Books for 5th & 6th Graders, Summer 2007 J/F/ARNOLD Arnold, LouiseGolden & Grey: The Nightmares That Ghosts Have Tom Golden and his ghostly friend Arthur try to discover why all of the ghosts across England have been vanishing. 291 p. J/F/AUCH Auch, Mary JaneOne-Handed Catch After a terrible accident in his father’s butcher shop, Norman is determined not to let the loss of his left hand stop him from becoming a star baseball player. 248 p. J/F/BELL Bell, HilariThe Prophecy Prince Perryndon, who loves books more than swords, stumbles across a prophecy that tells him how to destroy the black dragon that is devastating his kingdom. Now he needs to embark on a dangerous quest to kill the dragon and restore the peace. 194 p. J/F/BONIFACE Boniface, WilliamThe Hero Revealed In the town of Superopolis, everyone has super powers except for Ordinary Boy. When O. Boy and his super friends discover an evil villain’s plot to take over the city, they are the only ones who can stop it. 294 p. J/F/CASSIDY Cassidy, CathyScarlett After being expelled from her fifth school, Scarlett’s mom packs her off to spend the rest of the school year with her father and his new family, in the wilds of Ireland. Anyone can see that Scarlett, with her ketchup red-dyed hair and black fingernail polish, isn’t going to fit in. 261 p. J/F/CODELL Codell, Esme RajiVive La Paris Spunky fifth grader Paris is a busy girl. She’s president of her school’s Extreme Readers Club, has four older brothers, and a new piano teacher who is a Holocaust survivor. She mistakes Mrs. Rosen’s yellow star for a gang symbol, and learns about bullies and injustice in her own life and in Mrs. Rosen’s. 210 p. J/F/HAHN Hahn, Mary DowningWitch Catcher Jen can’t understand why her father’s girlfriend is so interested in the glass globe “witch catcher” she finds hanging in a window. When the globe breaks and a fairy escapes, Jen is drawn into the dangerous, age-old battle between fairies and witches. 236 p. J/F/HOLM Holm, Jennifer L.Penny from Heaven The summer of 1953 is full of adventure for Penny, as she gets in trouble with her cousin, enjoys visiting her Italian relatives, and discovers a secret about her father’s death. 274 p. J/F/KEY Key, WattAlabama Moon Moon Blake has been raised deep in the forests of Alabama by his father. Moon’s father has always shunned people and the government, but after his father dies Moon learns the hard way that there’s a lot to appreciate about society, including a warm bed and hot meals. 294 p. J/F/ KLAGES Klages, EllenThe Green Glass Sea During World War II, Dewey and her father move to an isolated town in New Mexico, where scientists are building a top secret gadget which, it is rumored, will end the war. 321 p. J/F/LAWRENCE Lawrence, IainGemini Summer At the height of the 1960s space race, Danny dreams of owning a dog while big brother Beau yearns to explore outer space. After a tragic accident occurs and a strange, yet familiar dog appears, Danny discovers that maybe both their dreams can come true. 261 p. J/F/LORD Lord, CynthiaRules Catherine loves her autistic brother, but he sometimes complicates her life. Through her brother’s therapy sessions, she discovers that friends can be found in surprising places. 200 p. J/F/LUPICA Lupica, MikeMiracle on 49th Street After her mother dies, Molly decides to confront the father she’s never met—NBA basketball superstar Josh Cameron. 246 p. J/F/MEEHL Meehl, BrianOut of Patience Patience, Kansas is in trouble—the cursed Toilet Plunger of Destiny has returned, and people believe it will bring about the destruction of their town. Between baseball games, tornadoes and buried treasure, Jake and his friends must risk their lives to save their hometown from Certain Doom. 292 p. J/F/PAPADEMETRIOU Papademetriou, LisaSixth-Grade Glommers, Norks, and Me Allie is starting middle school, but worries that she’ll be considered a glommer, dweebosaurus rex, or nork (both nerd and dork). Best friend Tam starts sitting with arch-enemy Renee, while Allie is stuck with super-nork Orren as her science partner. 224 p. J/F/PEARSALL Pearsall, ShelleyAll of the Above With apathetic students and lame teachers, most people consider Wash-ington Middle School a “dead end.” A desperate math teacher decides to shake things up, and challenges his students to break a Guinness world record by building the world’s largest tetrahedron. 234 p. J/F/PECK Peck, RichardOn the Wings of Heroes Davy’s life has been full of air raid drills and scrap metal drives, but World War II doesn’t really hit home until his family receives a telegram telling them that his older brother is missing in action. 148 p. J/F/QUINN Quinn, ZoeThe Caped Sixth Grader: Happy Birthday, Hero! On her twelfth birthday, Zoë discovers that she has inherited the powers of super strength and super speed. Now she must learn how to control her powers and keep her superhero identity a secret. 135 p. J/F/RUBY Ruby, LauraThe Wall and the Wing When Gurl discovers that she can make herself invisible, everyone wants to use her new ability for their own nefarious purposes. With a giant rat and a zippered-faced monster chasing her, she must unravel the mystery of her own past. 327 p. J/F/SCHUMACHER Schumacher, JulieThe Book of One Hundred Truths Lies have come easily to Thea lately, so as she packs to spend part of the summer with her grandparents, her mother hands her a blank notebook and asks her to write four truths every day. Thea struggles to write down the truths she’s been hiding behind her lies. 182 p. J/F/SHERMAN Sherman, DeliaChangeling Neef is a changeling, a human child stolen by fairies. She lives in a parallel world populated by fairies, elves, demons and vampires. When Neef breaks one of the rules of her world, she must complete a dangerous quest or be thrown out of the fairy realm. 292 p. J/F/SNOW Snow, AlanHere Be Monsters Arthur’s mechanical wings have been stolen, and he’s trapped in Ratbridge with no way to get home. Even worse, the vile Snatcher is capturing the peaceful Underworld creatures and growing a monster rat to destroy Ratbridge. Readers, beware! Watch out for trolls, pirates, a butt-shrinking machine and a great cheese explosion! 529 p.* J/F/STEWART Stewart, Trenton LeeThe Mysterious Benedict Society Four extremely resourceful children, calling themselves the Mysterious Benedict Society, are chosen to undertake a secret mission to stop an evil brainwashing plot that is about to be unleashed on the world’s population 485 p.* JB/WHITMAN Harness, CherylThe Tragic Tale of Narcissa Whitman and a Faithful History of the Oregon Trail In 1836, Narcissa Whitman became the first white woman to travel the Oregon Trail. The journey was long and dangerous and the future uncertain, but Narcissa was determined to succeed. 144 p. Prepared by Rachel Andrews, Sara Pemberton, Kelly Pocci, May 2007