Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
Scholastic Press
2010
390 p.

Summary:  Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has survived the Hunger Games twice. But now that she's made it out of the bloody arena alive, she's still not safe. The Capitol wants revenge ... and President Snow has made it clear that no one else is safe!

My Life with the Lincolns by Gayle Brandeis

My Life with the Lincolns by Gayle Brandeis
Henry Holt and Co.
2010
248 p.

Summary:  In 1966 Illinois, twelve-year-old Wilhelmina, convinced that she, her parents, and sisters are Abraham Lincoln's family reincarnated, determines to keep them from suffering the same fates, which is complicated when she and her father become involved in the Civil Rights Movement.

Finding Family by Tonya Bolden

Finding Family by Tonya Bolden
Bloomsbury
2010
181 p.
Summary:  Raised in Charleston, West Virginia, at the turn of the twentieth century by her grandfather and aunt on off-putting tales of family members she has never met, twelve-year-old Delana is shocked when, after Aunt Tilley dies, she learns the truth about her parents and some of her other relatives. 

Modern fairies, dwarves, goblins and other nasties : a practical guide / by Miss Edythe McFate ; as told to Lesley M.M. Blume

Modern Fairies, Dwarves, Goblins and Other Nasties : a Practical Guide by Miss Edythe McFate as told to Lesley M.M. Blume
Alfred A. Knopf
2010
242 p.
 
Summary:  A compendium of practical information and cautionary tales about fairies and other similar magical creatures that might be encountered in modern cities like New York, intended to help the child who may come into contact with them.

They Called Themselves the KKK by Susan Campbell Bartoletti

They Called Themselves the KKK: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
2010
172 p.


Summary:  Bartoletti's book traces the origin and evolution of the Ku Klux Klan from a small mischievous social club into a powerful, destructive organization. They Called Themselves the KKK presents the complex era of Reconstruction, 1865-1877, that gave rise to the KKK. After the Civil War, the defeated South was a simmering cauldron of political, economic, and social instability. As the federal government struggled to provide law and order and to protect the rights of freed slaves, secret groups of Southern whites banded together to vent their anger over lost property, prosperity, and power. From six men in a law office in Pulaski, TN, KKK dens spread across the South targeting freed blacks and their supporters.

The Danger Box by Blue Balliett

The Danger Box by Blue Balliett
Scholastic Press
2010
306 p.

Summary:
In small-town Michigan, twelve-year-old Zoomy and his new friend Lorrol investigate the journal found inside a mysterious box and find family secrets and a more valuable treasure, while a dangerous stranger watches and waits.

Chasing Orion by Kathryn Lasky

Chasing Orion by Kathryn Lasky
Candlewick Press
2010
362 p.

Summary
 In 1952, when Georgie is eleven years old, her family moves to a new Indiana neighborhood where her teenaged neighbor has polio and is in an iron lung.

The Hive Detectives by Loree Griffin Burns

 The Hive Detectives by Loree Griffin Burns
Houghton Mifflin Books for Children
2010
66 pgs.


Summary

Bees don't just produce honey. Your food supply depends on them. Apiarist Dave Hackenberg's bees have a busy travel schedule, pollinating around the United States from February to July. So when Dave inspected four hundred of his hives and found that the bees had simply vanished, a dream team of bee scientists got to work.

List 3 - October 11, 2010

Welcome back!   Our 3rd list of 10 titles is a mixture of nonfiction, historical fiction, Newbery Medal winning authors and Newbery hopefuls.  2010 is shaping up to be a great year in the Newbery Medal race.  Please leave comments at the pages we've created for these titles.

Alchemy and Meggy Swann by Karen Cushman
As Easy as Falling Off the Face of the Earth by Lynne Rae Perkins
The War to End All Wars by Russell Freedman
The Hive Detectives by Loree Griffin Burns
Chasing Orion by Kathryn Lasky
The Cardturner by Louis Sachar
Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer L. Holm
The Water Seeker by Kimberly Willis Holt

And take a look at List 1 from July 1 and List 2 from August 1.

What Happened on Fox Street by Tricia Springstubb

What Happened on Fox Street by Tricia Springstubb
Balzer + Bray
2010
218 p.
Summary:  Fox Street means everything to Mo Wren, who is nearly eleven, and so she is very upset when a land developer offers to buy her father's house, especially since she has not yet found the fox she is sure lives in the nearby ravine. 

List 2 - August 1, 2010

It's time for our second list.  These are the books that will be brought to the table at our adults Mock Newbery meeting and voting session on Saturday, January 8, 2011. This will be an all-day session, from 9:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. in the Main Library Children's Services Storytime Room. Registration for this program will begin May 1, 2010, from this link. 

They Called Themselves the KKK by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
Crunch by Leslie Connor
Falling In by Frances O'Roark Dowell
Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper
Firefly Letters by Margarita Engle
Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine
The Boneshaker by Kate Milford
Three Rivers Rising by Jame Richards
Ninth Ward by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Drizzle by Kathleen Van Cleve
Countdown by Deborah Wiles

Please click on any title and leave your comments.  Also, check out our first list from July 1, 2010.  We will also keep links at the top right of the page.

Ubiquitous by Joyce Sidman

Ubiquitous by Joyce Sidman
Houghton Mifflin Children's Books
April 2010
Unpaged

Summary

Poems and factual information about some of the creatures that live on Planet Earth.

The Water Seeker by Kimberly Willis Holt

The Water Seeker by Kimberly Willis Holt
Henry Holt
May 2010
309 pgs.

Summary

Traces the hard life, filled with losses, adversity, and adventure, of Amos, son of a trapper and dowser, from 1833 when his mother dies giving birth to him until 1859, when he himself has grown up and has a son of his own.

Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer Holm

Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer L. Holm

Random House
May 2010
191 pgs.

Summary

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.

Cardturner: A Novel About a King, a Queen and a Joker by Louis Sachar

Cardturner by Louis Sachar

Delacorte Press
May 2010
336 pgs.

Summary

When his wealthy uncle, a champion bridge player who has lost his vision, asks seventeen-year-old Alton to be a cardturner for him, Alton has no idea how much he will ultimately learn from his eccentric relative. Includes appendix by Syd Fox with information about bridge.

Countdown by Deborah Wiles

Countdown by Deborah Wiles
Scholastic Press
May 2010
377 pgs.

Summary

"Franny Chapman just wants some peace. But that's hard to get when her best friend is feuding with her, her sister has disappeared, and her uncle is fighting an old war in his head. Her saintly younger brother is no help, and the cute boy across the street only complicates things. Worst of all, everyone is walking around just waiting for a bomb to fall. It's 1962, and it seems the whole country is living in fear..."--Dust jacket flap.

Alchemy and Meggy Swann by Karen Cushman

Alchemy and Meggy Swann by Karen Cushman

Clarion Books
April 2010
167 pgs.

Summary

In 1573, the crippled, scorned, and destitute Meggy Swann goes to London, where she meets her father, an impoverished alchemist, and eventually discovers that although her legs are bent and weak, she has many other strengths.

Best Friends Forever: A World War II Scrapbook by Beverly Patt

Best Friends Forever:  A World War II Scrapbook by Beverly Patt
Marshall Cavendish
March 2010
92 pgs.

Summary

Fourteen-year-old Louise keeps a scrapbook detailing the events in her life after her best friend, a Japanese-American girl, and her family are sent to a relocation camp during World War II.

Is it Night or Day? by Fern Schumer Chapman

Is it Night or Day? by Fern Schumer Chapman
Farrar, Strauss and Giroux
March 2010
205 pgs.

Summary

In 1938, Edith Westerfeld, a young German Jew, is sent by her parents to Chicago, Illinois, where she lives with an aunt and uncle and tries to assimilate into American culture, while worrying about her parents and mourning the loss of everything she has ever known. Based on the author's mother's experience, includes an afterword about a little-known program that brought twelve hundred Jewish children to safety during World War II.

Toads and Diamonds by Heather Tomlinson

Toads and Diamonds by Heather Tomlinson

Henry Holt
March 2010
276 pgs.

Summary

A retelling of the Perrault fairy tale set in pre-colonial India, in which two stepsisters receive gifts from a goddess and each walks her own path to find her gift's purpose, discovering romance along the way.