Recommended Reading List

Recommended Reading List

R.C. Murphy/ P.J. Gelinas JHS

Compiled by Three Village Information Specialists

(Grades 7-9)

- Avi. Nothing But the Truth: a documentary novel
A ninth-grader's suspension for singing "The Star-Spangled Banner" during homeroom becomes a national news story.

- Bauer, Joan. Hope was Here
When sixteen-year-old Hope and the aunt who has raised her move from Brooklyn to Mulhoney, Wisconsin, to work as waitress and cook in the Welcome Stairways diner, they become involved with the diner owner's political campaign to oust the town's corrupt mayor.

- Bauer, Joan. Rules of the Road

When a diphtheria epidemic hits her 1840 village, thirteen-year-old Jessie discovers it is actually a 1995 tourist site under unseen observation by heartless scientists, and it's up to Jessie to escape the village and save the lives of the dying children.

- Blackwood, Gary. Shakespeare’s Scribe

Widge, the orphan who infiltrated the Lord Chamberlain's Men acting troupe in The Shakespeare Stealer, returns. Now a bona fide member of the troupe, he acts as amanuensis to the Bard (who has broken his arm) in the writing of All's Well That Ends Well.

- Bloor, Edward. Tangerine
Twelve-year-old Paul, who lives in the shadow of his football hero brother Erik, fights for the right to play soccer despite his near blindness and slowly begins to remember the incident that damaged his eyesight.

- Brashares, Ann. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
Carmen decides to discard an old pair of jeans, but Tibby, Lena, and Bridget think they are great and decide that who ever the pants fit best will get them. When the jeans fit everyone perfectly, a sisterhood and a memorable summer begin.

- Bunting, Eve. Blackwater
A canoeing trip down the Blackwater River changes 13-year-old Brodie Lynch forever. After a swimming accident claims the lives of two of his friends, Brodie must find the courage to admit his part in the prank that killed them.

- Cadnum, Michael. Raven of the Waves
Lidsmod is thrilled to be on his first raid aboard the Viking ship Raven, but starts to question the gore, brutality, and wholesale killing of the Viking way of life when he compares it to the gentle, compassionate ways of a 13-year-old prisoner, Wiglaf, an apprentice healer.

- Creech, Sharon. The Wanderer
Thirteen-year-old Sophie feels adrift until she discovers a new bravery and confidence on a trans-Atlantic journey aboard a 45-foot sailboat with her grandfather and other male relatives.

- Crutcher, Chris. Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes
Eric tries to unravel the mystery of what has caused his long-time friend and fellow misfit, Sarah, to end up silent and scarred and locked in a psychiatric ward, as he risks passing up his own big chance on the swim team to help his friend.

- Crutcher, Chris. Stotan!
When four high school buddies accept their swimming coach's challenge for a grueling four-hour-a-day, weeklong swimming marathon designed to challenge and build up their physical and emotional stamina, their lives are changed forever.

- Crutcher, Chris. Whale Talk
Enraged at the cruelty of his school's athletes, T. J., the adopted Black/ Japanese son of a pair of loving ex-hippies, organizes and trains a swim team of the biggest rejects and misfits he can find to compete in the pool for their rights.

- Curtis, Paul. Bud, Not Buddy

Ten-year-old Bud, a motherless boy living in Flint, Michigan, during the Great Depression, escapes a bad foster home and sets out in search of the man he believes to be his father--the renowned bandleader, H.E. Calloway of Grand Rapids.

- Di Camillo, Kate. Because of Winn-Dixie
Ten-year-old India Opal Buloni describes her first summer in the town of Naomi, Florida, and all the good things that happen to her because of her big ugly dog Winn-Dixie.

- Gantos, Jack. Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key
To the constant disappointment of his mother and his teachers, Joey has trouble paying attention or controlling his mood swings when his prescription meds wear off and he starts getting worked up and acting wired.

- Haddix, Margaret Peterson. Running out of Time

- Hobbs, Will. Downriver
Eight teens from a wilderness survival school ditch their teacher and go white water rafting through the Grand Canyon.

- Holt, Kimberly Willis. When Zachary Beaver Came to Town
During the summer of 1971 in a small Texas town, thirteen-year-old Toby and his best friend Cal meet the star of a sideshow act, 600-pound Zachary, the fattest boy in the world.

- Horvath, Polly. Everything on a Waffle
Eleven-year-old Primrose, who lives in a small fishing village in British Columbia, recounts her experiences and all that she learns about human nature and the unpredictability of life in the months after her parents are lost at sea.

Ibbotson, Eva. The Secret of Platform 13

- Odge Gribble, a young hag, accompanies an old wizard, a gentle fey, and a giant ogre on their mission through a magical tunnel from their Island to London to rescue their King and Queen's son who had been stolen as an infant.

- Levine, Gail Carson. Ella Enchanted
In this novel based on the story of Cinderella, Ella struggles against the childhood curse that forces her to obey any order given to her.

- McDonald, Joyce. Swallowing Stones
Dual perspectives reveal the aftermath of seventeen-year-old Michael MacKenzie's birthday celebration during which he discharges an antique Winchester rifle and unknowingly kills the father of high school classmate Jenna Ward.

- Paulsen, Gary. The River
In this sequel to Hatchet, government researchers send Brian with a psychologist named Derek to demonstrate his survival skills.

- Peck, Richard. A Long Way from Chicago : a novel in stories
A boy recounts his annual summer trips to rural Illinois with his sister during the Great Depression to visit their larger-than-life grandmother.

- Pullman, Philip. The golden compass
Accompanied by her daemon, Lyra Belacqua sets out to prevent her best friend and other kidnapped children from becoming the subject of gruesome experiments in the Far North.

- Rennison, Louise. Angus, Thongs and full-Frontal Snogging: Confessions of Georgia Nicolson
Presents the humorous journal of a year in the life of a fourteen-year-old British girl who tries to reduce the size of her nose, stop her mad cat from terrorizing the neighborhood animals, and win the love of handsome hunk Robbie.

- Rottman, S. L. Rough Waters.
After the deaths of their parents, brothers Scott and Greg move in with their uncle, the owner of a rafting company, but the adjustment is far from easy.

- Ruckman, Ivy. No Way Out
While hiking in Utah, Amy, her brother and their friends are trapped by a flash flood in a narrow canyon.

- Sachar, Louis. Holes
As further evidence of his family's bad fortune which they attribute to a curse on a distant relative, Stanley Yelnats is sent to a hellish correctional camp in the Texas desert where he finds his first real friend, a treasure, and a new sense of himself.

- Stevermer, Caroline. River Rats.
In a postapocalyptic world, a group of teens restore an old riverboat and travel the now-polluted Mississippi River, populated by violent families and homeless children struggling to survive.

- Trueman, Terry. Stuck in Neutral

Fourteen-year-old Shawn McDaniel, who suffers from severe cerebral palsy and cannot function, relates his perceptions of his life, his family, and his condition, especially as he believes his father is planning to kill him.

- Zindel, Paul. Reef of Death.
Two teens must evade a man-eating fish to locate a valuable secret at the base of the Great Barrier Reef, before it is discovered by an evil scientist.