Books for 7th & 8th Graders, Summer 2004 J/F/BARRETT Barrett, TracyCold in Summer Adriadne’s first friend in her new town is a shy, quiet girl in old-fashioned clothes with a spooky habit of appearing and disappearing in the blink of an eye. 203 p. J/F BRYANT Bryant, JenniferThe Trial Katie Leigh describes her thoughts in a series of poems, as she observes and reports on the “Trial of the Century,” covering the Lindbergh baby kidnapping and murder in 1935. 169 p. J/F/CHEN Chen, DaWandering Warrior An ancient prophecy has marked Luka as the next emperor of China. In order to survive, Luka trains in the art of King Fu, preparing to battle the evil Mogo lord, Ghengi. 322p. J/F/HALE Hale, ShannonGoose Girl When Princess Anidori’s lady-in-waiting plots to take over her throne, she disguises herself as a simple goose girl to survive the coup. Her ability to speak to animals and her friendship with a handsome prince help her in her efforts to reclaim her throne and stop a pending war. 383 p. J/F/HORVATH Horvath, PollyThe Canning Season Ratchet’s mother unloads her on two elderly, quirky aunts for the summer. Stuck in the woods of Maine with Aunts Tilly and Penpen (and a few wild bears,) Ratchet’s in for the most unusual summer of her life! 2003 National Book Award winner. 195 p. JB/LEKUTON Lekuton, JosephFacing the Lion: Growing Up Maasai on the African Savanna Joseph juggles two very different parts of his life: going far away to a city school, and living with his family on the Kenyan savanna where he trains to become a Maasai warrior. 127 p. J/F/LOWRY Lowry, LoisMessenger In the futuristic society of The Giver, Matty battles the forest as he travels to a nearby village to help Kira make it back to Village before the borders are closed. 169 p. J/F/LUBAR Lubar, DavidFlip Taylor and Ryan, twins who are as different as they can be, find a cache of strange alien disks that contain the personalities of famous humans of the past. Ryan learns how to use the disks to transform himself into legendaries like Babe Ruth and Elvis Presley, setting himself apart from his twin. 300 p. J/F/MACPHAIL MacPhail, CatherineDark Waters Col McCann performs an uncharacteristic act of bravery when he saves a young boy from drowning. He’s uncomfortable with the fame that his heroism brings, and he’s haunted by recurring dreams of a terrifying vision he glimpsed underwater. 175 p. J/F/OSA Osa, NancyCuba 15 While preparing for her Quinceañera, Violet Paz describes her zany Cuban family’s everyday experiences and turns it into “Original Comedy” for her speech team competition. 277 p. J/F/PATTOU Pattou, EdithEast When a talking bear promises Rose that he will grant health and prosperity to her family if she comes away with him, Rose agrees. While living in the bear’s magical castle, Rose most solve a series of mysterious puzzles in order to discover her true purpose in life. 498 p. J/F/PAULSEN Paulsen, GaryThe Glass Café, or, the Stripper and the State Tony never dreamed of all the problems that would occur when he decided to practice his art skills by sketching the human figure at his mother’s place of work, the Kitty Kat Klub. Social Services gets involved and chaos reigns. 99 p. J/F/PECK Peck, RichardRiver Between Us The Civil War has come to Grand Tower, Illinois and so have two fascinating women from New Orleans. Tilly’s family welcomes the rich and fair Delphine and the darker-skinned Calinda into their home and their lives. A relationship develops that encompasses the brutality of war and personal secrets too painful to share. 164 p. J/F/REES Rees, CeliaPirates!: The True and Remarkable Adventures of Minerva Sharpe and Nancy Kington, Female Pirates Nancy Kington runs away from an arranged marriage, taking along her friend Minerva, a slave from the family’s Jamaican plantation. The two girls join a pirate crew and live the swashbuckling life of a pirate while trying to evade the pursuit of her evil jilted fiancé, a former pirate himself. 379 p. J/F/REES Rees, DouglasVampire High After flunking out of the local public high school, Cody has two choices: attend either Our Lady of Perpetual Homework or the Vlad Dracul Magnet School. He picks Dracul Magnet, where the other students are all ghostly pale and have a taste for blood. 226 p. J/F/RITTER Ritter, John H.The Boy Who Saved Baseball An old ballpark will be bulldozed if Tom Gallagher and his teammates can’t win a baseball game against a rival team. When a mysterious kid named Cruz de la Cruz comes to town, he says he knows the secret of hitting. Can he help Dilltontown keep the ballpark? 216 p. J/F/SHUSTERMAN Shusterman, NealFull Tilt Blake follows his reckless brother into a nightmarish carnival world where he must survive seven dangerous rides to escape the fantasy and save both their souls. 201 p. J/F/STINE Stine, R.L.Dangerous Girls Destiny and Livvy return from camp slightly changed. They crave the taste of warm blood, avoid sunlight, and are being followed by a vampire-hunter. The twins have until the next full moon to discover what to do about these changes. 247p. J/F/STROUD Stroud, JonathanAmulet of Samarkand Nathaniel, a young wizard bent on revenge, summons the 5,000-year-old djinni Bartimaeus to steal the legendary Amulet of Samarkand. 462 p. J/F/THESMAN Thesman, JeanRising Tide Kate travels from Ireland to San Francisco in 1908, where she dreams of opening a shop and living an independent life at a time when marriage is the only option for most young woman. She is unaware that her friend Ellen has wasted all of the money she had saved for the store. 228 p. J/F/UPDALE Updale, EleanorMontmorency: Thief, Liar, Gentleman? Montmorency, a criminal mastermind, lives a dual life. By day he’s a wealthy London gentleman, but at night he is a clever burglar using the city’s sewer system to avoid capture. 232 p. J/F/VAUPEL Vaupel, RobinMy Contract with Henry Four outcasts adopt the philosophy of writer Henry David Thoreau for a freshman English assignment, building a cabin in the woods and living the simple life. They find that this experiment in simplicity and civil disobedience touches not only their lives but their school and community as well. 244 p. Prepared by Sharon Lawrence, Colleen Morrison, and Julie Runge, May 2004