At the last Centerville kids book club meeting , we spent our time discussing and recommending our favourite books. In no particular order here is the list
Fire Within by Chris D’Lacey. Dragons and global warming. Read the entire series.
Among the Barrons by Margaret Peterson Haddix. In a future world of false identities, government lies, and death threats, Luke feels drawn to the younger brother of the boy whose name Luke has taken. Fourth book in the Shadow Children series.
The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trent Lee Stewart. After passing a series of mind-bending tests, four children are selected for a secret mission that requires them to go undercover at the Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened, where the only rule is that there are no rules. Everyone at book club loves this book and is thrilled that there are more in the series.
City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau. We read this one for our book club, long before the movie came out. We love the adventure of Lina and her friend in a city that is slowly going dark. Read the rest of the series, too.
Amazing days of Abby Hayesby Anne Mazer. Stories about Abby , her friends and her family. fun series.
Simon Bloom, the gravity keeper by Michael Reisman. Nerdy sixth-grader Simon Bloom finds a book that enables him to control the laws of physics, but when two thugs come after him, he needs the formulas in the book to save himself. Sitting on my bedside table right now! <br.
Magic Kitten by Sue Bentley. Spending a boring summer in the country with her aunt turns exciting for ten-year-old Lisa when she discovers a magic kitten. fun series.
Quake By Joe Cottonwood. With their parents away at the 1989 World Series, fourteen-year-old Franny, her younger brother, and their cousin try to cope with the frightening events following an earthquake that destroys their home on Loma Prieta mountain
Secret Garden and The Little Princess by by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Classics we love.
Ella Enchanted By Gail Levine. Gail levine is a master of the retelling of fairy tales and this retelling of Cinderella is very popular.
The Mayflower and the Pilgrim’s New World by Nathaniel Philbrick. Adaptation of an adult book , but the same author.
Diary of a wimpy kid : Greg Heffley’s journal by Jeff Kinney. Funny book , read the whole series.
Molly Moon’s incredible book of hypnotism by Georgia Byng. Unlucky and unloved, Molly Moon, living in a dreary orphanage in a small English town, discovers a hidden talent for hypnotism and hypnotizes her way to stardom in New York City
Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh. Harriet wants to be a writer, so she writes everything down. Some of what she writes is not so nice, and when her classmates find her notebook…
Things hoped for By Andrew Clements. Seventeen-year-old Gwen, who has been living with her grandfather in Manhattan while she attends music school, joins up with another music student to solve the mystery when her grandfather suddenly goes missing. Companion book to Things not Seen. Actually, we just love books by Andrew Clements.
Code Orange by Caroline B. Cooney. While conducting research for a school paper on smallpox, Mitty finds an envelope containing 100-year-old smallpox scabs and fears that he has infected himself and all of New York City
Old Yeller by Fred Gipson. Another classic.
Shadow Thieves by Anne Ursu. Book 1 of the Cronus Chronicles . After her cousin Zee arrives from England, thirteen-year-old Charlotte and he must set out to save humankind from denizens of the underworld, Nightmares, Death, Pain, and a really nasty guy named Phil.
The Witches, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory… Wait , there are no bad books by Roald Dahl.
Pure Dead Magic by Debi Glori. When their father is kidnapped and danger looms, the Strega-Borgia children, their mysterious new nanny, and a giant tarantula use magic and actual trips through the Internet to bring peace to their Scottish castle.
The lightning thief by Rick Riordan. After learning that he is the son of a mortal woman and Poseidon, god of the sea, twelve-year-old Percy is sent to a summer camp for demigods like himself, and joins his new friends on a quest to prevent a war between the gods. First book in the series: Percy Jackson and The Olympians. Also try a book on Greek Mythology .
Do Over by Christine Hurley Deriso.Seventh-grader Elsa moves to a new town and starts a new school where, with the help of her recently deceased mother and a magic locket that allows her to redo the last ten seconds in any situation, she attempts to become popular.
Fairy-tale detectives by Michael Buckley. First book in the Sisters Grimm series. Orphans Sabrina and Daphne Grimm are sent to live with an eccentric grandmother that they have always believed to be dead and that is not the only thing they find out…
13th Reality by James Dashner. New Series. Thirteen-year-old Atticus “Tick” Higginbottom begins receiving mysterious letters from around the world signed only “M.G.,” and the clues contained therein lead him on a journey to the perilous 13th Reality and a confrontation with evil Mistress Jane.
As you might have guessed , the kids in the Centerville book club like to read. And all of us are looking for suggestions — so give us some in the comment section. And if you are looking for more books and ideas for summer fun , look at the Summer Reading blog.
Emma Jean Lazarus is not your typical seventh-grader. Up until a few months ago, she would sit by herself at lunch and sip from her thermos of tomato soup. Sometimes her English teacher Ms. Wright would stop and chat about a poem they had read in class that day. Emma Jean loves poetry. Lately though, Emma Jean has found a group of friends; they sit together at lunch now next to a table full of boys. One of these boys makes Emma Jean’s heart go all fluttery whenever she looks his way. His name is Will Keeler. Will is the most popular boy in school; all the girls like him, so Emma Jean is sure he would never want to go with her to the Spring Fling, the dance where the girls ask the boys. Gladstone Middle School is in a veritable uproar over the dance; all the girls have someone they want to ask. All but Colleen. Colleen doesn’t understand what’s wrong with her; why don’t the boys like her? Then she gets a note in her locker from a secret admirer. The trouble is, what if he stays a secret? That’s where Emma Jean might be able to help, if only she would. Emma Jean is good at solving problems, she’s like Nancy Drew, but better. The only trouble is, the solution to Colleen’s dilemma might not be exactly the one she’s expecting.
