Middle Grade:
BLASTIN' THE BLUES: SLUGGERS by Phil Bildner & Loren Long. "The year is 1899, and the Travelin' Nine are barnstorming their way across the good ol' U.S. of A., trying to raise money to pay off the Payne family's big-league debt. After jumping off the train to retrieve the baseball, Woody and Griffith find themselves stranded. When they come across a familiar face, they get back on track and Griffith learns just how magical their baseball is. With the Rough Riders down a player, Graham finally gets his chance to play with them and show what he is made of. But he better be careful. There is no telling what the Chancellor is willing to sacrifice in order to use Graham's abilities to his own evil ends. And Ruby is still concerned that there is a mole in their midst and is more determined than ever to find out who is betraying them. With the opportunity to raise the most money yet at the game in New Orleans, they can't afford to let anything get back to the Chancellor. All this and there is still a game to play. Things are about to get rough in the Big Easy!"
THE GHOST THAT FOLLOWED US HOME by Peg Kehret. "Doll museum burglarized! Kayo Benton and Rosie Saunders race to the museum to check on their favorite dolls. Everything seems okay. But the keys to the display cases are missing. And the musical mohair cat is playing a song...as if squeezed by unseen hands. Someone...something...is watching them. But who? And who is the strange-looking soldier in the rumpled uniform who's following them, beckoning them to return? Rosie thinks it's a ghost -- a ghost with a tragic secret. Soon they're back again, locked in the museum after closing time, trapped between two ghosts -- and a pair of ruthless thieves..."
THE MYSTERIOUS HOWLING: THE INCORRIGIBLE CHILDREN OF ASHTON PLACE by Maryrose Wood. "Found running wild in the forest of Ashton Place, the Incorrigibles are no ordinary children: Alexander, age ten or thereabouts, keeps his siblings in line with gentle nips; Cassiopeia, perhaps four or five, has a bark that is (usually) worse than her bite; and Beowulf, age somewhere-in-the-middle, is alarmingly adept at chasing squirrels. Luckily, Miss Penelope Lumley is no ordinary governess. Only fifteen years old and a recent graduate of the Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females, Penelope embraces the challenge of her new position. Though she is eager to instruct the children in Latin verbs and the proper use of globes, first she must help them overcome their canine tendencies. But mysteries abound at Ashton Place: Who are these three wild creatures, and how did they come to live in the vast forests of the estate? Why does Old Timothy, the coachman, lurk around every corner? Will Penelope be able to teach the Incorrigibles table manners and socially useful phrases in time for Lady Constance's holiday ball? And what on earth is a schottische?"
A NEST FOR CELESTE: A STORY ABOUT ART, INSPIRATION, AND THE MEANING OF HOME by Henry Cole. "Beneath the crackled and faded painting of a horse, underneath the worn and dusty floorboards of the dining room, lives Celeste, a mouse who spends her days weaving baskets, until one day she is thrust into the world above. Here Celeste encounters danger—and love—unlike any she's ever imagined. She dodges a hungry cat and witnesses the brutality of hunting for the first time. She makes friends with a singing thrush named Cornelius, a talkative osprey named Lafayette, and Joseph, Audubon's young apprentice. All the while, Celeste is looking for a new home. Is her home in the toe of a worn boot? Nestled in Joseph's pocket? Or in the dollhouse in the attic, complete with mouse-size furniture perfect for Celeste? In the end, Celeste discovers that home is really the place deep inside her heart, where friendships live."
THE NIGHT FAIRY by Laura Amy Schlitz. "What would happen to a fairy if she lost her wings and could no longer fly? Flory, a young night fairy no taller than an acorn and still becoming accustomed to her wings — wings as beautiful as those of a luna moth — is about to find out. What she discovers is that the world is very big and very dangerous. But Flory is fierce and willing to do whatever it takes to survive. If that means telling others what to do — like Skuggle, a squirrel ruled by his stomach — so be it. Not every creature, however, is as willing
to bend to Flory’s demands."
THE SABLE QUEEN: REDWALL by Brian Jacques. "He appears out of thin air and vanishes just as quickly. He is Zwilt the Shade, and he is evil. Yet he is no match for his ruler, Vilaya the Sable Quean. Along with their hordes of vermin, these two have devised a plan to conquer Redwall Abbey. And when the Dibbuns go missing, captured one by one, their plan is revealed. Will the Redwallers risk the fate of their Abbey and all of Mossflower Wood to save their precious young ones from imprisonment? Perhaps Buckler, Blademaster of the Long Patrol, can save the day. He has a score of his own to settle. And fear not, these Dibbuns are not as innocent as they appear. After all, they’re from Redwall"
THE SIXTY-EIGHT ROOMS by Marianne MaloneAlmost everybody who has grown up in Chicago knows about the Thorne Rooms. Housed in the Children’s Galleries of the Chicago Art Institute, they are a collection of 68 exquisitely crafted miniature rooms made in the 1930s by Mrs. James Ward Thorne. Each of the 68 rooms is designed in the style of a different historic period, and every detail is perfect, from the knobs on the doors to the candles in the candlesticks. Some might even say, the rooms are magic.Imagine—what if you discovered a key that allowed you to shrink so that you were small enough to sneak inside and explore the rooms’ secrets? What if you discovered that others had done so before you? And that someone had left something important behind?
THE STORY OF CIRRUS FLUX by Matthew Skelton. "London, 1783. Orphan Cirrus Flux is being watched. Merciless villains are conniving to steal the world’s most divine power—The Breath of God—which they believe Cirrus has inherited. Now he faces a perilous journey through the dirty backstreets of the city as a sinister mesmerist, a tiny man with an all-seeing eye, and a skull-collecting scoundrel pursue him. Cirrus must escape them, but he’ll need to trust some unlikely allies if he hopes to thwart his foes . . . and survive a grand and terrifying showdown."
VIOLET EYES: ONCE UPON A TIME by Debbie Viguie. "When a storm brings the dashing Prince Richard to her family's farm, Violet falls in love at first sight. Richard also gives Violet his heart, but he knows his marriage is destined to be an affair of state, not of passion. For the king and queen have devised a contest to determine who will win their son's hand in marriage. To be reunited with her prince, Violet must compete against princesses from across the land. It will take all of her wits -- and a little help from an unexpected source -- if Violet is to demonstrate the depth of her character and become Richard's bride."
Young Adult
THE CARBON DIARIES: 2017 by Saci Lloyd. "It's over a year since her last diary and Laura Brown is now in her first year of university in London, a city still struggling to pull itself together in the new rationing era. Laura's right in the heart of it; her band, the dirty angels, are gigging all over town until a police crackdown on rioting students forces them out of the city. After a brief exile on her parents' farm, the angels set off in a battered VW bus on a tour of Europe with the fabulous Tiny Chainsaws in the Distance. The tour soon unravels, however, in an increasingly dramatic sequence of events that include drought in Europe and Africa, a tidal-wave of desperate immigrants, a water war in the Middle East and a city-wide face off with the army in London. Not to mention infidelity, betrayal, friendship, love and massive courage. How long can Laura distance herself from the struggle? And more importantly, how can she keep her style and hope alive in a world on the edge of madness?"
THE HUNT FOR THE EYE OF OGIN: THE WINNITOK TALES by Patrick Doud. "Elwood Pitch is only thirteen years old when he is carried away to the land of Winnitok, in the otherworld of Ehm. Desperate to find a way back home to his family, Elwood's one hope is Granashon, the land's immortal protector. But Granashon is missing, and her power that protects Winnitok is fading fast. When Elwood dreams of the Eye of Ogin, a legendary object with the power to see Granashon wherever she might be, he vows to find it. With his dog Slukee and two newfound companions, Drallah Wehr of Winnitok and her talking raven Booj, Elwood sets out on an epic quest. Legend states that the Eye was lost in the Great Swamp of Migdowsh, a land of nightmare ruled by a horrible frog demon known as the Otguk. The Great Swamp is far to the west, and a vast wilderness lies between the companions and their goal. Many dangers threaten them along the way-hungry nahrwucks, cruel green yugs and their Graycloak masters, a despotic girl queen and the powerful witch who counsels her-but by their wits and courage, as well as an unseen hand that seems to guide and protect them, the companions reach the Great Swamp at last. And then their troubles really begin…"
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The Mysterious Howling was cute, and I'm keen to read the books that come after it in the series.
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