Books for 5th - 6th Grade

Summer Bibliographies 2009

J/F/AVI
Avi - Seer of Shadows
Horace is apprenticed to a photographer who creates faked spirit photos, but no one knows that Horace is actually able to take genuine photos of spirits. Horace accidentally frees the real ghost of a dead girl who wants vengeance on those who caused her death. 202 p.

J/F/BROACH
Broach, Elise - Masterpiece
James is so miserable on his birthday that Marvin the beetle decides to give him one of his own drawings as a surprise. Marvin’s exquisite artwork draws the attention of curators from the Metropolitan Museum of Art and lands the two in the middle of a plot to steal a drawing from the museum. 292 p.

J/F/BUCKINGHAM
Buckingham, Royce - Goblins!: An UnderEarth Adventure
A goblin leads Sam into an UnderEarth world where a war is brewing between the goblins and the human guardians who guard the tunnel entrances to keep the goblins underground. 232 p.

J/COMIC/RAPUNZEL’S
Hale, Shannon - Rapunzel’s Revenge
Rapunzel has spent her childhood trapped in a tower, growing super-strong braids. Now she’s escaped, she and her fearsome braids are headed to the witch’s stronghold to free her mother. 144 p.

J/F/DURANGO
Durango, Julia - The Walls of Cartagena
Calepino was born a slave, but he developed the ability to speak eleven languages. Now he acts as an interpreter for a Jesuit priest whose secrets put them both in danger and tests Calepino’s courage. 152 p.

PB/J/ECTON
Ecton, Emily - Boots and Pieces
No one will listen to Arlie’s warnings about the swamp creature who’s seen snacking on local high-schoolers. Arlie, her friend Tyson, and her chihuahua, Mr. Boots, are the only ones who can keep this year’s prom-goers off the monster’s menu. 230 p.

J/F/ FELDMAN
Feldman, Jody - The Gollywhopper Games
Gil’s father has been falsely accused of embezzling from the Golly Company and Gil needs to win the company’s grand competition to get inside the factory and clear his father’s name. 308 p.

J/F/FROST
Frost, Helen - Diamond Willow
Willow trains sled dogs with her parents in Alaska. When her lead dog Roxy is blinded in an accident, Willow’s parents want to put the dog down. Willow decides to take Roxy to her grandparents’ house to save her but is trapped in a deadly snowstorm on her way there. 111 p.

J/F/HAWORTH
Haworth, Danette - Violet Raines Almost Got Struck by Lightning
Violet and Lottie have always been best friends—practically sisters. Then big city girl Melissa moves to town and steals Lottie away. 162 p

J/F/HOROWITZ
Horowitz, Anthony - The Switch
When Tad’s parents don’t give him exactly what he wants, he wishes to be someone else. Instead of waking up in his own luxurious bed, Tad wakes up in the body of Bob Snarly, the son of carnival workers and is forced into a scheme to rob his own parents’ house. 162 p.

J/F/HUNTER
Hunter, Erin - The Quest Begins
Three bear cubs find themselves alone in the wild and compelled to follow the bear star to the north. The cubs struggle to survive many dangers on their separate journeys, including hunger and human predators. This is the first book in the Seekers series. 293 p.

J/F/KESSLER
Kessler, Liz - Philippa Fisher’s Fairy Godsister
After Philippa’s best friend moves away, Phillipa becomes the new target of the school’s mean girl. Daisy is a young fairy on her very first mission and assigned to help Philippa by granting her three wishes. Philippa and Daisy don’t like each other very much, but they both want Philippa’s wishes to succeed. 274 p.

J/F/LAW
Law, Ingrid - Savvy
On their 13th birthdays, the Beaumont children develop a “savvy,” or unique magical talent. On the eve of her birthday, Mibs’ father is seriously injured in a car accident, and Mibs hopes her new savvy will be able to save him. 342 p.

J/F/MARTINEZ
Martinez, Claudia Guadalupe - The Smell of Old Lady Perfume
Chela cannot wait to begin 6th grade, but things quickly go bad when her dad suffers a stroke on the first day of school, and her grandma moves in to help the family. To Chela, old lady perfume means bad news. 249 p.

J/F/NUZUM
Nuzum, K.A. - The Leanin’ Dog
After being trapped in a mountain snowstorm, Dessa Dean survives but loses her mother to the freezing cold. Grief-stricken and unwilling to leave her home, Dessa befriends a dog who comes to her cabin door but will not go inside. Both Dessa and the dog need to find someone to trust. 250 p.

J/F/POPESCU
Popescu, Petru - Footprints in Time
Jack and his father are tagging lions from a small plane in remote Tanzania when weather causes the plane to crash. Jack is the only survivor of the crash. An ape-like boy helps him survive his injuries and avoid the ever-hungry lion packs. 248 p.

J/F/PRINEAS
Prineas, Sarah - The Magic Thief. Book One
Conn, an orphaned pickpocket, becomes apprenticed to the wizard Neverly who is trying to discover why the magic of the town of Wellmet is fading. Conn will need every bit of his newly learned magic to save Wellmet and escape the sinister Underlord Crow. 419 p.

J/F RAMTHUN
Ramthun, Bonnie - The White Gates
Tom’s mother has a new job in Snow Park, Colorado, and Tom uncovers a mystery involving murder, snowboarding, and an old Ute curse. 242 p.

J/F/REISMAN
Reisman, Michael - Simon Bloom, the Gravity Keeper
Simon accidentally becomes the owner of a book that explains how to control the laws of physics. He masters gravity and his friends learn to control velocity and electricity. The three need all the power they can muster to fight off the evil forces that want to use the book’s power to control the world. 298 p.

J/F/THIRTY
Riordan, Rick - Maze of Bones
Two orphans, Amy and Dan, inherit the first of 39 clues that could lead them to a treasure, if they don’t get blown up first! This is the first title in the Thirty Nine Clues series. 220 p.

JB/SCIESZKA
Scieszka, Jon - Knucklehead: Tall Tales & Mostly True Stories about Growing Up
Popular author John Scieszka tells “mostly true” (and very funny) stories from his childhood, including his experiences with little brothers, the Boy Scouts, and Catholic school. 106 p.

J/F/SELZER
Selzer, Adam - I Put a Spell on You
Every year the entire town goes spelling bee crazy and Chrissie Woodward, the only 6th grader who did not sign up for the bee, discovers that the adults are out to fix this year’s competition. 247 p.

J/F/WHITE
White, Ruth - Little Audrey
Audrey lives a hard life in a coal mining camp in Jewel Valley, Virginia. Audrey and her little sisters wake hungry and make do with less than the mere basics in life. But Audrey wishes for more. 145 p.

J/F/WILLIAMS
Williams, Carol Lynch - Pretty Like Us
When Beauty meets new student Alane, she is initially frightened by Alane’s thick glasses, wrinkled skin and tiny, aged body. Slowly she begins to see the real beauty in her handicapped new friend. 183 p.

Prepared by Amanda Blau, Diane Jakosz, and Kelly Pocci, May 2009