Books and Reading


Books for the Tween Age



Alabama moon Alabama moon
Key, Watt.
After the death of his father, ten-year-old Moon leaves their forest shelter home and is sent to an Alabama institution, becoming entangled in the outside world he has never known and making good friends, a relentless enemy, and finally a new life. I could trap my own food and make my own clothes. I could find my way by the stars and make fire in the rain. Pap said he even figured I could whip somebody three times my size. He wasn't worried about me. For as long as ten-year-old Moon can remember, he has lived out in the forest in a shelter with his father. They keep to themselves, their only contact with other human beings an occasional trip to the nearest general store. When Moon's father dies, Moon follows his father's last instructions: to travel to Alaska to find others like themselves. But Moon is soon caught and entangled in a world he doesn't know or understand, apparent property of the government he has been avoiding all his life. As the spirited and resourceful Moon encounters constables, jails, institutions, lawyers, true friends, and true enemies, he adapts his wilderness survival skills and learns to survive in the outside world, and even, perhaps, make his home there.



Bindi babes Bindi babes
Dhami, Narinder.
Three Indian-British sisters team up to marry off their traditional, nosy aunt and get her out of the house. Meet Amber, Jazz, and Geena Dhillon, a.k.a. the Bindi Babes. They're three fabulous sisters with a reputation for being the coolest, best-dressed girls at their school. But their classmates don't know that the Dhillon sisters work extra hard to look perfect and together to all of their friends - while privately trying not to think how much they miss their mom, who died a year ago. What these struggling sisters certainly don't need is an interfering auntie from India inviting herself into their household to cramp their style. Unfortunately, that's exactly what their dad allows to happen. Soon the sisters' pushover dad is saying no to designer clothes and expensive sneakers, and Auntie is butting into every area of their lives. What are the Bindi babes to do? There's only one way to be rid of Auntie: marry her off to some unsuspecting guy. Will Amber, Jazz, and Geena find a man who can put up with Auntie before she completely ruins their lives? Or are Auntie's new rules doomed to make the fabulous Dhillon sisters just - average?



Book of a thousand days Book of a thousand days
Hale, Shannon.
Fifteen-year-old Dashti, sworn to obey her sixteen-year-old mistress, the Lady Saren, shares Saren's years of punishment locked in a tower, then brings her safely to the lands of her true love, where both must hide who they are as they work as kitchen maids.



Carpe diem Carpe diem
Cornwell, Autumn.
Sixteen-year-old Vassar Spore's detailed plans for the next twenty years of her life are derailed when her bohemian grandmother insists that she join her in Southeast Asia for the summer, but as she writes a novel about her experiences, Vassar discovers new possibilities.



Ciudad de las bestias. English Ciudad de las bestias. English
Allende, Isabel.
When fifteen-year-old Alexander Cold accompanies his individualistic grandmother on an expedition to find a humanoid Beast in the Amazon, he experiences ancient wonders and a supernatural world as he tries to avert disaster for the Indians.



Coraline Coraline
Gaiman, Neil.
When Coraline steps through a door in her family's new house, she finds another house strangely similar to her own (only better). At first, things seem marvelous. The food is better than at home, and the toy box is filled with fluttering wind-up angels and dinosaur skulls that crawl and rattle their teeth. But there's another mother and another father, and they want her to stay and be their little girl. They want to change her and never let her go. Coraline will have to fight with all her wit and all the tools she can find if she is to save herself and return to her ordinary life.



Deep down popular : a novel Deep down popular : a novel
Stone, Phoebe, 1947-
In a small, Virginia town, sixth-grader Jessie Lou Ferguson has a crush on the hugely popular Conrad Parker Smith, and when he suddenly develops a medical problem and the teacher asks Jessie Lou to help him, they become friends, to her surprise.



Double identity Double identity
Haddix, Margaret Peterson.
Thirteen-year-old Bethany's parents have always been overprotective, but when they suddenly drop out of sight with no explanation, leaving her with an aunt she never knew existed, Bethany uncovers shocking secrets that make her question everything she thought she knew about herself and her family.



Down the rabbit hole : an Echo Falls mystery // by Peter Abrahams. Down the rabbit hole : an Echo Falls mystery // by Peter Abrahams.
Abrahams, Peter, 1947-
Like her idol Sherlock Holmes, eighth grader Ingrid Levin-Hill uses her intellect to solve a murder case in her home town of Echo Falls. Welcome to Echo Falls.Home of a thousand secrets, where Ingrid Levin-Hill, super sleuth, never knows what will happen next. Ingrid is in the wrong place at the wrong time. Or at least her shoes are. Getting them back means getting involved in a murder investigation rivaling those solved by her idol, Sherlock Holmes, and Ingrid has enough on her plate with club soccer, school, and the plum role of Alice in the Echo Falls production of Alice in Wonderland . But much as in Alice's adventures down the rabbit hole, things in Ingrid's small town keep getting curiouser and curiouser. Her favorite director has a serious accident onstage (but is it an accident?), and the police chief is on Ingrid's tail, grilling her about everything from bike-helmet law to the color of her cleats. Echo Falls has turned into a nightmare, and Ingrid is determined to wake up. Edgar Award-nominated novelist Peter Abrahams builds suspense as a smart young girl finds that her small town isn't nearly as safe as it seems.



Blackbringer Blackbringer
Taylor, Laini.
Magpie Windwitch, faerie, devil hunter, and granddaughter of the West Wind, must defeat an ancient evil creature, the Blackbringer, who has escaped from his bottle and threatens to unmake all of creation.



Finding Stinko Finding Stinko
De Guzman, Michael.
Having spent his life trying to escape the foster care system, eventually becoming mute to keep out of trouble, twelve-year-old Newboy finally hits the streets, where a discarded ventriloquist's dummy gives him back his voice and his hope.



Firegirl Firegirl
Abbott, Tony.
A middle school boy's life is changed when Jessica, a girl disfigured by burns, starts attending his Catholic school while receiving treatment at a local hospital.



The hero and the crown The hero and the crown
McKinley, Robin.
Aerin, with the guidance of the wizard Luthe and the help of the blue sword, wins the birthright due her as the daughter of the Damarian king and a witchwoman of the mysterious, demon-haunted North.



Hormone jungle : coming of age in middle school Hormone jungle : coming of age in middle school
Bagert, Brod.
College-bound Christina Curtis is creating a scrapbook of the Digital Poets, her middle-school poetry group, which, interwoven with her narrative, reflects the hormonal angst of middle school.



Ingo Ingo
Dunmore, Helen, 1952-
As they search for their missing father near their Cornwall home, Sapphy and her brother Conor learn about their family's connection to the domains of air and of water.



Jeremy Fink and the meaning of life Jeremy Fink and the meaning of life
Mass, Wendy, 1967-
Just before his thirteenth birthday, Jeremy Fink receives a keyless locked box--set aside by his father before his death five years earlier--that purportedly contains the meaning of life.



Kiki Strike : the Empress's tomb Kiki Strike : the Empress's tomb
Miller, Kirsten, 1973-
Fourteen-year-olds Ananka Fishbein, Kiki Strike, and the other Irregulars encounter a Chinese mummy, a ghost, trained squirrels, and old enemies as they try to stop an art forgery ring and safeguard the secret streets hidden beneath New York City.



The lightning thief The lightning thief
Riordan, Rick.
Twelve-year-old Percy Jackson learns he is a demigod, the son of a mortal woman and Poseidon, god of the sea. His mother sends him to a summer camp for demigods where he and his new friends set out on a quest to prevent a war between the gods.



Lion boy Lion boy
Corder, Zizou.
In the near future, a boy with the ability to speak the language of cats sets out from London to seek his kidnapped parents and finds himself on a Paris-bound circus ship learning to train lions.



Love, Stargirl Love, Stargirl
Spinelli, Jerry.
Still moping months after being dumped by her Arizona boyfriend Leo, fifteen-year-old Stargirl, a home-schooled free spirit, writes "the world's longest letter" to Leo, describing her new life in Pennsylvania.



Middle school is worse than meatloaf : a year told through stuff Middle school is worse than meatloaf : a year told through stuff
Holm, Jennifer L.
The first year of middle school can be exciting, or scary, just ask Ginny.



The new policeman The new policeman
Thompson, Kate, 1956-
Irish teenager JJ Liddy discovers that time is leaking from his world into Tir na nOg, the land of the fairies, and when he attempts to stop the leak he finds out a lot about his family history, the music that he loves, and a crime his great-grandfather may or may not have committed.



Peak Peak
Smith, Roland, 1951-
A fourteen-year-old boy attempts to be the youngest person to reach the top of Mount Everest.



The Penderwicks on Gardam Street The Penderwicks on Gardam Street
Birdsall, Jeanne.
The four Penderwick sisters are faced with the unimaginable prospect of their widowed father dating, and they hatch a plot to stop him.



Peter and the Starcatchers Peter and the Starcatchers
Barry, Dave.
Soon after Peter, an orphan, sets sail from England on the ship Never Land, he befriends and assists Molly, a young Starcatcher, whose mission is to guard a trunk of magical stardust from a greedy pirate and the native inhabitants of a remote island.



The princess and the pauper The princess and the pauper
Brian, Kate, 1974-
When sixteen-year-old Julia, of Los Angeles, and sixteen-year-old Princess Carina, of Vineland, switch places, Julia dances at the ball with the incredible Markus and Carina escapes rigid protocol to spend time with a rock star.



The ruins of Gorlan The ruins of Gorlan
Flanagan, John (John Anthony)
When fifteen-year-old Will is rejected by battleschool, he becomes the reluctant apprentice to the mysterious Ranger Halt, and winds up protecting the kingdom from danger.



Savvy Savvy
Law, Ingrid, 1970-
Recounts the adventures of Mibs Beaumont, whose thirteenth birthday has revealed her "savvy"--a magical power unique to each member of her family--just as her father is injured in a terrible accident.



Schooled Schooled
Korman, Gordon.
Homeschooled by his hippie grandmother, Capricorn (Cap) Anderson has never watched television, tasted a pizza, or even heard of a wedgie. But when his grandmother lands in the hospital, Cap is forced to move in with a guidance counselor and attend the local middle school.



The Schwa was here The Schwa was here
Shusterman, Neal.
A Brooklyn eighth-grader nicknamed Antsy befriends the Schwa, an "invisible-ish" boy who is tired of blending into his surroundings and going unnoticed by nearly everyone.



Stormbreaker Stormbreaker
Horowitz, Anthony, 1955-
After the death of the uncle who had been his guardian, fourteen-year-old Alex Rider is coerced to continue his uncle's dangerous work for Britain's intelligence agency, MI6.



Tiger Tiger
Stone, Jeff.
Five young warrior-monk brothers survive an insurrection and must use the ancient arts to avenge their Grandmaster.



The Traitors' Gate The Traitors' Gate
Avi, 1937-
When his father is arrested as a debtor in 1849 London, fourteen-year-old John Huffman must take on unexpected responsibilities, from asking a distant relative for help to determining why people are spying on him and his family.



Travel team Travel team
Lupica, Mike.
After he is cut from his travel basketball team--the very same team that his father once led to national prominence--twelve-year-old Danny Walker forms his own team of cast-offs that might have a shot at victory.



The true meaning of Smekday The true meaning of Smekday
Rex, Adam.
When her mother is abducted by aliens on Christmas Eve (or "Smekday" Eve since the Boov invasion), 11 year-old Tip hops in the family car and heads south to find her and meets an alien Boov mechanic who agrees to help her and save the planet from disaster.



The Wednesday wars The Wednesday wars
Schmidt, Gary D.
During the 1967 school year, on Wednesday afternoons when all his classmates go to either Catechism or Hebrew school, seventh-grader Holling Hoodhood stays in Mrs. Baker's classroom where they read the plays of William Shakespeare and Holling learns much of value about the world he lives in.


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Last modified on Friday, October 14, 2011