September 2013

Black Pearl

Posted on September 20, 2013 by webmaster

“Creating a community of avid readers, one video at a time^©“

The Black Pearl
by Scott O'Dell

Ramon wants to prove to his father, Blas Salazar, that he is just as good as Sevillano, Ramon’s worst enemy and Ramon’s father’s best pearl diver, at pearl diving. Manta Diablo, the monster of the deep, guards “The Pearl of the Heavens,” the ocean’s biggest pearl, that Ramon wants to dive for. Ramon got “The Pearl of the Heavens” and brought back home. When Ramon tells his father about the pearl, his father gives it to the church. Luzum, an old Indian tells Ramon that he should give it back to the Manta Diablo because the monster will come after him.

Lexile Level	Content Rating	Number of Pages	Genre	Date Published	ISBN Number
980	Middle School	144	Drama	2010	0547334001

Call It Courage

Posted on September 20, 2013 by webmaster

“Creating a community of avid readers, one video at a time^©“

Call It Courage
by Armstrong Sperry

Mafatu, a Polynesian boy of 15 years old, has an intense fear of the ocean. At the age of three he was nearly killed when his mother drowned. Now he must conquer his fears. He goes off on his own and finds the courage within him.

Click for More

Mafatu decides to face his greatest and deepest fear and sets off on an adventure, ending up not only conquering his fear of the sea but successfully confronting such life-threatening challenges as a hammerhead shark, a sharp-tusked wild boar and, finally, angry man-eating islanders. It is the kind of story where just when you think things can’t get worse, they do. But Mafatu finds out that he is able to overcome every challenge and returns to his home island in triumph.

Lexile Level	Content Rating	Number of Pages	Genre	Date Published	ISBN Number
830	High School	128	Adventure	2008	141695368

Tales of the Jazz Age

Posted on September 20, 2013 by webmaster

“Creating a community of avid readers, one video at a time^©“

Tales of the Jazz Age
by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Tales of The Jazz Age is an anthology of classic short stories by the renowned 20th Century American author F. Scott Fitzgerald, who is best known for his enduring classic “The Great Gatsby”. Satirizing the selfishness of the wealthy, depicting revelry that escalates into a destructive mob, while offering a sharp look at the flaws of society, and enhanced with introductions to each story by the author.

Lexile Level	Content Rating	Number of Pages	Genre	Date Published	ISBN Number
690	High School	240	Romance	2010	1451535554

Found

Posted on September 20, 2013 by webmaster

“Creating a community of avid readers, one video at a time^©“

Found (The Missing-Book 1)
by Margaret Peterson Haddix

A plane arrives at an airline gate unnoticed by radar and most personnel. There are no flight attendants, no pilot, in fact no adults at all, but there are 36 passengers. Each seat is inhabited by an infant. Thirteen years later in Ohio, teenage adoptees Jonah and his friend Chip begin receiving ominous messages declaring that they are among “the missing” and that someone is coming to find them. Frightened yet intrigued, the boys begin a search for their real identities with the help of Jonah’s younger sister. Their search leads them to a discovery that strains credulity and leads them into danger greater than they ever imagined possible.

Click for More

Thirteen-year-old Jonah has always known that he was adopted, and he’s never thought it was any big deal. Then he and a new friend, Chip, who’s also adopted, begin receiving mysterious letters. The first one says, “You are one of the missing.” The second one says, “Beware! They’re coming back to get you. “Jonah, Chip, and Jonah’s sister, Katherine, are plunged into a mystery that involves the FBI, a vast smuggling operation, an airplane that appeared out of nowhere — and people who seem to appear and disappear at will. The kids discover they are caught in a battle between two opposing forces that want very different things for Jonah and Chip’s lives.

Lexile Level	Content Rating	Number of Pages	Genre	Date Published	ISBN Number
680	High School	336	Thriller/Suspense	2009	141695421

Thirteen Reasons Why

Posted on September 18, 2013 by webmaster

“Creating a community of avid readers, one video at a time^©“

Thirteen Reasons Why
by Jay Asher

When Clay Jensen finds a package on his front porch, he’s excited. A package, for him? With no return address? What could it possibly be? What Clay finds is a shoebox full of cassette tapes, each marked as “Cassette 1: Side A,” “Cassette 1: Side B,” etc. Of course he rushes to the old radio/cassette player in his dad’s garage to check out these mysterious tapes.And soon wishes, wholeheartedly, that he’d never picked up that stupid package from his front porch.

Click for More

What he hears when he inserts that first tape is the voice of Hannah Baker. Hannah, the girl he’d crushed on for longer than he could remember. The girl he went to school with. The girl he worked at the movie theater with. The girl who had changed, drastically, in the last several months. Hannah Baker, the girl who committed suicide.

Clay soon realizes that these tapes aren’t just a suicide note, aren’t, really, even a clear-cut rendition of why she did what she did. Instead, these are thirteen reasons — thirteen people, to be exact — who created a snowball-effect of events that led Hannah to believe that suicide was her only option.

Lexile Level	Content Rating	Number of Pages	Genre	Date Published	ISBN Number
550L	High School	304	Realistic Fiction	2008	1595141715

London Calling

Posted on September 18, 2013 by webmaster

“Creating a community of avid readers, one video at a time^©“

London Calling
by Edward Bloor

John Martin Conway feels out of place at his exclusive prep school, where he is constantly reminded that he is a scholarship kid. After a confrontation with Hank Lowery, the great-grandson of the schools founder, he requests to work at home on an independent study project. The World War II-era radio that his grandmother left him brings him into contact with Jimmy, a boy who lived during the war and who needs his help. He takes Martin back to the time of the London Blitz.

Click for More

In his own time, he focuses his research on the things Jimmy shows him and the people he encounters. Along the way he uncovers some new information about his grandfathers and General Hank Lowerys dealings during the war and discovers how he can help put Jimmys soul to rest. He also comes to terms with his alcoholic father and with his own depression.

Lexile Level	Content Rating	Number of Pages	Genre	Date Published	ISBN Number
890	Middle School	304	Fantasy	2008	0375843639

Chessie Bligh

Posted on September 18, 2013 by webmaster

“Creating a community of avid readers, one video at a time^©“

Chessie Bligh
by Thora Gabriel

Chessie Bligh is a parentally neglected fourteen year old girl whose only friend is her Shih Tzu puppy named Wugghert. Out of defiance towards her absentee parents, Chessie trades places with another girl named Aelyn whom she encounters when their airplane flights from Europe to America (to attend boarding schools) is delayed in New York.

Click for More

Chessie, taking the place of Aelyn, arrives in Sterntaler, where she discovers a hidden elf encampment at the north rim of the Grand Canyon which is hidden from discovery by humans through the use of magic. That’s also where Chessie discovers that she has magical powers and can change the course of history. But there is a fourteen year old series of elfin murders she must solve and a killer to bring to justice. Chessie also comes to realize that Sternfaler isn’t so much a place as it is a multidimensional world where shape shifting, spells, and magical creatures abound. Most of all, Sternfaler is where her elf destiny begins!

Lexile Level	Content Rating	Number of Pages	Genre	Date Published	ISBN Number
640	Middle School	292	Fantasy	2006	0595835791

Dork Diaries

Posted on September 18, 2013 by webmaster

Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not-So-Fabulous Life
by Rachel Renee Russell

Fourteen-year-old Nikki J. Maxwell has been awarded a scholarship to a prestigious private middle school as a part of her father’s bug extermination contract. Her angst as she deals with the resident mean girl, her embarrassing parents, her crush on the hot boy, and making new friends are all recorded alongside numerous sketches of her life. Although occasionally amusing, Nikki is not a very likable character. She is shallow and self-centered and fails to show any growth in the book, even as she one-ups popular and cruel MacKenzie in the end.

Click for More

In fact, Nikki, who steals her neighbor’s hearing aid and plays pranks on her little sister, is somewhat of a mean girl herself. All the other characters are underdeveloped, including Nikki’s family and her new BFFs, Chloe and Zoey.

Lexile Level	Content Rating	Number of Pages	Genre	Date Published	ISBN Number
510L	Middle School	288	Comedy	2009	1416980063

Last Exit to Normal

Posted on September 18, 2013 by webmaster

Last Exit to Normal
by Michael Harmon

Life was going along just fine for Ben Campbell until he hit fourteen. That was the year his father announced that he was gay and his mother left. His dad’s boyfriend moved in, and Ben started counseling — and also misbehaving.

Now, after three years of run-ins with the law, Ben’s dad has decided the only way to save Ben is to leave Spokane. At age seventeen, city boy Ben finds himself living in Rough Butte, Montana. Edward, who Ben calls “Momdad”, has agreed to take them back to the hometown he left when he was Ben’s age. In Rough Butte, Ben is surrounded by homophobic cowboys, Edward’s acid-tongued mother, Miss Mae, and an abusive neighbor with a strange young son.

Click for More

Used to doing whatever he wants, whenever he wants, quickly ends for Ben as Miss Mae schools him in acceptable country behavior. She expects respect and hard work, and she doesn’t hesitate to use her wooden spoon as a weapon to encourage it. Ben reluctantly falls in line and even finds it rewarding at times. His father and Edward seem pleased for the most part, and his improved attitude and behavior are useful in his quest to attract the attention of the beautiful girl living just four doors down the street.

There are still frustrations for Ben. Completely forgiving his father for trashing his life back in Spokane is proving harder than he expected. Rough patches between father and son keep tensions high, and to complicate matters, Ben becomes convinced that the young neighbor boy is the victim of dangerous abuse. Ben’s efforts to seek justice for the boy create a whole new set of problems.

Lexile Level	Content Rating	Number of Pages	Genre	Date Published	ISBN Number
620L	Middle School	288	Drama	2009	0440239949

Unwind

Posted on September 18, 2013 by webmaster

Unwind
by Neal Shusterman

Connor’s parents want to be rid of him because he’s a troublemaker. Risa has no parents and is being unwound to cut orphanage costs. Lev’s unwinding has been planned since his birth, as part of his family’s strict religion. Brought together by chance, and kept together by desperation, these three unlikely companions make a harrowing cross-country journey, knowing their lives hang in the balance. If they can survive until their eighteenth birthday, they can’t be harmed — but when every piece of them, from their hands to their hearts, are wanted by a world gone mad, eighteen seems far, far away.

Lexile Level	Content Rating	Number of Pages	Genre	Date Published	ISBN Number
740L	Middle School	352	Thriller/Suspense	2009	1416912057

« Previous Page

“Creating a community of avid readers, one video at a time©“

“Creating a community of avid readers, one video at a time^©“