Adventure
Peak by Roland Smith
After fourteen-year-old, Peak Marcello is arrested for
scaling a New York City skyscraper, Peak is given two options: juvenile
detention or living with his father.
Peak’s father, the owner of Peak Expeditions, guides hikers up and down
Mount Everest. Peak chooses to be with
his father but soon realizes that there are strings attached to choosing his
dad over juvenile detention. Peak’s dad
wants him to be the youngest person to climb Mount Everest. This adventure becomes the biggest adventure
of Peak’s life and the most dangerous.
Readers will learn what it is really like to climb Mount Everest and the
danger that comes with this adventure. Storm runners by Roland Smith
Twelve-year-old Chase Masters and his father are “storm
runners.” They travel around the country
following hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods.
In the first book in the series, Chase and his dad are near St.
Petersburg, Florida, where a hurricane is predicted to hit. Chase is left to stay with a friend of his
fathers, who runs a circus. There he
meets Nicole. Chase and Nicole get caught
in the middle of the hurricane and struggle to survive the storm, and then the
damage that releases many dangerous circus animals from their enclosures. Animal Stories
One and only Ivan by Katherine Applegate
Ivan is a captive gorilla in a mall and video arcade; he is
part of a larger exhibit that includes an old elephant named Stella. Ivan has few memories of his life in the wild
and he has chosen to forget in order to survive in captivity. Ivan has become accustomed to being watched
by humans and passes his time watching TV, communicating with Stella and a
stray dog, and focusing on his art. When
a new baby elephant is brought into the arcade; Ivan’s world starts to change and
memories start coming back to Ivan of his life in the wild. He knows that big changes are coming but does
he have the ability to make these changes happen for the better?
My life in pink and green by Lisa Greenwald
Twelve year old Lucy misses the day when her family’s
pharmacy was a place people wanted to spend their time. But now it has become a place where people
run in for makeup tips and run right back out.
Lucy needs to find a way to save her family’s struggling pharmacy before
they lose everything. After joining a “going
green” club at school, Lucy discovers a grant for small businesses looking to
go green. To Lucy this is the best way
to try and save her family, but to her bickering mother and grandmother, this
is just another distraction from their problems.
Every soul a star
takes place at Moon Shadow, an isolated campground, where thousands of people
have gathered to catch a glimpse of a rare total eclipse of the sun. This is also the place where Ally, Bree, and
Jack meet for the first time. Each
person is at Moon Shadow for their own reason, whether it was their choice or
not. Each brings with them their own burden
and different personality. This unlikely
group navigates through their summer and find that the eclipse helps them to
discover the person they are and who they want to be.
Standing for socks by Elissa Brent Weissman
Twelve-year-old, Fara Ross started wearing mismatched socks
by accident but discovered that this accident allowed her to stand out in a
crowd. Fara enjoys the attention she
receives for standing out, but this eventually becomes a problem when her
classmates start caring more about her socks then her ideas about recycling and
school fundraising. Her campaign for
sixth-grade class president is not working out as she planned. Fara has to decide what she cares more about:
making a difference, or being cool.
Fantasy
Toby alone by Timothee de Fombelle
Toby Lolness is only 1 ¼ millimeters tall. Toby and his family are members of the Great
Oak Tree community. They belong to a
small world that inhabits an oak tree and have no contact with the outside
world. Toby and his family are in great
danger. Toby’s father has discovered a
way to tap into the heart of the tree’s energy but also realizes this ability
can be dangerous and cause permanent damage to their world. Toby’s father refuses to reveal the secrets
of his invention to their community. They are imprisoned, except for Toby who
escapes. It is up to Toby to save his
family and community from destruction.
White giraffe by Lauren St. John
When Martine loses her family in a house fire, she is sent
from England to South Africa to live on a wildlife game preserve with the
grandmother she never knew she had. On
the preserve, Martine hears rumors of the existence of the white giraffe but
these are believed to be myths. During a
storm one night, Martine discovers the young white giraffe. She begins to see the giraffe more frequently
but only at night and names her new friend Jemmy. Martine decides to keep Jemmy existence
secret because the preserve has been plagued with poachers and being new to the
preserve she does not yet trust her grandmother or the staff. But keeping Jemmy’s secret becomes dangerous
with many poachers trespassing on the preserve.
Historical
Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly
Eleven year old Calpurnia Tate (Callie for short.) is
growing up in 1899, in a family with six brothers. Calpurnia lives in a society where girls are
raised to be wives and mothers. Callie’s
mother struggles to raise her daughter as a lady when she is continually
outside observing her natural world.
Callie’s naturalist grandfather begins to take her under his wing when
he discovers her keen observation skills.
Callie shows great promise as a naturalist when she makes a fascinating
discovery about grasshoppers. At the
turn of the century, Callie learns what it means to be trapped between two
worlds.
Night of the howling dogs by Graham Salisbury
Dylan is excited to be going on an overnight camping trip at
the base of a volcano on the big island of Hawaii. Dylan is looking forward to camping along the
beach. His excitement passes when he
discovers that Louis a tough older boy will be included on their trip. From the start Dylan and Louie do not get
along and the friction they create intensifies as the trip progresses. During the night an earthquake rocks the camp
and is followed by a tsunami that sweeps everyone and everything out to
sea. Dylan and Louie now have no choice
but to work together through the night to save their troop. This story is based on true events that
happened to a Boy Scout troop in 1975.
Autumn Winifred Oliver, an eleven-year-old girl living
in Cades Cove, Eastern Tennessee, during the Depression, watches her
grandfather as he tries to persuade his neighbors to back the proposed Great
Smoky Mountains National Park. When they discover that the government
representative is lying to them, Gramps becomes even more resourceful.
Long walk to water by Linda Sue Park
This quick read is divided into two alternating stories of
two unlikely people that come together in the end. Sudan is a dry country where water is
more precious than gold. Nya (whose
story starts in 2008) walks four hours round trip to fetch water from a pond
for her family. This task must be done
twice a day. Nya’s story reflects the
challenge in this simple task. Salve
(whose story begins in 1985) has been separated from his family and driven from
his home by war, becomes a refugee and has to cross Africa by foot in search of
his family and a safe place to stay. He
endures hardships, armed rebel attacks, and faces lions and crocodiles. Nya and Sakva’s stories cross paths and
intersect in 2009 and water is at the heart of their story.
Realistic
Girlwood by Claire Dean
Thirteen year old, Polly Greene is most comfortable foraging
in the woods with her eccentric grandmother than she is hanging out with her
friends. Polly thinks of the woods as
her safe haven until her troubled sister runs away to the woods to escape her
problems. Everyone believes that her
sister, Bree is gone, but only Polly believes that Bree is capable of surviving
on her own in the winter wilderness.
This story is filled with magic, suspense, and female characters
empowered by nature.
Operation Redwoods by Terrell S. French
Julian’s uncle’s company plans to cut down some of the
oldest California redwood trees. Julian
discovers his uncle’s plan after coming across an email from a twelve-year-old
girl, Robin Elder. Robin’s email
expresses her anger about the beloved redwoods surrounding her home being
destroyed. Together Robin, Julian, and
Danny (Julian’s friend) work to stop Julian’s’ uncle from destroying the
beautiful redwoods. This is an exciting
ecological adventure with secret trips, fake press releases, tree-house
standoffs and many other clever pranks and stunts.
Night of the spadefoot toads by Bill Harley
Fifth-grader, Ben Moroney has just moved from Tucson, Arizona to Massachusetts. Ben had to leave behind his best friend, his
gecko, and the desert that he loved. Ben
has a hard time adjusting to his new life and environment until he meets his
new science teacher, Mrs. Tibbets. She encourages
Ben to explore his new environment and introduces him to the endangered
spadefoot toads. Ben learns that their
habitat is about to be destroyed by developers and fights to save them, risking
his new friendships, family relationships, school work, and his teachers
job.
Flush by Carl Hiaasen
With their father jailed for sinking a river boat, Noah Underwood
and his younger sister, Abbey, must gather evidence that the owner of this
floating casino is emptying his bilge tanks into the protected waters around
their Florida Keys home.
Hoot by Carl Hiaasen
Roy is new to Coconut Grove, Florida. He is used to being in a new school, since
his parents move a lot. Roy has
difficulty making new friends since the school bully makes Roy his new
target. One day on the bus to school Roy
notices a boy his own age running through the woods shoeless. Roy begins searching for this strange boy and
meets Beatrice in the process. Through
Beatrice and the mysterious boy, Roy learns about a colony of burrowing owls that
are in danger after their home becomes the construction site of a new pancake
house. Roy begins helping his new friends
sabotage the construction site in hope of deterring the construction; but are
these games enough to save the owls?
Scat by Carl Hiaasen
Nick and his friend Marta
decide to investigate when a mysterious fire starts near a Florida wildlife
preserve and an unpopular teacher; Ms. Starch goes missing after the class field
trip to Black Vine Swamp. Nick and Marta
begin to grow suspicions as details about Ms. Starch’s absence don’t add
up. And Smoke, the class delinquent,
begins acting strangely suspicious.Chomp by Carl Hiaasen
Wahoo Cray’s father is an animal wrangler in Florida and
Wahoo has grown up surrounded by wild animals: alligators, snakes, parrots, rats,
monkeys, and snapping turtles. Life is
manageable for Wahoo until his father accepts a job with a reality TV show, Expedition Survival! hosted by Derek
Badger. Wahoo’s family needs the money
from this job and Wahoo has to keep his father from quitting or hurting the
host, who has no actual experience with wild animals or nature. Each time Wahoo thinks he has his dad under
control the job becomes more complicated.
Once everyone has been moved to location in the everglades, things go
from bad to worse when Derek is bitten by a bat then goes missing during a
storm.
Northern exposure by Eric Walters
Flyaway by Lucy Christopher
One white dolphin by Gill Lewis
Wild wings by Gill Lewis
Ninth ward by Jewell Parker Rhodes
In New Orleans' Ninth Ward, twelve-year-old Lanesha, who can see
spirits, lives with her adopted grandmother.
Lanesha’s grandmother has a strong connection with the spiritual world
and acts as a healer for her community, but while she is strong in spirit, she is
physically old and frail. When Lanesha’s
grandmother begins having visions of a fast hurricane approaching, Lanesha has no
choice but to stay and weather the storm as Hurricane Katrina bears down upon
them.
