Down the Rabbit Hole: An Echo Falls Mystery
by Peter Abrahams

"Like her idol Sherlock Holmes, eighth grader Ingrid Levin-Hill uses her intellect to solve a murder case in her home town of Echo Falls."

Good for Gr. 6 and up.

Gilda Joyce: Psychic Investigator
by Jennifer Allison

"During the summer before ninth grade, intrepid Gilda Joyce invites herself to the San Francisco mansion of distant cousin Lester Splinter and his thirteen-year-old daughter, where she uses her purported psychic abilities and detective skills to solve the mystery of the mansion's boarded-up tower."

Good for Gr. 6 and up.

Spacer and Rat
by Margaret Bechard

"Jack's predictable existence on Freedom space station is transformed when Kit, the Earthie rat, enters his life and enlists him and a sensitive robot in an effort to outwit the Company."

Good for Gr. 7 and up.

The Penderwicks
by Jeanne Birdsall

"While vacationing with their widowed father in the Berkshire Mountains, four lovable sisters, ages four through twelve, share adventures with a local boy, much to the dismay of his snobbish mother."

Good for Gr. 4 and up.

The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs
by Betty G. Birney

"Eben McAllister searches his small town to see if he can find anything comparable to the real Seven Wonders of the World."

Good for Gr. 4 and up.

Second Sight
by Gary Blackwood

"In Washington, D.C., during the last days of the Civil War, a teenage boy who performs in a mind-reading act befriends a clairvoyant girl whose frightening visions foreshadow an assassination plot."

Good for Gr. 5 and up.

Shakespeare's Secret
by Elise Broach

"Named after a character in a Shakespeare play, misfit sixth-grader Hero becomes interested in exploring this unusual connection because of a valuable diamond supposedly hidden in her new house, an intriguing neighbor, and the unexpected attention of the most popular boy in school."

Good for Gr. 5 and up.

Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods
by Suzanne Collins

"Eleven-year-old Gregor and his younger sister, Boots, return to the Underland beneath New York City to find the cure for a terrible plague that threatens the life of their mother, as well as the lives of the people, bats, and rats that populate the underworld."

Good for Gr. 4 and up.

Bodies from the Ash
by James M. Deem

"Referred to only as legend, it was not until the 18th century that workers began to uncover the remains of the city of Pompeii, covered within 24 hours with ash, pumice and volcanic rubble when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 A.D."

Good for Gr. 5 and up.

Chicken Boy
by Frances O'Roark Dowell

"Since the death of his mother, Tobin's family and school life has been in disarray, but after he starts raising chickens with his seventh-grade classmate, Henry, everything starts to fall into place."

Good for Gr. 5 and up.

By These Ten Bones
by Clare B. Dunkle

"After a mysterious young wood carver with a horrifying secret arrives in her small Scottish town, Maddie gains his trust - and his heart - and seeks a way to save both him and her townspeople from an ancient evil."

Good for Gr. 7 and up.

The Giant Rat of Sumatra: Or Piates Galore
by Sid Fleischman

"A cabin boy on a pirate ship finds himself in San Diego in 1846 as war breaks out between the United States and Mexico."

Good for Gr. 4 and up.

Good Brother - Bad Brother: The Story of Edwin Booth and John Wilkes Booth
by James Cross Giblin

"The intertwined tale of two sons in a theatrical family afflicted by alcoholism and depression, and the wedge that drove the family apart: Edwin's support of the North and John Wilkes' passion for the South."

Good for Gr. 6 and up.

Taking Wing
by Nancy Price Graff

"With his father in the Army Air Corps and his mother diagnosed with tuberculosis, thirteen-year-old Gus sets out to incubate a nest of orphaned duck eggs on his grandparents' farm in Vermont."

Good for Gr. 5 and up.

Princess Academy
by Shannon Hale

"While attending a strict academy for potential princesses with the other girls from her mountain village, fourteen-year-old Miri discovers unexpected talents and connections to her homeland."

Good for Gr. 6 and up.

Invisible
by Peter Hautman

"Doug and Andy are unlikely best friends - one a loner obsessed by his model trains, the other a popular student involved in football and theater - who grew up together and share a bond that nothing can sever."

Good for Gr. 7 and up.

Flush
by Carl Hiaasen

"Describes the research that Samuel Marshall and his students are doing on tarantulas, including the largest spider on earth, the Goliath birdeating tarantula."

Author of one of last year's DCF books, Hoot.

Good for Gr. 5 and up.

Day of Tears: A Novel in Dialogue
by Julius Lester

"Based on the largest slave auction in history, this tells the story in monologues and dialogues and through shifting time periods, of several of the families whose lives were ripped apart and changed forever on that day."

Good for Gr. 7 and up.

Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie
by David Lubar

"While navigating his first year of high school and awaiting the birth of his new baby brother, Scott loses old friends and gains some unlikely new ones as he hones his skills as a writer."

Good for Gr. 7 and up.

Hidden Child
by Isaac Millman

"The author details his difficult experiences as a young Jewish child living in Nazi-occupied France during the 1940s."

Good for Gr. 4 and up.

The Lioness and Her Knight
by Gerald Morris

"Headstrong sixteen-year-old Luneta and her distant cousin, Sir Ywain, travel to Camelot and beyond, finding more adventure than they hoped for until, with the help of a fool, Luneta discovers what she really wants from life."

Good for Gr. 6 and up.

The King of Mulberry Street
by Donna Jo Napoli

"Beniamino, a nine-year-old Jewish boy from Napoli, assumes his mother is onboard when he is smuggled aboard a cargo ship heading to America in 1892, and must make the best of his plight when the ship lands at Ellis Island."

Good for Gr. 5 and up.

Criss Cross
by Lynne Rae Perkins

"Teenagers in a small town experience new thoughts and feelings, question their identities, connect, and disconnect as they search for the meaning of life and love."

The 2006 Newbery Award Winner.

Good for Gr. 6 and up.

The Artsy Smartsy Club
by Daniel Pinkwater

"After three Hoboken children and their giant chicken Henrietta begin to appreciate beautiful sidewalk art, they venture into art class and visits to Manhattan."

Good for Gr. 4 and up.

The Return of the Dragon
by Rebecca Rupp

"Hannah, Zachary, and Sarah Emily return to Lonely Island to save their friend Fafnyr, a three-headed dragon, from being captured by a rich man who wants to put the creature on display."

Good for Gr. 4 and up.

Eyes of the Emperor
by Graham Salisbury

"Following orders from the United States Army, young Japanese American men train K-9 units to hunt Japanese during World War II."

Good for Gr. 7 and up.

Song of the Water Boatman and Other Pond Poems
by Joyce Sidman

"A collection of poems that provide a look at some of the animals, insects, and plants that are found in ponds, with accompanying information on each."

Good for Gr. 4 and up.

Gorilla Doctors: Saving Endangered Great Apes
by Pamela S. Turner

"A group of scientists provide veterinary care to the endangered mountain gorillas in Rwanda and Uganda."

Good for Gr. 5 and up.

Listening for Lions
by Gloria Whelan

"Left an orphan after the influenza epidemic in British East Africa in 1919, thirteen-year-old Rachel is tricked into assuming a deceased neighbor's identity to travel to England, where her only dream is to return to Africa and rebuild her parents' mission hospital."

Good for Gr. 5 and up.

A Thief in the House of Memory
by Tim Wynne-Jones

"The death of an apparent stranger in the Steeple family's old home triggers troubling questions for sixteen-year-old Declan as he tries to make sense of his fragmented dreams, random memories, and unexplained coincidences, hoping to learn the truth about the mother who suddenly left when he was ten."

Good for Gr. 7 and up.