Good Books to Try!
Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins
- fantasy fiction (F COL)
- first novel of the author of The Hunger Games trilogy!
- When Gregor accidentally falls through a grate in his apartment building, he discovers a world he never knew existed, the Underland. The Underland is filled with people sized cockroaches, bats big enough to carry people, and six foot tall rats determined to wage war on all the people in the Underland. When Gregor realizes that his dad is also in the Underland and that it might be up to Gregor to rescue him, he has to decide what he's going to risk.
- What people are saying: like a modern day Alice in Wonderland, only with battles, a darker setting, and icky creatures like spiders and cockroaches.
Last Shot by John Feinstein
- realistic sports fiction (F FEI)
- Steven and Susan Carol are 8th graders who have won a writing competition that earned them full press passes to the Final Four NCAA basketball championship. When they get there they overhear a star player being blackmailed by a coach from another team. They set out to solve the mystery of why this coach is blackmailing the player and what's going to happen, but they soon realize they may be involved over their heads.
- John Feinstein, the author, is a sports reporter, so lots of accurate sports descriptions included.
- What people are saying: fast paced, keeping the reader wondering what is going to happen next!
Thunder From the Sea by Joan Hiatt Harlow
- historical fiction (F HAR)
- Tom is a 13 year boy who is an orphan living in 1929 on the coast. He has always wanted a real home, a real family, and a real dog of his own, but his home has always been the orphanage.
- When he gets sent to live and work with a fisherman and his wife, and then rescues a dog from a terrible storm, Tom thinks his dreams are coming true at last. But then he finds out the fisherman's wife is pregnant, and that the dog's owner may be coming to claim him. Will Tom's dreams come true?
- What people are saying: a dog lover's and action lover's kind of book!
Hoot by Carl Hiaasen
- realistic fiction (F HIA)
- Roy is the new kid in Coconut Grove, Florida. He does his best to not cause trouble, because he's been the new kid before, but soon he finds himself in the middle of an environmental mess.
- Roy and two other kids named "Mullet Fingers" and Beatrice have to save the habitat of a group of endangered owls before it's too late.
- What people are saying: action packed and hilarious!
Earthquake Terror by Peg Kehret
- realistic adventure fiction (F KEH)
- Jonathan's family likes to go on family camping trips. This time, though, Jonathan has a bad feeling about the trip, and his worst fears about to come true.
- First, his mom breaks her ankle so she and her dad head to the nearest hospital. Jonathan and his sister Abby stay behind at the campsite and things are about to get much worse. When an earthquake hits the campsite, destroying the walker Abby uses as well as their camper, Jonathan realizes he's going to have to use all his survival skills to get Abby and himself to safety.
- What people are saying: exciting and thrilling
Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu
- fantasy fiction (F URS) (fairy tale retelling)
- Hazel and Jack are best friends. They do everything together. But one day everything changes.
- Suddenly Jack does not want to spend time with Hazel anymore, and even though Hazel's mom tells her sometimes things happen, Hazel knows better. When Jack disappears, Hazel knows she must go into the woods to find him, even if the Jack she brings home is not the same Jack that went in.
- Based on Hans Christian Andersen's story "The Snow Queen."
- What people are saying: blurs the line between fantasy and reality, suspenseful and exciting
A Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban
- realistic fiction (F URB)
- book trailer: http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/asset/crooked-kind-perfect-book-trailer
- What people are saying: a feel-good book that will make you laugh