Travel in the Worlds of Imagination & Reality!

ALEXANDER, LLOYD, The Book of Three:
For Harry Potter fans, here is the first book in the series The Prydain Chronicles, when Taran begins to suspect that he will not always be a pig herder--especially when the magic pig is stolen by evil enemies.

AVI, Nothing But the Truth:
Philip Molloy's behavior turns into a national scandal. What really happened? Also, The Fighting Ground by this author.

BELLAIRS, JOHN, Secret of the Underground Room, The Letter, the Witch and the Ring, Mansion in the Mist:
Spooky mysteries by a master storyteller.

BUNTING, EVE, Karen Kepplewhite Is the World's Best Kisser  

BURNETT, FRANCES H., The Secret Garden:
Can friends and a garden help a sick boy be well again?  

BYARS, BETSY, Cracker Jackson:
Cracker realizes that his former babysitter is being abused by her husband. What can he do to help? Also, The Summer of the Swans.  

CLEARY, BEVERLY, Strider: The sequel to Dear Mr. Henshaw.  

CLEMENT, ANDREW, Frindle:
A war begins when a boy decides to use an invented word, "frindle", instead of "pen" in school.

COBB, VICKI, Chemically Active: Experiments You Can Do at Home

CONRAD, PAMELA, Prairie Songs

COONEY, The Face on the Milk Carton:
What would you do if you found out that you had been kidnapped as a baby? Don't miss the sequel, Whatever Happened to Janie.  

COOPER, SUSAN, The Dark is Rising:
A fantasy adventure series you'll love, if you are a Harry Potter fan.

CREECH, SHARON, Walk Two Moons:
What really happened to Salamanca's mother? She takes a long trip to find the truth.

CURTIS, CHRISTOPHER, The Watsons Go to Birmingham, 1963:  
Chicago is very different from Birmingham, Alabama, especially if you are black.

CURTIS, PAUL, Bud, Not Buddy:
Bud runs away from the orphanage to find his father. Can the few clues he has lead him to the right person? Newbery Award 2000 winner.

CUSHMAN, KAREN, The Ballad of Lucy Whipple:
Girl bemoans her fate in a gold camp.

DAHL, ROALD, Matilda:
Smart girl. Mean parents. The Trunchbull. Danger! Can Matilda save Miss Honey from the evil Trunchbull? Compare the book to the movie.

DEFELICE, CYNTHIA, Weasel:
A pioneer boy meets a man who is the embodiment of evil.  

ERICKSON, Hank the Cowdog (series):
Hank thinks he is the first line of defense for the ranch, but sometimes he gets things a little mixed up.

FLEISCHMAN, SID, The Whipping Boy

GEORGE, JEAN CRAIGHEAD, River Rats, Inc:
Two boys' journey on a raft through the Grand Canyon at night! Also, My Side of the Mountain by this author.

GEORGE, JEAN CRAIGHEAD, My Side of the Mountain:  
City boy Sam Gribley spends a year all alone in the Catskills.  

GUTMAN, DAN, The Babe and Me, Jackie and Me,:
Travel back in time to meet the greatest stars of baseball.  

GUTMAN, DAN, Honus & Me:
Joe finds an old baseball card. Big changes happen.

HAMILTON, VIRGINIA, The People Could Fly:
African American folktales, written for great read-alouds! Try "Taily-po" one dark night.

HERBERT, DON, Mr. Wizard's Supermarket Science

HERMES, PATRICIA, Kevin Corbett Eats Flies:
Kevin's only way to make friends in each new school is to swallow insects. Until he meets Bailey. Also, Nobody's Fault by this author.

HESSE, KAREN, The Music of Dolphins:
Mila is rescued after being raised by dolphins. But is this the best place for her?

HOBBS, WILL, Far North:
Can two boys and an old man survive winter in the Canadian wilderness?

JACQUES, BRIAN, Redwall (series):
The story of an abbey providing safe haven for peace-loving animals, and how they protect themselves from many enemies. Very well-written, this is a series to please the Harry Potter fans.  

KEHRET, PEG, Small Steps: The Year I Got Polio:
This author describes what she went through when she was hospitalized for a full year with polio.

KONIGSBURG, E. L., From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler

KORMAN, GORDON, The Zucchini Warriors

L'ENGLE, MADELINE, A Wrinkle in Time:
Father has disappeared, caught in a time warp. Can his family make a dangerous journey to rescue him?

LEVINE, ELLEN, Ella Enchanted:
Ella is a princess straight out of a fairy tale. Not.

LEWIS, C.S., The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe:
Lucy hides in an old wardrobe and finds the secret passage to another world, Narnia. The unforgettable beginning of the Chronicles of Narnia.

LOEPER, JOHN, Going to School in 1776

LORD, BETTY BAO, In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson:
It is 1947. Can a young Chinese girl become a part of her class in Brookyn? The Brooklyn Dodgers, with Jackie Robinson, inspire her to try.

LOWRY, LOIS, Rabble Starkey

MAC LACHLAN, PATRICIA, Sarah, Plain and Tall

MAZER, NORMA FOX, Mrs. Fish, Ape, and Me, the Dump Queen  

NAYLOR, PHYLLIS REYNOLDS, The Fear Place:
Afraid of heights, a boy must climb a treacherous mountainside to rescue his brother. He looks back to find a mountain lion on his trail.

NIXON, JOAN LOWRY, A Family Apart:
When her son is caught stealing, Mother decides to send her children west on the Orphan Trains, to be adopted. Heartbreaking, exciting historical fiction. Part of a series.

O'DELL, SCOTT, The Black Pearl

PARK, BARBARA, Mick Harte Was Here:
Phoebe just wants to tell us about Mick, not make us cry. But we do laugh!

PATERSON, KATHERINE, The Great Gilly Hopkins

PAULSON, GARY, Hatchet:
From the master of adventure stories, try the sequels too, Brian's Winter and Brian's Return.

ROWLING, J.K., Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban:
Perfect books to share with your parents. Don't miss Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the latest in the series!

RYLANT, CYNTHIA, Every Living Thing

SACHAR, LOUIS, Holes:
Stanley Yelnats is sent to a juvenile detention camp for a crime he did not commit. Why? Being punished for a crime you didn't commit seemed bad enough, but things only get worse.

SCIESZKA, JON, The Time-Warp Trio: Knights of the Kitchen Table, Your Mother Was a Neanderthal; The Good , the Bad , and the Goofy; Tut-Tut, 2095, Summer Reading is Killing Me:
Sam, Fred and Joe time travel on a series of hilarious adventures.

SMITH, ROBERT KIMMEL, Squeaky Wheel:
Mark Baker needs to make some noise to let his divorced parents know that everything is not okay! Also, The War with Grandpa by this author.

SPERRY, ARMSTRONG, Call It Courage:
Mafatu is known as "the boy who is afraid." He must prove to his people that he is brave. He takes on more than he bargained for.  

TAYLOR, MILDRED, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry:
The moving chronicle of a close-knit southern black family, the Logans, whose only crime is that they own land.

TOLKIEN, J.R.R., The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings:
This is the series Harry Potter is compared with. Fascinating for all ages.

VOIGHT, CYNTHIA, Dicey's Song

WINTHROP, ELIZABETH, The Castle in the Attic:
William must use all his courage to face down an evil creature.  

YOLEN, JANE, The Young Merlin Trilogy: Hobby, Passager, and Merlin:
Good introduction to the saga of King Arthur from another viewpoint.

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