|
|
Cool New Books for August
No matter what your reading preferences are, there’s a little something for everyone in August’s roundup of Cool New Books. Lovers of fantasy and magic will be ready to sink their teeth into THE LAND OF THE SILVER APPLES --- the long-awaited sequel to THE SEA OF TROLLS, from National Book Award winner and Newbery Honor author Nancy Farmer --- and FAIRY HAVEN AND THE QUEST FOR THE WAND, the enchanting follow-up to Gail Carson Levine’s FAIRY DUST AND THE QUEST FOR THE EGG. Readers who prefer sports-themed titles with some mystery added to the mix will not want to miss John Feinstein’s COVER-UP and THE AURORA COUNTY ALL-STARS by Deborah Wiles. And those looking for more serious and emotionally-charged fiction will be deeply moved by EDWARD'S EYES by Patricia MacLachlan and Christopher Paul Curtis’s ELIJAH OF BUXTON.
 |
|
Stand-Alone Chapter Books/Middle Grade Novels
|
 |
|
THE AURORA COUNTY ALL-STARS
Deborah Wiles
Harcourt Children's Books
ISBN-10: 0152060685
ISBN-13: 9780152060688
Ages 10-up
272 pages
• Click here to buy from Amazon.com
Twelve-year-old House Jackson --- star pitcher and team captain of the Aurora County All-Stars --- has been sidelined for an entire year with a broken elbow. He's finally ready to play, but unfortunately the team's only game of the year has been scheduled for the exact same time as the town's 200th-anniversary pageant. Now House must face the pageant's director, Frances Shotz (his nemesis and perpetrator of the elbow break), and get his team out of this mess. There's also the matter of a mysterious old recluse who has died and left House a wheezy old dog named Eudora Welty --- and a puzzling book of poetry by someone named Walt Whitman.
|
|
|
COVER-UP: Mystery at the Super Bowl
John Feinstein
Knopf
ISBN-10: 0375842470
ISBN-13: 9780375842474
Ages 10-up
304 pages
• Click here to buy from Amazon.com
More than 95 million fans will be watching the Super Bowl, but Steve Thomas and Susan Carol Anderson know that what they'll be watching is a lie. They’re fully aware that the entire offensive line of the California Dreams have failed their doping tests and that the Dreams' owner is trying to cover up the test results. These two teens are sitting on the biggest sports scandal of the decade. What they don't know --- yet --- is how to prove it.
|
|
|
EDWARD'S EYES
Patricia MacLachlan
Atheneum/Simon & Schuster
ISBN-10: 1416927433
ISBN-13: 9781416927433
Ages 8-12
128 pages
• Read a Review
• Click here to buy from Amazon.com
Jake is a part of an extraordinary family. He has a life filled with art, music and long summer nights on the Cape. He has hours and days and months of baseball. But more than anything in this world, Jake knows he has Edward. From the moment he was born, Jake knew Edward was destined for something. Edward could make anyone laugh and everyone think. During one special year, Edward became the only one in the neighborhood who could throw a perfect knuckleball, a pitch no one could not hit. That same year, Jake learned there are also some things you cannot hold.
|
|
|
ELIJAH OF BUXTON
Christopher Paul Curtis
Scholastic Press
ISBN-10: 0439023440
ISBN-13: 9780439023443
Ages 9-up
288 pages
• Click here to buy from Amazon.com
Eleven-year-old Elijah is the first child born into freedom in Buxton, Canada, a settlement of runaway slaves just over the border from Detroit. He’s best known in his hometown as the boy who made a memorable impression on Frederick Douglass. But things change when a former slave steals money from Elijah’s friend, who has been saving to buy his family out of captivity in the South. Elijah embarks on a dangerous journey to America in pursuit of the thief, and he discovers firsthand the unimaginable horrors of the life his parents fled --- a life from which he’ll always be free, if he can find the courage to get back home.
|
|
|
NIGHTMARE ACADEMY
Dean Lorey
HarperCollins
ISBN-10: 0061340421
ISBN-13: 9780061340420
Ages 10-up
320 pages
• Click here to buy from Amazon.com
It's hard to fit in when your nightmares open portals to the Netherworld, where horrible creatures live. Luckily there's a place for Charlie --- the Nightmare Academy. Built from wrecked ships set in the branches of the world's most incredible tree fort, the Academy trains people to use their unique gifts to fight the monsters that rush in when the lights go out. But Charlie is far more powerful than anyone ever imagined, and his entrance exam opens a portal straight to the heart of the Netherworld, where ultimate evil plots Earth's destruction. He'll need all his cleverness --- and the help of his new friends --- to save himself and his family.
|
|
|
THE PERFECT HAMBURGER AND OTHER DELICIOUS STORIES
Alexander McCall Smith
Bloomsbury USA Children’s Books
ISBN-10: 1599901579
ISBN-13: 9781599901572
Ages 7-9
288 pages
• Click here to buy from Amazon.com
Joe has always loved the hamburgers at Mr. Borthwick’s restaurant. But when a snazzy fast-food chain moves into town, business at Mr. Borthwick’s begins to suffer. It seems everyone wants to eat at the gleaming new joint. Then Joe gets an idea that’s sure to bring back the regulars, and lure new diners as well. There’s just one problem. The secret recipe for Mr. Borthwick’s burgers is missing, and Joe will have to figure out the ingredients if he ever hopes to re-create the perfect hamburger.
|
|
|
|
Series Books/Sequels
|
|
|
Sequel to FAIRY DUST AND THE QUEST FOR THE EGG
FAIRY HAVEN AND THE QUEST FOR THE WAND
Gail Carson Levine
Disney Editions/Hyperion Books for Children
ISBN-10: 1423101006
ISBN-13: 9781423101000
Ages 6-10
191 pages
• Read a Review
• Click here to buy from Amazon.com
The mermaid Soop is tired of waiting for the magic wand that was promised to her by the fairy Rani in exchange for her help saving Never Land. But wands are dangerous objects, and wise Mother Dove has forbidden Rani to keep her promise. So Soop takes revenge by sending a flood to drown the fairies and destroy Fairy Haven. The only thing that can stop it is the arrival of the wand. Rani, Tinker Bell and the fairy queen, Clarion, set out on a perilous quest that takes them across an ocean, to the palace of the Great Wanded Fairies. At last they acquire a wand, only to find that their troubles are just beginning. |
|
|
Sequel to THE SEA OF TROLLS
THE LAND OF THE SILVER APPLES
Nancy Farmer
Atheneum/Richard Jackson Books
ISBN-10: 1416907351
ISBN-13: 9781416907350
Ages 10-14
512 pages
• Read a Review
• Click here to buy from Amazon.com
Thirteen-year-old Jack, only a bard-in-training, is amazed to have caused an earthquake. But his sister, Lucy, has been stolen by the Lady of the Lake. Caught between belief in the old gods and Christianity (this is 790 AD Britain), Jack calls upon his ash wood staff to subdue a passel of unruly monks, and, for his daring, ends up in a knucker hole. It’s unforgettable (for the boy and for readers), as are the magical reappearance of the berserker Thorgil from a burial by moss; new characters Pega, a slave girl from Jack's village, and the eager-to-marry-her Bugaboo (a hobgoblin king); kelpies; yarthkins; and elves (not the enchanted sprites one would expect but the fallen angels of legend). |
|
|
|
Picture Books
|
|
|
BRAVO, TAVO!
written by Brian Meunier
illustrated by Perky Edgerton
Dutton Children’s Books
ISBN-10: 0525474781
ISBN-13: 9780525474784
Ages 5-8
32 pages
• Click here to buy from Amazon.com
Tavo, named for his father Gustavo, plays basketball so much that his sneakers are worn out. His father is too worried about the drought afflicting their small village to focus on replacing them. Gustavo thinks he can solve the water shortage, but the other villagers say he’s crazy. Tavo puts aside basketball to help prove his father right. In return, something miraculous happens to his sneakers, and he’s the hero of the next game. Did the magic come from his shoes, or was it in his heart all along?
|
|
|
A FRIEND FOR ALL SEASONS
written by Julia Hubery
illustrated by Mei Matsuoka
Atheneum/Simon & Schuster
ISBN-10: 1416926852
ISBN-13: 9781416926856
Ages 4-8
32 pages
• Click here to buy from Amazon.com
Robbie Raccoon's favorite friend is Old Father Oak. Born in Father Oak's trunk, Robbie spent the spring swinging from Father Oak's branches and the summer relaxing in the shade of Father Oak's limbs. But one day Robbie wakes up and notices that Father Oak is losing his leaves. Maybe he’s cold, or tired, or just plain sad. What can Robbie do to help?
|
|
|
MIND YOUR MANNERS, B.B. WOLF
written by Judy Sierra
illustrated by J. Otto Seibold<
Alfred A. Knopf
ISBN-10: 0375835326
ISBN-13: 9780375835322
Ages 4-8
40 pages
• Click here to buy from Amazon.com
Big Bad Wolf, now old and residing in the Villain Villa Senior Center, is invited to a tea by a children’s librarian. His best friend, a toothsome crocodile, warns him that he will have to mind his manners. B. B. Wolf makes up a song: "Sip your tea and never slurp, say 'excuse me' if you burp. Smile and have a lot of fun, but don't go biting anyone." He remembers to say "please" and "thank you" and gives a nervous Red Ridinghood, Three Little Pigs and Gingerbread Boy his biggest smile ever. But when his stomach starts to gurgle, he gets a little mixed-up about what to do when you burp.
|
|
--- Compiled and written by Tom Donadio
Back to top.
|
