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Cool New Books for September
September’s roundup of Cool New Books features the long-awaited return of the bestselling, award-winning series The Spiderwick Chronicles. A brand-new cycle has begun with THE NIXIE'S SONG, as Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black leave the old-fashioned charm of New England far behind and head south for some fiendish faerie fun in the hot Florida sun. Other highlights include INTO THE MIST, the thrilling prequel to the Land of Elyon trilogy by Patrick Carman; THE SEEMS: THE GLITCH IN SLEEP, John Hulme and Michael Wexler’s first book for young readers, in which a 12-year-old boy must risk everything in order to save the world from falling apart at the Seems; and WHAT-THE-DICKENS, a transporting tale-within-a-tale about the strange world of skibbereen --- aka tooth fairies --- and the universal need to believe.
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Stand-Alone Chapter Books/Middle Grade Novels
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THE BOOK OF TIME
Guillaume Prevost
Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic
ISBN-10: 043988375X
ISBN-13: 9780439883757
Ages 9-12
224 pages
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• Click here to buy from Amazon.com
A statue. A coin. An old book. They look as dusty as everything else in the Faulkner Antiquarian Bookstore, where 14-year-old Sam Faulkner is looking for his father, who has been missing for days. But when Sam slips the coin into the statue, he is swept back in time --- to Scotland in 800 A.D. --- where he must find both the statue and another coin in order to return to the present. It's the first step in an adventure that will take him to ancient Egypt, World War I, even Dracula's castle --- and a mystery that will end only when Sam saves his dad, or loses him in time.
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A CROOKED KIND OF PERFECT
Linda Urban
Harcourt Children’s Books
ISBN-10: 0152060073
ISBN-13: 9780152060077
Ages 8-12
224 pages
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Ten-year-old Zoe Elias has dreams of being a world-famous piano player. So when her father pays a visit to the music store and purchases a wheezy organ instead of a piano, Zoe can’t help but be disappointed. Learning the organ versions of old TV theme songs just isn't the same as mastering Beethoven on the piano. Meanwhile, her mother is constantly at work, her father is afraid to leave the house and an odd boy named Wheeler Diggs follows her home from school every day. Yet when Zoe enters the annual Perform-O-Rama organ competition, she finds that life is full of surprises.
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PAINT THE WIND
Pam Munoz Ryan
Scholastic Press
ISBN-10: 0439873622
ISBN-13: 9780439873628
Ages 7-10
336 pages
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Maya feels like a prisoner in her grandmother's house in California. Every word and action is strictly monitored, and even Maya's memories of her late mother have been erased --- except within the imaginary world she has created. In the rugged Wyoming wilderness, a tobiano Paint horse called Artemisia runs free, belonging only to the stars. She embodies the spirit of the wild and holds the key to Maya's memories. How the lives of Maya and Artemisia intertwine is at the heart of this adventure about captivity and freedom, about holding on and letting go.
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RALEIGH'S PAGE
written by Alan Armstrong
illustrated by Tim Jessel
Random House
ISBN-10: 0375833196
ISBN-13: 9780375833199
Ages 10-12
336 pages
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Andrew has grown up near the Plymouth docks hearing the sailors talk about America. Knowing that Andrew's heart is set on going to the new world, his father sends him up to London to serve as page in the house of Walter Raleigh. In Queen Elizabeth's court, Raleigh is the strongest voice in favor of fighting with Spain for a position in the New World, and everyone knows that it's just a matter of time before Her Majesty agrees to an expedition. Can Andrew prove himself fit to go on an expedition to the New World?
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THE SLIPPERY MAP
N. E. Bode
HarperCollins
ISBN-10: 006079108X
ISBN-13: 9780060791087
Ages 8-12
288 pages
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Raised in a nunnery, Oyster R. Motel has dreamed of another world for almost his entire life. He has no idea that imaginations can be mapped and barely knows he even has an imagination. But then a gust of wind and a distant voice send him on a dizzying ride in a silver bucket, and Oyster finds himself, his own map in hand, in someone else's imaginary world --- a place where rivers breathe and sugar snows down from the sky. Whose world is it? And what does it have to do with Oyster's map?
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TEN WAYS TO MAKE MY SISTER DISAPPEAR
Norma Fox Mazer
Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic
ISBN-10: 0439839831
ISBN-13: 9780439839839
Ages 9-12
160 pages
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Everything 10-year-old Sprig wants, her older sister Dakota already has. Everything Sprig does, Dakota does better. And anytime Sprig complains, Dakota just grins and calls her a baby. It’s enough to make a kid wish her sister would disappear. But in a year when Sprig’s father is away, her favorite neighbor is sick and the class bully is acting almost like a boyfriend(!), Sprig discovers that allies come in unexpected shapes. Sometimes they’re even related to you.
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TO CATCH A MERMAID
Suzanne Selfors
Little, Brown for Young Readers
ISBN-10: 0316018163
ISBN-13: 9780316018166
Ages 8-12
256 pages
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Ever since his mother was swept away by a twister, Boom Broom’s family has gone crazy. They refuse to leave the house, and Boom and his sister Mertyle are looked after by Halvor, the Viking descendant who rents the room over their garage. When Boom finds a baby mermaid who seems to grant unlimited wishes, he thinks his luck has turned around. That is, until his sister is hit by the curse of the merfolk. Now Boom and his best friend Winger must find a way to return the merbaby to its mother and save Mertyle before it’s too late.
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WHAT-THE-DICKENS: The Story of a Rogue Tooth Fairy
Gregory Maguire
Candlewick Press
ISBN-10: 0763629618
ISBN-13: 9780763629618
Ages 10-13
304 pages
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A terrible storm is raging, and 10-year-old Dinah is huddled by candlelight with her brother, sister and cousin Gage, who is telling a very unusual tale. It’s the story of What-the-Dickens, a newly hatched orphan creature who finds he has an attraction to teeth, a crush on a cat named McCavity and a penchant for getting into trouble. One day he happens upon a feisty girl skibberee who is working as an Agent of Change --- trading coins for teeth --- and learns that there is a dutiful tribe of skibbereen (call them tooth fairies) to which he hopes to belong. As his tale of discovery unfolds, however, both What-the-Dickens and Dinah come to see that the world is both richer and less sure than they ever imagined.
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Series Books/Sequels
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Barnstormers
BARNSTORMERS: TALES OF THE TRAVELIN’ NINE – Game 2
Loren Long and Phil Bildner
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
ISBN-10: 1416918647
ISBN-13: 9781416918646
Ages 7-10
208 pages
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The year is 1899, and the Travelin' Nine are crisscrossing the U.S., raising money to pay off the Payne family's big-league debt. As the team heads into the River City, Griffith is beginning to realize that there is more at risk than meets the eye, something beyond the need to raise money --- something involving the ball that could put his entire family in danger. Ruby is eager to help solve the mystery of the ball and plans on keeping her eyes and ears wide open and writing everything down. Then there's Graham, who usually only thinks about how to get more time on the baseball field. Even he's beginning to notice that there are strange and shady characters at just about every turn.
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Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles
THE NIXIE'S SONG: Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles, Book 1
Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black
Simon & Schuster
ISBN-10: 0689871317
ISBN-13: 9780689871313
Ages 7-up
192 pages
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The Spiderwick Chronicles leave the old-fashioned charm of New England far behind and head south for some fiendish faerie fun in the hot Florida sun. Eleven-year-old Nicholas Vargas only thinks his life has been turned upside down after his developer father remarries and moves his new wife and daughter into the soon-to-be completed Mangrove Hollow. But an "expedition" to a nearby lake turns up a little nixie with a giant problem --- and it's up to Nick, stepsister Laurie and big brother Julian to figure out the best way to stop a host of rampaging giants before all of Florida goes up in smoke.
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Land of Elyon
INTO THE MIST: A Prequel to the Land of Elyon Trilogy
Patrick Carman
Scholastic Press
ISBN-10: 0439899524
ISBN-13: 9780439899529
Ages 9-12
304 pages
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From a humble and unexplained childhood in a very strange orphanage to a series of fearless escapes to a quest full of riddles and exploration, Thomas Warvold and his brother Roland find that their identity --- and the mysterious tattoos on their knees --- are linked to a much greater history than they ever would have guessed. Thomas is destined for adventure on land, while Roland is destined for adventure on sea. But before this happens, they must journey into the mist...and find the truth about both their past and their future.
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Molly Moon
MOLLY MOON, MICKY MINUS, & THE MIND MACHINE
Georgia Byng
HarperCollins
ISBN-10: 0060750367
ISBN-13: 9780060750367
Ages 8-12
416 pages
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With the help of her long-lost brother, Micky Minus, everyone’s favorite hypnotist must now use her telepathic powers to save the world from an evil Superbrain. Can Molly’s secret hypnosis crystals ward of tsunamis, twisters and heat waves thrown at her by a massive weather machine in time to find safety on the other side of the rainbow?
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The Seems
THE SEEMS: THE GLITCH IN SLEEP
John Hulme and Michael Wexler
Bloomsbury USA Children’s Books
ISBN-10: 1599901293
ISBN-13: 9781599901299
Ages 10-14
288 pages
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Twelve-year-old Becker Drane works as a Fixer for The Seems, a secret organization that ensures our world keeps running --- and more importantly, sticks to The Plan that’s been made for it. When a Glitch is reported in the Department of Sleep, Becker is dispatched to Fix it, but he’s not so sure this is a routine mission. Could the Bed Bugs, who are behind our Worst Nightmares, be responsible for the problems? Or maybe it’s The Tide, an underground organization determined to destroy The Seems? No matter what, Becker is in for quite an adventure, and it’ll take all his training, a little luck and the coolest Tools™ known in (or out of) the Seems to Fix the problem.
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The Wednesday Tales
THE TIGER'S EGG: The Wednesday Tales No. 2
Jon Berkeley
Julie Andrews Collection/HarperCollins
ISBN-10: 0060755105
ISBN-13: 9780060755102
Ages 8-12
416 pages
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When the Circus Bolsillo lands in Larde, orphan Miles Wednesday and his angel-friend Little join its wondrous and chaotic show. They soon come into contact with Doctor Tau-Tau, a mysterious and bumbling fortune-teller who once knew Miles's parents and claims Miles's father is very much alive. Miles sets out in secret with Doctor Tau-Tau, but to his surprise the search for his father quickly turns into a hunt for a much coveted and powerful Tiger's Egg --- a stone fabled to contain the soul of a tiger. Could the Egg be the key to the secrets of Miles's own past?
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Picture Books
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CLORINDA TAKES FLIGHT
written by Robert Kinerk
illustrated by Steven Kellogg
Simon & Schuster
ISBN-10: 0689868642
ISBN-13: 9780689868641
Ages 4-8
40 pages
• Click here to buy from Amazon.com
One afternoon while taking in the sun, a cow named Clorinda sees a swallow soaring in the sky. "Oh, how I wish I could fly like a bird," thinks Clorinda. So she resolves to be the first cow to accomplish such a feat and to show the world how it's done. She flatly dismisses the reasoned misgivings of her dear friend Hop and then enlists the help of another dear friend, Len. One way or another, Clorinda the cow will fly. Sky high!
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FIONA LOVES THE NIGHT
Patricia MacLachlan and Emily MacLachlan Charest
illustrated by Amanda Shepherd
Joanna Cotler Books/HarperCollins
ISBN-10: 0060570318
ISBN-13: 9780060570316
Ages 4-8
40 pages
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Night is not scary --- it’s wondrous and surprising. While her family sleeps, a young girl named Fiona delights in her nighttime garden. Luminous fireflies, a majestic luna moth, a twinkling North Star and a smiling moon welcome Fiona to her favorite time of day: night.
Author Patricia MacLachlan loves watching night turn into day, while her daughter, Emily MacLachlan Charest, has always loved the moon. And illustrator Amanda Shepherd loves to watch the stars dance in the moonlight.
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I MISS YOU EVERY DAY
written and illustrated by Simms Taback
Viking Children’s Books
ISBN-10: 0670061921
ISBN-13: 9780670061921
Ages 5-8
40 pages
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What do you do when you miss someone every day? If you live in the magical world of Simms Taback, you wrap yourself in paper, close yourself up in a box (don’t forget the air holes!) and mail yourself to the one you love. >From the creator of the Caldecott Medal-winning JOSEPH HAD A LITTLE OVERCOAT comes this tale about what a little girl will do to reach the person she just can’t live without.
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THE NUTCRACKER
written and illustrated by Susan Jeffers
HarperCollins
ISBN-10: 0060743867
ISBN-13: 9780060743864
Ages 3-8
40 pages
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When New York Times bestselling artist Susan Jeffers realized there were no versions of THE NUTCRACKER that depicted just the ballet (instead of the extended fairy tale that she felt was too long and complex for a young child), she set out to create a NUTCRACKER unlike any done before, with a lovely spare text and exquisite art. Here is a gift that gives even the youngest child a front-row seat at the world’s most beloved holiday ballet.
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--- Compiled and written by Tom Donadio
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