Friday, August 21, 2009

11 Planets by David Aguilar

Brilliant photorealistic illustrations and fascinating facts straight from the latest astronomy news bring a comprehensive look at our solar system as we’ve never seen it before.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Calder Game by Blue Balliett

When seventh graderCalder Pillay disappears from a remote English village--along with an Alexander Calder sculpture to which he has felt strangely drawn--his friends Petra and Tommy fly from Chicago to help his father find him.

Here's a link to a Scholastic Book Talk on The Calder Game:

http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/video.jsp?pID=1640149541&bcpid=1640149541&bclid=1557820328&bctid=1751847103


For activites and games related to this book and other books by Blue Balliett, click on the link below.
http://www.scholastic.com/blueballiett/games/index.htm

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Christo and Jeanne-Claude by Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan

This biography of contemporary artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude is a
story of the power of collaboration and vision, and of the creation of the spectacular
Gates in New York’s Central Park and other incredible installation artworks.

Diamond Willow by Helen Frost

In a remote area of Alaska, twelve-year-old Willow helps her father with their sled dogs when she is not at school, all the while unaware that the animals surrounding her carry the spirits of ancestors and friends who care for her.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Emperors of the Ice by Richard Farr

Apsley "Cherry" Cherry-Garrard shares his adventures as the youngest member of Robert Scott’s expedition to Antarctica in 1910, during which he and Edward Wilson try to learn the evolutionary history of emperor penguins, nearly dying in the attempt.

Monday, August 17, 2009

Found by Margaret Peterson Haddix

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.
Below is a link to a Trailers for Found.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Gollywhopper Games by Jody Feldman

Twelve-year-old Gil Goodson competes against thousands of other children at
extraordinary puzzles, stunts, and more in hopes of a fresh start for his family, which has been ostracized since his father was falsely accused of embezzling from Golly Toy and Game Company.

For more information, games, and contests related to this book, check out the following web site:
http://www.gollywhoppergames.com/

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman


Nobody Owens is a normal boy, except that he has been raised by ghosts and other denizens of the
graveyard.

Below is a link to a Trailer for The Graveyard Book.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/mpd/permalink/m1660HKJT8UK7W

Friday, August 14, 2009

Greetings from Nowhere by Barbara O'Connor


In North Carolina’s Great Smoky Mountains, a troubled boy and his mother, a happy family
seeking adventure, a man and his lonely daughter, and the widow who must sell the rundown
motel that has been her home for decades, meet and are transformed by their shared
experiences.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

In a future North America, where the rulers of Panem conduct an annual televised survival competition pitting young people from each of the twelve districts against one another,sixteen-year-old Katniss’s skills are put to the test when she volunteers to take her younger sister’s place.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Into the Dark by Peter Abrahams



Thirteen-year-old Sherlock
Holmes aficionado Ingrid Levin-Hill tries to clear her grandfather’s name when he is
accused of murdering an environmental activist found dead on his farm.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Jellaby by Kean Soo


Not long after Portia Bennett and her mother move to a new town to start their lives over, Portia discovers a huge purple monster she names Jellaby and enlists the help of fellow student Jason, as the two search for a way to find their new friend’s true home--a search which may connect Portia to her missing father.

Monday, August 10, 2009

Knucklehead by Jon Scieszka


How did Jon Scieszka get so funny? He grew up as one of six brothers with Catholic school, lots of comic books, lazysummers at the lake with time to kill, babysitting misadventures, TV shows, and jokes told at family dinner.

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Leanin' Dog by K.A. Nuzum


In wintry Colorado during the 1930s, eleven-year-old Dessa Dean mourns the death of her beloved
mother, but the arrival of an injured dog and the friendship they form is just what they
need to change their lives forever.

Saturday, August 8, 2009

Masterpiece by Elise Broach

After Marvin, a beetle,makes a miniature drawing as an eleventh birthday gift for James, a human with whom he shares a house, the two new friends work together to help recover an Albrecht Dürer drawing stolen from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Friday, August 7, 2009

Mogo, the Third Warthog by Donna Jo Napoli


When Mogo is cast out of his burrow to make room for a new litter, he learns how to survive
and find the joy of friendship and love.

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Rapunzel's Revenge by Shannon Hale

In this graphic novel Old West retelling, Rapunzel uses her hair as a lasso and to take on outlaws--including Gothel, the witch.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Rat Trap by Michael Daley



Bioengineered Rat and
her twelve-year-old human companion, Jeff, stand together when Dr. Vivexian, who
considers Rat his masterpiece, arrives at the space station to capture her.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Savvy by Ingrid Law


Mibs Beaumont’s thirteenth birthday has revealed her "savvy"--a magical power unique to each member of her family--just as her father is injured in a terrible accident.


Monday, August 3, 2009

Shooting the Moon by Frances O'Roark Dowell

When her brother is sent to fight in Vietnam, twelve-year-old Jamie begins to reconsider the army world in which she has grown up.

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Steel Trapp: The Challenge by Ridley Pearson


On a two day train trip to enter his invention in the National Science Competition in Washington,D.C., fourteen-year-old Steven "Steel" Trapp, possessor of a remarkable photographicmemory, becomes embroiled in an international plot of kidnapping and bribery that mayhave links to terrorists.

Stolen by Vivian Vande Velde

A girl finds herself running through the forest at the edge of a village with no memory of anything,even her own name, and later learns that she might be twelve-year-old Isabelle, believed to be stolen by a witch six years before.

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow by Jessica Day George

A girl travels east of the sun and west of the moon to free her beloved prince from a
magic spell.