My Booklist

Battle of the Books

  • A Week in the Woods

    by Andrew Clements Year Published: Average
    The fifth grade's annual camping trip in the woods tests Mark's survival skills and his ability to relate to a teacher who seems out to get him.
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  • Because of Winn-Dixie

    by Kate DiCamillo Year Published: Challenging
    Ten-year-old India Opal Buloni describes her first summer in the town of Naomi, Florida, and all the good things that happen to her because of her big ugly dog Winn-Dixie.
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  • Becoming Naomi Leon

    by Pam Munoz Ryan Year Published: Challenging
    When Naomi's absent mother resurfaces to claim her, Naomi runs away to Mexico with her great-grandmother and younger brother in search of her father.
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  • Crispin

    Crispin

    by AVI Year Published: Challenging
    The 2003 Newbery Award Winner and New York Times Best-seller. "Avi's latest novel is superb combination of mystery, historical fiction, and a coming-of-age tale... Breathlessly paced, beautifully written, and filled with details of life in the Middle Ages, this compelling novel is one of Avi's finest."-Book Report
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  • Everything on a Waffle

    Everything on a Waffle

    by Polly Horvath Year Published: Challenging
    Eleven-year-old Primrose living in a small fishing village in British Columbia recounts her experiences and all that she learns about human nature and the unpredictability of life in the months after her parents are lost at sea.
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  • Goodnight Maman

    by Norma Fox Mazer Year Published: Challenging
    After spending years fleeing from the Nazis in war-torn Europe, twelve-year-old Karin Levi and her older brother Marc find a new home in a refugee camp in Oswego, New York.
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  • Lone Wolf

    by Kristine L. Franklin Year Published:
    When a large family moves into the house near where he and his father live in the woods, Perry's friendship with the oldest girl helps him come to terms with his sister's death and his parents' divorce.
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  • No More Dead Dogs

    by Gordon Korman Year Published: Challenging
    Eighth-grade football hero Wallace Wallace is sentenced to detention attending rehearsals of the school play where, in spite of himself, he becomes wrapped up in the production and begins to suggest changes that improve not only the play but his life as well.
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  • Poppy

    Poppy

    by AVI Year Published: Challenging
    Poppy the deer mouse urges her family to move next to a field of corn big enough to feed them all forever, but Mr. Ocax, a terrifying owl, has other ideas.
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  • Regarding the Fountain

    by Kate Klise Year Published: Average
    Welcome to Dry Creek Middle School -- where the motto is "We Thirst for Knowledge." When Principal Walter Russ asks his secretary, Goldie Fisch, to write a letter to Flowing Waters Fountains, Etc. regarding the purchase of a new drinking fountain for the school, all sorts of hilarious chaos results. This delightful, engaging, and truly unconventional mystery is told through letters, newspaper articles, telephone and interview transcripts, postcards, faxes, memos, and other "official" documents. Reading this scrapbook-like story is like looking through other people's mail! - Courtesy Barnes and Noble
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  • Surviving the Applewhites

    Surviving the Applewhites

    by Stephanie Tolan Year Published:
    Jake, a budding juvenile delinquent, is sent for home schooling to the arty and eccentric Applewhite family's Creative Academy, where he discovers talents and interests he never knew he had.
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  • Touching Spirit Bear

    by Ben Mikaelson Year Published: Challenging
    Description: Mikaelsen's provocative portrait of Cole, an angry teen who chooses banishment to a remote Alaskan island over detention as punishment for a brutal attack, has captivated reviewers and readers as it examines the alternative Native American Circle Justice. Courtesy of Borders
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Montgomery's Picks

  • A Single Shard

    by Linda Sue Park Year Published: Challenging
    Description: Tree-ear, an orphan, has become fascinated with the potters' craft; he wants nothing more than to watch master potter Min at work, and he dreams of making a pot of his own someday. When Min takes on Tree-ear as his helper, Tree-ear is elated--until he finds obstacles in his path: the backbreaking labor of digging and hauling clay, Min's irascible temper, and his own ignorance. However, Tree-ear is determined to prove himself. Courtesy of Borders The Newberry Medal Winner 2002 Mrs. Park lives in the Rochester area!

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  • Bud, Not Buddy

    by Christopher Paul Curtis Year Published: Challenging
    It's 1936, in Flint, Michigan. Ten-year-old Bud may be a motherless boy on the run, but he's on a mission. His momma never told him who his father was, but she left a clue: posters of Herman E. Calloway and his famous band, the Dusky Devastators of the Depression! Bud's got an idea that those posters will lead to his father. Once he decides to hit the road and find this mystery man, nothing can stop him. Bud, Not Buddy is full of laugh-out-loud humor and wonderful characters, hitting the high notes of jazz and sounding the deeper tones of the Great Depression.
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  • Danny the Champion of the World

    by Roald Dahl Year Published: Average
    Description: Danny's dad had a secret, but now the secret is out and it's going to lead Danny on an adventure he'll never forget! Courtesy of Borders
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  • Don't you know there is a war going on?

    by AVI Year Published: Challenging
    World War II is on everyone's mind and in every headline, and Howie Crispers has a hunch that his school principal is a spy. With a little snooping around, Howie finds out something even more alarming. Principal Lomister may not be a spy, but he is plotting to get rid of Howie's favorite teacher. Howie's dad is fighting Nazis overseas, and his mom is working hard to support the war effort, so Miss Gossim is the only person Howie can depend on. With the help of his friends, and a plan worthy of radio show superhero Captain Midnight, Howie intends to save Miss Gossim!
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  • Maniac Magee

    by Jerry Spinelli Year Published: Challenging
    Description: He wasn't born with the name Maniac Magee. He came into this world named Jeffrey Lionel Magee, but when his parents died and his life changed, so did his name. And Maniac Magee became a legend. Courtesy of Borders Winner of the 1991 Newbery Medal.
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  • The Breadwinner

    The Breadwinner

    by Deborah Ellis Year Published: Challenging
    Description: Young Parvana lives with her family in one room of a bombed-out apartment building in Kabul, Afghanistan. Because Parvana's father has a foreign education, he is arrested by the Taliban. The family becomes increasingly desperate until Parvana conceives a plan. Courtesy of Borders
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  • The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle

    by Avi Year Published: Challenging
    In 1832, Charlotte Doyle, a thirteen-year-old school girl, is returning to her family in America from her school in England. Charlotte's voyage takes place on the Seahawk, a seedy ship headed by a murderously cruel captain and sailed by a mutinous crew. Charlotte gets caught up in the bitter feud between captain and crew, which eventually leads to her being found guilty of a murder. This novel is thrilling and fast-paced, "A breathtaking, seafaring adventure...." -- School Library Journal, starred revieW
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Must Reads

  • Heat

    Heat

    by Mike Lupica Year Published: Challenging
    Michael Arroyo has a pitching arm that throws serious heat. But his firepower is nothing compared to the heat Michael faces in his day-to-day life. Newly orphaned after his father led the family's escape from Cuba, Michael's only family is his seventeen-year-old brother Carlos. If Social Services hears of their situation, they will be separated in the foster-care system -- or worse, sent back to Cuba. Together, the boys carry on alone, dodging bills and anyone who asks too many questions. But then someone wonders how a twelve-year-old boy could possibly throw with as much power as Michael Arroyo throws. With no way to prove his age, no birth certificate, and no parent to fight for his cause, Michael's secret world is blown wide open, and he discovers that family can come from the most unexpected sources. Courtesy of Borders
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  • My Side of the Mountain

    by Jean Craighead George Year Published: Challenging
    Runaway Sam Gribley is surviving in the Catskill Mountains with only a penknife, a ball of cord, $40, and some flint and steel. Along the way, he learns about courage, danger, and independence during his year in the wilderness, a year that will change his life forever.
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  • Number the Stars

    by Lois Lowry Year Published: Challenging
    en-year-old Annemarie Johansen and her best friend Ellen Rosen often think about life before the war. But it's now 1943 and their life in Copenhagen is filled with school, food shortages, and the Nazi soldiers marching in their town. The Nazi won't stop. The Jews of Denmark are being "relocated," so Ellen moves in with the Johansens and pretends to be part of the family. Then Annemarie is asked to go on a dangerous mission. Somehow she must find the strength and courage to save her best friend's life. There's no turning back now. Courtesy of Borders
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  • Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

    by Mildred D. Taylor Year Published: Challenging
    The story of one African-American family fighting to stay together and strong in the face of brutal racist attacks, illness, poverty, and betrayal in the Deep South of the 1930s.
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  • The Devil's Arithmetic

    by Jane Yolen Year Published: Challenging
    Annotation Hannah resents the traditions of her Jewish heritage until time travel places her in the middle of a small Jewish village in Nazi-occupied Poland. Courtesy of Barnes and Noble
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  • The Giver

    by Lois Lowry Year Published: Challenging
    Description: Jonas's world is perfect. Everything is under control. There is no war or fear of pain. There are no choices. Every person is assigned a role in the community. When Jonas turns 12 he is singled out to receive special training from The Giver. The Giver alone holds the memories of the true pain and pleasure of life. Now, it is time for Jonas to receive the truth. There is no turning back. Newberry Medal Winner- 1994
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  • The Trumpet of the Swan

    by E.B. White Year Published: Average
    Louis, a voiceless Trumpeter swan, finds himself far from his wilderness home when he determines to communicate by learning to play a stolen trumpet.
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  • Travel Team

    by Mike Lupica Year Published: Average
    Description: Twelve-year-old Danny Walker may be the smallest kid on the basketball court -- but don't tell him that. Because no one plays with more heart or court sense. But none of that matters when he is cut from his local travel team, the very same team his father led to national prominence as a boy. Danny's father, still smarting from his own troubles, knows Danny isn't the only kid who was cut for the wrong reason, and together, this washed-up former player and a bunch of never-say-die kids prove that the heart simply cannot be measured.
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