Anderson, M.T. HANDEL,
WHO KNEW WHAT HE LIKED. A man who would later compose some of the
world’s most beautiful music is shown as a stubborn little
boy with a mind of his own. $16.99. ISBN 0-7636-1046-1. Gr. 4
up.
Choldenko,
Gennifer. NOTES FROM A LIAR AND HER DOG. Eleven-year-old
Ant, stuck in a family that she does not like, copes by pretending
that her “real” parents are coming to rescue her, by
loving her dog Pistachio, by volunteering at the zoo, and by
telling lies. $16.99. ISBN 0-399-23591-4. Gr. 5
up.
Christensen, Bonnie.
WOODY GUTHRIE: POET OF THE PEOPLE. A celebration in words and
pictures of the folksinger Woody Guthrie and his music.
$18.99. ISBN 0-375-91113-8 (PLB); $16.95. ISBN
0-375-81113-3 (Tr.). Gr. 4 up.
Creech, Sharon. LOVE THAT DOG. (DCF WINNER) A young student, who comes to love poetry through a personal understanding of what different famous poems mean to him, surprises himself by writing his own inspired poem. $14.95 ISBN 0-06-029287-3 (Tr.); $14.89 ISBN 0-06-029289-X (PLB). Gr. 4 up.
Deans, Sis. RACING THE
PAST. After the death of his abusive father, eleven-year-old
Ricky tries to help his younger brother deal with his residual
fears and discovers that running helps him deal with his own anger
and the taunts of a bullying classmate. $15.95. ISBN
0-8050-6635-7. Gr. 6 up.
Fletcher, Susan. WALK
ACROSS THE SEA. In late nineteenth-century California, when
Chinese immigrants are being driven out or even killed for fear
they will take jobs from whites, fifteen-year-old Eliza Jane
McCully defies the townspeople and her lighthouse-keeper father to
help a Chinese boy who has been kind to her. $16.00.
ISBN 0-689-84133-7. Gr. 5 up.
Greenberg, Jan and Sandra
Jordan. VINCENT VAN GOGH: PORTRAIT OF AN ARTIST
Describes the awkward boy who became a tormented man &endash; and
an artist who painted some of the most famous and sought-after
masterpieces of all time. . $18.99. ISBN 0-385-90005-8
(PLB); $14.95. ISBN 0-385-32806-0 (Tr.). Gr. 7
up.
Haas, Jessie. RUNAWAY
RADISH. When Radish the pony grows too big for the girls who
own him, he goes to live at a horse camp where there are always
new children for him to train. $15.89. ISBN
0-06-029159-1 (PLB); $15.95. ISBN 0-688-16688-1 (Tr.). Gr. 4
up.
Hesse, Karen. WITNESS. A
series of poems express the views of various people in a small
Vermont town, including a young black girl and a young Jewish
girl, during the early 1920’s when the Ku Klux Klan is trying
to infiltrate the town. $16.95. ISBN 0-439-27199-1. Gr. 6
up.
Holt, Kimberly Willis.
DANCING IN CADILLAC LIGHT. In 1968, eleven-year-old Jaynell’s
life in the town of Moon, Texas, is enlivened when her eccentric
Grandpap comes to live with her family. $15.99. ISBN
0-399-23402-0. Gr. 5 up.
Horvath, Polly.
EVERYTHING ON A WAFFLE. Eleven-year-old Primrose living in a
small fishing village in British Columbia recounts her experiences
and all that she learns about human nature and the
unpredictability of life in the months after her parents are lost
at sea. $16.00. ISBN 0-374-32236-8. Gr. 4
up.
Kindl, Patrice. GOOSE
CHASE. Rather than marry a cruel king or a seemingly dim-witted
prince, an enchanted goose girl endures imprisonment, capture by
several orgresses, and other dangers before learning exactly who
she is. $15.00. ISBN 0-618-03377-7. Gr. 5 up.
Klass, David. YOU
DON’T KNOW ME. Fourteen-year-old John creates alternative
realities in his mind as he tries to deal with his mother’s
abusive boyfriend, his crush on a beautiful, but shallow
classmate, and other problems at school. $17.00. ISBN
0-374-38706-0. Gr. 7 up.
Kurtz, Jane. JAKARTA
MISSING. When her sister, star-athlete Jakarta, finally joins
them, Dakar feels much safer and happier in Cottonwood, North
Dakota, where she and their parents are living for a year, but she
still longs for their home in Africa. $15.89. ISBN 0-06-029402-7
(PLB); $15.95. ISBN 0-06-029401-9 (Tr.). Gr. 5 up.
Montgomery, Sy. THE
MAN-EATING TIGERS OF SUNDARBANS. Unlike other tigers, the tigers
of this mangrove forest in India and Bangladesh, really do
eat humans. $16.00. ISBN 0-618-07704-9. Gr. 5 up.
Morris, Gerald.
PARSIFAL’S PAGE. In medieval England, eleven-year-old
Piers’s dream comes true when he becomes page to Parsifal, a
peasant whose quest for knighthood reveals important secrets about
both of their families. $15.00. ISBN 0-618-05509-6. Gr. 6
up.
Mosher, Richard. ZAZOO.
Amid old secrets revealed and rifts healed, a thirteen-year-old
Vietnamese orphan raised in rural France by her aging
“Grand-Pierre” learns about life, death, and love.
$16.00. ISBN 0-618-13534-0. Gr. 7 up.
Myers, Walter Dean. BAD
BOY: A MEMOIR. Myers, a well-respected author of more than 50
books for young people, gives an intimate glimpse into his life in
Harlem in the 1940s and 1950s &endash; a life full of
troublemaking, basketball, books and writing. $15.89. ISBN
0-06-029524-4 (PLB); $15.95. ISBN 0-06-029523-6 (Tr.). Gr. 7
up.
Na, An. A STEP FROM
HEAVEN. A young Korean girl and her family find it difficult to
learn English and adjust to life in America. $15.95. ISBN
1-886910-58-8. Gr. 6 up.
Park, Linda Sue. A
SINGLE SHARD. Tree-ear, a thirteen-year-old orphan in medieval
Korea, lives under a bridge in a potters’ village, and longs
to learn how to throw the delicate celadon ceramics himself.
$15.00. ISBN 0-395-97827-0. Gr. 5 up.
Paulsen, Gary. GUTS. The
author relates incidents in his life and how they inspired parts
of his books about the character, Brian Robeson. $16.95. ISBN
0-385-32650-5. Gr. 5 up.
Prelutsky, Jack. AWFUL
OGRE’S AWFUL DAY. In a series of poems, Awful Ogre rises,
grooms himself, dances, pens a letter, and goes through other
activities as the day passes. $15.89. ISBN 0-688-07779-X (PLB);
$15.95. ISBN 0-688-07778-1 (Tr.). Gr. 4 up.
Salisbury, Graham. LORD
OF THE DEEP. Working for his stepfather on a charter fishing boat
in Hawaii teaches thirteen-year-old Mikey about fishing, and about
taking risks, making sacrifices, and facing some of life’s
difficult choices. $15.95. ISBN 0-385-72918-9. Gr. 5
up.
Springer, Nancy. I AM
MORGAN LEFAY. In a war-torn England where her half brother Arthur
will eventually become king, the young Morgan le Fay comes to
realize that she has magic powers and links to the faerie world.
$17.95 ISBN 0-399-23451-9. Gr. 7 up.
Taylor, Mildred. THE
LAND. Paul-Edward, son of a white plantation owner and a slave
mother of African-Indian heritage, follows his dream of owning his
own land through hard work and determination. $17.99. ISBN
0-8037-1950-7. Gr. 7 up.
Van Draanen, Wendelin.
FLIPPED. In alternating chapters, two teenagers describe how their
feelings about themselves, each other, and their families have
changed over the years. $16.99. ISBN 0-375-91174-X (PLB); $14.95.
ISBN 0-375-81174-5 (Tr.). Gr. 6 up
Wiles, Deborah. LOVE,
RUBY LAVENDER. When her quirky grandmother goes to Hawaii for the
summer, nine-year-old Ruby learns to survive on her own in
Mississippi by writing letters, befriending chickens as well as
the new girl in town, and finally coping with her
grandfather’s death. $16.00. ISBN 0-15-202314-3. Gr. 4
up
Williams, Vera B. AMBER
WAS BRAVE, ESSIE WAS SMART. Two sisters help each other deal with
life while their mother is working and their father has been sent
to jail. $15.89. ISBN 0-06-029461-2 (PLB); $15.95. ISBN
0-06-029460-4 (Tr.). Gr. 4 up
Wolff, Virginia Euwer.
TRUE BELIEVER. Living in the inner city amidst guns and poverty,
fifteen-year-old LaVaughn learns from old and new friends, and
inspiring mentors, that life is what you make it &endash; an
occasion to rise to. This is the middle book in the Make Lemonade
trilogy. $17.00. ISBN 0-689-82827-6. Gr. 7 up.
Zucker, N.F.
BENNO’S BEAR. After being arrested as a pickpocket, Benno is
separated from his father, who is sent to prison, and from the
bear he had helped to raise and had come to love, when he is taken
in by a kindly policeman and his wife. $16.99. ISBN 0-525-46521-9.
Gr. 5 up.
