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July 2008
The sixth installments of two popular fantasy series finally have been released. Eoin Colfer’s THE TIME PARADOX continues the story of teenage criminal mastermind Artemis Fowl, and in SUPERIOR SATURDAY, Garth Nix’s protagonist, Arthur Penhaligon, struggles to gain possession of the Sixth Key from its immortal guardian.
July's roundup of Cool New Books also includes MERCY WATSON THINKS LIKE A PIG, Kate DiCamillo's fifth rollicking adventure featuring the irresistible pig who this time must outwit Animal Control; LOST AND FOUND, an entertaining and thought-provoking chapter book from Andrew Clements about twin brothers who hatch an elaborate plan to fool everyone at their new school; TOM TRUEHEART AND THE LAND OF DARK STORIES by Ian Beck, which continues the unlikely adventures of an ordinary boy who risks his own life to save his six older brothers and their princess brides; and FAIRIES AND MAGICAL CREATURES, the first installment in Matthew Reinhart and Robert Sabuda's dazzling pop-up series, Encyclopedia Mythologica.
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Stand-Alone Chapter Books/Middle Grade Novels
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ALVIN HO: Allergic to Girls, School, and Other Scary Things
written by Lenore Look
illustrated by LeUyen Pham
Schwartz & Wade Books/Random House
ISBN: 9780375839146
Ages 6-10
176 pages
• Click here to buy from Amazon.com
Alvin Ho is an Asian American second grader who is afraid of everything --- elevators, tunnels, girls and, most of all, school. He's so afraid of school that, while he's there, he never says a word. But at home he's a very loud superhero named Firecracker Man, a brother to Calvin and Anibelly, and a gentleman-in-training, so he can be just like his dad.
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THE DREADFUL REVENGE OF ERNEST GALLEN
James Lincoln Collier
Bloomsbury USA Children's Books
ISBN: 9781599902203
Ages 8-12
240 pages
• Click here to buy from Amazon.com
In the quiet town of Magnolia, someone is making people do awfully weird things. Eugene knows because he's being haunted, too. His friend Sonny's dad walked right off of a building and fell to his death, and then another friend's dad crashed his car into a tree. The same "specter" that was haunting them is inside Eugene, talking to him, telling him to do crazy things. Along with the help of their friend (conveniently, the daughter of the town's newspaper editor) Eugene and Sonny pledge to get to the bottom of the haunting. But not before uncovering a bigger mystery that will affect nearly every townsperson in sleepy little Magnolia.
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THE FLOATING CIRCUS
Tracie Vaughn Zimmer
Bloomsbury USA Children's Books
ISBN: 9781599901855
Ages 8-12
208 pages
• Click here to buy from Amazon.com
Twelve-year-old Owen forgoes an orphan train that’s headed west only to find himself falling in with a completely unexpected group of misfits --- circus performers on the River Palace. As this floating circus makes its way down the Mississippi, Owen slowly discovers that his fellow workers aren’t freaks, but loners, like he is. A brush with yellow-fever in New Orleans and a devastating storm threaten the boat and its passengers. But it’s the menace of slave catchers that poses the greatest danger of all, and will put Owen’s loyalty to a freed black man to the test.
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I WANNA BE YOUR SHOEBOX
Cristina Garcia
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 9781416939283
Ages 8-12
208 pages
• Click here to buy from Amazon.com
Because Yumi Ruiz-Hirsch has grandparents from Japan, Cuba and Brooklyn, her mother calls her a poster child for the 21st century. Yumi would laugh if only her life wasn't getting as complicated as her heritage. All of a sudden she's starting eighth grade with a girl who collects tinfoil and a boy who dresses like a squid. Her mom has found a new boyfriend, and her punk-rock father still can't sell a song. She's losing her house, her school orchestra and, worst of all, her grandfather Saul.
Yumi wishes everything could stay the same. But as she listens to Saul tell his story, she learns that nobody ever asks you if you're ready for life to happen. It just happens. The choice is either to sit and watch or to join the dance.
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LOST AND FOUND
Andrew Clements
Atheneum/Simon & Schuster
ISBN: 9781416909859
Ages 8-12
176 pages
• Read a Review
• Click here to buy from Amazon.com
Although it's no fun to be constantly mistaken for each other, in truth, during those first days at a new school, there's nothing better than having a twin brother there with you. But on day one of sixth grade, Ray stays home sick, and Jay is on his own. Things seem to be going smoothly and Jay already is making new friends. But he quickly discovers a major mistake: No one seems to know a thing about his brother. Ray is not on the attendance lists, and has no locker or even a student folder. Jay almost tells the school but then decides that this lost information could be very useful. And fun.
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NIGHTMARE AT THE BOOK FAIR
Dan Gutman
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 9781416924388
Ages 8-12
240 pages
• Read a Review
• Click here to buy from Amazon.com
All Trip Dinkleman wants to do is play lacrosse. So when the president of the PTA asks Trip to help her out on his way to tryouts, he is not happy. He is even more not happy when a stack of books tumbles onto his head and knocks him out cold. And he is even more not happy when he wakes up and has absolutely no idea where he is. Now all he wants to do is get home. But after encountering a haunted house, aliens, talking animals and much, much more, he realizes getting home might be just a little bit harder to do than he thought.
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THE SÉANCE
Iain Lawrence
Delacorte Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 9780385733755
Ages 8-12
272 pages
• Read a Review
• Click here to buy from Amazon.com
Scooter King understands illusions. In the midst of the Roaring Twenties, he performs them behind the scenes at his mother's séances, giving the impression that Madam King communicates with the dead. Scooter also admires Harry Houdini and can hardly wait to see the famed magician escape from his razzle-dazzle Burmese Torture Tank. But when Scooter stumbles upon a dead body in the visiting Houdini's tank, it's no illusion. Who could the murderer be? And did he --- or she --- kill the right person?
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THE TROUBLE BEGINS AT 8: A Life of Mark Twain in the Wild, Wild West
Sid Fleischman
Collins
ISBN: 9780061344312
Ages 9-12
224 pages
• Click here to buy from Amazon.com
Abandoning a career as a young steamboat pilot on the Mississippi River, Samuel Clemens took a bumpy stagecoach to the Far West. In the gold and silver fields, he expected to get rich quick. Instead, he got poor fast, digging in the wrong places. His stint as a sagebrush newspaperman led to a duel with pistols. Had he not survived, the world would never have heard of Tom Sawyer or Huckleberry Finn --- or red-headed Mark Twain.
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Series Books/Sequels
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Artemis Fowl
THE TIME PARADOX: Artemis Fowl, Book 6
Eoin Colfer
Hyperion Books for Children
ISBN: 9781423108368
Ages 9-12
432 pages
• Read a Review
• Click here to buy from Amazon.com
Artemis's mother has contracted a deadly disease --- and the only cure lies in the brain fluid of African lemurs. Unfortunately, Artemis himself was responsible for making the lemurs extinct five years ago. Now he must enlist the aid of his fairy friends to travel back in time and save them. Not only that, but he must face his deadliest foe yet: his younger self.
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Encyclopedia Mythologica
ENCYCLOPEDIA MYTHOLOGICA: FAIRIES AND MAGICAL CREATURES
Matthew Reinhart and Robert Sabuda
Candlewick Press
ISBN: 9780763631727
Ages 5-up
12 pages
• Read a Review
• Click here to buy from Amazon.com
Open this entrancing book and meet Shakespeare's Queen Titania, springing up with her silver wings aflutter. Further on, a crystalline elfin castle rises into the clouds, not far from some scary hobgoblins and trolls. And on a truly stunning spread, a humanoid magical tree spreads its branches to reveal a face within its foliage, while flowers unfold and rearrange their petals, turning into flower fairies. Visiting mythical beings around the world, from household brownies to the merfolk lurking deep below the sea, this breathtaking 3-D book, brimming with facts and fancy, will hold humans of all ages in its spell.
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Heck
HECK: WHERE THE BAD KIDS GO
Dale E. Basye
Random House Children’s Books
ISBN: 9780375840753
Ages 9-12
304 pages
• Read a Review
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When Milton and Marlo Fauster die in a marshmallow bear explosion, they get sent straight to Heck, an otherworldly reform school. Milton can understand why his kleptomaniac sister is here, but Milton is --- or was --- a model citizen. Has a mistake been made? Not according to Bea “Elsa” Bubb, the Principal of Darkness. She doesn’t make mistakes. She personally sees to it that Heck --- whether it be home-ec class with Lizzie Borden, ethics with Richard Nixon, or gym with Blackbeard the Pirate --- is especially, well, heckish for the Fausters. Will Milton and Marlo find a way to escape? Or are they stuck here for all eternity, or until they turn 18, whichever comes first?
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The Keys to the Kingdom
SUPERIOR SATURDAY: The Keys to the Kingdom, Book Six
Garth Nix
Scholastic Press
ISBN: 9780439700894
Ages 9-12
288 pages
• Read a Review
• Click here to buy from Amazon.com
Arthur Penhaligon has wrested five of the Keys from their immortal guardians, the Trustees of the Will. But gaining the Sixth Key poses a greater challenge than any he has ever faced before. Superior Saturday is not just one of the Trustees, she is also the oldest Denizen and the most powerful and knowledgeable sorcerer within the House. She has tens of thousands of sorcerers at her command --- and she has been preparing her forces all along for the Will’s escape and the activities of the Rightful Heir. Everything is all just part of a greater plan she has been hatching for 10,000 years.
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Mercy Watson
MERCY WATSON THINKS LIKE A PIG
written by Kate DiCamillo
illustrated by Chris Van Dusen
Candlewick Press
ISBN: 9780763632656
Ages 7-9
80 pages
• Read a Review
• Click here to buy from Amazon.com
Eugenia and Baby Lincoln may live next door to a pig, but that doesn't stop them from living a gracious life. And the amiable Mercy Watson is equally determined to follow the delightful scent (and delicious taste) of the pansies her thoughtful neighbors are planting to beautify their yard. "Where have all the flowers gone?" shouts Eugenia, who is finally ready to take extreme measures --- and dial Animal Control! Has Mercy's swine song come at last? Or will her well-pampered instincts keep her in buttered toast?
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Sequel to THE SECRET HISTORY OF TOM TRUEHEART
TOM TRUEHEART AND THE LAND OF DARK STORIES
Ian Beck
Greenwillow Books
ISBN: 9780061152139
Ages 8-12
384 pages
• Read a Review
• Click here to buy from Amazon.com
The Land of Dark Stories is guarded by the lighthouse of doom. Wolves and goblins patrol every forest and road. Here, the most frightening tales unfold. It's a far cry from young Tom Trueheart's home near the gentle Land of Stories.
When the villain Ormestone kidnaps Tom's six older brothers and their princess brides, Tom knows he must make the journey to the dark land. But does he stand a chance after Ormestone shrinks him to the size of a thumb? His friend Jollity the crow will be by his side, and the strong-willed princesses have a plan of their own. But in the end, this adventure rests on Tom's tiny shoulders.
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Picture Books
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HALLOWEEN NIGHT
written by Marjorie Dennis Murray
illustrated by Brandon Dorman
Greenwillow Books
ISBN: 9780061351860
Ages 5-8
40 pages
• Click here to buy from Amazon.com
The neighborhood witch is getting ready for the biggest night of the year. The jack-o'-lanterns are carved, the brew is bubbling, the bats are aflutter on the ceiling. Helping her are Ogre and Olaf and all of their friends --- zombies, ghosts and mummies. But they may have gone a little overboard with their decorations. Will the trick-or-treaters come to the party? Or will the witch and her monsters have to eat all the creepy-crawly treats by themselves?
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NAMING LIBERTY
written by Jane Yolen
illustrated by Jim Burke
Philomel Books/Penguin Young Readers Group
ISBN: 9780399242502
Ages 6-8
32 pages
• Click here to buy from Amazon.com
Jane Yolen and Jim Burke weave two stories at once, as readers see young Gitl in Russia leaving her home for faraway America, wondering what new name she will choose for herself when she arrives, and young artist Frederic Auguste Bartholdi dreaming of a monument he wants to build to honor freedom. It is an arduous journey for Gitl as she and her family travel across land and sea to arrive on this shore, but when she sees the magnificent Statue of Liberty standing in New York Harbor, she knows her name in this great new country must be "Liberty."
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OFF TO FIRST GRADE
written by Louise Borden
illustrated by Joan Rankin
Margaret K. McElderry Books/Simon & Schuster
ISBN: 9780689873959
Ages 4-8
40 pages
• Click here to buy from Amazon.com
It's the first day of first grade, and everyone in Mrs. Miller's class is getting ready. Anna is excited about reading tons of books, Ben's mom gives him a big off-to-first-grade hug, and Claire poses for a first-day picture. In OFF TO FIRST GRADE we hear from all 23 of Mrs. Miller's students --- and even the school principal, Mr. Zimmerman, as they prepare for a day that promises to be filled with fun, learning and laughs.
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--- Compiled and written by Tom Donadio
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