Toads and Diamonds
By Heather Tomlinson Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR) Pages: 288 Age Range: 12 – 18 Years ABOUT Diribani has come to the village well to get water for her family’s scant meal of curry and rice. She never expected to meet a goddess there. Yet she is granted a remarkable gift: Flowers and precious jewels drop from her lips whenever she speaks. It seems only right to Tana that the goddess judged her kind, lovely stepsister worthy of such riches. And when she encounters the goddess, she is not surprised to find herself speaking snakes and toads as a reward. Blessings and curses...
Read MoreThe Five Lives of Our Cat Zook
By Joanne Rocklin Publisher: Amulet Books Pages: 240 Age Range: 8 – 12 Years ABOUT In this warmhearted middle-grade novel, Oona and her brother, Fred, love their cat Zook (short for Zucchini), but Zook is sick. As they conspire to break him out of the vet’s office, convinced he can only get better at home with them, Oona tells Fred the story of Zook’s previous lives, ranging in style from fairy tale to grand epic to slice of life. Each of Zook’s lives has echoes in Oona’s own family life, which is going through a transition she’s not yet ready to face. Her father died two years ago,...
Read MoreThe Wrinkled Crown
By Anne Nesbet Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Pages: 400 Lexile: 910L Age Range: 8 – 12 Years ABOUT Fans of Anne Ursu will love Anne Nesbet’s tale of music and friendship, set against an age-old war between magic and science. In the enchanted village of Lourka, almost-twelve-year-old Linny breaks an ancient law. Girls are forbidden to so much as touch the town’s namesake musical instrument before their twelfth birthday or risk being spirited away. But Linny can’t resist the call to play a lourka, so she builds one herself. When the punishment strikes her best...
Read MoreEleven and Holding
By Mary Penney Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Pages: 256 Age Range: 8 – 12 Years ABOUT Macy Hollinquest is eleven years old, and don’t count on her to change that anytime soon. Her birthday is just days away, but she has no intention of turning twelve without her dad by her side. He’d promised to be there for her big day, and yet he’s been gone for months—away after his discharge from the army, doing some kind of top secret, “important work.” So Macy’s staying eleven, no matter what—that is, until she meets Ginger, a nice older lady who is searching for her missing dog. Ginger’s...
Read MoreA Whole New Ballgame (Rip and Red)
By Phil Bildner Illustrated by Tim Probert Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux Pages: 256 Lexile: 540L Age Range: 8 – 12 Years ABOUT Rip and Red are best friends whose fifth-grade year is nothing like what they expected. They have a crazy new tattooed teacher named Mr. Acevedo, who doesn’t believe in tests or homework and who likes off-the-wall projects, the more “off” the better. And guess who’s also their new basketball coach? Mr. Acevedo! Easy-going Rip is knocked completely out of his comfort zone. And for Red, who has autism and really needs things to be...
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