and his three golden hairs. (Publisher)

HALE, SNANNON. BOOK OF A THOUSAND DAYS. When Dashti, a maid, and Lady Saren, her mistress, are shut in a tower for seven years for Saren’s refusal to marry a man she despises, the two prepare for a very long and dark imprisonment. As food runs low and the days go from broiling hot to freezing cold, it is all Dashti can do to keep them fed and comfortable. But the arrival outside the tower of Saren’s two suitors—one welcome, and the other decidedly less so—brings both hope and great danger…(Publisher)

JONELL, LYNNE. EMMY AND THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING RAT. When Emmy discovers that she and her formerly loving parents are being drugged by their evil nanny with rodent potions that can change people in frightening ways, she and some new friends must try everything possible to return things to normal. (Publisher)

List for Students Going into 5

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LANGRISH, KATHERINE. TROLL FELL. A secret kingdom of trolls, guarding their legendary gold, lies in the mysterious shadows of Troll Fell. It is to this eerie and dangerous place that Peer Ulfsson must go after his father's sudden death, to live with his greedy, bad-tempered uncles, Baldur and Grim. When Peer discovers his uncles' terrible plan to capture the gold by selling human children to the trolls, he has to bury his fears and find a way to stop them. He has only his bravery, his wit, and two new allies -- a daring girl looking for adventure and a mischievous house spirit looking for a good meal. Their story will become part of the lore of this extraordinary land by the sea. (Publisher)

O’BRIEN, ROBERT C. MRS. FRISBY AND THE RATS OF N.I.M.H. Mrs. Frisby, a widowed mouse with four small children, is faced with a terrible problem. She must move her family to their summer quarters immediately, or face almost certain death. But her youngest son, Timothy, lies ill with pneumonia and must not be moved. Fortunately, she encounters the rats of NIMH, an extraordinary breed of highly intelligent creatures, who come up with a brilliant solution to her dilemma. And Mrs. Frisby in turn renders them a great service.

PAOLINI, CHRISTOPHER. ERAGON. Fifteen-year-old Eragon believes that he is merely a poor farm boy-until his destiny as a Dragon Rider is revealed. Gifted with only an ancient sword, a loyal dragon, and sage advice from an old storyteller, Eragon is soon swept into a dangerous tapestry of magic, glory, and power. Now his choices could save-or destroy-the Empire. (Publisher)

PATTOU, EDITH. EAST. Rose has always felt out of place in her family, a wanderer in a bunch of homebodies. So when an enormous white bear mysteriously shows up and asks her to come away with him--in exchange for health and prosperity for her ailing family--she readily agrees. (Publisher)

RIORDAN, RICK. THE LOST HERO. Jason, Piper, and Leo, three students from a school for "bad kids," find themselves at Camp Half-Blood, where they learn that they are demigods and begin a quest to free Hera, who has been imprisoned by Mother Earth herself. (Publisher)

TOWNLEY, ROD. THE GREAT GOOD THING. Nothing ever changes inside the storybook kingdom inhabited by twelve-year-old Princess Sylvie, her parents, and many other characters until Sylvie discovers that by allying herself with the Reader she can experience new adventures beyond the confines of the book. (Publisher)

List for Students Going into 5

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WILKINSON, CAROLE. DRAGON KEEPER. In ancient China, a nameless orphan releases and protects an aging dragon, who possesses a mysterious stone, and together they embark on an adventure and learn about courage and friendship. (Publisher)

WREDE, PATRICIA. DEALING WITH DRAGONS. A rebellious princess runs away to live with a group of dragons. (Publisher)

HISTORICAL FICTION

CHOLDENKO, GENNIFER. AL CAPONE DOES MY SHIRTS. Today I moved to a twelve-acre rock covered with cement, topped with bird turd and surrounded by water. I'm not the only kid who lives here. There's my sister, Natalie, except she doesn't count. And there are twenty-three other kids who live on the island because their dads work as guards or cook's or doctors or electricians for the prison, like my dad does. Plus, there are a ton of murderers, rapists, hit men, con men, stickup men, embezzlers, connivers, burglars, kidnappers and maybe even an innocent man or two, though I doubt it. The convicts we have are the kind other prisons don't want. I never knew prisons could be picky, but I guess they can. You get to Alcatraz by being the worst of the worst. Unless you're me. I came here because my mother said I had to. (Publisher)

LOWRY, LOIS. NUMBER THE STARS. It’s 1943 Copenhagen and the Jews of Denmark are being “relocated,” so Annemarie Johansen’s best friend, Ellen, moves in with the Johansens and pretends to be part of the family. When Annemarie is asked to go on a dangerous mission, she must find the courage to save her friend’s life. (Publisher)

RYAN, PAM MUNOZ. PAINT THE WIND. Maya is a captive. In Grandmother's house in California every word and action is strictly monitored. Even memories of her mother have been erased except within the imaginary world she has created. A world away, in the rugged Wyoming wilderness, a horse called Artemisia runs free. She embodies the spirit of the wild and she holds the key to Maya's memories. How Maya's and Artemisia's lives intertwine, like a braided rein, is at the heart of this richly drawn adventure about freedom and captivity, about holding on and letting go. (Publisher)

SELZNICK, BRIAN. THE INVENTION OF HUGO CABRET. When twelve-year-old Hugo, an orphan living and repairing clocks within the walls of a Paris train station in 1931, meets a mysterious toyseller and his goddaughter, his undercover life and his biggest secret are jeopardized. (Publisher)

List for Students Going into 5

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TAYLOR, SYDNEY. ALL-OF-A-KIND FAMILY. (SERIES) Meet the All-of-a-Kind Family. Ella, Henny, Sarah, Charlotte, and Gertie -- who live with their parents in New York City at the turn of the century. Together they share adventures that find them searching for hidden buttons while dusting Mama's front parlor and visiting with the peddlers in Papa's shop on rainy days. The girls enjoy doing everything together, especially when it involves holidays and surprises. But no one could have prepared them for the biggest surprise of all! (Publisher)

REALISTIC FICTION

CABOT, MEG. STAGE FRIGHT. (ALLIE FINKLE SERIES) Allie's theatrical hopes are crushed when, instead of being cast as the princess, she is given the role of the evil queen in the fourth-grade class play. (Publisher)

CREECH, SHARON. WALK TWO MOONS. "How about a story? Spin us a yarn." !Instantly, Phoebe Winterbottom came to mind. "I could tell you an extensively strange story," I warned. !"Oh, good!" Gram said. "Delicious!" !And that is how I happened to tell them about Phoebe, her disappearing mother, and the lunatic. As Sal entertains her grandparents with Phoebe's outrageous story, her own story begins to unfold--the story of a thirteen-year-old girl whose only wish is to be reunited with her missing mother. In her own award-winning style, Sharon Creech intricately weaves together two tales, one funny, one bittersweet, to create a heartwarming, compelling, and utterly moving story of love, loss, and the complexity of human emotion. (Publisher)

DRAPER, SHARON. OUT OF MY MIND. Eleven-year-old Melody has a photographic memory. Her head is like a video camera that is always recording. Always. And there's no delete button. She's the smartest kid in her whole school—but no one knows it. Most people—her teachers and doctors included—don't think she's capable of learning, and up until recently her school days consisted of listening to the same preschool-level alphabet lessons again and again and again. If only she could speak up, if only she could tell people what she thinks and knows . . . but she can't, because Melody can't talk. She can't walk. She can't write. Being stuck inside her head is making Melody go out of her mind—that is, until she discovers something that will allow her to speak for the first time ever. At last Melody has a voice . . . but not everyone around her is ready to hear it. (Publisher)

IGNATOW, AMY. THE POPULARITY PAPERS: RESEARCH FOR THE SOCIAL IMPROVEMENT AND GENERAL BETTERMENT OF LYDIA GOLDBLATT AND JULIE GRAHAM-CHANG. Two best friends embark on a project to study the behavior and taste of the popular girls at their elementary school so that by the time they get to middle school they too will be in the right crowd and record their findings in the form of a scrapbook. (Publisher)

List for Students Going into 5

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KONIGSBURG, E.L. THE VIEW FROM SATURDAY. How had Mrs. Olinski chosen her sixth-grade Academic Bowl team? She had a number of answers. But were any of them true? How had she really chosen Noah and Nadia and Ethan and Julian? And why did they make such a good team?It was a surprise to a lot of people when Mrs. Olinski's team won the sixth-grade Academic Bowl contest at Epiphany Middle School. It was an even bigger surprise when they beat the seventh grade and the eighth grade, too. And when they went on to even greater victories, everyone began to ask: How did it happen? (Publisher)

KORMAN, GORDON. SCHOOLED. Cap lives in isolation with his grandmother, a former hippie; but when she falls from a tree and breaks her hip, Cap is sent to a foster home where he has his first experience in a public school. (Pubisher)

LAFLEUR, SUZANNE. LOVE AUBREY. A tragic accident has turned eleven-year-old Aubrey’s world upside down. Starting a new life all alone, Aubrey has everything she thinks she needs: SpaghettiOs and Sammy, her new pet fish. She cannot talk about what happened to her. Writing letters is the only thing that feels right to Aubrey, even if no one ever reads them. (Publisher)

MASS, WENDY. 11 BIRTHDAYS. Amanda can’t wait for the day AFTER her birthday so she can stop thinking about the fight that led her and Leo to have separate parties for the first time in their lives. There’s just one problem. The next day is her birthday all over again.In this hilarious and touching adventure, Amanda must figure out how to get unstuck, in more ways than one. (Publisher)

MCKAY, HILARY. INDIGO’S STAR. Indigo, having just recovered from a bout of mononucleosis, must return to school after missing an entire semester. Only his younger sister and loyal sidekick, Rose, knows why he's dreading it so much. As it turns out, the school bullies are eagerly awaiting Indigo's return so that they can pick up where they left off -- flushing his head in the toilet. But Indigo hasn't counted on meeting Tom. With his couldn't-care-less attitude and rock-and-roll lifestyle, Tom becomes Indigo's ally, and together they work to take back the school. (Publisher)

PEARSALL, SHELLEY. ALL OF THE ABOVE. Based on a true story, All of the Above is the delightful and suspenseful story of four inner city students and their quest to build the world's largest tetrahedron. Weaving together the different personal stories of the kids, their teacher, and the community that surrounds them, award-winning author Shelley Pearsall has written a vividly engaging story about the math, life and good-tasting barbecue. Filled with unexpected humor, poignant characters and quiet brilliance, All of the Above is a surprising gem. (Publisher)

URBAN, LINDA. A CROOKED KIND OF PERFECT. Ten-year-old Zoe Elias, who longs to play the piano but must resign herself to learning the organ, instead, finds that her musicianship has a positive impact on her workaholic mother, her jittery father, and her school social life. (Publisher)

List for Students Going into 5

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WHELAN, GLORIA. HOMELESS BIRD. When thirteen-year-old Koly enters into an ill-fated arranged marriage, she must either suffer a destiny dictated by India's tradition or find the courage to oppose it. (Publisher)

WEEKS, SARAH. SO B. IT. Heidi’s mother only knows 23 words, total. So how, Heidi wonders, did she come into the world? Who’s her father? All Heidi knows is that twelve years ago, her mother showed up on Bernie’s doorstep with a baby in her arms. Since then, Heidi’s been raised and homeschooled by Bernie. Now that she’s 12, Heidi has more questions than ever before. Can she piece together the clues to find out the truth? Her mother keeps repeating the word, soof. It’s one of the 23 words she uses, along with her name “So B. It.”. Could that word soof unlock the truth about her birth? She’s also found a camera with some film inside it. When she develops the photographs, Heidi sees a picture of her mother at a place called the Hilltop Home for the Disabled. Can someone at Hilltop tell her the truth? After failing to get any answers on the phone, Heidi decides to journey halfway across the country (by herself!) to find out. Soof, soof, soof. Who or what is it? Read So B. It to find out!

YEE, LISA. MILLICENT MIN, GIRL GENIUS. In a series of journal entries, eleven-year-old child genius Millicent Min records her struggles to learn to play volleyball, tutor her enemy, deal with her grandmother's departure, and make friends over the course of a tumultuous summer. (Publisher)

NONFICTION AND GRAPHIC NOVELS

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC. WEIRD BUT TRUE!: 300 OUTRAGEOUS FACTS. As readers flip through the vibrant pages of this new, easy-to-browse casual reference book, they'll find it's chock-full of wacky facts and bold illustrations--a formula that will keep kids coming back for more. (Publisher)

O’CONNOR, GEORGE. ZEUS, KING OF THE GODS. (SERIES) An illustrated retelling of the Greek myth that details the story of Zeus, describing his boyhood through his reign as the ruler of the Olympian Pantheon. (Publisher)

PRELUTSKY, JACK, ed. THE RANDOM HOUE BOOK OF POETRY FOR CHILDREN. Poet and anthologist Jack Prelutsky selects 500 poems appropriate for children for this compendium and includes the works of such noted poets as Emily Dickinson, Langston Hughes, Robert Louis Stevenson, Robert Frost, Ogden Nash, and Shel Silverstein. These classic and familiar poems are joined by full-color illustrations from a Caldecott Medalist. (Publisher)

List for Students Going into 5

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TELGEMEIER, RAINA. SMILE. Raina just wants to be a normal sixth grader. But one night after Girl Scouts she trips and falls, severely injuring her two front teeth, and what follows is a long and frustrating journey with on-again, off-again braces, surgery, embarrassing headgear, and even a retainer with fake teeth attached. And on top of all that, there's still more to deal with: a major earthquake, boy confusion, and friends who turn out to be not so friendly. (Publisher)