Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Peak

by Roland Smith
Lexile: 780

14 year old Peak Marcello has climbing in his blood. His father leads groups to the top of Mount Everest while Peak stays busy (illegally) climbing skyscrapers in New York City. When the police catch up with him, his father offers him a chance to leave his troubles in New York City behind. Peak travels to Mount Everest and begins a climb that will change his life forever.

Zen and the Art of Faking It

by Jordan Sonnenblick
Lexile: 840

San Lee is the new kid in school and decides to create a new identity for himself to hide the fact that he is adopted and his dad is in prison. Things go great at first...he impresses his teacher, meets a great girl, and avoids having to speak to his father. How long will he be able to keep everyone fooled?

Friday, July 24, 2009

The Dead and the Gone

by Susan Pfeffer
Lexile: 680

This is the companion novel to Life As We Knew It and tells the story of the life changing asteroid hit from the perspective of a boy living in New York City. Alex Morales is 17 and suddenly finds himself in charge of his family. When the asteroid struck the moon, his father was in Puerto Rico and his mother was on her way to work. He hasn't heard from either of them so it is up to him to take care of his two younger sisters. He is forced to make some tough decisions to save them all.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

One False Note (39 Clues #2)

by Gordon Korman
Lexile: 680
Genre:  Mystery

The race to find the 39 clues continues in Europe. Amy and Dan travel to Vienna to search for a clue hidden in Mozart's music. They run into several obstacles along the way, courtesy of the other competitors, but Amy and Dan don't give up...their quest for fame and fortune continues.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Notes from the Midnight Driver

by Jordan Sonnenblick
Lexile: 930

Alex Gregory crashes his car into Mrs. Wilson's garden gnome one night and is forced to do community service at a nursing home as his punishment. Alex is assigned to a grumbly old man named Sol, who eventually becomes more than just his community service project when they discover they have something in common.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Life As We Knew It

by Susan Pfeffer
Lexile 770

Miranda's entire world has just fallen apart. A meteorite strikes the moon and knocks it closer to the earth which drastically changes the earth's climate. Supermarkets run out of food, gas supplies are slim, school is closed and electricity disappears. Everyone is in on the race for survival. Will the world as Miranda knew it ever return?

Friday, July 10, 2009

Born to Rock

by Gordon Korman
Lexile: 780

Leo Caraway is set to graduate from high school and head off to Harvard with a big scholarship. He has his life perfectly planned out until a misunderstanding during an algebra tests causes him to lose his scholarship. No longer unable to afford the tuition costs at Harvard, Leo has to figure out what to do with his future. At the same time, Leo learns that his real father is none other than a famous punk rock star who is ready to begin a summer reunion tour. Could meeting his father for the first time be what Leo needs to solve his problems?

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Bird

By Angela Johnson
Lexile: 710

This short novels introduces 3 characters who don't know that their lives have intersected. Bird is a runaway searching for her stepfather, Ethan is recovering from a life long illness, and Jay is dealing with the death of a brother. Each takes turns telling their stories in individual chapters. As the book progresses, the reader slowly begins to see what these characters have in common.

Case Closed, 40 Mini-Mysteries for You to Solve

By Jurg Obrist
Lexile: ???

If you like mysteries and "I Spy" type books, you will love reading this book. You will need your best observation skills to figure out clues hidden in pictures. You will also figure out secret codes, assemble some puzzles, and arrange events in a sequence. This book is a great way to put your logical thinking skills to work!

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Claws

By Will Weaver
Lexile: 540

Jed is living the perfect life. High school is awesome; he's got cool parents, a girlfriend, good grades, a Camaro to drive to school and back, and is having a winning tennis season. One day he finds a mysterious note under his windshield which leads him to a strange girl named Gertrude who has information that Jed can't believe. Is his perfect life about to unravel?

The Exploading Toilet; Modern Urban Legends

collected and retold by David Holt and Bill Mooney
Lexile: ???

This book is a collection of modern urban legends that you will certainly want to retell to friends. My favorite was one about a mother who called poison control because her daughter ate some ants. Poison control told her that it was fine, the ants wouldn't harm her daughter. The mother was relieved and told the person on the phone that she was sorry she had fed her daughter ant posion to kill the ants if they were harmless! Get ready to laugh at these unbelievable stories!