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Cool New Books for October
 CHARLES DICKENS AND FRIENDS
written and illustrated by Marcia Williams
Candlewick
ISBN: 0763619051
Ages 8-12
48 pages
Marcia Williams retells five literary classics by Charles Dickens: GREAT EXPECTATIONS, OLIVER TWIST, A CHRISTMAS CAROL, DAVID COPPERFIELD, and A TALE OF TWO CITIES. This kid-friendly collection offers a simple retelling of each tale, as well as amusing scene-to-scene drawings of well-known Dickens characters and some dialogue from the original texts.
 COURAGE
written and illustrated by Bernard Waber
Houghton Mifflin
ISBN: 0618238557
Ages 4-8
40 pages
What is courage? It certainly takes courage for a firefighter to rescue people who are trapped in a burning building, but there are many other kinds of courage. For example, people show courage when they are the first to apologize to someone they have argued with, or when they go to bed without turning on a nightlight. Bernard Waber talks about courage of all kinds, and explains how each of us becomes heroic whenever we perform an act of courage.
 DEAF CHILD CROSSING
Marlee Matlin
Simon & Schuster
ISBN: 0689822081
Ages 8-12
208 pages
When Cindy moves into Megan's neighborhood, the two girls become very close. Megan is deaf, and Cindy learns some sign language so that Megan doesn't have to read Cindy's lips. The two go away to summer camp, where they meet new friends, sing camp songs, and tell ghost stories. But while at camp, Cindy tries to help when Megan can do things herself, and Megan takes credit for Cindy's ideas. They thought they would be lifelong friends, but have too many things changed?
 THE HARDY BOYS COLLECTORS EDITION, 75TH ANNIVERSARY
Franklin W. Dixon
Aladdin Paperbacks
ISBN: 0689856202
Ages 9-12
464 pages
This special collector's edition combines three exciting mystery stories. Suspicious pranks threaten Frank and Joe's relaxing tropical trip and a cruise ship detective contest in THE CARIBBEAN CRUISE CAPER. In DAREDEVIL, the Hardys help a popular movie stuntman, who is the target of some real-life dangers. Finally, in SKIN & BONES, Frank and Joe visit a friend in San Francisco, but end up having to track down a dangerous suspect who wants to seriously harm them.
 THE HARDY BOYS' SWELL GUIDE TO LIFE
Franklin W. Dixon
Simon & Schuster
ISBN: 0689855419
Ages 9-12
48 pages
In this handy-size book of tidbits, Frank and Joe offer advice and wisdom on a variety of different topics, including sleuthing, skullduggery, boating, and dating. This book has answers to some of life's most difficult questions - the dos and don'ts that every child should know.
 THE ROPE TRICK
Lloyd Alexander
Putnam
ISBN: 0525470204
Ages 8-12
256 pages
Lidi is a beautiful, bewitching magician who has the talent to perform the greatest magical feat imaginable --- the rope trick. But she must find Ferramondo, the master magician who is the only one who can teach her how. While trying to find him, Lidi meets many people who help her on the journey. One of them is a child with supernatural powers. But when the child is kidnapped, Lidi stops her search and uses her own powers to try to save the girl.
 MARCO'S MILLIONS
William Sleator
Putnam
ISBN: 0142302171
Ages 9-12
176 pages
A shy girl named Lilly tells her big brother Marco about strange lights in their basement. He thinks it's just her imagination, but he decides to investigate anyway. In the basement, Marco finds a passage into a strange world. He meets creatures that look like insects and these creatures seem to know everything about Lilly. They think she is a special girl who can help them save their world from being destroyed. Marco wants to help the creatures, but he doesn't want his little sister to get hurt. What will Marco do?
 WHAT WOULD JOEY DO?
Jack Gantos
Farrar Straus & Giroux
ISBN: 0374399867
Ages 9-12
240 pages
What Would Joey Do? is the final book of the Joey Pigza trilogy. Joey's parents, who are separated, get reunited briefly when Joey's dad comes to town. Joey's grandmother believes that all the feuding will result in a series of terrible events in the Pigza household. She wants Joey to find a life outside the family, so that he will be fine once she is gone. To please his grandma, Joey tries to become friends with Olivia Lapp, his blind home-schooling partner, who gets meaner the more Joey tries to please her. Joey decides that he wants to help everyone be nice and so he becomes "Mr. Helpful."
 ISLANDS OF THE BLACK MOON
Erica Farber and J.R. Sansevere
Delacorte Press
ISBN: 0385327897
Ages 8-12
112 pages
When Lila da Gama receives a note from a distant aunt, she embarks on an adventure that takes her much farther than Tiger Lily, her aunt's crumbling estate. She travels to another world called the Islands of the Black Moon. Lila believes that it is here that her father vanished six years earlier. She faces terrifying creatures, including an evil sorceress, that are all after Lila's inheritance. Lila refuses to give up her inheritance, but she changes her mind when the sorceress tells her the following: I know where your father is. From this point on, Lila sets off to change her family's fortune and be reunited with her father.
 JUNIE B., FIRST GRADER: Toothless Wonder
JUNIE B. JONES Series
Barbara Park
illustrated by Denise Brunkus
Random House
ISBN: 0375802959
Ages 6-9
96 pages
Junie B. Jones is very sad that one of her top front teeth is loose. First, she worries that she might look like her toothless Uncle Lou. Then, she begins to wonder about the tooth fairy - who really is this woman and what does she do with the teeth she takes? Junie would love to find the answers to all her questions.
 ELOISE TAKES A BAWTH
Kay Thompson
illustrated by Hilary Knight
edited by Mart Crowley
Simon & Schuster
ISBN: 0689842880
Ages 4-8
80 pages
Eloise, who is in the Plaza Hotel, must take a "bawth" because Mr. Salamone is coming for tea. In the bathtub, she has some wonderful fantasies, which leads to an overabundance of bubbly "bawth" water. Mr. Salamone becomes very worried and angry when the floors of the hotel start to flood. But Eloise is unaware of this and keeps scrubbing and splashing. Just as the hotel is about to drown in its own bubbles, Eloise, clean as a whistle, saves the day.
 GUMBRELLA
Barry Root
Putnam
ISBN: 0399233474
Ages 4-8
32 pages
Gumbrella loves cute little animals and would do anything to protect them. One day, her brother Trumbull comes home with a hurt mouse, and Gumbrella takes care of it. She decides to start an animal hospital, and their house becomes filled with sick animals. Gumbrella is so happy that all these animals are in her house. But months later, all the animals are better, and Gumbrella has a very hard time letting them all go.
 LUCKY PENNIES AND HOT CHOCOLATE
Carol Diggory Shields
illustrated by Hiroe Nakata
Putnam
ISBN: 0142301906
Ages 3-7
32 pages
A boy and his grandfather spend a weekend together and do many fun and interesting things. They try to avoid wearing fancy clothes or eating any strange food. Instead, they tell knock-knock jokes, drink hot chocolate, watch machines at a construction site, and do a whole lot more.
--- Reviewed by Thomas Donadio
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