The Whitby Witches by Robin Jarvis

Tangerine by Edward Bloor 

Odd Man Out  by Sarah Ellis

The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs by Betty G. Birney

Evangeline Mudd and the Golden-Haired Apes of the Okkinasti Jungle By David Elliott

 

Evangeline’s parents are primatologists, they study apes, chimpanzees and gorillas and have borrowed some parenting tips from these primates. They actually let Evangeline climb on the furniture and swing from the chandeliers. How lucky is she?

Life was perfectly abnormal for the whole family until one day Evangeline’s mom and dad were called to a faraway place called Ikkinasti Jungle (that’s icky nasty!!) to do some serious research. Days pass and she starts getting worried because it seems like forever that her parents have been gone. So, this spunky, wild haired little girl decides to take off on her own to find her parents. This book is filled with adventure and would appeal to little girls who enjoy funny stories. Gr 2-4 

~Jill Ehrhorn, Children's Librarian

Me I Am! by Jack Prelutsky

No Talking by Andrew Clements

  The Jade Dragon by Carolyn Marsden and Virginia Shin-Mui Loh

The Lemonade War by Jacqueline Davis

Evan has always been his little sister Jessie’s best friend and protector.  But when he finds out that Jessie has skipped a grade and will be in his 4^th grade class when the summer’s over, Evan is furious.  Almost before they know how it happens, Evan and Jessie are at war – a competition to see who can make the most money selling lemonade.  Jessie’s great at math and business, but Evan’s good with people.  Who will win – and will the war end their troubles or make them worse?  A fine read about siblings and their issues.

~Maya Spector, School Liaison Librarian

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

Read this book! Selznick not only tells a great story, but he also breaks new ground in bookmaking design. The visual concept is hard to describe, but it has aspects of both graphic novels and flip books, and is reminiscent of old movies. You just have to see it to really get the picture. The story tells of the life and mission of twelve-year-old Hugo, a boy who lives alone in the hidden recesses of a 1930's Paris train station after the disappearance of his guardian, an uncle who was the station's clock keeper. Hugo's father, a clockmaker, had died in museum fire, leaving Hugo a broken robot/automaton and his notebooks about its mechanisms. Hugo is determined to stay hidden from view and put the complicated automaton in working order. He winds up doing some work for a mysterious toymaker and reluctantly becomes friends with the toymaker's goddaughter. The plot is filled with suspense, secrets, dreams, and the world of early films and inventions.

~Maya Spector, School Liaison Librarian

 Comets, Stars, the Moon, and Mars by Douglas Florian

Subtitled Space Poems and Paintings by Douglas Florian, this book is a delight to look at as well as to read. The poems are short and clever, the pages full of wonderful cutouts, paintings and collages. Florian includes a good glossary full of information and a bibliography for further reading. Here's a sample from the poem on Pluto:

Pluto was a planet.

Pluto was admired.

Pluto was a planet.

Till one day it got fired.

~Maya Spector, School Liaison Librarian

Pocket Poems by Bobbi Katz

I love this poetry book by Bobbi Katz. On page 20, they have a poem called "Raising Frogs for Profit." You'll appreciate this poem if you had a lemonade stand.

Raising Frogs for Profit

    Raising Frogs for Profit

    Is a very sorry joke.

    How can you make money

    When so many of them croak?

~Cheryl Lee, Librarian

Butterfly Eyes and Other Secrets of the Meadow by Joyce Sidman

This is a wonderful new book of poetry riddles about the hidden world of the meadow. By award-winning author Joyce Sidman, this gorgeous book with scratchboard illustrations by Beth Krommes encourages readers and listeners to notice grasshoppers, rabbits, deer, spittlebugs, trees, hawks and other inhabitants of a meadow ecosystem. Here is a part of one of the riddle poems; can you guess what it is?

Say the patient ones:

Diamond Life by Charles R. Smith, Jr.

Clementine by Sara Pennypacker

Move over, Ramona – Clementine's arrived. This is one of the funniest, most enjoyable transitional chapter books to come along in quite a while. Clementine is eight years old, the daughter of an artist mother and building manager father, and having “not so good of a week.” She just can't seem to stay out of trouble. She's no stranger to the principal's office, where she gets sent for helping her friend Margaret cut off all her hair. And she is unfairly told to pay attention all the time, when, of course, she is paying better attention than anyone. Just not to what her teacher thinks she should be paying attention to. Wonderful line drawings by Marla Frazee perfectly complement the story.

~Maya Spector, School Liaison Librarian

Peter Pan in Scarlet by Geraldine McCaughrean

Neverland is in trouble. Wendy and the Old Boys (formerly the Lost Boys) know something is wrong because, as Wendy says, “Dreams are leaking out of Neverland.” They all wake up from nightmares with evidence in their beds – a cutlass, a quiver of arrows, a pirate's hat, an alarm clock. And so they find a way to return to childhood and to Neverland, where, sure enough, trouble abounds.

 McCaughrean won a contest enabling her to write this “authorized” sequel to J.M. Barrie's classic work. What I didn't know (and maybe you didn't either) is that Barrie gave all the rights to Peter Pan to Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children. This generous gift has been incredibly valuable to the hospital, and it is this institution that held the competition. The timing is interesting, as several other Pan-inspired books have been published of late.

 The challenge for the author was to keep the tone and feeling of the original work while making it work for a modern audience. She has caught the wild adventure, the spirit of Peter Pan, the dream-like quality of life in Neverland. The book is longer and a little more complex, and of course it doesn't sound like J. M Barrie. But Pan lovers will delight in the story and Scott M. Fischer's silhouette illustrations are in perfect keeping with the old Pan books.

~Maya Spector, School Liaison Librarian

 Ivy and Bean by Annie Barrows

Bean is a seven-year-old girl who stomps in puddles, smashes rocks to find gold, climbs trees and only wears a dress when her mother insists. She is quite sure she would not want to be friends with her new neighbor, Ivy, who sits quietly, reads big books and wears dresses all the time. Bean thinks Ivy is boring, and she's sure she won't like her. But one day Bean gets into trouble with her big sister and Ivy offers to hide her. It doesn't take long for Bean to discover that Ivy isn't as boring as she'd thought.

Good, easy chapter books for children emerging from beginning readers are always a welcome find. This first in a new series is right on target for those 2nd and 3rd grade girls looking for something fun to read about kids their age.

~Maya Spector, School Liaison Librarian

The Landry News by Andrew Clements

Fifth grader Cara Landry, the editor of "Landry News", the school newspaper, writes an editorial article on her lackluster teacher which threatens to end his teaching career. More problems arise when the school principal gets involved and wants to shut down "Landry News."

I'd highly recommend this book to 4th and 5th graders. This touches on complicated subjects like divorce and First Amendment Rights and makes them palatable for students.  ~Cheryl Lee, Librarian