Crispin: At the Edge of the World

Author: AVI
Call Number: F AVI

Branded at traitors by the king's authorities, Crispin and his guardian, Bear, flee to coastal towns in fourteenth-century England, where they perform a musical juggling act and bond as a family after befriending a disfigured girl.

Crispin: The Cross of Lead

Author: AVI
Call Number: F AVI

Falsely accused of theft and murder, an orphaned peasant boy in fourteenth century England flees his village and meets a larger-than-life juggler who holds a dangerous secret.

Willow Run

Author: Patricia Reilly Giff
Call Number: F GIF

Eleven-year-old Meggie Dillon shares her feelings and experiences on the homefront during World War II after her family moves from Rockaway, New York to Willow Run, Michigan.

Lily's Crossing

Author: Patricia Reilly Giff
Call Number: F GIF

During a summer spent at Rockaway Beach in 1944, aLily's friendship with a young Hungarian refugee causes her to see the war and her own world differently.

The Battle for Duncragglin

Author: Andrew Vanderwal
Call Number: F VAN

Twelve-year-old Alex spends the summer in Scotland with his uncle after his parents mysteriously disappear, but when he investigates the ancient ruins of a nearby castle that appears to be haunted, Alex is whisked into the thirteenth century during William Wallace's rebellious military campaign.

Carolina Harmony

Author: Marilyn Taylor McDowell
Call Number: F MCD

Carolina, having escaped from a foster home and living with Mr. Ray and Miss Latah on Harmony Farm, refuses to talk about the events surrounding the deaths of her parents and younger brother, and befriends a troubled runaway who she secretly feeds and takes the blame for his pranks.

Moon Over Manifest

Author: Clare Vanderpool
Call Number: F VAN

Twelve-year-old Abilene Tucker is the daughter of a drifter who, in the summer of 1936, sends her to stay with an old friend in Manifest, Kansas, where he grew up, and where she hopes to find out some things about his past.

Turtle in Paradise

Author: Jennifer L. Holm
Call Number: F HOL

In 1935, when her mother gets a job housekeeping for a woman who does not like children, eleven-year-old Turtle is sent to stay with relatives she has never met in far away Key West, Florida.

Storyteller

Author: Patricia Reilly Giff
Call Number: F GIF

Forced to spend months at an aunt's house, Elizabeth feel a connection to her ancestor Zee, whose picture hangs on the wall, and who reveals her story of hardships during the Revolutionary War as Elizabeth comes to terms with her own troubles.

Here Lies the Librarian

Author: Richard Peck
Call Number: F PEC

Fourteen-year-old Eleanor "Peewee" McGrath, a tomboy and automobile enthusiast, discovers new possibilities for her future after the 1914 arrival in her small Indiana town of four young librarians.

The Teacher's Funeral

Author: Richard Peck
Call Number: F PEC

In rural Indiana in 1904, fifteen-year-old Russell's dreams of quitting school and joining a wheat threshing crew are disrupted when his older sister takes over the teaching at his one-room schoolhouse after mean old Myrt Arbuckle "hauls off and dies."

A Long Way From Chicago

Author: Richard Peck
Call Number: F PEC

A boy recounts his annual summer trips to rural Illinois with his sister during the Great Depression to visit their larger-than-life grandmother.

A Year Down Yonder

Author: Richard Peck

Call Number: F PEC

During the recession of 1937, fifteen-year-old Mary Alice is sent to live with her feisty, larger-than-life grandmother in rural Illinois and comes to a better understanding of this fearsome woman.

Alchemy and Meggy Swann

Author: Karen Cushman
Call Number: F CUS

Meggy Swann, a girl who walks with the aid of two sticks, arrives in Elizabethan London, along with her goose Louise, to stay with her father who really does not want her, and while he pursues his dream of transforming base metal into gold, Meggy undergoes a transformation herself.

Island of the Blue Dolphins

Author: Soctt O'Dell
Call Number: F ODE

Records the courage and self-reliance of an Indian girl who lived alone for eighteen years on an isolated island off the California coast when her tribe emigrated and she was left behind.

On the Banks of Plum Creek

Author: Laure Ingalls Wilder
Call Number: F WIL

Ma, Pa, Laura, Mary, and Carrie settle on the prairie land of Minnesota where runaway cattle, wolves, torrential creeks, a grasshopper plague, and a long blizzard offset the joys of a new house, school friends, and church socials.

Another Student Booktalk

Here is another student booktalk from Eilidh. Thanks Eilidh!

When the Soldiers Were Gone

Author: Vera Propp
Call Number: F PRO

After the German occupation of the Netherlands, Benjamin leaves the Christian family with whom he had been living and reunites with his real parents who returned from hiding.

Little House in the Big Woods

Author: Laura Ingalls Wilder
Call Number: F WIL

A year in the life of two young girls growing up on the Wisconsin frontier, as they help their mother with the daily chores, enjoy their father's stories and singing, and share special occasions when they get together with relatives or neighbors.

Fifth Grade Booktalks

I had four brave fifth grade boys volunteer to be the first to try something new. They chose a book that they would like to recommend to other students, and practiced speaking about the book. Then we used our new IPOD's with video to record them doing their book talks. I think this will be a lot of fun to use in the future. Thank you to Tre', Hakeem, Isaiah, and Raj from the fifth grade book club that were our first to give video book talks to share.